After a day of fielding abuse from people who much prefer self-righteous ranting or patronizing personal insult to debate, I was wondering whether I belong in this space. It wasnt so much the personal insults - I have criticized both the EFF and the Israeli state, so I am used to them. But, if you explain repeatedly what you did and didnt say, and the evidence of what you said is on the page for anyone who cares to look, but people keep on misrepresenting your position, you are not debating, you are fending off a lynch mob. And most of us have better things to do than fend off lynch mobs. After calming down, however, the obvious sank in - the lynch mob is a small minority of people who engage here; most people who respond to what I write are interested in engaging rather than ranting. So there are plenty of reasons for staying here despite the abuse. But it does seem important to ensure that this is a place for real debate by excluding those who dont want to engage in it. Some people would respond by blocking the ranters. I am not prepared to do that - this is a public space and there is no entrance requirement for public spaces. But I am no longer willing to waste time dealing with people who are only interested in browbeating anyone who does not agree with them. So here is a message to the abusive minority. If you dont bother to read what I write before attacking me or you continue to distort my argument despite the clear evidence in front of you, I will ignore you. If you use personal insult as a tactic (against anyone here, not just me), attacking the person rather than the idea, I will ignore you. If you reject an argument, but do not offer one in return, I will ignore you. This will hopefully contribute to making this a space where we exchange ideas while we respect each other and our opinions.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 06:21:20 +0000
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