by peartreed » Wed Sep 12, 2018 1:31 pm
I’ve appreciated the further clarifying comments above by Sounder, Elvis and BS.
In particular I’m glad you’ve acknowledged your respect for SLAD as a person as well as a long-term, regular contributor of value here. That is refreshing insight.
BS, I know we should judge other humans by more than their online posts but, when that’s all we have to assess them, it becomes the default criteria. I base my views of RI members on the content and character they impart in their posts. We all do.
I’m also aware that the critical harassment of SLAD by several others in succession was not intended (by the individuals involved at the time at each instance) to be bullying. The cumulative effect on the target, however, is exactly that.
In nature, as we all know, when a prey is cornered by a pack of predators the survival instinct kicks in to fight back fiercely in a hyper-adrenaline, vital, final death struggle. It might surprise the predators expecting surrender to superior strength.
Like boys in a locker room preparing for a sport, each is thinking about their own role and position and assignment as it fits into the game plan. But when they hit the field the opponent player sees them as a powerful enemy, a group threat, an attack.
When that opponent player is not a team or group but a single cheerleader, it seems, to me, like mass misogyny madness!
I happen to like the cheerleader in this analogy because we are on the same team.
I also support SLAD because she posts news material I might not otherwise see (because of my location with less MSM coverage), and I’m sympathetic to the partisan perspective it presents of an out-of-control POTUS that threatens us all. To me, nothing is more important in current affairs and we all need the facts about it – even if others consider it propaganda, socialist pap or fake news. I want to see it.
But my final point is that SLAD is a really nice person herself, passionate and motivated enough to contribute so much time and effort here over many years.
For us.
Whether or not we like or want that, we owe her our respect and fair treatment.