Opinion of TNF

[Mr. Smith]

Ideological differences aside, I find his attitude extremely irritating at times. Still, he's a principled and articulate poster who often provides an interesting perspective and puts effort into a lot of his posts. Obvious FF.

[Mr. Smith]

Hasn't crossed the HP line of no return...yet.

Like oakvale, I'm still not a fan on the whole, but I can't fault with his intentions or conviction, and he's great at calling out the BS.

[Mr. Smith]

Turkisblau has been here for a couple of month and has managed to be a more interesting and memorable poster than you've managed in 5 years tbh

You must have a very odd definition of interesting, then.

If by "odd", you mean sane, articulate, agreeable, principled, and good natured, then yeah he does have an "odd" definition, as do I and I wish more people had.

If only more of Atlas could be "odd", but alas it isn't meant to be.

[Mr. Smith]

Yes, R2D2 is the unreasonable and self-righteous one here, not the guy writing a three paragraph screed full of profanity when he is told not to use the word "retard" as a slur or an insult.

I hardly ever use the word retarded as an insult.  And even so there is a world of difference between that word and a word like "f****t" which has almost always been generally understood (at least in the US) to be a slur for homosexuals.  I do not endorse using "retard" as a personal insult or slur nor am I a huge activist in favor of using it to describe things.  What I am not a fan of is treating the usage of the word in any circumstance like it is somehow the equivalent of using words like "n", "kike", or "f****t".

"Retard" does not have it's origins as a demeaning and bad word to describe people with mental retardation.  It is a basic root word which as a verb means "to slow up or impede the progress of".  Before the word "retarded" was adopted to describe the mentally disadvantaged (or whatever word you want to use) people generally called people with those kinds of conditions "crazy", "stupid", or "moron".  Given that those three words have such a strong history and past with being used as slurs for the mentally disabled, why aren't you brave warriors out throwing a fit when someone calls something "stupid" or "crazy"?  And aren't you outraged when people refer to people they disagree with "morons"?

Or does that go against the enlightened liberal idea that insulting people is wrong, as long as it is not being done by you?

It is generally not a good idea to call people names or to insult them.  Nobody is debating that.  What is being debated here is the level of outrage and singleminded vindictiveness about the word itself (and not the motive (emphasis)) that doesn't really have at it's goal a meaningful wish to reform such behavior, but as a self-righteous crusade to satisfy small egos that ultimately ends up doing more damage to the causes they claim to fight for than help them.  For the record I do not hate Carl and I do not wish him ill, I just find his act really grating as of late and I felt like I had to tell him straight up.  His Captain Outrage persona is so blatant you'd have to be blind and deaf to miss it.  I am definitely not the only one who feels this way.

-Mechaman

Amen