Comments on: The Men Who Stare At Goats

By: Brian McDonough

Brian McDonough — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:17:59 +0000

Hey, hey, hey, people. … We at badmouth central love us a good debate, and are frankly too busy to rigorously police a comments section we assume is being populated by reasonable grownups (it is, after all, the Internet.)

I know that the subject of this post (a George Clooney movie) is the kind of thing we all have very strong feelings about, but I’d like to ask everyone to keep the discourse reasonably polite and respectful.

We wouldn’t want feelings to get hurt, or to force John (who’s way swamped with his statewide marital crusade) or me (who hates playing the heavy) to become official voices of reason. That would just be too weird.

Thanks, everyone.

By: William

William — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:13:19 +0000

Because you are crazy to believe this stuff. Dont tell the little green guy behind you that i said he was fake, and dont telepathically tell your mom i said you really cant talk to her that way. I dont want those 2 mad at me.

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:10:32 +0000

Hi William, FYI…..most of us (except truly insensitive individuals?)glean meaning from words directed at them.
Yes, you are right – if you wrote: “%hnm+!@#$” then your text would be hard to understand & find meaning in. However, if you used words like stupid, psycho, high, etc. your disrespectful message is loud & clear ! What don’t you get about that?
Maybe you should pick a fight w/your father or those individuals who raised you to be like this & leave the rest of us & our opinions alone ??? Happy Holidays !

By: William

William — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:23:13 +0000

WOW, another person who can tell emotion from text. How do you do it? Is it the psycho err i mean psychic ability?

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:57:26 +0000

William please take a chill pill before going off on anyone else!? Seriously, consider some counseling to deal w/your anger & disrespect of others & their opinions!!! You must be very lonely w/an attitude like that!

By: William

William — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:04:38 +0000

There is no productive discourse. You think people can do things that they cannot. Do you not think that if the military could actually do this, we would have gotten Bin Laden already? I mean seriously, think what you are saying. No i am not an angry person. But i see from your psycho, i mean psychic abilities, you can read into these words and sense the hostility in the tone of my typing? I am dumbfounded by this skill. Seriously elliander and karen, you should get checked out. Maybe the aliens probed you and put a GPS tracker into your head or something.

NO SERIOUSLY, GET SO REAL MEDICAL HELP BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE AND YOU DO SOMETHING SMART, LIKE KILL YOURSELF.

I hope you have not yet procreated. Good god that would be terrible. People like you were meant to be swallowed!

STFU = Shut The F*ck Up

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:21:16 +0000

Hi Elliander, BIG THX for advancing the conversation by informing, not by being hostile & rude!!! I took a class given by David Morehouse & it was pretty cool! He feels he came by his abilities when he was shot in the line of duty. His helmet protected him but it gave him quite a jolt & things were changed thereafter. I venture into these chats very seldom because it usually ends w/some uptight losing it on most everybody & thus the productive discourse is sadly over!? Inform on, please !!!

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:10:37 +0000

Hi Elliander, BIG THX for advancing the conversation by informing not by being hostile & rude !!! I took a class given by the aforementioned David Morehouse & it was pretty cool! He feels he came by his psychic abilities when he was shot in the line of duty. His helmet protected him but gave him quite a jolt & things were changed thereafter. I venture into these chats very seldom because it usually ends w/some uptight losing it on most everybody & thus the productive discourse is sadly over !? Inform on please !

By: Elliander

Elliander — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:50:33 +0000

Once you say your peace to someone acting like that the best way to handle them is to just not say anything more.

By: Elliander

Elliander — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:48:20 +0000

Definition of: trolling

(1) Surfing, or browsing, the Web.

(2) Posting derogatory messages about sensitive subjects on newsgroups and chat rooms to bait users into responding.

(3) Hanging around in a chat room without saying anything, like a “peeping tom.”

Most people would regard definition two when accusing someone of being a troll. If you go strictly by that definition then you are a troll William.

If, on the other hand, you have a negative opinion of a person or belief, then presenting supporting evidence is generally the polite way of doing it.

For example, accusing me of watching too much scifi, even after I quoted official CIA records is an example of trolling. But if you doubt those words, there are other ways to phrase it.

In practice, trolling only ever really makes the views of those you argue against seem even more thought out because they are placed in contrast.

In addition to this, name calling is generally regarded as juvenile by most.