On dealing with idiots on the Internet

Sometimes I will make a post on the Internet which happens to be true, and perhaps precisely because it is true, it will hit too close to home for some people and they’ll take offense. Even if the post was not particularly aggressive, but just true, it will be apparently willfully misinterpreted as aggressive I’ll find myself in a flame-fight, which is somewhere I really don’t want to be.

It will usually be the case that someone has put up straw man arguments against my position, or is just wrong. The thing is, this always leaves me with something of a dilemma. Invariably the person doing the complaining will not have a valid argument, and I can very easily defeat them in argument, time and time again. But I have found they will never let it lie at that, even when I do it gently. They will sometimes even agree that I am right when I respond to them, but then continue with some other weird tangential point, trying to cling onto some kind of argument apparently for the sake of it, or simply because they misunderstand.

Now, I know this will happen, and I also know that also that while I am very busy and just wanted to make a considered point and get on, this could be anybody I’m dealing with. It is obviously someone who hasn’t properly thought through their ideas, but it is also quite probably someone who really has nothing better to do except play devil’s advocate, argue from ego, and waste my time.

Given that the person is a) not making a valid point b) is unlikely to modify their position when proven wrong (indeed is especially unlike to do so when proven wrong), c) probably has an unending amount of time to waste coming back to me and – potentially - d) is just being insulting, there are a lot of reasons why we should completely ignore such characters. They are not worthy of a moment’s attention.

But if we do this - ignore idiots - we run the risk of it appearing that we “could not” reply, daren’t, or whatever. Therein lies the dilemma, and it’s why I disabled comments on this site.

Well, these people are beyond help but in answer to this dilemma we have to remember the purpose of the posts in the first place. They’re not only to expose stupid ways of thinking to idiots, but also – very largely – to say to decent people “come out”. We can fight the culture of social decadence, glorification of bad values, and promotion of religious delusion. They’re addressed to wavering people in the middle, not the nutters who reply, and they’re addressed to people who are already inclined to agree but who remain quiet. They are as much intended to give encouragement and support to these people as to expose idiocy to the perpetrators themselves.

This being the case, it doesn’t really matter whether a reply is made or not, but I would like to put it on record that I am never in a position where I cannot reply. It’s certainly conceivable to me that I might be wrong occasionally. If so, I’ll say so, but it hasn’t happened yet. When I leave a debate it is only ever because it is not worth staying in – the participants have proved themselves under-qualified, on the grounds outlined above.

Whenever I don’t reply, I trust it is always obvious to intelligent people that I could have done so, but deemed it not worth my time. And it will be obvious I am in no way afraid, since I continue to speak out. I might reply occasionally, if blatant falsehoods are being stated. But once or twice is usually enough – my point is then made. If the person continues just the same it is obvious to me that the conversation is fruitless, and while they may have nothing better to do, I certainly have, and while they may waste their own time I am not about to allow them to waste mine.

And you can extend what I say to any other rare, intelligent individuals on Internet forums who strangely vanish from debates.

In the news today

Another day, another set of politically correct headlines on the Today Programme this morning. The trouble is there is no more truthful alternative on the airwaves in the UK. For that we need to turn to the Internet and the likes of Pat Condell.

Today we had the Bishop of Rochester declaring again that “a moral and spiritual vacuum” has occurred in Britain since the sixties, and that lays the door wide open for radical Islam to take its place. But “radical Islam” is a tautology: Islam is radical. To prove this to yourself all you need to do is actually read the Koran. Anyway, the bishop has accordingly received death threats from Muslims, as do most people who dare to criticise “the religion of peace” as it expands steadily across Europe.

I’m not so sure about a “spiritual” vacuum, sadly, with the continued prevalence of astral projection, meditation, tree-hugging and all the other weird and baseless things people believe in, but a moral vacuum is obvious, and of great concern. The trouble is though that this, of course, should no more be replaced with “Biblical values” as the Bishop claims, than with those from the Koran. Were that to happen, we would all be thrown back into the moral Dark Ages. For 885 examples of the kind of values found in the Bible, see here. That should surely be enough for anybody.

The next article was about the mother of Victoria Climbie, the girl who was abused and killed by her foster parents in the UK and this abuse was not acted upon because of incompetence and political correctness within London Social Services. Her mother was shocked about this and rightly so.

What we are not allowed to say, however, is that Victoria travelled from the Ivory Coast under a false passport and that Mrs Climbie was irresponsible for ever allowing her child to go with these foster parents, one of whom she hardly knew, the other who she had not even met. We’re not allowed to say that, partly because this kind of “informal fosterage” (to which we inexplicably open our doors) is a custom in West Africa, and to criticise it would be to go against the grain of cultural relativism - the odious partner in crime of political correctness, both of which are currently eating away at our society. We’re not allowed to say it, but I’m saying it anyway, and I will continue to say whatever is true.

The bishop is right that we need to get a grip on morality in this country, but wrong (as are so many) about where the answer is to be found. The moral vacuum in the United Kingdom must be replaced by enforcement of the law, the elimination of political correctness and promotion of secular Humanism, and it had better begin to happen soon.

Musing

I stroll down the road away from my property here in Balham, heading towards the centre of the district. I pass the usual overgrown front gardens full of junk and wonder why the councils here have no authority to order people to keep their properties in a good state of repair, as they can in America, then I remember political correctness. Of course, what right have they to tell people to keep the environment pleasant to behold? This is a society of rights more than duties, and that is its fundamental problem.

