Taking The Moral High Ground
This is simple. If we want to win we can't let them spin. Success in every war depends on taking the high ground. In this case the Vampire Squid depends on convincing the unwashed masses that God is on it's side. Can you say Prosperity Gospel boys and girls?
We had a pie fight when Steve requested a little verbal decorum. A simple request to refrain from juvenile profanity does not strike me as a lot to ask considering the stakes.
The Hillbots have portrayed all Bernie supporters as immature Berniebros. The left has always been portrayed as naive. Dick Cheney had "gravitas" because war is serious business.
If this community is serious about
preventing the extinction of all mankind, we must be prepared to make minor sacrifices. If anyone feels that their "right" to hurl petty profanity is more important than crushing The Vampire Squid, then leave.
Don't let the door hit your rear end on the way out. See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!
Or as we say on Skid Row, "Smell ya! Shouldn't have to tell ya!"
Comments
Nature's Disappearing
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Under certain circumstances,
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Absolutely Right NHK
We are all free to exercise our right to expressive profanity when and where it will be effective. Venting is good!
All Steve is asking for is a wee bit of self restraint so c99% doesn't come off as a juvenile playground for simpletons. I fully intend to continue my practice of concluding anti-capitalist rants with "Fuck Mark Zuckerberg!" I don't believe that is a problem for the moderators, but in the interest of showing respect for the "cider house rules" I could even exercise enough self discipline to stop saying that.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
It's a complaint in search of a problem.
I bet there were more uses of the terms StevedD complains about on his own thread than have been used in all the diaries and comments in the past year at least.
Nobody uses those words with any regularity around here, except of course in the sterile, upper level seminar tone that shows how academically edgy one is, as they tut tut how awful it is that others use the toxic words they themselves just spewed out into the electronic ether.
Because censorship (self initiated or otherwise), is just so intellectually hip nowadays. Makes one just feel so morally superior.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
I consider profanity a verbal tool
which should be used rarely, if at all. I agree it has no place on a public forum, although there other forum habits which annoy me more, such as attempted censorship (that writer or site is a leftist or far right or crazy conspiracy monger which you must not read or refer to), insulting responses to one's posts ("that is crap", or "concern trolling", whatever that means), over the top labeling (if your are not voting Clinton you must be a Trumpist fascist racist anti-Semite).
Sometimes at DK I felt like the lady in the movie Paint Your Wagon.
Husband, please sell her. I can't stand any more of those martyred looks.
This look is not martyred. This look is pure hatred.
My anti Clinton diaries were not "concerny", they were warnings of impending disaster for Democrats and some of their constituencies.
Have to love a movie where the female lead has the best lines. "How is your husband, M'am,? Both of them are very well."
Is Meteor Man the same person as MeteorBlades?
Mary Bennett
Totally Agree Nastarana
No. I was never Meteor Blades, but he was the only front page poster I followed. I was nanobot for a brief slice of time and used "blades" in my user name IIRC.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
The moral high ground?
you've got a lot of nerve waving around the moral high ground and telling people here 'don't let the door slam you on your way out'.
Your reply to a comment I made last night was pretty smelly. You put words in my mouth that twisted my comment into being racist. I was not even talking about The Black Congressional Caucus I was talking about the futility a political revolution that's purpose was to elect progressive Dems. I did not state that ...
That is a prime example of using language to name call and guilt trip. Is that you DEO? It's also not the high ground. So who are you to dictate to others here what determines the high ground you speak of. Hurling profanity around is preferable to twisting people's opinions or language as racist when the words or intent had nothing to do with race. That is low not verbally decorous. I have a simple request how about you refrain from crying racist, sexist and using this as a method to invalidate and someone's opinion or statement. So tell me again MM why we all should make a sacrifice and not hurl profanity around and then call this low road ethical and the higher moral ground.
I recall hearing something about "the moral high ground."
I can't remember if it was about people claiming to take the moral high ground, or saying others have lost the moral high ground (really those two aren't much different), but the bits I remember were something about the people who claim to have/claim others have lost the moral high ground tend not to be fit to make such claims. I think it was something like that, anyway. My memory isn't great on things I've heard/read about over a month prior.
An interesting thing about claiming the moral high ground is that it's another way of saying that you're better than others, that you are good, and those you deem unfit are bad, that you and those you deem worthy are pillars of morality, and that everyone else is immoral, or less moral, and that because of your self proclaimed higher morality, that what you say should matter far more than the immoral mass you label everyone else as. It would seem unquestionable to me that proclaiming oneself to be morally superior to their peers is a very assholish thing to do.
Edit: Also, I know the feeling of having this guy (and a couple others) twist things you say into racist attacks. I guess that makes the opening line of "you can't let them spin" on this essay pretty hypocritical.
Maybe You Are Confused About Something
Here's the link:
http://caucus99percent.com/comment/166406#comment-166406
I was supplementing your comment with my additional opinion that not a single member of The Black Congressional Caucus has supported BLM. In fact, John Lewis embarassed himself by trying to criticize BLM.
The blockquote you lifted was a reply to my own comment for the purpose of clarifying the pie fight issue of using gutter language to describe Hillary, as opposed to harsh language that was accurate.
If you want to hurl profanity by calling Hillary a bitch or cunt, be my guest. Call her a fucking twat if it makes you happy.
As far as accusing me of being racist, stop by Skid Row or BLM L.A. and we can discuss racism. No problem.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
This language:
has absolutely no place here. None. As to the rest:
1) Calling for an absence of bad words is ok, provided, of course, that the author provides an explicit list thereof so that everybody else will know exactly what is being objected to, and, by elimination, what is allowable, in the opinion of the wannabe censor making such a call.
