posted 11-27-2008 06:15 AM ET (US)            

If Ritzyrags believes that newspapers should report only on items he agrees with, then it's obvious why he thinks that he is known for his sound judgment, unerring foresight, and sagacious adaptation of means to ends. Let's look at the facts. First, his jeremiads have a tremendous infiltrating force and a serious degenerative power. Second, the most perceptive members of our society respond positively to my message that there is a cost, a cost too high to calculate, for messing with the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people. And finally, he is like a stray pigeon. Pigeons are too self-absorbed to care about anyone else. They poo on people they don't like; they poo on people they don't even know. The only real difference between Ritzyrags and a pigeon is that Ritzyrags intends to fix blame for social stress, economic loss, or loss of political power on a target group whose constructed guilt provides a simplistic explanation. That's why I suppose it's predictable, though terribly sad, that primitive rumormongers with stronger voices than minds would revert to flighty behavior. But we were put on this planet to be active, to struggle, and to criticize Ritzyrags's complicity in the widespread establishment of philistinism. We were not put here to destroy the values, methods, and goals of traditional humanistic study, as Ritzyrags might think.

Perhaps one day we will live in a world where good people are not troubled by fear of neurotic protestors. Until that day arrives, however, we must spread the word that I once tried to explain to Ritzyrags that his screeds will scorn and abjure reason. Rather than feel ashamed of himself, Ritzyrags got angry at me. What this says is that the poisonous wine of faddism had been distilled long before Ritzyrags entered the scene. Ritzyrags is merely the agent decanting the poisonous fluid from its bottle into the jug that is world humanity.

I find Ritzyrags's obloquies rather peevish, don't you? So what if Ritzyrags hates me for pointing out that I haven't the foggiest idea why he wants to eliminate the plebiscitary mechanisms which ensure a free and democratic society? Let him hate me. I consider such hatred a mark of honor, a mark of distinction. Prætorianism is not merely an attack on our moral fiber. It is also a politically motivated attack on knowledge.

As everyone who has access to reliable information knows, while we do nothing, those who pander to simple-minded vermin are gloating and smirking. And they will keep on gloating and smirking until we tear down Ritzyrags's fortress of racism. Currently, Ritzyrags's hijinks merely cultivate the purest breed of irresponsibility. As you will see sometime soon, this is only the tip of a gigantic iceberg.

Ritzyrags says that you and I are objects for him to use then casually throw away and forget like old newsprint that's performed its duty catching bird droppings. This is at best wrong. At worst, it is a lie. His hypocritical, headstrong remonstrations often resemble an inverted fairy tale in that the triumph of innocence comes at the start and the ugly sisters of solecism and exclusivism enter on stage in triumph for the final curtain. I, hardheaded cynic that I am, would be grateful if Ritzyrags would take a little time from his rigorous schedule to knock some sense into him. Of course, pigs will grow wings and fly before that ever happens. All such combinations of audacity with ignorance would be supremely ridiculous but for one consideration: He contends that honesty and responsibility have no cash value and are therefore worthless. What planet is he from? The planet Damnable? My answer is, as always, a model of clarity and the soul of wit: I don't know. However, I do know that the last time I told Ritzyrags's cat's-paws that I want to pronounce the truth and renounce the lies they declared in response, "But Ritzyrags has the authority to issue licenses for practicing sectarianism." Of course, they didn't use exactly those words, but that's exactly what they meant.

Ritzyrags demands obeisance from his lickspittles. Then, once they prove their loyalty, Ritzyrags forces them to muddy the word "deanthropomorphization". It's somewhat tricky to remove the misunderstanding that he has created in the minds of myriad people throughout the world, especially since the media in this country tend to ignore historical connections and are reluctant to analyze ideological positions or treat a fringe political group seriously. If one dares to criticize even a single tenet of his artifices, one is promptly condemned as pesky, demented, appalling, or whatever epithet he deems most appropriate, usually without much explanation.

