To those of you whose ears perked up and who started thinking of everybody they could call or email to rat me out when they read this title, one word:
Gotcha.
This post has nothing to do with the title. Well, okay, it maybe has a little to do with it, but only in the most general way.
Attend:
On another blog I sometimes pass by, I became engaged in a political discussion. I wondered aloud about certain kinds of people and what I considered asinine and mule-headed stances on policy matters, and how on Earth folks could step up to defend positions that were patently indefensible -- racist, sexist, greedy, etc.
Several folks stepped up to be pissed off at me for attacking them. Even though I didn't -- attack them. (And then they started to defend some of the foolishness of which I had spoken, and that was sad. Not a surprise, but sad. See, the real problem with stupid people is that they don't know they are stupid. If they did, they'd merely be ignorant or misguided until, of course, they came to see the wisdom of my position, in which case they would become enlightened ...)
There's a sophomoric practical joke that was all the rage when I was first in junior high fifty years ago. You walked into a gathering of guys and yelled "Hey, asshole!" and then grinned at whoever turned around to look. You only got stung this way once; thereafter your attitude was, "Well, you obviously aren't talking to me, so I'm not gonna look."
Or you got pounded by the football jock who was sure you were yelling at him and who would just as soon stomp you as look at you ...
The old idiom is, "If the shoe fits, wear it." What this means is, if you are guilty of something and somebody calls you on it, then you don't get to kick. It also means that if you aren't guilty, then it doesn't apply to you, and you need not get all het up about it.)
Johnny Cochran helped get OJ off with a variation of this, and I always wondered if that really convinced anybody. If you are a professional actor and you can't make it look like putting on a glove is hard because it is too tight? Even I can do that -- using a glove two sizes too big.)
If I figuratively step into the room and yell, "Hey, asshole!" unless I add your name to that fore or aft, it's not my fault if you turn around and look. If you do, and want to get feisty about it when I wasn't talking to you? That's also not my problem.
(Addendum to the old joke file: Guy walks into a bar. Orders a beer, sucks it down fast, slams the mug down on the bar top. "All right," he yells. "All of you on this side of the room are douche bags! And all of you on that side of the room are assholes!"
Big man walks over, stands in front of the guy. "Buddy," he said, "I don't appreciate you calling me a douche bag."
"Well, then, get over on the other side of the room, asshole ..."
5 comments:
LOL.
Good point, Steve.
I had a situation like that once in a forum where most of the people there (who were big-time Star Wars Role-playing geeks - though no offense to anyone who is) basically got into a discussion with me, and as soon as I mentioned some Kung Fu classes I had taken when I was younger, they all began blabbing about how they were black-belts in Tae Kwon Do, Karate and master swordsmen and whatnot.
Naturally, it became apparent they really didn't know what they were talking about once they started showing alot of holes and fallacy in their statements.
In other words, these guys were doing a piss poor job of faking it but didn't seem to care since they were so used to Role Playing.
When I finally got annoyed enough and decided to call a few of them out on their lies, I got alot of ridiculous and idiotic banter thrown at me.
One of the guys seemed jealous at my track record in Kung Fu, which is decent but not really that good, and seemed to jump all over me when he got the chance.
One of the guys who was lying straight through his teeth tried to put up a vain argument and then when I nailed him on a few good questions pertaining to which "school he had attended", he ran out of ways to rebuke and finally gave up.
Suffice to say, they were all lapdogs of the Moderator who came to me and had me temporarily banned since I decided to call his children out on the truth.
Internet takes all types, liars and all. That much can be said.
Well, it really wasn't about silat folks any more than other people who hear an attack when when none was offered.
When you are feeling insecure about something -- and who among us hasn't been there? -- then the most innocuous comments can sound like put-downs.
I've certainly been guilty of hearing things that weren't there.
It's something that one must guard against -- what somebody *said* versus what I*thought* I heard them say.
Nobody wins an Internet argument. There are any number of great .jpgs pertaining to this issue. Even if you have to fight your instincts, it's advice worth heeding -- though we've ALL been guilty of engaging.
IMO, the people got mad because you were attacking their team.
Attacking those policies was akin to walking up to a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan and yelling, "Cowboys SUCK."
Yeah, that's understood, but when their team is lying, then they pretty much had it coming.
And sorry btw, I wrote that first comment the other night, and hastily, because I wanted to put in my two cents but had to leave in less than a minute.
I realize how mean it must have sounded. It's just that people lying about martial arts is one of the things that gets on my nerves - though Steve is correct in what he's saying: you have to think about everything that's being said first before throwing fingers at people. In other words, it's all about perception.
And yeah, Justin was correct too. Internet arguments are pretty much pointless and stupid no matter who's right or wrong.
Cute picture, though. lol.
In all honesty, I kind of wish I hadn't called out those people on their lies, but I've had to eat trite from people in real life who have gabbed about fake martial arts experiences and it would annoy me to no end.
In the end, it would have been more intelligent for me not to have engaged them, but all the same I stuck with my beliefs, which was not to eat crow from a bunch of morons, and either way I paid for it with an ear full of banter.
Next time, I think I'll just make the more intelligent choice though.
Good points, guys.
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