2) Ignoring any such call is also pretty much ok.
3) Moral my ass. Morality has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with whatever this, that, or the other individual, gospel or religion holds to be "profanity", swearing, bad words or talking dirty.
4) Calling for others to leave is way above your pay grade.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Trust the moderator or leave
I am not a moderator. I have no control over anything anyone says or does. I'm also not gonna beg anyone to hang around. Not my job.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
It is also not your job to tell people this way or the highway.
On this blog, you don't get to tell others what is appropriate for them or this site. If you have a problem with someone or how this blog is run, report it to management. El is a moderator. As another moderator, let me say you need to curb your enthusiasm. You have an opinion, good for you. Nothing makes it the holy grail.
I also want to say that this is not skid row. No one is encouraging the gratuitous use of foul and demeaning language. Especially three essays worth of it when comments are included. Steven expressed his thoughts. They were freely responded to in comments. Then Steven wrote an essay responding to the responses he got in comments in his first essay, which was also freely responded to. Now, here we go again.
Just because one is free to do something, doesn't mean it is always a good idea to do it. Civility includes decorum. When addressing fellow blog members, it should be noted and observed that they are not public figures and cannot be spoken to or about as if they were.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
tell you what, *you* can worry about the serious people
and what they think of c99p.
Hillbots are not going to like us, period.
So, anyway, take a look at my post here, let me know where the profanity is. If you can't find it then what the heck are you talking about? And don't tell me "heck" is a bad word.
What are you talking about?
Steven D wrote this post:
http://caucus99percent.com/content/hillary-b-word-c-word-and-misogyny
requesting folks back off on use of bitch and cunt. I happen to agree with him. Where did I direct a comment at you?
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
an essay directed to the group is directed at all
and what I'm asking for is a link to any talk like that. Nobody likes to be scolded for something they're not doing.
I mean you should definitely not be in favor of dropping nuclear bombs. So you better be careful about what you write. Shame on you if you even consider it.
And I'll keep after you about it!
Now if I cross-post that last bit at some right-wing joint and here (where no one is saying that) and then get all moralistic is people go "eh, what?" then ....well, enough of that.
No it's NOT
My comment was directed at the same people Steven D's original post was directed at, people who were childishly using the words bitch and cunt to attack Hillary.
If you were not one of those people then my comment and Steven D's post were clearly not directed at you.
The nuclear bomb example is a complete nonsensical non sequitur.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
I'm still waiting for a link to someone here ...
calling Hillary Clinton a c-word. Do you know who you're referring to? As far as I can tell it's nobody.
No, the nuclear bomb example is right on
Furthermore, I really wish people here would stop with the cruel advocacy of dog fighting and bull fights. And wearing fur coats made of cats. What the holy hell are they thinking? My god, what will the people at PETA think of us! This kind of talk must end immediately.
BTW, the premise of this article is sadly wrong. It is assumed,
because various parents and church marms always said so, that one must eschew slang and profanity in order to be taken seriously. That may be true in one's philosophy dissertation, but not in US politics.
No matter what, you will not sell the died in the wool Dems, GOPs or major idealogues anything they aren't already ready to buy. Both parties indulge is misdirection, disinformation, outright lies, every trick of propaganda, sophistry, rhetoric and semantics, psychological trickery and all the rest. You cannot be right if you aren't on board with them.
There was once a candidate for high office, he spoke well, properly, with good grammar, an absence of slang and profanity and all that. He was profound, organized and erudite. He got hammered. Depending upon the target audience for the propaganda he was everything from a "fuckin' egghead" to an "ivory tower intellectual". His name was Adlai Stevenson, rejected overwhelmingly for being educated, intelligent and well spoken.
Here, we can talk, discuss and even reason with each other, but out there you need a hook, a plethora of different hooks and variations thereof, and only some need to be couched as if one were in Sunday school.
Meanwhile:
1) It is extremely important to be someone that the "average guy" would want to have a beer with, and
2)
- Canned Heat
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Well, ain't no fuckin way I'm goin to stop saying/writing
"fuck" --- ain't no fuckin way! Man, what a load of horseshit lol --- funny, I didn't expect to be told, basically, in other words, lol, to "shut the fuck up or leave C99" --- oh brother/sister/friends you guys need to take some fuckin chill pills --- lighten the fuck up! Y'all are being way toooo fuckin serious! It's fuckin politics for fuck sake lol. I'll get on my lap top so I can link some South Park lol
Very persuasive
You can swear like a 6th grader. Very impressive.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Awe shucks Mr Meteor Man thanks a whole heapin fuckin lot!
You are crossing the line. Back off.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Oh yeah, now I'm remembering the bathroom and hall monitors
in 6th grade. I never liked them much
I dedicate this video to you, Ajaradom:
[video:https://youtu.be/jixxYx9fklM width:560 height:315]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Thanks thana!
That's right nice of you
I take the moral low ground and say
that your Moral High Ground is not moral enough to be worth responding to.
Too bad I couldn't resist to say that this is just highly lowly shit.
Shit, I am Sicilian, we use profanity as punctuation or as
placeholder words similar to "Ummm" or "Uhhh", lol!
Words only have the power that you choose to invest in them and we would all be well served to remember that.
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
I'm of the opinion
that the more frequently words are used, the less powerful they seem. When I was younger (as if I'm old, hah), words like bitch and fuck just seemed so powerful and special (them being "forbidden words" probably didn't help that), but now they're just verbal filler or punctuation.
I think the thing that gives any word any kind of power is actually the delivery.
Indeed, Context is everything... n/t
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me