--Sebastian
I received an interesting email today (one word edited for our at-work readers):
Hey, you won a round. Now you get to threaten the lives of 124,000 women a year who need a certain medical procedure, and you get to root around until you find doctors to prosecute. F*** you, mysognistic killer.
--
Mithras Invicti
Fables of the Reconstruction
Interesting side note, I wrote a paper in college about the how the Mithras cult was one of the big rivals to Christianity in the Roman empire. If I recall correctly it was a mystery cult with a decidedly militaristic bent (most of its adherents were soldiers). One of the key things it shared with Christianity was that it didn't discriminate on the basis of class or national origin. I vaguely remember that it had been suggested that many of the more militaristic parts of Christianity came from trying to bring the Mithras cult into the fold. This may not have been what the author of the email was trying to convey, but it was what I immediately thought about. I studied weird things in college.
Speaking of which, 'invicti' means unconquered and it is not immediately related to invective (which comes from invectivus meaning abusive. I wonder if I had access to the OED if I would find a linkage? I can imagine unconquered and abusive being related in some instances.
The interesting thing to me about this email is how closely it mirrors the kind of email I could imagine getting from a crazed pro-lifer if I were an abortion doctor:
Hey, you won a round. Now you get to threaten the lives of more than a million babies who want to live, and you get to root around until you find righteous men and women who protest that to prosecute. F*** you, baby-killer.
seems very plausible.
Orthogonal to the current conversational current, mysognistic? How many people missed that?
Rule number 27B stroke j of writing Extremely Harsh Put-Downs is: don't misspell those zingy adjectives.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | April 20, 2007 at 10:40 PM
john thullen, Having read your 1:38 pm post I'm prompted to ask did you ever do dialog for Gilligans Island.
Usually I enjoy banging your head against the wall but I'm still in awe of your efforts the other day when you warned the world you were going to get a gun while flouting your higher order vocabulary. You did come back later to reassure a waiting and breathless world that you were alright.
At that moment I had the terrible realization that you're not perfect, oh dread stain, for then I knew that you were capable of lying.
You will feel better after a good nights rest in the tomb, to awaken, musty but refreshed, ready once again to disperse brilliance or buy a .357.
Just don't shoot your toes off John, you need all the balance you can get.
Posted by: johnt | April 20, 2007 at 11:02 PM
"I think you would be surprised at the variety of people you find in the military."
Perhaps so, but I'm a bit skeptical; the Army allows a wide variety of forms of weirdness. And it also disallows a wide variety of forms of weirdness. I'm simply noting that many people I've known have engaged in the latter, and not just in the former.
Examples: I'm fairly sure the Army won't allow you, while in it, to have been someone living off the grid, living under an assumed name, paying no taxes, having no official IDs, since you were ~14 years old, frequently moving, including to other countries, at will. There's no problem with people who will do that before or after their tours of service, but the Army, I'm fairly sure, won't let actual serving personnel live like that.
Or be transexual chaplins, so far, although perhaps I'm wrong and there are one or more.
Or simply be knowingly allowed to violate laws, such as, say, the drug laws, or perhaps even more shady illegality.
Or engage in a variety of careers, such as, say, professional astrologer, or faith healer, or medium. The Army won't, I suppose, interfere with you doing these things on the side, but they're not offered as an MOS, so far as I know, which would be the equivalent available choice.
The Army won't tolerate not-that-uncommon neurotic behavior like filling most of a house with decades worth of newspaper the owner can't bear to throw out, or being unable to leave one's home, or having major Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or being inclined to do a lot of visible self-cutting, as long-term behavior, is my impression.
The Army won't let you sit around spending all your time on your publicizing your perpetual motion machine, or theory of reincarnation, or the new religion you started based on a piece of fiction that awed you. Again, you can do it on the side, but not as the thing-you-do-all-day.
I could list a bunch more categories of things that, so far as I know, the Army won't tolerate officially, at least for long, but which have all been done by more than one person I've known.
This is not an insult to the Army in any way, believe me. Neither is it to say that there aren't a wide variety of tolerable eccentricities extant in the Army.
Posted by: Gary Farber | April 20, 2007 at 11:31 PM
I’ve read a lot of hyperbole and persiflage in this thread, but still don’t know why Mithras was 86ed.
