Thursday, July 6, 2006

I Got Mail! Yay!

Got the heads up that an email like this might be coming my way. So, I wasn't surprised when it arrived.
Hello Basil,

Lately there has been an act of evil. A family with Jewish students in Delaware has been harassed, and in their attempt to recieve justiced, has been further intimidated. As it happens, one of the perpetrators of this has been Nedd Kareiva, who runs the StopTheACLU coalition, which I am sad to see is a group you are linked to (your blog links to the site's blog, which is related to the official site).

[note: author included a link to a Jesus' General post included here --basil]

Since you do link to their blog, I would be interested in finding your opinion on this matter, particularly Nedd's statement that he is "pleased" with the effects of this incident.

I look forward to your response,

Zhuge Liang

So, I responded:
Thanks for writing. Of course, if you're THE Zhuge Liang, well, I've been meaning to read your book. I'll get around to it. I promise.

Anyway, to your query. You must have had a busy day, since I understand there is a coordinated effort underway to write many, if not all, of the blogs associated with Stop the ACLU!

You mention that you want my opinion on this matter. I really don't think you want my opinion. I think you've got lots of free time on your hands, being dead 1772 years and all. I just think you have nothing better to do than write me. And all the other people you wrote.

I assume this is your little cause to which you've been assigned? Well, congratulations. You must be happy you didn't get the gay marriage issue to write about. They'd have had a fun time trying to figure out what to write me about, huh?

What's that? Gay marriage? What has that to do with anything?

Well, you see, as you note, I link to Stop the ACLU! And you're making the implication that I agree with everything they do. And they oppose gay marriage. But guess what? I also link to aTypicalJoe, a gay blogger who supports gay marriage. (Yes, I link to many others that support gay marriage, but he's the blogger-supporter to whom I'm closest.)

Hmmm. What a quandary that must be for someone. How can I link to both who have diametrically opposed opinions on such a subject? I'm obviously in favor of gay marriage, by virtue of my linking to Joe, especially since I've linked to him longer. But I'm obviously opposed to gay marriage, since I link to Stop the ACLU!

How can I be both? Well, I can't. And one can't assume I'm one or the other based upon the people I link to.

So, why does my linking to Stop the ACLU! bring up the question of my support or opposition to actions taken by anyone affiliated with that group?

Tell you what. Answer me a question. You got a blog? What's its URL?

Why? I might just link to it.

You have fun with your little email campaign, now, you hear?

-- Basil


I wonder if they'll respond.

9 comments:

  1. Like me, you are for gay marriages, but not gay divorces. Let 'em suffer

    ReplyDelete
  2. That patriotboy blog is definiely blue.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Don: LOL

    The Wife: Don said it. *I* didn't! He funny.

    Macker: Oh, yeah. Definitely. By the way, Jesus' General was a finalist for Best Humor Blog in the 2004 Blogger Awards. Yeah, he's clever at times. And that's fine. If we can have The Iraq War Was Wrong Blog, they can have Jesus' General. We come out ahead on that deal.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hmmmm...we are what we link to. That must make me a zombie lol.

    Way to give it to them Basil, hilarious.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Envy: Email...

    Basil get’s cool email while I get crap like in the extended entry.

    ......

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sweet. It took me a couple months of blogging to get over linking to people with whom I disagree - but now the whole idea seems foolish. There's no way a person could possibly agree with *every single thing* every blogger on his/her 'roll. What a dumb e-mail.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Haven't gotten any emails like that yet. I did get one from an ad agency who wanted me to blog about an ad campaign for one of their customers to help make it go viral. They reached out to me because I blogged about a similar ad campaign (not theirs) that I thought was funny. Theirs wasn't, so I didn't.

    I'm not a fan of the politics of linking. It's the reason why I was anti-blogroll for so long on my blog. That, and my deep admiration for James Lileks (he doesn't bother with one).

    ReplyDelete
  8. [...] It seems someone hates Stop the ACLU and is e-mailing those who oppose him, like Basil, who took the time to respond - hilariously. [...]

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yeah, I saw the General Jesus lame attempt at satire (DUH, you have to rise above childish sarcasm, General! -- I'm not going to waste my energy replying to such a pompous, self-righteous dope on his own site).

    The public scrutiny and pressure against that family was not because they were JEWISH or ATHEISTS but because they were seeking to IMPOSE their standards on the vast majority of the community. It's the same total double standard and irrational claims for fake tolerance that liberals always make, intentionally or out of ignorance.

    Real tolerance? Means either learn to tolerate the majority culture you move to or are born into or go somewhere else. That's reality. Every society depends on having a coherent culture. That's NOT a POGROM, it's just reality. If some individuals in the school are saying stupid things, write a letter to the editor and get over it! Explain to your kids that they'll have to put up with people their whole lives that might not agree with them.

    Nothing justifies a handful of persons ripping apart the culture of the over-whelming majority (provided that that culture is not inherently evil--which, despite his feckless, ridiculous whining, even the General Dope would admit that Christianity is not).

    D. Ox

    ReplyDelete

Please choose a Profile in "Comment as" or sign your name to Anonymous comments. Comment policy