I continue on my way. I step around slow moving “trendy” loud-talking smokers, killing themselves, and me if I let them. I move back from the gutter to the pavement, now ahead of them.

The poster of that obnoxious foul-mouthed chef has been replaced by one of Sir Michael Parkinson (no, he didn’t win a Nobel prize, he’s just a chat show host). He’s saying:

“Once you’ve tried Sky Plus you won’t be able to imagine life without it”.

That sounds to me clearly like a reason not to get it, whatever it is, than to get it. One can imagine a similar ad for heroin. Who wants to be hooked on something you don’t need? The intrusive advertising everywhere, on video on the underground now, brings Blade Runner’s dystopian society ever closer.

I arrive at a bar where they picked up furniture for free and charge £3.20 for a pint. It costs only 40p to make the equivalent at home. I’m shocked by the price but I like the change of scene. I don’t like the people, I like the place, which is like a time-warp back to the 1950s.

Young men nearby play snooker, lazily. They’re in the de riguer Balham “man-boy” uniform of jeans, striped polo shirts and trainers. They chat about unsubstantial things. Extreme profanity is injected into their conversation casually: it has lost all shock value for them. This seems disgustingly decadent to me. They couldn’t care less if I hear them. Not necessarily because they don’t care about offending me; rather because it would seem to them quaint and unlikely that anyone could ever find their language offensive. They’re that far gone. They have jobs: they seem to work in advertising (no surprises there, then). I know from experience that their true colours will likely not need to be hidden in their workplace: this manner would more probably be admired. But are these really their true colours? It is perversely possible, in this morally topsy-turvy society, that this vulgar abandon is affected in order to earn respect. Conversation gets around to girlfriends too - they have them, of course. I think about what I would do with these people in my company. Sack them. It’s that simple.

I move on. Walking through the smokescreen of junkies outside the door, I sit in a new place and observe the pub-going people of Balham. It is fashionable to dress down - for the women too. Everybody is dressed.. well, as if they just don’t care. I wonder what people from earlier eras would have made of this. Wealth has increased, standards have declined. It has perversely become a statement of one’s status to say “I don’t care”. But - though common - it is in fact a shameful and decadent statement.

I’m reading a book on evolutionary psychology and Darwinian theory called “The Moral Animal”, by Robert Wright. I wonder if it will be too reductionist.

I look around a little more. I note how many women seem to go in for the fake blond look now. I wonder why. It seems a little ironic that these women, who typically have no intention of adopting a natural female role (until, of course, it is too late), are interested in appearing youthful and appealing. Personally I prefer dark hair, and had they kept theirs that way, it would have had the added appeal of being genuine.

A quotation from Charles Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle takes on a greater poignancy than he can ever have feared it would in London today:

“As for an English lady, I have almost forgotten what she is - something very angelic and good.”

A man stands before me a weird mixture of country squire and urban pygmy. On his head he wears a flat cap but up his entire leg is a tattoo. Men are dressed as boys - t-shirts, trainers. They all drink lager. Women are dressed… unremarkably. They’re not really dressed at all. Not tailored. They all just wear nondescript things that hang on them, devoid of any femininity.

These are only the people in the pub. There are others, elsewhere. But I’m sorry to see what I see and I’m sorry I cannot report more favorably about this, my country. But not that sorry, because I expect I will do what two million others have done in recent years: I’ll leave for somewhere better - a society where people have more well-earned personal pride and that is not destroying itself through a combination of political correctness and cultural decadence.

I listen to Damien Rice to drown out the loud noise. It’s very nice. I wonder whether I can safely leave my book on the table while I pop out briefly. I remember myself: it’s a book, not a Playstation. It’s extremely unlikely anyone in here would even care which book it is.

Damien Rice’s “Eskimo” soars and I return to my book, only to look up when Offenbach’s beautiful “Barcarolle” draws such a contrast with my surroundings. I fondly remember my beautiful girlfriend, the epitome of all things that are lacking here, as she sang this sublimely in Florida.

You had me at hello

This moving and well-known scene from Jerry Maguire is one my favourites in all cinema.

I love irony of the location - a feminists’ meeting - and it’s great to see pure sincerity and old-fashioned romance between a man and a woman trumping that mindset.

Oops! The latest free Adobe Flash Player™ is required to view this content.

Gordon’s gin associates itself with vulgarity

Is anybody else sick of seeing this foul-mouthed individual staring down from posters all over London?

One can only hope the message of the adverts is supposed to be ironic - especially the one saying “Perfection” - but either way I will never buy Gordon’s gin again and I urge you not to either.

We don’t ask to see crude and ignorant advertising lies when we are simply trying to walk down the street: they are imposed upon us. The least we can do is fight back with prose and boycotts. The most is to move to the countryside, which is what I will at some point do.

Pat Condell - Appeasing Islam

It’s a rant, but that doesn’t make any difference to the fact it’s all true, and refreshing to hear…

Oops! The latest free Adobe Flash Player™ is required to view this content.

Boris Johnson Mayor of London

Boris Johnson has been elected Mayor of London. Great - why not give him a chance? Let’s hope he starts by having a good close read of this, if he hasn’t done so already.