bobquasit: (Default)
bobquasit ([personal profile] bobquasit) wrote2003-10-06 01:11 pm
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A Political Journal?

I buried Quasit, my political persona, a while ago. But I still get outraged about politics. Worse, I still come up with funny ideas for political essays. I just can't help it.

For example, I was watching a news station a couple of nights ago when they ran a story about Arnold Schwarzenegger's trainer. My mouth shot off a punchline before I knew what was happening, and even Teri laughed. So I ran upstairs and wrote it down, tying it to an online AP story:

Schwarzenegger's trainer weighs in
From the AP:
GRAZ, Austria - In a gym plastered with photographs of his protege, Arnold Schwarzenegger's former trainer described Saturday how the California gubernatorial candidate helped break up neo-Nazi gatherings as a teen-ager.

He did it by saying "Okay, meeting adjourned."


Now, I'd given up writing for political sites a long time ago: I'd been badly turned off by the ego of BartCop, and by the way that so many liberals wasted their time attacking each other or trying to "reason" with freeper trolls. To be reasonable and fair-minded is a fine thing, but there are times when you have to cut the bullshit and fight back. The GOP has been eviscerating the Democrats because they fight without quarter or pity, while the Democrats worry about seeming fair and being liked by the press - a press which, ironically, is in the pocket of the GOP.

It's really goddamned frustrating. Liberals need a place where they are able to talk, and plan, and share ideas, without being constantly disrupted by trolling freepers. But sanctimonious jackass moderators always insist on allowing every obvious GOP operative to come in and throw everything into a tizzy - or else they start censoring the hell out of everything they personally dislike. These were common problems on the BartCop forum.

I was also totally frustrated by the refusal of liberals and Democrats to take ANY sort of effective political action. There's a long story behind that which I'll save for another day.

Anyway, I can't help writing political stuff, so I thought I'd look for a forum here on LiveJournal. I found one called "anti_bush" and made a couple of posts.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to hear the same damned self-destructing responses that drove me out of online politics before. My joke about Schwarzenegger, it seemed, was unnecessarily partisan, and didn't relate to Bush. Another "open-minded liberal" remarked that Schwarzenegger had an MBA which could be a big help in dealing with the troubled California economy, and to my amazement they weren't joking.

Somehow, to hear that kind of bullshit remark in a community called "Anti_Bush" was too much for me to take. Mind you, some of the other participants were disagreeing with the trolls, but when I checked the forum in depth it was clear that trolls pretty much had the run of the place. As was the case for every liberal forum I could find on LiveJournal.

I am so tired of this suicidal mania on the part of so many liberals; when the hell are they going to wake up and realize that they're heading straight towards concentration camps, where their open-mindedness will earn them precisely nothing?

So I'm seriously thinking of starting up a community here called "Killer Liberals". It will be heavily restricted in membership; anyone who says "both parties are bad", or "that's unfair to Bush", or any other such crap will be summarily banned. It will be a place to post information to help liberals fight right-wingers, funny attacks on right-wing figures, etc.

Is it worth the effort? I don't know. I don't know what would be involved, to tell the truth, and I don't want (or need) a huge energy-sink in my life right now. I just want a forum where I can slam Bush, or Lieberman, or Schwarzenegger, or some other GOP/right wing bastard and not have to worry about being irritated by some totally obnoxious caveat from a well-meaning fathead or freeper troll. If other people who feel the same way also join the community, that will just be gravy.

Ah, I don't know. I'm too tired to make the decision right now.

[identity profile] tprjones.livejournal.com 2003-10-06 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Will we still be able to read it, even if banned from posting? While I find your political views to be woefully misinformed, I do very much enjoy your writing style and obvious intelligence (in all non-political matters, of course). So, while I obviously wouldn't be welcome to post, I'd like to read. If I may.

[identity profile] bobquasit.livejournal.com 2003-10-07 07:49 am (UTC)(link)
The wisdom of Klyfix is persuasive, i.e. recent events incline me against the whole idea of starting a political community. I just don't have the patience for it any more. If I do start one, though, sure - I'll let you read it. And the odds are that it would be pretty much only me writing in it.

(Anonymous) 2003-10-06 06:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Klyfix here.

