Getting the Leach to Drop Off
There is a sure way to get Joe to depart from this site and eventually never return: Never, ever respond to anything he posts here no matter how insulting or outrageous. Ignore his input as you would that of an old demented uncle who spouts profanities at the Thanksgiving table. It may be one of the most difficult things you ever do but it is the right thing.
Trolls like Joe feed off the anger they incite, like leaches sucking blood from the host where they have attached themselves.
Leaches inject enzymes into the host body to make the blood flow freely, thus Joe’s infuriating little insertions into comments at TAH. Joe dissolves your restraint and every response you write in all your righteous fury is just more blood in the sucking jaws of a leach like Joe. When I was in Vietnam, we got read of leaches by applying the hot tip of a cigarette to their slimy little bodies. That doesn’t work with Joe; he thrives on the heat so the only way to get rid of him is to cut off the blood supply. That equals silence.
My suspicion is that Joe is a rather lonely old guy who life has passed by. His self-description of being an armchair geologist indicates he never made it to being the real thing. He craves attention and those who respond to him are feeding red meat to his starving ego which I would wager resembles a Gulag prisoner, shriveled cold beyond belief, emaciated to protruding ribs and lonely as a wandering asteroid. So starve him to death, a troll death, at least. Quit feeding his needy ego and he’ll go elsewhere like a wild animal that comes around seeking scraps. No food-no reward-no point in showing up.
So please, do not comment on this piece other than to agree or disagree. Whatever Joe posts, ignore him.
Then learn not to respond to Joe ever again. If he posts a comment, simply ignore it and post what you would have, had the bloodsucker not bitten your butt. When engorged leaches have their fill, they drop off. But more importantly, they learn to not even attach to a surface where no blood is available. Keep that in mind and Joe will remain in the muck of the liberal fever swamp where he belongs and not sucking on the butt cheeks of this blog.
Remember: no blood, soon no leach…
Category: Who knows
There’s an even easier method: ban him. This isn’t Afghanistan and we don’t have to fight according to Obama administration rules of engagement. Once an enemy troll is identified, ban him. This culture war isn’t going to be won if we let leftists dictate the rules.
Have to disagree, Poetrooper. By that same logic, whenever someone on the left makes an outrageous statement, misrepresents the truth, or tells an outright lie, we should ignore that – because all responding does is encourage them to tell another “whopper”.
Unfortunately, ignoring them also leaves their lie unchallenged. While some will see through their smokescreen, others will not. Sadly, many people are gullible enough to accept unchallenged idiocy or lies at face value without a second though.
I’m not a big fan of ceding the initiative and the battlespace to the enemy. It looks like that’s precisely what you’re proposing here.
I agree with Poetrooper myself, although I understand Hondo’s point.
A middle ground is to simply pick your battles.
I choose not to feed the trolls AND prefer to believe that most here CAN recognize bull shit when they see it.
Further, if I may, trying to separate the wheat from the chaff in the comments can get boring.
YMMV
It’s about time a line in the sand is drawn. I’m getting tired of being called a racist, homophobe, sexist, etc., when none of the above apply.
Either they leave us to live our lives, or they reap the whirlwind. Simple as that.
