Who is opebo?

[angus]

Who is opebo?

He was a poster who joined this forum about the same time I did, and was pretty close to my age, so I always could relate to him.  He sported a Blue Missouri shield and I a Blue California.  Politically, he was a bit of a fascist and a plutocrat, far to my right--I was a newly-minted Republican at the time, and a fairly centrist one--but he was a sort of liberal Republican with regard to issues not immediately affecting his pocketbook, as was I.  (I have since reverted back to being unaffiliated, which was my normal state for most of my adult life.)  He supported Republicans from as long as he could remember and spoke openly about duping the great, unwashed masses in order to get them to vote against their own interests and in favor of his.  He was comfortable exploiting religion and culture in order to achieve his ends.  He had a generous remittance, some sort of allowance, from his parents and never really worked.  In fact, he clearly regarded himself apart from the "toiling class."  Once, when I was in my office posting here I mentioned Thai hookers--I can't remember what we were discussing, but it came up--and immediately he became very interested.  He started saying that he was in Thailand at that moment, in fact, and often spent time among Thai hookers.  My comment somehow opened a floodgate.  He instantly became the authoritative source for all things Thai, which was especially useful during the recent Thai protests.  (He supported the old regime, of course.) 

During the summer of 2004 I disappeared from the Forum for about four weeks.  I was in Hawaii.  When I returned I noticed that he had a red Missouri shield.  WTF?  I thought I knew him well.  WE had both been posting here for six months by then.  I asked him about the red shield and he explained his "epiphany" to me.  (Over the years I began to figure out that his "epiphany" consisted of his parents threatening to cut him off from the money because they did not approve of his lifestyle, which they regarded as nefarious.  He had been schooled in the classical liberal arts tradition, at no small expense, and had not really made a way for himself in the world.  He was a consumer of their largesse and contributed nothing to their society except embarrassment.  In short, he was forced to get a job.)

For what it's worth, I do think that his philosophical conversion was real, even if brought on by economic circumstance.  Of course, he still maintained his decidedly Victorian attitudes regarding race, gender, and class, but he became more sympathetic to the "toiling" classes once he became one of their member.  His rather libertarian regard toward issues not directly related to his pocketbook did not seem to change under his epiphany. 

He was a very entertaining poster.  I regarded him as one of the most interesting posters here and most of us enjoyed his posts.  One poster in particular evolved a sort of religious devotion to opebo, and still exhibits signs of hero worship toward him.  I'm not sure how healthy that is, but I have no psychological training so I won't expound on that.

why was he banned?

I do not know, really.  I was also on vacation when all that happened.  I was absent from the forum for nine days during January of this year.  I was on a scuba-diving trip to Saint Lucia.  From what I can tell, he was banned during the very first day of my absence, and that there was great calamity among the regular posters here, but it had died down by the time I returned.  In fact, it was only gradually that I figured out that he had been banned.  (The prevalence of Red Missouri shields was mysterious at first, but I surmised that it had something to do with opebo.)  I was astonished to learn that opebo had been banned!  First, I don't support any banning.  Secondly, why him?  He was a knowledgeable poster, if disagreeable at times.  He had been posting here for ten years.  More importantly, he was a Democrat, and a supporter of the Democratic candidates.  If he were a Republican it would not have been quite as surprising--more than a few good posters have been banned because their political ideologies are too sympathetic to the GOP--but for a old guard poster and a Democrat to be bounced is quite surprising.  One day, in May of this year, Grumpy Gramps explained to me, over dinner in a small restaurant near where I live, that it appears to him opebo had been banned for supporting underage prostitution.  He likes young girls, and ocassionally young boys, but I don't really think that's reason enough to ban him.  What I really think is that he pissed off one too many moderators.  He had a long-standing feud with Gustaf, for example, and Inks and a few others bore his wrath from time to time as well.  Even level-headed moderators like Al (formerly Realpolitik), had reason to dislike him.

Also what's so good about him?

He was human, of course, and therefore sentient.  In all humanity there is goodness, and this is no less true of opebo.  Hamlet put it best to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern:

What a piece of worke is a man! how Noble in
Reason? how infinite in faculty? in forme and moving
how expresse and admirable? in Action, how like an Angel?
in apprehension, how like a God?


How like a God was opebo.

[angus]

If he were a Republican it would not have been quite as surprising--more than a few good posters have been banned because their political ideologies are too sympathetic to the GOP

Has this actually ever happened?

Maybe sympathetic to the very, very far GOP right ala StatesRights.

