BACK OFF!!!
October 27, 2002 ~ 6:57 p.m.
The following note appeared in my guestbook a few hours ago:
�You�re a fucking idiot and you�ve never been able to counter my arguments, just inventing pathetic unrelated comebacks.�
Naturally, I deleted it. I won�t allow foul language in my guestbook; that is not the place for it. But I have no compunction about it appearing in my diary, so I thought I�d give it the attention it still deserves.
The author is a 19-year-old college student. Shortly after the above angry tirade, he left another guestbook entry in which he chided me for an entry I wrote a few weeks ago and how �no-one agreed� with me. How does he know this and where�s his proof?
Has the concept of silent admission from some readers ever occurred to him? Did he allow for the fact that if someone dared agree with me at the time, he would chase them down and give them hell? (And he has been known to leave totally unprovoked notes to another diarist, taking the D�lander in question to task for the crime of publishing opinions that he personally didn�t sanction.)
Furthermore, has he poured through my guestbook to find instances where readers have agreed with what I�ve had to say in the past? It would appear that he is conveniently ignoring that.
To him�and he knows who he is�I have only this to say:
Listen up and listen good�I am not extending the Debate-It page into my own diary as you interpret it. I am posting my own views on my own page. Nothing more, nothing less. If I want to discuss Iraq or the War on Terror or Bush, that is my prerogative. It just so happens to be the subject I feel like discussing with my readers at the time, and that is all there is to it.
The reason I left Debate-It was because there had long since ceased to be any real debate, just immature spamming and an obsession with Bush bashing. The acting moderator�someone both you and I know and whom you will surely agree with me is a fair man�stepped down and left the page for the same reason. If you have aspirations to moderate that page, then go ahead and good luck. But please do not assume that this page has anything to do with Debate-It. I was a participatory writer there at one time and now I�m not. Do not associate (or confuse) this page with that one anymore.
Needless to say, I am hardly upset that no-one on that page agreed with me. The fact that no-one did is hardly surprising.
And please have the maturity to accept that I�ve got readers who do support me, who do agree with most�if admittedly not all�that I have to say and stop begrudging me that. Take pleasure in the people who agree with you and get on with your life. Your attempt at thought control may win you some admirers, but it�s not going to win you any of mine.
Have I given in to moments of high-mindedness? Yes. If you�re looking for an admission from me along those lines, now you�ve got it. Take pleasure in that as well. I apologize for any �bragging� that I may have previously done and I agree with you that it is not appropriate behavior.
Do not ever use such foul language in my guestbook again. As you and everyone else who reads me knows, I am not squeamish about salty language. But I reserve the right to ban it from at least one area of my site, and my guestbook is that one such place. You did not earn any points from the intellectual arena that you covet so much with that outburst. Be as assertive as you like but watch your mouth, or in this case, your �pen.�
I�ve never countered your arugments? I�m �inventing� unrelated comebacks? That, young snip, is your subjective opinion. You read what you want to from me and ignore the rest. It�s no wonder you feel that way.
Moreover, what I wrote earlier today about planning to leave you alone�that was true. No lie. I felt that I had nothing more to say and had finally accepted your pomposity, pugnacity, and your general holier-than-thou approach to other people and other opinions. I was not going to waste any more of my words on you. You had seen the back of me.
Then you attacked me today with that profane outburst.
Hold whatever philosophies you embrace as close to your heart as you like and share it with the world. You have your own forum and an audience that appreciates you. It�s your right.
And I will embrace and share my philosophies. I have my forum and my own appreciative audience. It is just as much my right as it is yours. You don�t control me nor my readers.
I will discuss what I damn well choose to, and it will have nothing to do with you. Do not ever attack me in the manner that you did today. If you are going to attack me, do so on YOUR own page, not mine. That is where you can be as arrogant and abusive as you like�as I fully expect you to be�and I cannot (nor would not) prevent it.
I do not loathe a free society. I assume you don�t either, so respect my right to free speech, and if you cannot handle what I write, then don�t read my stuff. Simple, no?
From this point forward, you and I are done. Finito. I will back off, and so will you. Prove that you are a lover of peace and leave me be. I have nothing more to say to you. Ever.
Now have a nice life and good luck with your ambitions to become El Presidente del Mundo.
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
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