If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem. Ritzyrags wants us to believe that he is the ultimate authority on what's right and what's wrong. How stupid does he think we are? One might as well ask, "What is his secret agenda?" The answer is almost utterly obvious -- this isn't rocket science, you know. The key is that Ritzyrags has been known to "prove" statistically that insensate bozos make the best scout leaders and schoolteachers. As you might have suspected, his proof is flawed. The primary problem with it is that it replaces a legitimate claim of association with an illegitimate claim of causality. Consequently, Ritzyrags's "proof" demonstrates only that he speaks like a true defender of the status quo -- a status quo, we should not forget, that enables him to stir up class hatred.

Prudence is no vice. Cowardice -- especially Ritzyrags's morally repugnant form of it -- is. I have often maintained that reasonable people can reasonably disagree. Unfortunately, when dealing with Ritzyrags and his companions, that claim assumes facts not in evidence. So let me claim instead that Ritzyrags likes to seem smarter than he really is. It therefore always amuses me whenever he cracks open a thesaurus, aims for intellectualism, misses, and lands squarely in a puddle of brazen frippery.

Come on, Ritzyrags; I know you're capable of thoughtful social behavior. His harangues are not an abstract problem. They have very concrete, immediate, and unpleasant consequences. For instance, in public, he vehemently inveighs against corruption and sin. But when nobody's looking, he never fails to destroy everything beautiful and good. Finally, any one of the points I made in this letter could be turned into a complete research paper, but the conclusion of each would be the same: I, for one, avouch that people are hungry for true information and for a way to work together for justice in every community.

posted 11-27-2008 09:15 AM ET (US)            

All of this is interesting, but I am more curious as to what character set you were able to use in the UBB code to develop the "a-e" combination in "Prætorianism".

That's all I'm saying.

Thanks,

posted 11-27-2008 09:55 AM ET (US)            

Now, can we get back to boat talk?

posted 11-27-2008 10:01 AM ET (US)            

Go to web sites and forums that these topics are designed for. I suspect most of you do not go to those sites as you would be exposed as the phonies you realy are. More likely if you do indeed visit those web sites I suspect you take what you read there and pass that information off here as your own original ideas. Please out of repsect the goals of this web site and its members and leave this stuff of it.

posted 11-27-2008 10:44 AM ET (US)            

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. My point was one of humor and gentle ribbing at the verbosity of ritzyrags. My post was generated from the link I provided.

posted 11-27-2008 10:54 AM ET (US)            

Take an even strain, Ritz...we're all on the same side here; just some of us are more sided--one side or the other--than some of the others ;-)

Happy holidaze, folks, from rainy N. California.

posted 11-27-2008 11:28 AM ET (US)            

Your Link helped me write a letter of complaint about John J. Doe and here it is:

"This letter is not a memoir. Nor is it a policy memorandum issued by the government or by a local think tank. Rather, it is an assessment of how my observations are perhaps unique. For starters, Mr. John J Doe once had the audacity to tell me that the best way to reduce cognitive dissonance and restore homeostasis to one's psyche is to challenge all I stand for. My riposte was that those of us who are too lazy or disinterested to extend the compass of democracy to subhuman, contumelious backbiters have no right to complain when he and his henchmen assuage the hungers of his flunkies with servings of fresh scapegoats.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's okay to leave the educational and emotional needs of our children in the appalling hands of what I call exploitative pillocks. Admittedly, that's about as likely as Elvis materializing in my room tonight and singing Heartbreak Hotel. Still, the possibility does help one realize that every time Mr. Doe tells his peons that he is a paragon of morality and wisdom, their eyes roll into the backs of their heads as they become mindless receptacles of unsubstantiated information, which they accept without question. For his own sake, he should not palliate and excuse the atrocities of his operatives. The best example of this, culled from many, would have to be the time he tried to force us to adopt rigid social roles that compromise our inner code of ethics.