It happens regularly.  The only time it ever really bothered me was with jmfcst.  Like opebo, he was a long-term poster, and he could be equally annoying.  Unlike opebo, jmfcst was well educated in technology and had no trouble getting around static and dynamic IP blocking.  In the first few months after he was banned, jmfcst created many alter-ego accounts, ghostposting under several different aliases just to show that he could.  He writes code for a living, in fact, so it isn't surprising that he had no trouble getting around the ban.  He eventually got tired of ghostposting and stopped creating alias accounts.  He and I exchanged emails for a while after he was banned and I let him know when opebo was banned.  He was heartily surprised by that as well!  (opebo and jmfcst seemed to have some deep personal understanding to which I was not privy.  For example, there were a few jokes that opebo made and only jmfcst understood, and vice-versa.  If this forum is Life, and their banning represents Death, then they are soulmates now.)  

Generally, if your convictions cause you to be against same-sex marriage, for example, you will be suspect.  This has been the case since the "banning" mentality started around 2007.

Also, if I recall correctly, Statesrights was not banned.  At least I do not remember him being banned.  He was bizarre, at times, and intentionally provocative--for a very long time he kept in his signature a painting of a US president being assassinated--but I did not think he was banned.  Someone can correct me if I am wrong.  

[angus]

jmfcst ... clearly wasn't banned for being a conservative...

it is not clear to me.  What is precisely clear to me is that he made enemies with his annoying tendency to defend all manner of policies by quoting the bible and putting down those who disagree.  Sometimes when posters get banned there's an outcry, and one or more of the moderators feel the need to explain the ban.  This happened with opebo as well.  They have, then, to come up with a reason fit for public consumption.  This reason will never be because of one's politics, so don't waste time looking for it. 

opebo was also banned over his ideology, in a very real way, although this is not the reason given when some posters demanded to know more.  In the cases of jmfcst and opebo moderators could easily find enough reason to support banning them, so it's an easy tale to tell without resorting to admitting that they just don't like them or the ideologies that they stand for.  They both did enough crazy and offensive stuff to make it easy to ban with a clear conscience, if you are the sort of person who can consider banning a legitimate response to anything.  I think basically all banning is over ideological disagreement, at least on some level, which is part of the reason I'm against it in all cases. 

[angus]

I wasn't here for jmf, but I was for some of his socks, and they were a hoot.

With opebo they just got tired of him. Sex, prostitution, something he allegedly posted on another forum was a big one as I recall, and they even took to uprooting comments from a number of years ago. They just got tired of him, so find a reason - or a bunch of minor reasons that will add up - and he's gone. You could say it was ideology, but to me it was about personality.

Personality?  Ideology?  What's the difference? 

"My personality enjoys getting a thorough rub by young girls, and I don't mind admitting I'd old enough that I have to pay for it." 

"My ideology is that it is perfectly acceptable, commendable even, if I get a thorough rubbing from young girls, because doing such things is healthy and natural."

It's all in the spin, really.  One man's personality is another man's ideology.

Anyway, the general consensus about the "other board" bothers me a bit.  Expelling a member over something that was posted in another board?  I'd like to think our moderators are above that.  Still, I was gone when it happened and by the time I got back it was old news so what do I know?

Signatures?!  Those can be turned off.  I know I have mine turned off.  Well, I generally keep that feature turned off.  Once in a while I turn that feature on just to see what some folks are talking about, but then I see something horrible like a gay gladiator vomiting rainbows or Hillary Clinton as The Moon, so I turn it right back off.  I'm really astonished to see someone with as broad a worldview as Torie, or someone as intelligent as Ernest, getting riled up over a signature.  Then again, I have no idea what that signature was.  Nor do I want to.  Every time I turn the signature feature on it turns my stomach. 

(yours is okay, by the way.  "Medieval dude with a mullet" is sort of weird, but I'm guessing that it isn't the weirdest thing about you.)

[angus]

Google was not going to advertise where those links existed.

Quite succinctly stated, and I suppose you're right.  We sometimes lose sight of the power of the almighty dollar and its power over the decisions we make.  I say this without sarcasm or hypocrisy.  I appreciate your succinct explanation of the phenomenon of expulsion, because it is logical.

[angus]

This is delicious irony!  After responding to muon's post, the very next time I logged into the Dave Leip's Atlas I had this message page:



An ad for mail order brides.  Prostitution sanitized and legitimized.  You have to on some level appreciate the intellectual honesty of the good old-fashioned streetwalking Thai hooker.