Because he sent a private email to Sebastian that Hilzoy other regulars here didn’t appreciate?
Because he defended himself aggressively when he was piled on in a condescending, petulant manner?
Because he used a single profanity as common in conversation as the word ‘like?’
For cumulative past indiscretions: kind of a politically-incorrect three strikes and you’re out limit?
First Don Imus, now Mithras – who’s next? Better watch out, better not pout, the ghost of Anthony Comstock is coming to town…
Posted by: Jay Jerome | April 20, 2007 at 11:39 PM
"Because he used a single profanity as common in conversation as the word ‘like?’"
I've suggested before that this point be included as explanatory in the posting rules, as it comes up again and again, but I can only suggest: the rule against profanity isn't because, so far as I know, it bothers any of the blog-owners, but because, they say, they want to avoid being unavailable to people in offices with filtering software.
This was, as I recall, Moe Lane's point in instituting and enforcing the rule -- though I might be misremembering, conceivably -- and it's certainly always been the reason cited by the blogowners.
Personally -- and I'm just a reader/commenter, of course -- I couldn't give a damn about Bad Words, and I use them at my own blog, but when at other people's blogs, one is a guest, and it's polite to either abide by their wishes, or play elsewhere.
I hope this purely personal, not-connected-to-the-blog-owners, response, answers some of your query.
Posted by: Gary Farber | April 20, 2007 at 11:55 PM
Just for the heck of it, what was it, exactly, that Don Imus is an example of "first" of, by the way? I'm afraid your wording leaves me unclear.
Posted by: Gary Farber | April 20, 2007 at 11:57 PM
The army allows most of that, in the same manner that other organizations would: somebody finds some niche job requiring simply someone to breathe, such as range duty.
And don't forget there are a lot of DA civilians that don't have the anti-gay prohibitions, so a transgendered minister is possible, though admittedly not likely.
And even the castabout can happen under color of uniform, for periods of time. A foreign area officer, for example, can be sent to explore the region he is supposed to know, learn the language and culture, for several years at a time. He may or may not have specified duties during that time, depending on the country. I put in for Norway, Sweden, and the Carribean, but was not seleceted.
Posted by: jrudkis | April 21, 2007 at 12:14 AM
I recall reading that nuclear sub crews were BIG into D & D, which bestows automatic weird credentials. Made me regret my career choice.
Posted by: Anderson | April 21, 2007 at 12:20 AM
johnt:
Well, I submitted some scripts for Gilligan's Island having to do with the Tina Louise character escaping the island in Lovey's steamer trunk, kept afloat by coconuts and the Professor's inflated academic resume.
She made it to shore and was rescued by Pepino, the illegal immigrant in the Real McCoy's, who put her up in his bunkhouse out behind the chicken coop. He'd always been a fan of Tina's because she had a more comely hitch in her get-along than Grandpa McCoy, and besides, he'd grown tired of harvesting Little Luke's sweet potatoes, if you know what I mean.
Later, Pepino was kicked out of the country by Tom Tancredo and moved back to the barrio outside of Puerto Vallarta. He smuggled Tina with him back into Mexico disguised as a high-paying job.
Several years passed and Wally's buddy, Eddie Haskell, who had run away with The Beav's Mom, June Cleaver during Spring Break for a quickie marriage south of the border, spotted Tina through the bottom of an upended Mescal bottle, spit out the worm, ditched Mrs. Cleaver, paid Pepino eleven dollars, and the smooth-talking Eddie and his new flame, none the worse for wear, settled in Texas, where she got a job teaching the Governor some pidgin Spanish.
The rest is history.
I never know either whether to flout or flaunt this stuff.
Posted by: John Thullen | April 21, 2007 at 12:27 AM
D and D is not weird credentials (as an adult). It is loser credentials that necessitates being a submariner.
D and D in junior high, on the other hand, was the pinnacle of cool. Those guys get to join the army.
Posted by: jrudkis | April 21, 2007 at 03:23 AM
Carleton Wu: Those aren't facts, Jes.
You're right.
OCSteve: Not I. I am more comfortable espousing my views on a national (international) venue. I mean, Jes might get really irritated with me, but the chances that she will show up on my doorstep tomorrow are slim (I’d buy you breakfast Jes, especially after today). I have a (very thin at this point) veneer of anonymity here.
