I’m right, you’re wrong

Those pesky internet interactions…

Here’s ColorStorm. He has long, waffly ways of saying he’s right, and deploys them on this post. ColorStorm is a fundamentalist Young Earth Creationist, and whatever facts you state he will come up with old stories. He has a great deal of energy for interaction- 21 comments out of 123 as I type- and frequents blogs by atheists telling them they’re wrong. It does appear you have no concept of serious study, for if you did, you would find no fault in God or scripture. Unless you agree with him, he denies you are thinking straight.

So many ways of saying “You’re wrong”! He goes on to deny evolution: It is you who calls night, day! It is you who somehow thinks that the dairy or beef cow ‘evolved’ so it could give milk, or be a source of beef, leather, and be a beast of burden to the farmer in his field that ‘evolved’ from goo goo.  From one response I learned that whales have hair: I googled, and find some species have whiskers, and some hair in utero. ColorStorm learned nothing, but may have enjoyed himself.

I don’t go so much on the homophobe blogs. We have our lines, like the childhood

-Little things please little minds
-While bigger fools look on
-In disgust
-At themselves!

Dullard says he will pray for me to come to truth/ open my life to God/ renounce my wickedness, whatever, and I riposte with St Paul: the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. I have used that line twice this week. Sometimes I just want to contradict them: they will have their answers, but I show at least that there is disagreement.

How can they hear my pain, if they believe that the cure for it is to adopt their beliefs? Ruth has a good analogy: my pain at this is like your pain at that- but though feminists feel not listened to in arguments by men, and can cite cases and describe erasing practices, enough men feel not listened to, too- see the “Manosphere”. The Anglophile feels that he listens, and is irked at being told he does not listen enough. He wants to listen. I got the response “You think I just don’t understand, but I don’t believe you” from a feminist.

Here is Tom Quiner, alleging that seeking to protect children from school shootings by restricting assault weapons, but not to protect “children” from abortions, is a double standard. He claims Obama’s compassion is fake. Some bloggers will delve into the detail- does the foetus feel pain, would restrictions on assault weapons reduce school shootings, etc, at tedious length. An hour’s google for articles by professional journalists will yield more information than a hundred comment threads. “If anyone had any compassion at all, they would be against abortion”- not a quote, my bitter summary- no appeal to empathy will get through that, because he has a monopoly on compassion.

“Quine”, incidentally, is Doric for young woman.

I can write and comment to get things clear in my own mind, rather than inform others. I can develop my own empathy- Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another; but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand. People find it easier to hear others when they feel heard.

Or I can just troll for lulz.

My empathy has limits: I found a Nazi wordpress blog, posting portraits of Hitler and screeds of Himmler, with approbation. I won’t give the name. I don’t want you to go there. I mention it because I am revolted, and want your sympathy.