Free Speech

[angus]

In the My Little Pony thread, several posters began posting images of dead horses, decaying horses, and other pictures to rile up the MLP fans.  Al posted Tesco's logo, a supermarket who was found to have horse meat in their burgers....

Really Al?  Really?

Okay, where to begin?

Man, making fun of folks who are old enough to play with computers but who also actually enjoy My Little Pony is a bit like making fun of people in wheelchairs, or of retards.  Sure, we all do it, but only among close friends and certainly not in public.  I don't know what's wrong with these people either, and over a beer, just the two of us, I'd find the Tesco reference hilarious.  Oh, who am I kidding, it's hilarious here too. 

Still, it's a politically correct world.  Not a world that I would have created, but that's just the way it is.  You just can't expect to make fun of these people and get away with it.  I'm disappointed and a little surprised that you're unaware of this.

The gnawing suspicion I have is that it's more of a cult anyway.  I'd seen references to "bronies" on this forum for about a year, and sort of wondered what it meant, when one day I actually I saw a few minutes of an episode of that show with Elaine from Seinfeld when she was dating this guy who was dressed as a horse and...  Well, long story short, it explained what the term meant.  Clearly the show was making serious hard at the expense of the bronies, but to me it was a a vocabulary lesson.  Anyway, in retrospect, I find it hard to believe that grown men actually get into that, and that it is all some sort of bizarre cult.  Nevertheless, it's a cult that takes itself seriously.  Like men trapped inside womens' bodies or something. 

All that said, this whole infraction point system offends me on every level, and it has been ever since I first noticed it.  The forum was a better place before it existed, and you're a moderator, so in my book you are part of the system and therefore part of the problem.  You cannot claim at this point to be philosophically above a system that you uphold.  If you really don't like it, then show some balls and go on strike.  If you really feel that the system oppresses, then quit your moderator position this moment in protest.  Otherwise you'll get as much sympathy as a Kapo in a Konzentrationslager whining when he finds a jackboot's heel on his neck.

[angus]

And one Godwin point is awarded to the awful poster with a Scottish first name.

So I thought, but then I looked back over the thread and I noticed that someone else beat me to it.  Ah, well, I'm usually the first though.  It is my custom to ensure all threads obey Godwin's Law.  Especially if I see a controversial topic that has gone on for several pages.  Moreover, I generally do it without ever using the words Nazi or Hitler or gestapo.  Still, to be fair, Insula Dei beat me to it in this thread, so the Godwin point is his.  I only noticed his post after I had posted.

FWIW, I'd never make fun of uptight, judgmental pricks like yourself.  Guys like you are actually easier targets than bronies, and even I'm not that cruel.

[angus]

And I shall gladly accept the accolade, though I should point out that I compared Inks to a nazi character in a movie. I feel this doesn't really conform to Godwin's Law. Can we have an expert's take on this?

Way off topic, but I was thinking of that Spencer Tracy movie when I read your post.  What the hell was that?  Burt Lancaster was in it too.  Well, anyway, it's a decent movie.  Spencer Tracy is a retired Mainer bumpkin JOP enlisted to preside over the trials of some former German court judges.  Colonel Klink was in it as well, but long before he was Colonel Klink. 

No one has ever escaped from Stalag 13!

[angus]

In the My Little Pony thread, several posters began posting images of dead horses, decaying horses, and other pictures to rile up the MLP fans.  Al posted Tesco's logo, a supermarket who was found to have horse meat in their burgers....

Really Al?  Really?

Okay, where to begin?

Man, making fun of folks who are old enough to play with computers but who also actually enjoy My Little Pony is a bit like making fun of people in wheelchairs, or of retards.  Sure, we all do it, but only among close friends and certainly not in public. 

Umm... only people with no morals make fun of the disabled.  If you believe it is ok in any way to do so, you have serious issues.

okay, really?  I accepted on some level that literary device I was employing went over the French idiot's head, but maybe his native language is something other than English.  Do you have an equally valid excuse, or haven't you had your coffee this morning?

Just so we're all on the same page:  I like Al.  I respect his ideological consistency.  He has always been one of better-informed posters, and even when I disagree with him--which is often--I find that his arguments are sound.  He is a fine moderator who doesn't bully the posters with infraction points the way many moderators do.  He understands that a well-placed bit of sarcasm is far more effective than those silly infraction points when chastising forum posters.  I was just giving him a hard time.  His thread just begged the Kapo reference, and I couldn't resist. 

Glad we got that cleared up.

[angus]

My feet are tired.

This message is almost as vague as the rest of your contributions.

I walked from 114th Street in Manhattan, to Battery Park, and then to Brooklyn in the middle of last night. That's over 12 miles.

That's impressive.  I've walked from 119th to Battery Park.  I've also hiked the Inca Trail from Sacsayhuaman to Machu Picchu, over four days carrying a 72-liter Jansport backpack with 60 pounds of stuff in it.  Fortunately the supply of coca in the Andes is long.  And cheap.

[angus]

About 12 years ago, I suppose.  I was 33 or 34 at the time.  Single.  Living in California.  I flew from LA to Lima, stayed there about a week, then on to Cuzco on a small, rickety, old Aero Boliviano jet.  The ticket to hike the trail was 50 dollars at the time.  It's a UN world heritage site and they limit the number of hikers on any given day to 1000.  The earliest day you can begin the hike is five days after you arrive in Cuzco.  Apparently they have had too many cases of El Soroche to deal with, so now they ensure that you've been staying at mile-high Cuzco for several days before you begin the hike.  You only have 4 days to make the 44-km journey.  There are locals who will act as porters and paramedics if you just fall down on your face.  It happens.  Lots of guys who hike in Colorado and such said it was much more strenuous, because even though the max altitudes were around 4500 meters, similar to hikes in the Rockies, the floor is only about 200 meters.  So you're constantly going up and down.  On any given day you may start out in humid, hot, tropical conditions and end up on a snow-covered peak.  You're constantly changing clothes.  I'd purchased the backpack made for a 7-foot tall guy.  I'm nowhere near that tall, but I guess I wanted to take everything I could.  What was I thinking?  

Third night I camped at Inki Punku (doorway of the sun) with the new agers and watched sunrise over the huts at Machu Picchu, then hiked down.  Actually, I did a little subsidiary hike with some young bucks from Italy to a nearby peak when that was over.  Eventually we walked down and took a train back to Cuzco.  That first shower in a Cuzco hotel was very, very nice.

Oh, and before I forget, you should win the Godwin point.  I only just noticed.  And you did it in a subtle, angus-approved manner.  Good show.