Heh. Thanks. Were I to show up on your doorstep, it would be for breakfast, not mayhem. ;-)
Slarti: Orthogonal to the current conversational current, mysognistic? How many people missed that?
Oh, I spotted it. I just figured this was not a proofreading moment.
Rule number 27B stroke j of writing Extremely Harsh Put-Downs is: don't misspell those zingy adjectives.
We agree on that, if nothing else...
Posted by: Jesurgislac | April 21, 2007 at 04:13 AM
We (re)started DandD this year, after requests from our kids. My 8yo is teaching DandD to his schoolfriends and likes to play it with his brothers (the 6yo is a druid and the 4 yo is his wolf)...
Posted by: dutchmarbel | April 21, 2007 at 05:15 AM
Giles: "I used to be a highly respected Watcher, and now I'm a wounded dwarf with the mystical strength of a doily."
I'm unclear how cool -- or not -- this makes D&D. Or even AD&D.
Posted by: Gary Farber | April 21, 2007 at 05:39 AM
Dutchmarbel, that's unspeakably cute. Thank you. :)
Posted by: Bruce Baugh | April 21, 2007 at 08:04 AM
Thullen, have you read http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/gilligans_wake.html>Gilligan's Wake? It's a total hoot.
Posted by: CharleyCarp | April 21, 2007 at 08:52 AM
I've met Katherine, Hil, Ugh, LizardBreath, Javelina, Dutchmarbel, Jackmormon, and some other folks I won't name, and I think I'm weirder than any of them. And I'm really not very weird.
Posted by: CharleyCarp | April 21, 2007 at 09:14 AM
Charley actually is less weird than most of the America collegues I had when I worked for American companies.
Posted by: dutchmarbel | April 21, 2007 at 09:45 AM
Charleycarp:
Thanks for the heads up; I'll give the book a look-see.
Posted by: John Thullen | April 21, 2007 at 10:05 AM
CharleyCarp: if you think you're weirder than I am, there must be something you don't let on over dinner.
Posted by: hilzoy | April 21, 2007 at 10:12 AM
The tax lawyer thinks you are all weird.
Posted by: Ugh | April 21, 2007 at 10:14 AM
Or, as Sam the Bald Eagle put it in The Great Muppet Caper: you are all weirdos.
;-)
Posted by: Ugh | April 21, 2007 at 10:15 AM
The tax lawyer thinks you are all weird.
This is something we all wear as a badge of honor. It's like being thought weird by a patent lawyer.
Posted by: CharleyCarp | April 21, 2007 at 10:26 AM
This is something we all wear as a badge of honor.
Heh.
Assuming anyone will still speak to me, do people have any good restaurant recommendations in London? I hear the Indian food is wonderful.
Posted by: Ugh | April 21, 2007 at 10:38 AM
I was just there, and ate Lebanese and Irish. Both quite good. I only have one piece of advice: Don't think about the value of their currency.
Posted by: CharleyCarp | April 21, 2007 at 11:07 AM
Malabar Junction, in Great Russell Street.
Not cheap (not massively expensive, given it's London), but wonderful South Indian food.
I find they have their own website now: malabarjunction.com, but they're not nearly as good at web-design as they are at food. It's near the British Museum - say about five minutes walk away, maximum.
Posted by: Jesurgislac | April 21, 2007 at 11:11 AM
Er, yeah, if you're American, one of our pounds is going for 2 of your dollars. If you want to eat British-style Indian food as cheaply as possible, go along to Brick Lane and pick a restaurant you like the look of that isn't licensed to serve alcohol. Then buy your wine or beer in a nearby off-license, and you'll likely have a good meal for under £10. Do not order the vindaloo. It's not food, it's a British macho eating game.
Posted by: Jesurgislac | April 21, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Well, from the Mithras cult to Gilligan's Island to being warned off the vindaloo.
I believe we have achieved, on this thread, Moe's original vision of balanced commentary.
THAT'S Weird!
Posted by: John Thullen | April 21, 2007 at 12:09 PM
Gary, does that mean if Chris Rock or Bill Maher or Wanda Sykes posted here, punctuating their comments with the same vox populi cadence of expletives they use on cable tv they'd be banned too, because someone may or may not want to read the blog at work where they may or may not be on the clock? Filtering expletives equals filtering content -- an odd trade-off, from my pov.
