Burty
Senior member
I could write a very angry letter right now about Mr. Johnny Boat Dude, but I decided instead merely to express some constructive criticism. Before I start, however, I should state that to understand what Mr. Boat Dude's particularly disgraceful form of terrorism has encompassed as a movement and as a system of rule, we have to look at its historical context and development as a form of hideous politics that first arose in early twentieth-century Europe in response to rapid social upheaval, the devastation of World War I, and the Bolshevik Revolution. Those of us who are too lazy or disinterested to increase awareness and understanding of our similarities and differences have no right to complain when he and his hired goons cast the world into nuclear holocaust. His most progressive idea is to drive us into a state of apoplexy. If that sounds progressive to you, you must be facing the wrong way. What I just wrote is not based on merely a single experience or anecdote. Rather, it is based upon the wisdom of accumulated years, spanning two continents, and proven by the fact that Mr. Boat Dude's operatives argue that going through the motions of working is the same as working. These are the same stuck-up humanity-haters who poke and pry into every facet of our lives. This is no coincidence; Mr. Boat Dude says that the few of us who complain regularly about his diatribes are simply spoiling the party. That's his unvarying story, and it's a lie: an extremely cranky and irrational lie. Unfortunately, it's a lie that is accepted unquestioningly, uncritically, by Mr. Boat Dude's myrmidons. I have never been in favor of being gratuitously acrimonious. I have also never been in favor of sticking my head in the sand or of refusing to reinforce what is best in people.
I stand by what I've written before, that several things Mr. Boat Dude has said have brought me to the boiling point. The statement of his that made the strongest impression on me, however, was something to the effect of how genocide, slavery, racism, and the systematic oppression, degradation, and exploitation of most of the world's people are all totally justified. I am hurt, furious, and embarrassed. Why am I hurt? Because an armed revolt against him is morally justified. However, I assert that it is not yet strategically justified. Why am I furious? Because Mr. Boat Dude can get away with lies (e.g., that the boogeyman is going to get us if we don't agree to his demands), because the average person cannot imagine anyone lying so brazenly. Not one person in a hundred will actually check out the facts for himself and discover that Mr. Boat Dude is lying. And why am I embarrassed? Because we must understand that it's my understanding that he feels no guilt for any of the harm he's caused. And we must formulate that understanding into as clear and cogent a message as possible. Mr. Boat Dude's whinges are about as useful to society as a hundred deutsche marks were in 1923 Germany. So let Mr. Boat Dude call me biased. I call him imperious. His eccentricity is surpassed only by his vanity. And Mr. Boat Dude's vanity is surpassed only by his empty theorizing. (Remember his theory that he is entitled to violate the basic tenets of journalism and scholarship?)
Consequently, if Mr. Boat Dude's ideologies get any more morally crippled, I expect they'll grow legs and attack me in my sleep. If Mr. Boat Dude is going to talk about higher standards, then he needs to live by those higher standards. Help me do something about the continuing -- make that the escalating -- effort on Mr. Johnny Boat Dude's part to glorify soporific mattoids. Join your hands with mine in this, the greatest cause of our time.
I stand by what I've written before, that several things Mr. Boat Dude has said have brought me to the boiling point. The statement of his that made the strongest impression on me, however, was something to the effect of how genocide, slavery, racism, and the systematic oppression, degradation, and exploitation of most of the world's people are all totally justified. I am hurt, furious, and embarrassed. Why am I hurt? Because an armed revolt against him is morally justified. However, I assert that it is not yet strategically justified. Why am I furious? Because Mr. Boat Dude can get away with lies (e.g., that the boogeyman is going to get us if we don't agree to his demands), because the average person cannot imagine anyone lying so brazenly. Not one person in a hundred will actually check out the facts for himself and discover that Mr. Boat Dude is lying. And why am I embarrassed? Because we must understand that it's my understanding that he feels no guilt for any of the harm he's caused. And we must formulate that understanding into as clear and cogent a message as possible. Mr. Boat Dude's whinges are about as useful to society as a hundred deutsche marks were in 1923 Germany. So let Mr. Boat Dude call me biased. I call him imperious. His eccentricity is surpassed only by his vanity. And Mr. Boat Dude's vanity is surpassed only by his empty theorizing. (Remember his theory that he is entitled to violate the basic tenets of journalism and scholarship?)
Consequently, if Mr. Boat Dude's ideologies get any more morally crippled, I expect they'll grow legs and attack me in my sleep. If Mr. Boat Dude is going to talk about higher standards, then he needs to live by those higher standards. Help me do something about the continuing -- make that the escalating -- effort on Mr. Johnny Boat Dude's part to glorify soporific mattoids. Join your hands with mine in this, the greatest cause of our time.
