[Vision2020] just sarcasm? no!

[Tom Hansen]

Very well stated, Keely.

Your sarcasm, as entertaining as it was poignant, was neither threatening 
nor unpleasant, except to, maybe, the backboneless sock-puppet Doudalchri 
Wilcourwit who I feel authors "Arnold's" commentaries. 

One wonders how soon we can anticipate the return of The Schwaller.  Only 
the Shadow knows. 

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"People who ridicule others while hiding behind anonymous monikers in chat-
room forums are neither brave nor clever." 

- Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch (August 21, 2007)



> Visionaires,
> 
> I wasn't too terribly worried that my "why not ask a patriarch from the
Lea> gue of the South?" comment earlier today -- based on "Donovan's" 
question
a> bout why everyone gets so worked up about race, gender, sexual
orientation,>  etc. -- would be seen as sarcastic to people.  It was; I 
think we all
know>  that I do sarcasm fairly well, sometimes not with noble intention or
honor> able result.  I try to apologize immediately and publicly when I'm 
merely
i> nsulting.
> 
> This, however, was something different, and I'd like to address my 
offlist
> correspondent in explaining why I wrote what I wrote:
> 
> The question came from either the real Donovan J. Arnold of UI student
gove> rnment fame or a cadre of Dono-Wannabes using his identity to engage 
in
deb> ate without the backbone to so -- and I believe that to be the case, 
based
> on similarities in these and in the literary canon of Edna Wilmington,
Shir> ley Pissedoff, etc., all puppets masterfully engaged by our 
skylarking
Defe> nders of All Things Kirk.  Also, I'm pretty familiar with Donovan's
rhetori> c and style; this doesn't seem to be the guy I sparred with 
during the
bond>  campaign.  Either way, though, the question bothered me in its
quasi-innoc> ence?  Why -- the plaintive questioner wants to know -- are 
we all so
inter> ested in the ethnic, sexual, religious demographic of an Interfaith 
group
m> eeting?  Can't we all just get along, or something like that?
> 
> But it's the "real" Donovan who has rudely treated people who are
different>  from him, whether by one of the above demographic categories 
or by
holding>  to political or religious views, perhaps informed by those 
demographics,
t> hat he disagrees with.  He's made it an issue.  Further, if today's
questio> ner is a Kirk defender (The Artist Formerly Known As Edna?), then 
he is a
d> efender of a religio-political movement that thinks gender, race,
religion,>  sexual orientation and political beliefs are valid -- 
necessary --
divisor> s in society.   No one could defend the Confederacy, call for the 
Southern
> states to secede from the Union, fly a Confederate flag, and explain
slaver> y as a benefit to black families and seriously be expected to be 
seen as a
> "race-neutral" social thinker.  Few cling as mightily to "hard" ideas of
ma> le headship and female submission in the church and family, and 
someday in
> millennial society, as the all-male eldership of Christ Church.   I don't
k> now of any other group that publishes writings that approve of
death-by-sto> ning of homosexuals once they themselves are in control of 
society, and
I'v> e rarely read more smug vitriol directed against liberals than that
produce> d by the paleo-conservative, Deo-Libertarian, paleo-Confederates 
of Anselm
> House.  Remember "liberal women are ugly," anyone?
> 
> But regardless of the true identity of the author of the original
question,>  that person is indisputably a white male, and I find it more 
than a
little>  annoying when white guys who trade in social division and benefit 
from it
> expect to be taken seriously when they ask why, by golly, are some of us
so>  dang wrapped up in the gender, race, orientation stuff.  It's 
simple.  We
> like it when someone other than "you" (or my sons, my dad, or my husband)
a> dvance in society.  
> 
> It's really that simple, if a bit sarcastic.
> 
>
Keely

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