*ahem*
It’s “leech.” But still a good set of points, Poetrooper. -:-)
Poetrooper, you say exactly what I said: the trolls, esp. joe, come here only to get attention. The two most recent attacks ranged from a 2-year-old throwing a tantrum in the grocery store aisles to someone attempting the puppetmaster gig. These are bitter, empty, angry people whose only purpose is to manipulate others into being angry; then they can say that it was all our fault, that WE picked on them, when in fact, they started the whole thing. In fact, joe’s last attempts were blatantly, but weakly, manipulative – the weakest string-pulling I’ve seen in a long time. It is also as predictable as a tornado on a Doppler radar screen. As angry as they are, it makes you wonder if they have any real friends. I agree with your point — don’t feed the trolls — because I put up with the kind of crap they hand out for a large part of my life. I also learned that what goes around,comes around, and it’s my turn to hand it out should I CHOOSE to do so. I hope you will say that when I want to, I can do it, and with gusto. However, I also agree with Hondo, in that allowing them to hold sway unchallenged is not something any of us should do. If we can, as a group or as individuals, make rebuttal without rancor, we win. There is nothing wrong with giving someone a well-deserved set-down. In the column where people were given space to pay respects to Chris Kyle — and we should have included his friend, because he was also a victim of murder by a coward — the attack by og and joe was as concerted as that of a pack of jackals waiting for the lions to take a nap, and just as nasty. Those two saw it as their big chance to let us know exactly how obnoxious they are, and they leapt for it, only to be beaten back again and again. There is a great benefit in repelling these ravening beasts of the blogwild with appropriate… Read more »
The problem is that you cannot win. Trolls like Joe and Obamagirl will never read something you write and say to themselves : “Well, I must admit I have lost!” Nor will they ever slink away in shame, no matter how clever or vociferous your insult. They are not here to debate. They could give a flying rat turd what you believe, they only want to piss you off. Nothing more, nothing less. If you suddenly decided to fully and completely agree with them, you would find that they would alternate their attack to some new vector where they feel they can get under your skin. Like the leach example, if the blood flow stops, they simply begin searching for a new place to latch on.
Don’t Feed The Trolls.
It will be difficult to ignore the trolls, but I’ll give it my best shot. There may be slide-backs along the way.
And as Ex-PH2 pointed out Obama Girl should be included in the same treatment.
It’s warfare and boor hunting.
What the hell did I miss?
Agree. Thanks for showing your readership the path.
#9: Could link you to the examples, but that would be feeding the trolls.
Jabatam:
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=33967
“armchair geologist” WTF is that?
If you don’t want Joe on the site, ban him. Don’t play games. It’s a private site, and just like the living room analogy, if you have someone in the house who gets obnoxious, you don’t ignore them, you eject them.
First Amendment be damned.
This is what I was talking about a few weeks ago- people more level headed than myself. A lot of good points above. Since I only ever respond with “blood”, I shall refrain.
@12 Someone that sits in his basement looking for his “stones”.
@14, Not First Amendment be damned, First Amendment exercised by TAH.
@2 Hondo: I think we’re talking about two different things here. I do not advocate ceding the field politically or philosophically in a legitimate discourse. But Joe is a provocateur who posts only to irritate other readers here. All those angry responses are his lifeblood.
@5 NRPax: Mea Culpa. You’re absolutely correct. They are two entirely different processes. It’s been so long since I had to contend with leeches I failed to remember the distinction.
@18, Poetrooper, I did my best to keep anger out of my responses to joe and og and keep it to ‘right back at ya’.
His lack of common decency was appalling, but his agenda was to piss off everyone within range, as was og’s.
I’m not so sure that either of those two numbskulls succeeded this time.
Poetrooper: your assessment of Joe is likely correct. And it’s also IMO irrelevant.
Silence when publicly presented with stupidity or mendacity is indeed tantamount to ceding the argument. Whenever an outright lie, misrepresentation, or other bit of idiocy of that sort is made and is not countered, then that idiocy/misrepresentation/lie stands. And unless and until challenged publicly, it not only stands perpetrates.
Remember: regular readers of TAH are not the only ones who read the articles and comments posted here. And casual readers do not follow this site regularly – and will therefore have no idea who is and is not a troll, nor when they are being ignored by the site’s regulars. It is that wider audience with whom I am most concerned.
The silence of their adversaries is precisely how many of the most despicable propagandists in history have prevailed. The “Big Lie” works well if it is repeated often enough and no one challenges it for what it is: a lie.
There is ample historical precedent to support holding one’s tongue in the face of idiocy being a bad idea, dating back to Biblical times. The Challenger disaster (too few who knew better were willing to say “bad idea” for fear of offending the boss or being branded a “naysayer”) and Vietnam (ditto) are easy examples. There are myriad others.
