I was going to post on my personal blog (non-GL related) as a "disinterested third person" in support of your fight in the blogosphere. I was going to point out how you guys were making some good points and the antis were only repeating the same tired ad hominem attacks and name-calling. Then I decided to do a little digging around and see the truth of the matter. I looked at AbsoluteZero and Daydreamer of Oz, and I saw a different side to the story.

This whole thing started when Daydreamer of Oz made a post about NVP. She didn't say anything insulting or disparraging in that post. Some of the commentors, like Malinda777, added their own hateful spin to it, but as far as I can tell, Daydreamer of Oz was just voicing her opinion. Apparently, she received death threats over this. She contends that she didn't deserve death threats over what she posted, and I agree. Her post was nowhere near bigotted enough to deserve such a strong response. Was it right to send her polite emails and comments trying to explain our side of the story? Yes. And I have a feeling if that's all that happened, it wouldn't have escalated to this point.

Apparently, some of us here in the GL community get a bit rabid ourselves and have a hard time keeping our shirts on when it comes to this kind of thing. On AbsoluteZero, I saw a couple of our rank apologizing for making rude comments and death threats. I saw quotes from Debatecrime, LGsinmyheart, and others, personally insulting Daydreamer of Oz and her friends. No wonder she took it to the next level.

I'm glad I didn't post in support of the CLers involved in this brawl. I would've looked foolish. This situation was mishandled from the very beginning. If you want to have a successful debate with someone, you have to conduct yourself in a certain respectable way the whole time, and wait for the opponent to make herself look bad by taking the fight ad hominem. The moment you guys jumped the gun and started spewing hatred at them, you lost the debate. Now they have the upper hand, because not only were you proceding from the unpopular position, but you also misbehaved and showed yourselves to be no better debators than they are.

I know the antis are assholes and they have an infuriating way of ignoring logic and reason in favor of their own prejudices. I know that we are downtrodden and impatient for a well-deserved break. But leaping into an engagement willy-nilly and using haphazard tactics like those is not how we're going to get that break. If anything, it sets us back, because it stirs people like Daydreamer of Oz into being more vocal in their opposition to us. If the whole thing had been handled differently from the beginning, we could have come across as the reasonable ones, while Daydreamer and her friends would've seemed like the assholes for saying things like "Your disease is not up for debate." But we lost that chance because some of you couldn't control your passions and you let your anger get ahead of you.

Now you're on the back foot, and blogs like AbsolutelyNothing are like a fallback position where you can comment on how the "battle" (now taken away from you and out of your hands) is progressing. You had an excellent opportunity to gain some ground, but you lost the advantage and now Daydreamer and her friends will never be swayed. You have created virulent new enemies for us through your lack of politesse. Now the comments being posted by CLers on AbsoluteZero are apologetic, and I'm not just talking about apologizing for the death threats. I'm talking about making more and more concessions to the intolerance of the antis, softening our position to try to make ourselves more palatable to them when they've already clearly stated that they're not interested in hearing it.

I am in favor of bringing the battle to the antis instead of letting them bring it to us. I think the best defense is a strong offense. I think we need to attack them in ways that will force them to reconsider their prejudices. But not this way. From my perspective it looks like you, LGsinmyheart, and a couple of others broke away from the pack and decided to do something rash and unplanned, and now it's going badly for you and you're looking for help. I wanted to join in the fray, but after taking a look at the mess you're in, I decided to be smart and sit out. I think the best thing you could do at this point is stop posting in AbsoluteZero, and stop trying to post on Daydreamer's blog too, if you haven't already. Disengage. You've stirred up the hornet's nest to the point that you're only making it worse for yourself by continuing to jab at it. The opportunity to make real progress there is now gone. That's my assessment, as somebody who just walked on the scene, somebody who hasn't been personally involved in this, and just happened to pop in and take a detached look around.

I'm likely to draw a lot of heat for this, and I hope you don't interpret this as a personal attack. After all, I wouldn't want to receive any death threats over it. There's a way to debate, and a way to start unwinnable fights, and you did the latter. That's all I'm saying.


Enigma