Sarah writes: I don’t think you should get yourself upset over folks like Si or ‘anonymous’. By giving them undue attention and allowing your frustration to be exposed, I have a feeling that such things only make the problem worst. Perhaps you are giving them what they want? Also, it may even, perversely, affirm in their minds that they are in the right.
Please understand, pests like the aforementioned two don’t upset me personally in the least. I get email every day informing me that I am uneducated, stupid, evil and uncaring, a vast cornucopia of unfounded caricature. I actually enjoy this sort of thing, as it’s amusing to have the chance to properly tee off on someone who lobs a nice fat slow one at you. But I find it profoundly irritating when someone is so socially unskilled as to feel the need to defecate in the pool in which numerous people are happily splashing water at each other. As the Virginian said, “say it with a smile.”
I will ban without warning or announcement anyone who repeatedly insults me or anyone else on this blog, whether they are in agreement with me or not. I don’t expect intellectual accord, but I do demand civility. I responded at length to Si’s missive because one rarely encounters a so-called liberal who is willing to state in such outright terms their worship of the State and elevation of the community over the rights of the individual. I wasn’t surprised at the poor quality of his thought; I was surprised that he was so willing to expose it to all and sundry. Most leftists know better.
Still, I give him credit for trying, even if he would have saved himself a lot of trouble by reading the great economists of Left and Right, who’ve covered all of that ground before. He’s welcome to continue posting here if he likes, although Anonymous will have to rest content with the knowledge that his ban from this site was preordained from the beginning of time.