In fact, I even seem to recall a story of a great Teacher once using the silence of those unwilling to challenge him to win an argument with a single statement – although in that case, the Teacher was not being mendacious. Something about throwing stones, I believe.
Stupidity and lies propagate unless and until challenged. Evil triumphs if good men and women do nothing – to include stay silent.
@17 I was in an ill temper this morning, and didn’t phrase it correctly. Jonn, or any of the other moderators, certainly has the right to determine who stays on here and who goes. I have no problem with that at all.
Joe is part of the other HALF of this country. Whether we like it or not, there are people out there all over the country who think like he does. To belittle him and drive him away is ignoring the elephant in the room. There is an opposite side to every coin you handle, and there is a different opinion on any subject you care to discuss. These are our neighbors, co-workers, fellow citizens. We have to talk to each other; no one is right about everything, all the time. The fact that there are people out there who have chosen to live this philosophy makes it worth our time. If we seriously think they are in error, it is our duty to attempt to make them understand why we think they are wrong. They will certainly do the same. If we can get past personalities and pissing contests, we might actually learn something from each other.
This won’t work with the real “trolls” that show up here, but I don’t consider Joe a troll. I consider him to be the other side of the coin. That’s why I will attempt to talk with him.
PN, gotta disagree on your take on our rock-climbing socialist hero, Joey. His first post in the original Chris Kyle thread confirms that he’s not worth the time or effort.
All this coming from a group of people who still think Obama is a muslim. Very troubling that people like you still exist.
@20 Hondo: Again I think we’re talking about two different things. You are concerned with countering the lies of the political opposition and in that sense we are in agreement. However, the premise of my piece is about how to rid this site of an insignificant troll who visits here only to keep the pot boiling.
As another commenter said, Joe could stick to liberal sites but the mediocrity of his views are of no significance there so he’d not get the attention he craves. I wrote what I did in response to all the comments on the Kyle post where almost every commenter was telling Joe to get the hell out of here. I simply posited a way to do that. Following your logic he will be here forever feeding off the angry responses he engenders.
Hey, if the majority want him here, it’s fine with me. If so, I think the regular commenters should consider backing off a bit in their virulent responses because, as I’ve said repeatedly, those only serve to feed his starving ego.
On the other hand, it just occurred to me that Joe’s presence here does serve one legitimate purpose: he serves as a convenient and cathartic target, allowing folks to vent some of the anger that builds up in us because of those continually infuriating lefties.
Hondo, I’m not trying to tell the folks how to think. I was simply offering a means to an end which I still think is valid: ignore the little pest and he’ll eventually go away.
Someone net this one out for me … can I still punch him in the throat?
Note: This posting is satirical in nature. The author has no intention of damaging one’s epiglottis, trachea, esophagus, larynx, deep muscle, and/or surrounding epidermis, demis, associated fibroblasts, dermal papillae, and reticular dermis.
@22 UpNorth, I read what Joe posted on Kyle’s thread. Joe commented before he thought. He didn’t stop to think that such a “news item” might have personal repurcussions for the folks here. He made a sarcastic comment, and got dog-piled for it. As he should have, because what he said was careless and painful.
But I also saw that he attempted to apologize for what he said at least twice. AND NO ONE WOULD ACCEPT HIS APOLOGY. If Joe turns from a man with a different viewpoint into nothing more than a punching bag, then he should be banned. To salvage what is left of his mental health and our dignity.
PintoNag: I saw that. You may have a point.
However, I’d have given that apology a bit more credence had he posted it as a comment to the original article. Apologizing where he did vice where he gave insult struck me as a bit less than proper.
@26, Where did he apologise?
ObamaGirl: then we’re even. Most of us here are very troubled that someone with as little apparent common sense and intellect as you is allowed to walk around in public and/or access the Internet without adult supervision.
Twist: http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=33979&cpage=2#comment-760476
joe’s last entry was this on “Morally Vicious”:
98Joe Says:
February 5th, 2013 at 10:17 am
“I thought long and hard about it last evening. To me Chris Kyle was a very public figure, someone who sought publicity. To some of you he was a friend. I sincerely apologize for jumping the gun. I still think his situation merits discussion, but I do apologize for jumping on the “story” without really thinking about your feeling for him. I do apologize.”
