Catholic and Enjoying It!
…why he won’t publish your uncharitable comment.
One of the telltale marks of a jerk is how quick he is to moan about censorship when he deliberately writes something to offend somebody else and finds his comments pulled by a blog moderator. Add extra jerk points if, a) it never occurs to the jerk to wonder if something he said was out of line, b) he insults you for not letting him insult others, or c) goes to other threads on your blog or to another blog entirely to complain about you for “censoring” his “free speech”.
Clues for the Rude: nobody has free speech on my blog. I run a loose ship and mostly let people say what they like. But nasty rude people need to remember that I expect you to behave on my blog as you would in my living room. If you are rude I will warn you (if it seems to me you might not be an unteachable git) and, if you don’t learn manners quickly, I will ban you. Boo hoo to you if you feel oppressed and start shouting about the violence inherent in the system. I received my kingly authority when a moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me and there’s nothing you can do about it.
On rare occasions, spectacular jerks, banned from my blog, will cruise around the Catholic blogosphere bemoaning their outcast state on other blogs. They are welcome to do so (and if you are a blogger who is tired of listening to them, I would recommend you adopt my basic “act as you would in my living room” policy–unless, of course, you are mad at me too, in which case you’ll enjoy their company and everybody wins!).
Finally, to those whom I have banished from my comboxes, seeking to make common cause with other rudesbys I have banned, you should be cautious about the company you keep. Sometimes, the enemy of your enemy is not really your friend and you might find yourself embarrassed to be found in virtual bed with them. Take, for instance Larry Coty, who with asinine fatuity, has begun a FB “support group” for people traumatized by being banned from my comboxes. (I’m not making this up. He really calls it a “support group”.) He wanders about various Catholic blogs and, whenever the topic turns to how much some commenter loathes me, he offers an invitation to his support group.
What he neglects to mention to these poor souls looking for love in all the wrong places is that what got him banned from my comboxes was his unflagging defense of the valor of the SS and the moving courage of Josef “Auschwitz Angel of Death” Mengele. (You can see him making valuable contributions to the conversation here as “Larry C” and “Kurt” (and around the web under various other aliases like “Ulick Varange“.) Also, he seems not to have mentioned his noble support and encouragement of David “Mr. Holocaust Denial” Irving.
To be clear, I doubt very much any of the folks who signed up for “Banished by Mark Shea” have any idea they are hanging out with a guy who seems curiously comfortable rubbing shoulders with the denizens of Nazi.org, but it is amusing to contemplate how they would react if they found out.
Moral: Be careful of the company you keep. On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a schweinhund.
This one’s for you, Larry!
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