I no longer believe that trends like family breakdown, promiscuity, and violence are random events. Not only are they explicitly glorified and promoted by Mr. Doe's froward cop-outs, but the pen is a powerful tool. Why don't we use that tool to drag him in front of a tribunal and try him for his crimes against humanity? Mr. Doe likes to cite poll results that "prove" that obscurity, evasiveness, incomprehensibility, indirectness, and ambiguity are marks of depth and brilliance. Really? Have you ever been contacted by one of his pollsters? Chances are good that you never have been contacted and never will be. Otherwise, the polls would show that I've tried to explain to Mr. Doe's slatternly accomplices that until we provide a positive, confident, and assertive vision of humanity's future and our role in it, Mr. Doe will continue to prime the pump of plagiarism. As could be expected, they were a bit slow on the uptake. I just couldn't get them to comprehend that if Mr. Doe doesn't like it here, then perhaps he should go elsewhere.

Writing instructors seeking to introduce the concept of sadism into their curricula could hardly do better than to use Mr. Doe's remarks as an example. Of that I am certain because I fully intend to review the basic issues at the root of the debate. I will spare no labor in doing this and reckon no labor lost that brings me toward this mark. Even so, Mr. Doe's apothegms promote a redistribution of wealth. This is always an appealing proposition for Mr. Doe's cat's-paws because much of the redistributed wealth will undoubtedly end up in the hands of the redistributors as a condign reward for their loyalty to Mr. Doe. I am burning to know what kinds of ribald, twisted reasons exist in the heads of those who rouse the agitated petite bourgeoisie to chauvinistic fervor and hoodwink them into causing riots in the streets. Mr. Doe may mean well but he focuses on feelings rather than facts. Sure, Mr. Doe attempts to twist and distort facts to justify his feelings but that just goes to show that I am tired of hearing or reading that mysticism is a noble goal. You know that that is simply not true.

Here's an eye-opener for you: Mr. Doe's policies are like an enormous alcoholism-spewing machine. We must begin dismantling that structure. We must put a monkey wrench in its gears. And we must convince the government to clamp down hard on Mr. Doe's notions because Mr. Doe presents himself as a disinterested classicist lamenting the infusion of politically motivated methods of pedagogy and analysis into higher education. He is eloquent in his denunciation of modern scholarship, claiming it favors benighted lackluster-types. And here we have the ultimate irony because he has a natural talent for complaining. He can find any aspect of life and whine about it for hours upon hours. One final point: The backwards aspect of Mr. John J Doe's communications will create a stir between whiney mattoids and the careless public at large."

Too Cool - Happy Thanksgiving Folks!

David

posted 11-27-2008 12:03 PM ET (US)         

Oh wait, let me guess.

Tony disrespected this website and it's members yet again simply to satisfy his own out of control ego?

Yea, that's where my bet is being placed.

posted 11-27-2008 12:13 PM ET (US)            

The number one rule for this forum!
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Eph 4:29 (NIV)
Think before you post. Leave out the vulgarity, personal attacks and foul language!

posted 11-27-2008 01:51 PM ET (US)            

Thank You Bret for this refreshing reminder..
And this said with all due respect.
David, You even had me bamboozled..I did find it funny.
I am also from the northern border.
And Tony my friend,thanks for the good words.
Sal,
I will admit raising an eyebrow in my not so awaken state this morning upon reading your answer to my attempt at order;
And this, in our Capital times of renewals.
I will guess that after all I am at a bit of a disadvantage in the fact that I know very little of most of you.
A lesson well learned I guess.
In traffic's comment lays the dilemma that some may think that the Wave does suck but then not quite enough for not coming back to the site; does it not?
Come, come now..
This site is what we all make it.
Reminds me of "everyday is a new day".
To make it as good and positive as you want it to be.
I have enjoyed to hear of all of your expressions.
It is actually who we are..
Polite or angry..
Wishing You all a Meaningful Thanksgiving Day.
And knowing you a little more..