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All my friends were doing it...
Jan. 13th, 2003 03:33 pm...but I'm still not going to talk about the fooforaw over at that one community, about that one well-known multifandom writer, other than peripherally.
If you are lucky enough not to have any clue what I'm alluding to, count your blessings, cut your losses, and go read something else. Something that will amuse or arouse you, or both. You're better off.
It's funny... after awhile, you don't even need to know what a flamewar is supposedly about to be able to comment on it. That should tell us something.
Why am I not going to talk about fandom's latest piss-party? Well, for one thing, what I know about it is all second-hand at best and wouldn't add up to as long as this entry turned out; in other words, I'm not qualified to have an opinion. (Not that that stops our recidivist flamers and windbags, in any fandom, but I digress.) More importantly, I don't want to have anything to do with the mess, either as participant or as spectator.
If you know me, you probably know that I enjoy the hell out of a good lively intellectual debate, where everyone knows no malice is intended in the propounding of any particular viewpoint. I'm fond of stretching my mind to compass an argument (argument in the sense of a hypothesis or hypotheses, supported by reasoning and/or evidence -- not argument in the sense of a disagreement) I may not agree with entirely, or at all. It's intellectual excercise. It keeps me toned.
I will, on occasion, break out my debater's hat in less friendly circumstances. (Hey, I don't do all that exercise just to keep my brain fit and sexy.) I do this when I feel it's "necessary" -- for me, that standard means not arguing the point has to present an actual threat to someone. In practice, that can mean anything from a teenager who has it in their head that they can have unprotected sex without consequences, to a voter who's not convinced police forces need any outside supervision, to a now-former friend whose misinterpretation of Christian and Jewish texts led to the misapprehension that allowing the slaughter of peoples with different beliefs was acceptable. These arguments (all of which I've really had) are not always friendly, or fun, nor do I always 'win' or convince the person(s) on the other side.
But they're important.
Who supports whom in the latest fandom flamewar over netiquette and who's violated it the most? In the grand scheme of things, not important. Yes, feelings get hurt, friendships are broken, grudges forged to be carried over to the next eruption of bickering.
Getting all worked up, sniping with rancor and receiving back hits of the same, over issues of personality? Not Jack's idea of a good time.
Now I'm just going to fantasise what it would be like if all those hundreds of comments, and the posts they're attached to, had been comprised of feedback and responses to feedback instead of all this fapping wankery. Somebody poke me when it's over.
Thanks to a certain someone who helped me clarify many of the thoughts above. She'll remain nameless here, for all our sakes, but hopefully she'll see this and get a much-needed chuckle out of it.
And yes, I disabled comments on this post. Come on; I didn't even want to see what I had to say about it.
70s Porn Star Buddha says: If you meet the Buddha on the road, fuck him.
If you are lucky enough not to have any clue what I'm alluding to, count your blessings, cut your losses, and go read something else. Something that will amuse or arouse you, or both. You're better off.
It's funny... after awhile, you don't even need to know what a flamewar is supposedly about to be able to comment on it. That should tell us something.
Why am I not going to talk about fandom's latest piss-party? Well, for one thing, what I know about it is all second-hand at best and wouldn't add up to as long as this entry turned out; in other words, I'm not qualified to have an opinion. (Not that that stops our recidivist flamers and windbags, in any fandom, but I digress.) More importantly, I don't want to have anything to do with the mess, either as participant or as spectator.
If you know me, you probably know that I enjoy the hell out of a good lively intellectual debate, where everyone knows no malice is intended in the propounding of any particular viewpoint. I'm fond of stretching my mind to compass an argument (argument in the sense of a hypothesis or hypotheses, supported by reasoning and/or evidence -- not argument in the sense of a disagreement) I may not agree with entirely, or at all. It's intellectual excercise. It keeps me toned.
I will, on occasion, break out my debater's hat in less friendly circumstances. (Hey, I don't do all that exercise just to keep my brain fit and sexy.) I do this when I feel it's "necessary" -- for me, that standard means not arguing the point has to present an actual threat to someone. In practice, that can mean anything from a teenager who has it in their head that they can have unprotected sex without consequences, to a voter who's not convinced police forces need any outside supervision, to a now-former friend whose misinterpretation of Christian and Jewish texts led to the misapprehension that allowing the slaughter of peoples with different beliefs was acceptable. These arguments (all of which I've really had) are not always friendly, or fun, nor do I always 'win' or convince the person(s) on the other side.
But they're important.
Who supports whom in the latest fandom flamewar over netiquette and who's violated it the most? In the grand scheme of things, not important. Yes, feelings get hurt, friendships are broken, grudges forged to be carried over to the next eruption of bickering.
Getting all worked up, sniping with rancor and receiving back hits of the same, over issues of personality? Not Jack's idea of a good time.
Now I'm just going to fantasise what it would be like if all those hundreds of comments, and the posts they're attached to, had been comprised of feedback and responses to feedback instead of all this fapping wankery. Somebody poke me when it's over.
Thanks to a certain someone who helped me clarify many of the thoughts above. She'll remain nameless here, for all our sakes, but hopefully she'll see this and get a much-needed chuckle out of it.
And yes, I disabled comments on this post. Come on; I didn't even want to see what I had to say about it.
70s Porn Star Buddha says: If you meet the Buddha on the road, fuck him.
