The moral seems to be that people who live in stone houses should not throw glasses. But I seem to digress once again.  

We should not just throw stones at people when we can get stoned with them.  But always ask your friend if he or she is a narc first.  It seems to help in case you find yourself drawn into something that might lead to incarceration. At least that is what my lawyer says, and he should know because he is stoned pretty much all the time.

This leads us, believe it or not, to the next rule of blogging:

                                  TROLLING IN THE SHALLOW WATERS
                                                         CANON #9

9. Do not feed the trolls. As in life, there are always those who somehow enjoy surfing the internet to inject pointless vindictiveness. Many are classic passive aggressives who deliberately provoke others into a counterattack followed by acts of martyrdom. Don't let the terrorists win. Do NOT acknowledge these people with refutations, disagreements or even a mention of their screen name -- even when you are directly attacked by name. Responding in kind on their level is exactly what they want you to do. Be assured that your host will take action against chat bullies as soon as possible.

I first discussed this canon in March and I really feel I have seen less trolling, per se. Oh they are still here but I see less attacks on people who post than I saw back then.  I have friends who either do not blog here anymore because of ad hominem attacks or  who are seen less and less due to this phenomena.

Of course it would be nice to have a definition of 'troll'. And, like many other elemental concepts, a definition is not an easy thing. Supposedly we know them when we encounter them.

My last post just faded into the ether this morning.  It really was a romp of sorts; a satire. But it really was about how I despise Pat Buchanan.  Now to Pat Buchanan I suppose I am a troll. Certainly, if people at FOX News read most of my material, they would find me abhorrent.

I was really doing nothing more than other paid writers on the blogosphere. I cited a Huffpo article that did not say anything different than I did, really. I used other sources and I wrote for different reasons but that was about it.

I could not and cannot understand how come someone like Imus could be thrown of television for several instances of racist drivel and Pat Buchanan, who is a hundred times the racist Imus ever was, has continually been featured on a so-called 'liberal' news channel.

At any rate I was chided most forcefully by two commenters. I was called an ahole and also told to go f myself. School yard stuff really. Oh and I spell badly besides smelling badly.

My real point in that post was to underline the fact that just because Hitler and Himmler are dead, it does not mean that their theories of government are dead.  Buchanan would round up twelve million people and incarcerate them in detention camps like those run by Sheriff Arapaio in Arixona, eventually sending them south of the border.

And if these people came back, incarcerate them in detention camps forever.

My point was that people like Buchanan will never apologize for slavery or segregation. They will never apologize for 47 million people being cut out of our health care system. They will never apologize for the greatest transfer of wealth from many classes to one class  in this country. They would never apologize for the fact that we are the penal capital of the world, incarcerating more people than any other country in that world. But I digress.

I did receive ad hominem attacks, but neither of these gentlemen are what I call trolls.

First, they never appear as commenters on my posts normally. They were mad about a single issue of sorts. Primarily these two fellows felt that NAZI should never be used as a term. I mean the right has accused My president of being a NAZI. The description is thrown around much too much. But just so I am clear here, Buchanan by his own words in writing and orally, is and always has been a NAZI sympathizer and holds many beliefs dear to the rulers in the Third Reich. I shall go to my grave believing this.

Oh and this does not mean that no one else had some reservations concerning my blog. But Mr. Seaton does not call me an idiot (even when he is seriously worried that I am acting like one) and he does not intimate that my feet stink. We have a discussion. There were several takes on my Buchanan post and that led to several discussions between different members of the Café.

THAT IS WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. Otherwise why should we post at all. We can just put up three links and everyone can come by and write: Oh that is interesting. And that would be that.

Second, I get in bad moods sometimes.  I have in the past attacked writers personally because I was so damn mad about some position held by the writer.

Third, sometimes I feel I am being personally attacked for something I have written. AND IT MAKES ME MAD. As if I should not expect this kind of behavior; every time we write something, we are exposing ourselves. If we are that afraid of criticism, we should not blog or comment at all. When you publish something, even in our little Café, you are opening yourself up to criticism. That is part of the thrill really for me. If I get two recommendations and three comments I feel shunned. When real discussions take place, I get excited. You are exposing yourself to criticism when you open up. That is what free speech is supposed to do.

I am upset because five or six of my friends have written me and informed me that they are not allowed to comment on my blog. There is some glitch, even when things appear to be running smoothly at TPMCafe. So my allies, people I count on for support, CANNOT EVEN DEFEND ME. Hahaha

I would like to point out here that if you embed a video onto your blog, rather than just link it, fully have of the people at Café will not be able to see the video at all or they will see the video but will not be able to read anything you have written. It has something to do with the differences between MAC's and PC's as well as the Explorer and Firefox. I just point that out cause I have had experiences with this problem and have received feed back from readers.

