Reading the comments to David’s post yesterday, something struck me. Some, well-known here from their prior comments, had something to say, whether serious or fun. Others, unknown, did what so often annoys: took orthogonal flight from the point of the post toward whatever popped into their head.
Whether it’s what you think, believe or feel, what makes you feel compelled to express your value system? Why, oh why, do you suppose anyone, anywhere, cares?
This is the perpetual mystery of the internetz, that random people believe they get a vote, that their feelings matter. Some include tidbits of information, of dubious factual basis and even more dubious relative merit, as if this will overcome the core of their comment, that X matters to them more than Y.
If you’re someone whose views should be taken seriously by others, then say so. Perhaps your sensibilities matter. Perhaps not. Without knowing, however, you’re just making random noise online. Your views may be very important to you, but why are they important to anyone else? And when others fail to give you the “respect” you believe due, you get angry. Sometimes, you’re butthurt. Rarely are you satisfied.
Often, you leave snarky comments that are only effective if one believes as you do, which is particularly true for SJWs. More likely, they make no sense to anyone, whether jargon or gibberish, and touch neither a nerve nor heartstring. You just come off like a nut who fails to realize they’re a nut.
Why do this? You contribute nothing, invite derision and receive none of the validation you seek. So why?
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Because they have been told everyone’s opinion, if they have the right opinion, is important so many times that they actually believe it.
Or, y’know, narcissism. Poh-TAY-to, Poh-TAH-to.
If you say poh-TAH-to in my neck of the woods, you’ll probably get stabbed. Rightfully so.
Poh-TAY-to is acceptable, but the proper pronunciation is TAY-ter.
Mea cupla. Mea maxima culpa!
Unless it wasn’t me you were writing about, in which case, carry on.
I believe I may have a partial answer to the questions from your second paragraph: it’s sort of a false equivalency. We (your readers) read your blawg alone. Before the Internet, most of the time a speaker was interested in the listener’s opinion if there was only one listener. Therefore, “logically”, the speaker must be interested in the listener’s opinion.
Wait — you don’t have your harem attending you while you read SJ? Am I doing it wrong?
No, you’re doing it very right.
Fairly sure that harem doesn’t require you filling the dolls with air first.
Islamic sex dolls blow themselves up.
I often wonder who the commenter is talking to. If I write “x is good,” and a rando commenter writes, “actually, x is bad,” are they telling me or just registering the opposition in the big democracy in the ether?
I can’t believe nobody has asked the all important question yet….
What concert did Scott go to?
Lol
It wasn’t Neil Diamond. That’s all I’m saying.
Because I’m important. My mom and teachers told me so. Who are you to say otherwise you pedantic misanthropic cis- gendered mansplainer!!
I wish it was just kids. They’re easier to explain for just that reason.
“mansplaining shitlord”
Terminology is important.
“Whether it’s what you think, believe or feel, what makes you feel compelled to express your value system? Why, oh why, do you suppose anyone, anywhere, cares?”
Because why take the chance emotions and thoughts, left unexpressed, may inflame and become septic? Why are you trying to kill us, SHG?!
“Perhaps the heart of the problem lies in the sub-Freudian doctrine that self-expression is an unmitigated good, and self-containment treason to one’s own self. This doctrine is very widely, if not universally, believed, but it is a savage doctrine, especially in an age of instantaneous communication, for it destroys the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate criticism, and the limits to what may be said by civilized beings—limits that we must lay down for ourselves if we do not want to live in a dictatorship of law that will bully but not control us.
Thoughts and feelings are not like pus in an abscess that unless drained by expression will cause a kind of mental septicemia. On the contrary, violence of expression (and the feelings that come with it) is an appetite that grows with the feeding….”
— Theodore Dalrymple, Better Left Unsaid
I really hate it when people copy lengthy quasi-apt quotes of other people to conceal the lack of any thoughts of their own. This one was particularly sucky.
You give people a big text box to write in people will use it. It takes almost no effort. Even less effort then thinking, which perhaps even this comment illustrates.
Just think how much worse it would be if everyone that wanted to comment could do math.
You have no idea how many people send me emails about how they got the math right, but still the captcha says “you suck at math.”
“…they got the math right, but still the captcha says ‘you suck at math’.”
The non-obvious answer is the commenter is running uBlock Origin or a similar proxy type ad-blocker. Even white-listing the site’s domain will usually be insufficient. (Depends on… stuff). One must totally disable it by removing the proxy from the loop between the browser and the Winsock.
So, you should probably add “disable your damned ad-blocker to reduce suckiness” to your “you suck at math” message.
Or maybe they just really, really suck at math.
That box is the written equivalent of rope with which to hang oneself.
“We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand.” Eric Hoffer
And so it is with commenters.
I was an early adherent of Dunning-Kruger.
Not only did you know the answer all along, you’ve known it since 2008.
D-K is a part of it, but certainly not all of it.
I like reading this blog but rarely have anything relevant to say in response so I don’t post comments. Occasionally I slip up and post a comment anyway. I think my urge to post comments comes from wanting to participate in something interesting, even if I have nothing interesting to say. And then it becomes an exercise in proving that my thoughts on the subject are valuable, which leads to sharing irrelevant personal experience and/or off-topic nonsense. Most of the time I get to math problem and trash whatever I was writing. Sometimes the urge is too strong or my impulse control is too weak.
It’s okay when there isn’t something to add, and I enjoy funny comments very much. If they can’t illuminate, then why not enjoy a good laugh?
Or a good fight!
The fights become old very quickly. They tend to follow the same pattern and, except to the extent they reveal the emptiness of a position, serve no purpose and swiftly devolve into a waste of bandwidth.
You should get “away” more often.
It takes a bit of time to appreciate a new “view” overlooking ones own back porch.
http://www.clowncrack.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/TimeAfterTime.jpg
P.S. Your guests need “help” but not necessarily your help. If anyone ought to realize that, it would be you.
Stretch your legs out and enjoy. Relax! Even bad work lasts a long time…
The big PoohBah of the blawgosphere complains about random noises! What about random noises in the courtroom when the Bailiff announces, “All Rise!” That will put a chill down yer spine, for real. “Please be seated; gentlemen will remove their hats and headgear. There will be no talking in the courtroom. Mobile devices must be shut off, or you will be held in contempt of court”
Random noises R Us. Yoko Ono-breath? A deck with a view is quintessential de rigeur this time of year, almost as good, perhaps better than, the proverbial room with a view. Come on down; the weather is purrfect.
The most contemptible people in court are the the judge and prosecutor lady, but don’t tell anyone I said that!