Take a look and hopefully you will be able to understand my frustration. Just go on over by opening the following embedded link to view and read the SwampBubbles message thread, WHAT IF THERE WERE A 3-WAY CONTEST FOR PRESIDENT?
Epilogue (an "as an aside" commentary on my part)
Incidentally, in that SwampBubbles message thread, the person who wrote "Roland -- Looked carefully for the 'name-calling' you accused me of doing to you. Can't find any." totally misconstrued the comment I made to him when I stated, "You have exhibited the very same type of behavior including your constant use of name-calling that caused me to stop contributing on SwampBubbles in the past."
I was referencing that individual's history on the entire SwampBubbles website of name-calling by giving people demeaning nick-names (e.g, Mr. Empty Glass. Chicken Little, Lyin' Don, the Michelin Man who never met a burger he didn't like) which is not unlike the style of speech used by Donald Trump. And, by the way, this was not the first, nor even the second time, that this person has misconstrued my comments.
I am not so sure that the incorrect interpretation of my comments (or the incorrect interpretation of comments made by others, for that matter) on that person's part was, or is, just a misunderstanding. I cannot help but wonder if it is actually an intentional, conscious "misinterpetation." In fact, I have seen many occasions in which that person has engaged in thread hijacking.
For the life of me, I do not understand why the person to whom I refer just doesn't start a blog of his own where he could put forth all his own ideas, thoughts, opinions, facts, or 'whatever' as much as he would want, rather than engage in arguments.
On the other hand, I guess I do understand -- after all, in the SwampBubbles message thread to which I have linked in this Roland Hansen Commentary, that person did state about himself, "I do like to argue."
[Note his use of the word 'argue' as opposed to the word 'discuss' or the word 'debate.' NOW, THAT IS SAD!]
5 comments:
Haven't (yet) looked up the Swampbubbles line, but thought you should know- there are some of us out there to whom agruing is a genetic thing. My dad's family considered arguing their #1 sport, spectator and participant. As you can see, some has stayed with me!
Okay, now I have perused the thread, and my takeaways. One, after all the battles I've fought with Dale here, I I am surprised (and a bit amused to my shame) that he is the one that you got into it with. Second, I really think you may have over-reacted, but guess what? I don't know you guys' backstory, so there's that. And third, even if it was tongue in cheek, Dale wanting to write in Archie really cracked me up! And at this point, I may well do it, lol!
I went with a write in way back when- a principled vote against George Bush caving to the Democrat tax lobby after his "no new taxes" pledge- and all it got me was 8 years of Slick Willie and maybe more from his harridan of a wife. I have had people talk to me about the American Independent Party candidate, and he seems well and good; and others have pushed the Libertarian Johnson, but I don't feel Libertarians and I connect.
I'm not sure a Trump Presidency wouldn't be a comedy of errors, but I am sure the alternative is going to lead to more home-baked terrorism, the loss of more of my income to government coffers, and my total inability to afford medication in the next 2 years. Still I toddle between writing in, non voting, and the Donald. For the first time in my life, I don't think I will know what I am doing until I step into the booth- if I do.
Thank you for your comments, CWMartin.
FYI, Dale and I have been friends since 1965; our friendship may be compared to that of the relationship between brothers.
The following comment was directed to me in the SwampBubbles message to which I had linked:
"I do like to argue. Erroneously, I thought you did, too!"
I respond to that comment with the following:
While I do engage in intellectual debates, passionate discussions, and other similar dialogues, and while I may have honest differences of opinions with people, I DO NOT LIKE TO ARGUE.
In my opinion, argument for the sake of argument serves no useful purpose.
I find myself in an unusual position. I agree with most of what Mr. Martin posted -- a man against whom I have jousted on this site. I also agree with my good friend, Roland, that he and I are like brothers. As a matter of fact, I just posted a similar message in the Swamp! I do not have my own blog because I do not want to commit myself to something when I have outlets like this one and the Swamp.
As for the actual meaning of argue, Here's what Merriam-Webster states:
"Simple Definition of argue
: to give reasons for or against something : to say or write things in order to change someone's opinion about what is true, what should be done, etc.
: to cause (someone) to decide to do or not do something by giving reasons
: to disagree or fight by using angry words"
Obviously, Roland, you see the word argue as the last of these definitions, when you differentiate between "argue" and "discussion." My definition is more like those above this last one. I pick and choose the topics I "argue." I do NOT argue just for the sake of arguing. In fact, I voted for a "Third Party" candidate in the 1980 POTUS Election -- John Anderson!
BTW -- I used the terms "Mr. Empty Glass" and "Chicken Little" about the same poster, Guest Zero. Sadly, he has died. I truly miss him, but I cited several of his posts where he did exhibit a very negative life view.
As far as calling Lyin' Don the Michelin Man who never met a burger he didn't like names like these, I chose him because he uses disparaging labels for those with whom he disagrees. Please notice that I have never used this technique to describe anyone besides these two people, even though I have disagreed with many in the Swamp. I use labeling advisedly. To me, Guest Zero was so negative that the two terms just popped into my head. Lyin' Don is such a total jerk, that I have no problem labeling him in a similar way that he labels others.
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