Over-reaction.
Posted by: Jay Jerome | April 21, 2007 at 02:27 PM
"Gary, does that mean if Chris Rock or Bill Maher or Wanda Sykes posted here, punctuating their comments with the same vox populi cadence of expletives they use on cable tv they'd be banned too, because someone may or may not want to read the blog at work where they may or may not be on the clock?"
I don't speak for this blog -- you'll have to ask Sebastian, or Hilzoy, or Von, or publius, etc., for that. And I've had some dissatisfaction, at times, with what I've felt to be somewhat inconsistent enforcement of the rules, myself, although largely because there seems to be no observable system (such as that, say, the writer of a post takes responsibility for policing their own thread promptly) other than haphazard maybe-someone-notices-something.
But the rules are the rules, obviously filtering software doesn't care who is writing, so breaking the rules is breaking the rules, obviously.
You're, of course -- and again I stress I'm speaking only for myself -- perfectly free to blog as you like. On your own blog.
"Filtering expletives equals filtering content"
Sure. I think software filters are extremely silly, myself, but somehow the world has failed to consult me on this.
As a general observation, it's hardly controversial that blogs belong to those who own them; they're not governmentally-run, nor do they take public funds; there's no right to be published on someone else's blog, any more than there's a right to start shouting in the middle of someone else's living room at a party. Blogs-owners are utterly free to be as arbitrary and unfair and subjective in what they want to allow in comments as are people to make rules for their own home.
I can't see that there's anything in the least wrong with this. But, then, I was fifteen when I started my first job in publishing, and I've never confused an editor's or publisher's choice with "censorship," nor the acts of private individuals or groups with that of the government.
Ah. Yes, his suffering is very sad.Posted by: Gary Farber | April 21, 2007 at 02:42 PM
not as sad as the kids with cancer who were invited to his ranch each year...
Posted by: Jay Jerome | April 21, 2007 at 04:21 PM
Don Imus is surely -- surely -- a rich man with lots of money to waste. (And there's a better-than-even chance that Mel Karmazin will soon make him even richer.)
Now, if he were to shut down his ranch in a fit of pique simply because he just lost his job, that would make him a small man. Well, smaller.
Is that what you're implying here? That Don Imus losing his job is going to kill children, or something?
Posted by: Phil | April 21, 2007 at 07:11 PM
The consensus is that a lot of the funding for the ranch will dry up now that he was fired from the show. Or do you think Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson -- paragons of hypocrisy -- are going to kick in money to make up the difference?
Posted by: Jay Jerome | April 21, 2007 at 11:52 PM
In defense of the Army's reputation for wierdness, I offer Ziggurat Con, apparently the first gaming (mostly D&D) convention in a warzone. Unfortunately, I am not stationed at Talil. Hmm, I might be able to get there for a day...need to investigate.
http://www.gamegrene.com/node/790
Posted by: Donald Clarke | April 22, 2007 at 02:08 AM
Army gaming gatherings would seem to be about as normal as it gets.
It's my impression that gaming systems are found far and wide in tents and structures across the mideast (and are about as popular with the Arabs, as with the Americans).
Posted by: Gary Farber | April 22, 2007 at 03:30 AM
It's not food, it's a British macho eating game.
Mmmmm, vindaloo. If I can make it to the UK this summer I'm totally getting me some of that.
Posted by: Anarch | April 22, 2007 at 09:50 PM
gaming systems are found far and wide in tents and structures across the mideast and are about as popular with the Arabs, as with the Americans
"As we level down, they'll level up."
Posted by: ajay | April 23, 2007 at 09:38 AM
The consensus is that a lot of the funding for the ranch will dry up now that he was fired from the show.
1) Imus' is not the only ranch for children with cancer. You might have heard of Ronald McDonald House?
2) If Imus cares about the children, he will divest himself from the ranch so that funders won't think he's profitting from the ranch.
3) Imus attacked, without provocation, a group of smart, strong women whose "crime" was that they were black, they were women, and they had the temerity to come to his attention. Whatever Sharpton and Jackson say is immaterial (I'm surprised you don't bring up the Clenis) -- Imus is not a victim; he was a bully and got no less than all bullies deserve.
Posted by: Jeff | April 23, 2007 at 07:57 PM