I think that it would be way too much bother and stress and stuff. I mean,
essentially you'd have to play the role of censor to keep out the right-wingers,
and the clever ones would come in as Trojan Fake Liberals and once in they
would parody liberal views. And to be sure, I'm really not a big Basher sort; yes, I think that Bush and the current GOP leadership are dangerous
to the nation, being pretty darn close to certain definitions of fascist but
slamming them excessively for the sake of slamming isn't something I'm
really fond of.
They're evil enough without getting into hyperbole.

[identity profile] bobquasit.livejournal.com 2003-10-07 07:52 am (UTC)(link)
I bow to your wisdom, Klyfix. Are you sure I can't persuade you to start a journal? I've got a free code!

If I do start one up, it will be closed. Anyone who wants to be able to post will have to apply to the moderator, me, and I would rule with an iron fist. Well...maybe a carbon fist. :D

But more likely I'd just make it a community of one.

(Anonymous) 2003-10-07 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
hey, this is uberczech. I was just checking your journal out to see what kind of person you were to be so upset about me simply remarking that your comments were needlessly partisan. I just want to say that you see the world too starkly in black and white. Throwing mud and slime like the arch conservative republicans won't help anything or advance democractic causes in politics. It just makes us look as bad as them. Plus I don't understand your connection between all republicans being as bad as bush. Only some of them are. Have you looked at Arnold's stances on the issues? Plus it's funny how you complain about no-one having any humour then throw a hissy fit because we don't all think exactly the same and then you leave. Grow up and accept that there's diversity in the world in terms of ideas. Again i'll mention that the community isn't Anti-republican, simply anti-bush. I'll also add that you said you would leave if you saw "my attitude" to be standard in the community, but instead of going back and checking out what the community was really like you left because you disagreed with me (1 person) and because there was a troll who first showed up something less than a week ago.

so you left because you disagreed with one person? That's pretty huffy. Anyhow. Later.

(Anonymous) 2003-10-07 07:06 am (UTC)(link)
wow, i didn't finish your post before i posted. You are so clearly not willing to consider any viewpoint but your own that there's really no point in trying to reason with you. You're just as bad as the republicans.

Hey. Prick.

[identity profile] bobquasit.livejournal.com 2003-10-07 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
Hey. Uberasshole. Notice that you were banned from commenting? I guess in addition to being humorless, you're clueless as well.

Here's a clue: FUCK OFF. You're not welcome here.

Re: Hey. Prick.

(Anonymous) 2003-10-07 07:39 am (UTC)(link)
actually i hadn't noticed. I wasn't sure why i wasn't allowed to but that makes sense.

Exactly what am I doing that's so very offensive that you have to throw around insults and be so childish?

P.S. I only commented on your journal to follow bush_sucks protocol. maybe you should have checked it before you joined.

Re: Hey. Prick.

[identity profile] bobquasit.livejournal.com 2003-10-07 07:43 am (UTC)(link)
I'm off bush_sucks now, so why don't you go away?

Re: Hey. Prick.

(Anonymous) 2003-10-07 07:46 am (UTC)(link)
sure, if I can have an apology for your rudeness?

Re: Hey. Prick.

[identity profile] bobquasit.livejournal.com 2003-10-07 07:54 am (UTC)(link)
No.

This will not continue.

Re: Hey. Prick.

(Anonymous) 2003-10-07 10:50 am (UTC)(link)
ole amore! now we dance!

Surely you do not think that you're behaviour has been the epitome of courtesy? (rhyme!) and furthermore, do you really believe me to be some insidious operative of the right, planted within the community to rip it apart and be a further detriment to the left's efforts to fight it's coming enslavement and oppression?

Re: Hey. Prick.

(Anonymous) 2003-10-07 10:51 am (UTC)(link)
uberasshole. very clever. you should write a book.

[identity profile] charibdis.livejournal.com 2003-10-18 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
Pete, you jknow you can delete or hide comments if you don't liek them in your journal. Just mentioning.

Another alternative (that I have considered myself) is to give the few people you don't mind posting anonymously to your journal a user-name and poassword to a "friend account" you make up for the purpose, and make the journal friends only.

I've known a few message boards where only memebers were even allowed to read, let alone comment. You have to be very careful about whom you let in, but it can work.

Oh, and as to the wishy-washiness of most liberals, that is a problem. I suppose this si yet another example of "evil will triumph because good is stupid".