<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by anonplz:
As to this issue with "tin-foil hat crowd" or "drink the Fox News kool-aid" remarks, IMHO, 1. you'd have to demonstrate that you were an intended recipient of the disparaging remark; 2. it was not a generalized remark (like, "I hate them" - those types of remarks are usually general enough as to be like typed frowns or scowls); and 3. the remark was intended SIMPLY to make someone else feel bad.
Nako, I feel your objections do not "pass go" as personal attacks. You may very well FEEL bad about what you read there, but that is not sufficient to be a personal attack. I feel bad when I hear people use pejorative names, but that doesn't make them personal attacks (which is not to say it doesn't STILL violate the TOS against racist speech and is thus time-out-able). I feel bad about being pushed and shoved on the subway during my commute, but it is almost NEVER a personal attack - just thoughtlessness, selfishness, any number of things, but it is not personal.</font>
And yet, I'd probably get crucified if I were to take a theoretical position that went to the effect of "Homosexuality is a learned behavior that can be cured, and not a genetic issue."
(For the record, I don't believe that - so please don't flame me for it.)
I'd venture a significant population here on FT would nail me to the wall, call me an anti-gay spewing hate speech, scream about TOS violations, and call for my immediate banishment from this site - even though I singled out no individual person, made no generalizations about any particular group (unlike Droneklax's repeated right-wing bashing), and am not saying it just to troll.
Somehow, I smell a wicked double-standard.
To be honest, anonplz, I don't care what you think about this matter. I don't need you or anyone else to tell me what my opinion should be, or what my feeling is. I am personally offended about repeated comments about right-wingers being mindless sheep, because it *does* make an implication that I'm stupid. It does generalize about a particular group. And yes, it is a personal attack because I am a part of the group that is, apparently, too stupid to rationalize independent thought.
And if calling someone a sheep isn't meant to make that person feel bad, what the h*ll is it supposed to do - be a f*cking Hallmark card?
Give me a break. Then again, maybe I'm the one who needs a break, from FT as a whole.
Mike
[This message has been edited by nako (edited Jan 14, 2004).]