President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

GRRR, big tough angry Missouri man.

 

That I'm not inclined to post mindless drivel on a message board doesn't mean I don't support your right to do so.

 

To me, there is an enormous difference between taking a shot at someone's argument, even a shot that might come off as sarcastic or mean, and taking a shot at a person for who they are or what they do. It has taken me too long to grasp that not everyone sees these two approaches as all that different - it's all "trolling." And you know what? Putting on my empathy cap for a moment, it does hurt when someone makes fun of your argument. You don't just feel like your argument is being belittled, because your argument is a little part of you. You're being belittled.

The other day, I got into my 1,000th row with Typefitter. He made fun of my job, and I got pissy, first, because I sincerely think that's the kind of thing that should be off limits and, second, because I wanted to defend my job and I don't want Typefitter or anyone else to look down on me for doing it.

And then I got to thinking.

There are a few reasons why someone might make fun of someone else's job:

(1) As I noted above, he is insecure about himself;
(2) For whatever reason, the poster thinks the target has tipped his hand that this is something that will get the target's goat;
(3) He's returning fire - in this case, during the course of the ongoing board war, I have taken my own, similar shots at Typefitter for doing celebrity profiles (for combo reasons (1), (2), and (3)) - similarly, along with your presumed insecurities, you think DQ deserves it because you think he's smug about his qualifications and needs to be taken down a notch; and
(4) He legitimately looks down upon the target for performing that job.

Of those, (4) is the one that obviously bothers me the most. But I made decisions about my life for myself (or had them made for me because I wasn't good or smart or focused or lucky or geographically flexible enough or whatever enough at doing my first-choice profession) and my family and I alone know what went into those decisions, alone have to be secure in those decisions, and alone have to live with those decisions.

Does it bother me that Typefitter and Riptide, two posters at SportsJournalists.com, possibly have stereotyped me as a failure, a slimeball, or both? I can't 100 percent say that it doesn't. When I left the business, my biggest fear was that people still within it would look at me as a failure or a sellout or both or, maybe worst of all, with utter indifference. So when someone like Typefitter, who is objectively successful (and good at what he does), takes a dig along those lines, all of those fears come to life. Objectively I know that I don't need people to validate my decisions. I know that. But I'm working on it. I mean, goddamn, I am trying to teach my 8-year-old right now that other people don't get to control how he feels about himself.

I'm far afield. But to bring it back around, I sincerely hope that you can work on having your arguments picked apart, even in a way that feels dickish or hurts your feelings, without lashing out at someone for who they are away from this place.

It's just not healthy, for you or for the board.

 

Try being a ketchup lover, @Dick Whitman, and let me know the abuse you receive

 

I don't give a shit if they kneel, sit, or stand on their dicks during the national anthem. Zero fucks given by me.
Next game I go to, I will stand during the anthem. The instrument has yet to be invented which can measure my indifference to what they do on the sideline, as long as the kickoff starts at 1:05 p.m.

 

IMO you haven't paid enough for your ketchup-on-well-done-steak sins.

 

You know why, though. The people opposite the bigots were people who hate Trump - and who Trump hates in return. And psychologically a full-throated denunciation of the bigots would have operated on some level (in his mind) as an endorsement of the people opposite the bigots, and a victory for them.

 

No, no, no, I love ketchup too just not on a beautifully cooked steak. Not even on a steak you cook.

 

Unless he's incarcerated, he never will.

 

Are you really this dumb? It was a stupid meme of a "point" because the reporters aren't the mostly black athletes using their prominence and platform to make a public statement. National TV audiences aren't watching reporters and newspapers aren't quoting them. It means little, if anything, to the general public what a reporter does. They're reporting. Importantly, and perhaps you don't grasp this, it would be unethical to take a "side" while reporting an event.

And even if some bonehead thought he was obligated to take a knee and risk getting mustard on his khakis in the damn press box, reporters, unlike professional athletes, aren't so valuable to their employers that they wouldn't be subject to being (justifiably) fired for protesting, so it would also carry a much higher risk in terms of livelihood.

With that said, most of the columnists I've read have come out in support of the athletes' right to protest. As for me, I'm writing stuff in support of them daily.

So fuck off, because you're not smart enough or entertaining enough to take up Old Tony's role on the board.

 

It is not the same thing at all, he was going to be available for the vote. trump ca not use that for an excuse. Likes to blame everyone else for everything and should be called out on it. All this bull from him needs to be remembered correctly.