Fourth, even good solid friends that I have here at TPMCafe, go over the line sometimes. Some of them were experiencing some terrible pain at the time, physically or mentally. And I might feel that he or she has gone over the top.

WE ALL GET IN BAD MOODS.

Sometimes, we awaken in a new light and apologize later for things that should not have been communicated.

So what is a troll?

I do not really know. But here are some traits of a troll.

Every time you blog, a commenter shows up who attacks you personally and disputes the content of your post without any real argument.

Or the writer seems to used ad personam attacks in everything he or she writes. The healthcare legislation is socialistic, I know because Obama is a Nazi. Although I get in trouble here because I cannot seriously treat arguments made by the right wing media or repub leadership without using ad personam attacks.

Is a troll just someone with different views from yours?

We should search our souls, I should think.

But I know a troll when I see one.

Since links to my old blogs do not seem to work most of the time I do wish to reproduce a couple paragraphs here from my March treatment of this subject:

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

More than a few times I have seen blogs that actually include the following sentiment:

Our country is in a lot of trouble because our President is a negro and I really do not like jews that much either.

But why should that surprise anyone since you actually hear this sentiment from some right wing commenters. Anyway...

Our own Seashell in her own inimitable manner responded thus:

Basic Yeast Dog Treats

Mix together
3 1/2 cup unbleached flour,
2 cup whole wheat flour,
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup skim milk powder
1 tablespoon (or 1 package) dry yeast
3 1/2 cups lukewarm chicken or meat broth

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm chicken or meat broth. The richer this broth is, the better your dog will like the biscuits. Let yeast broth mixture set 10 min. Then stir in flour mixture. Roll resulting dough out 1/4" thick. Cut dog biscuit shapes from dough. Brush biscuits with egg wash. Bake on greased cookie sheets at 300* for 45 min. Then turn off oven and leave in overnight to finish hardening. Makes 60 medium-sized biscuits.
    
My first response to this was that if you threw in some eggs and sugar and skipped the broth, it might be pretty good. But I think Seashell was being a little tongue in cheek. Because I found her wonderful recipe did not contribute to the discussion at hand.

And speaking of passive/aggressive, what the hell does that mean anyway.  It is like the term manic/depressive, or bad liquor. I mean, for me at my time in life and in my station in life, there is no such a thing as bad liquor.

Al Franken, in his book The Truth, recounts the beginning of karl rove's splendid career.  There was a man named Kennedy who was a judge in Alabama. Kennedy really enjoyed volunteering and one of his favorite charities involved working with poor children.  Rove simply spread a rumor that this Kennedy might be a child predator.

Of course, as rove moved up the ladder of success he saw a problem with a Vietnam vet by the name of Kerry who was a real life hero while his candidate pretended to be in the National Guard so that he would not have to serve in that war.  Solution?  Get some liars to spread rumors and even write a book of lies concerning Kerry's heroism.*

Craig Crawford is attempting to advise us that it is better if we ignore these people. And when I say these people, sometimes even people like me.  When I get out of line.

Here are some responses to troll commenters from my friends here at TPMCafe:

TheraP might say: Go in peace.

Once she said it in one of my blogs.  But I think she really meant, go in peace. Hahahahahahaha.

Here are some other responses to trolls:

Grouch:

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

--Mark Twain or

Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence.

--Francis Jeffrey

Justice Putnam:

What am I doing? Plenty, Bub! ... and Hey! Get off my lawn!!

Astral66

But XXX, we are all getting PAID to yell at you on this blog. It's part of the vast left-wing conspiracy. Don't your overlords pay you to be here doing the same? You think we do this for free?

Bwakfat:

wot is the deal with boiling, baking, and frying chicken?

Larry H.

And he often intimates that he is of a certain age, perhaps this one:

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.


And finally Quinn the Eskimo
       

Well, Dick's already told us he is:

A) A commie symp.
B) Wears pajamas all the time.
c) Had to leave places in a hurry.

I don't want to jump the gun here, but the pieces are falling into place pretty fast.

Che? Back at last?

Either that... or Jim Morrison.

Was it something I said?       

In conclusion I can come to no conclusion. Do I respond or do I ignore. Do I lambast or hold fast.

Or as that great sage once said:

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?



*THE TRUTH, by Al Franken, Penguin Group, NY, NY, 2005 (pp81-84)