Perhaps he did mean his apology, but note that he prefaced it with the slam against Chris Kyle, someone he did not know, and what his opinion was based on is beyond me. I had never heard of Kyle until the notice that he was murdered, along with a friend, by someone he trusted, just to steal his pickup truck. This indicates that joe neither respects the dead, nor actually gives any more than lip service to an apology.
Poetrooper #24: “On the other hand, it just occurred to me that Joe’s presence here does serve one legitimate purpose: he serves as a convenient and cathartic target, allowing folks to vent some of the anger that builds up in us because of those continually infuriating lefties.”
Dang it, quit that! I see replying to folks like Joe akin to kicking a puppy for being a puppy. A near useless endeavor.
Sometimes it might change his behavior, but more often it make him mean.
BTW, I vent anger at his lot simply by laughing… he and his ilk are more cartoonish than most animated stuff currently on the TV.
But since you’ve adapted, I will try.
(Moderators:
Wouldn’t it be easier to put this to a simple vote? We could argue this endlessly, but if you truly want to know if Joe should stay or go by determination of the readership, why not open up a poll?)
PintoNag #33: This site has but a single moderator as far as I know. The cute but sometimes cranky Jonn.
ObamaGirl #23: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Zero, I’ve run into more pea-brained bullies like joe and og than I can count. They don’t want debate or reasonable discussion. Their only purpose is to piss people off. They spend time looking for what they think are easy targets, but don’t have the wherewithal to deal with it when the target is not as vulnerable as they thought.
Their object is to provoke the lot of us to anger, but if they don’t succeed, they shift lanes and try another tactic with weak attempts at manipulation.
It’s very much like warfare and boor hunting. Pick your venue. We can choose to respond or not, it’s up to us.
Like kicking a puppy? Naw! More like smiting a cockroach.
Ex-PH2 #36: “More like smiting a cockroach.” Not so sure that analogy has much validity? Unless yer talking about zombie cockroaches?
Ya know, the puppy analogy just might be more on point in that – if ya feed them they’ll keep coming back?
Zero, puppies are cute and cuddly.
What is cute and cuddly about a cockroach? Aside from Archie the 8-foot palmetto beetle down in Orlando?
@27 – Had ten different tabs open (not all TAH), got a little confused as to which article I was posting on.
Joe #39: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
And by the way Poetrooper, it’s “leech”, not “leach”, unless you’re referring to chemical solutions.
You know what a leachfield is, joe?
Joe, that’s already been pointed out to him.
We’ve been discussing sending your mangy puppy ass to the electronic pound for shitting on the carpet one time too many. NOW is the time for the big, soulful, sad-puppy-dog look, and keeping your yap SHUT. I can’t do it alone, and you’re NOT helping.
Well, Joe – you’re only about 36 comments late with that correction. But whatever.
Your apology – if sincere – actually wasn’t bad even if in a suboptimal place. But based on what I’ve seen from you here, I’ll reserve judgement on the sincerity factor for a bit.
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/dogs/images/31322345/title/sad-puppy-fanart
That’s adorable Joe! 🙂
@42 Valmont. Thanks for kick-starting my old fart’s brain, Val. I know the difference between leech and leach but the old synapses were mis-firing a bit when I wrote that piece last night. That term leach field must have been in the back of my mind from when I lived in the rural Texas Hill Country where we were on septic systems and had to be very careful to meet county specifications regarding the leach fields.
Leech or leach, either term is pretty much applicable to our troll who has finally awakened it seems
Joe … puppies? Are you in 4th grade?
BTW … When you apologize, it should be sincere, short, and contrite.
You scored about 57% on technical merit.
You scored about 73% on execution of humility factor.
You scored a perfect 100% in all your previous posts in terms of dipshittedness.
Other than that I am with Hondo’s comments in # 44.
@48 – see #43
Joe … good doggie! Sit and be quite. Good doggie!