The reason is that it gets down to the heart of the matter; what people really believe.
In the same way that Sit-Ins at lunch counters revealed the violence and hatred inherent in segregation when the whites responded with force, internet comments can draw out what people really believe if they are sufficiently agitating. Eventually the veneer of reasonability comes crashing down and people reveal their true self.
A few days ago, I got into an argument with Alexis at Tao of D&D. He wrote a post that took issue with something I had written on my blog. The subject, ironically, is largely irrelevant to what happened. He admitted that he had never read or played any of the games that I was citing, never even heard of many of them, and yet he was able to insist with absolute certainty that he was right and I was wrong. Hubris like that is hard to come by.
What followed was a hilarious comedy of egotistical mania. He proceeded to delete my comments in an attempt to shut me up, then even after I finally got him to pause for a bit, he eventually got agitated again and went on another pogrom against my comments. A few people stepped in to defend me, he deleted some of those comments. Some people said they were never coming back, he deleted some of those comments. Someone pleaded for reasonability and relaxation, that comment was deleted. As was the reply complaining about the deletion.
Now the thread sits quietly, as if there never even was a conflict. The Ministry of Truth has declared the thread a no-fly-zone.
What has this revealed about Alexis?
He is willing to delete comments simply to quelch disagreement. He has insisted in the past that he only deletes comments that do not "add to the discussion", yet that is clearly not true. He deleted relevant comments simply because they revealed his ignorance of issues that he was proclaiming certainty over. In order to win an argument, he will censor his opponents and anyone who supports them or even calls for a cooling of emotions. Winning is more important than actual logic. So the comment section of any post on his blog is now potentially a battleground from the past that has been scrubbed down to eradicate dissent.
And all this occured not in a discussion of politics, religion, or similar hot-button topic. No, this was an RPG theory discussion. Wow.
What has this revealed about me?
I am a bit of a prick. I called someone ignorant for knowing nothing about a topic. The word carries a bit of a negative connotation, even in accurate use. A bit of a sting. And sometimes I am a little loose with my language. A bit. I need to edit my posts for clarity more vigorously. However, I am open to being proven wrong and I have even asked Gaptooth to spar with me a bit on the very subject that drove Alexis off the deep end. I think that has to count for something.
Where do we go from here?
Nowhere. I just wanted to make sure there was some record of what actually happened. I can't let the Ministry of Truth have the final say in the matter.
And I won't even be commenting on Alexis' blog again. Or reading the comments either, because I won't know if anyone actually said something of value that was deleted. But I will be linking it in my blogroll, because even egotistical jackasses occassionally have something of value to say every once in a while.
And if Alexis ever makes another comment on my blog, it will take supreme willpower not to delete it and then laugh hysterically. Just for the fun of it.
Can't stop the signal, Mal. Everything goes somewhere.
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