X-Post: Dear Jan... (Repsac3's reply to an inquisitive American Power commenter)

An American Nihilist x-post:
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A response to Jan, a commenter at the American Power post "Anti-Intellectualism and the Marxist Idea," who addressed me directly:

repsac3:

Do you even realize that you, and the rest of the harassers, and haranguers, from your site, and the others who seem to delight in sitting at the ready to pounce on every misspelled word, or anything else that you think you can use to embarrass, or to insult the intelligence of Dr. Douglas, only serve to make you look like a bunch of Junior High School bullies?

Jan, you are certainly welcome to view any/all of us as Junior High School bullies if you wish... ...but I hope you understand that much of what folks on my site and others do is in response to very similar bad behavior from Dr. Douglas. (In fact, every author and blog listed at American Nihilist is there as a result of having been attacked by Dr. Douglas on the pages of American Power, and many of us view Donald Douglas as the Jr. High bully--especially given his penchant for making up fake names for us and making crude suggestions about our sexuality.)

That said, I agree that some of the behavior found on our blogs and on Dr. Douglas' American Power is immature. There is much--even on American Nihilist--that I wouldn't personally post. (That can happen with group blogs, especially when one gives each author the responsibility for policing his own work...) While you're free to try to lump "all liberals" or "all who disagree with Donald Douglas" together, I summarily reject such nonsense... We're each individuals, and each responsible for our own words and deeds. If you wish to address something I've said or done, I'll be glad to discuss it with you. But there's little I can do with your general condemnation of us all... We're no more a monolith than "all conservatives" or "all American Power readers."

I've read the comments on your site, and the others, and you all seem to get great satisfaction in egging each other on, each trying to be funnier, more clever, or even more sarcastic than the other. Have you thought about how awful you make yourselves, and your own ideological beliefs look to others?

There is little doubt that we at American Nihilist enjoy ourselves and laugh at many of each other's posts and comments. I'm sorry that you do not find them funny and that you feel we should be more serious about it all, but perhaps American Nihilist just isn't the blog for you... (If you notice, I tend to be the most serious author here... When Donald Douglas wishes aloud that liberals like me lose our heads the way Daniel Perl did, I have trouble finding the funny... YMMV...)

Of course, I don't agree that we make ourselves look awful, but as above, that's a subjective thing. You're free to view us however you choose. I'm perfectly willing to defend my ideological beliefs, as soon as you're more clear as to what beliefs of mine you're taking issue with...

As to your constant complaining about comment moderation, I think it is just another aspect of your bullying, thinking that you have made him afraid of your hateful words...just another of your silly ways of trying to intimidate. I, daresay, that he is in no way intimidated by any of you, knowing that what you say about him is not true...but the man does have feelings like any other human being, believe it, or not.

I'm not so sure I have constantly complained about comment moderation, and invite you to back what you say with evidence of my having done so.

I do think that moderating one's comments before the fact for content is kinda cowardly, and is wholly inconsistent with a person whose blog blurb claims that they "welcome comments and debate, and [will] defend [their] positions vigorously." Dr. Douglas has every right to moderate his comments for content, whatever his reason, but that doesn't preclude me from expressing my opinion about his doing so... (...much as you have about my blog...)

And again, you really are kinda missing the point. There is very little being done TO Donald Douglas on other blogs that hasn't been done BY Donald Douglas to one or more of his many detractors, on his blog and elsewhere. It's kind of a tit for tat thing... And no, we're not intimidated by him, either...

Concerning the Sasquatch Isreal sign, who's to say that it really wasn't a play on words, and wasn't saying what it looked like to some people.? I think that the way that Dr. Douglas' photo was altered, with the "I Love Jusus" was not only to heap more ridicule upon him, because of his own moral views, but was a rather racist, anti-Semitic statement in itself...considering the fact that Jesus was a Jew. A play on words?

You are, of course, welcome to interpret the "Sasquatch Is Real" sign any way you wish, including going so far as to agree with Dr. Douglas that it was some kind of liberal, anti-semitic conspiracy, where the man was saying (on behalf of all liberals, natch) that Israel is as phony as bigfoot himself. If you have indeed read through the posts that others have written on the subject, you already know about the Facebook page "Sasquatch is Real," as well as all the other evidence indicating that such an interpretation is a pretty big stretch of the imagination, with no other purpose than to paint all liberals with a big ol' anti-semitic brush, but even so, you're welcome to buy into that, if you wish. But if you do, then don't be surprised when folks look at you kinda funny, the same way they do Professor Douglas...

Because to most of us, misreading the sign--seeing "Sasquatch Isreal," rather than "Sasquatch Is Real," isn't a big deal... A cringe-worthy mistake to be sure, especially when one goes out in public--say, announcing it on a blog--misreading it for the whole world to see, but minor in the general scheme of things...

But making up some myth about anti-semitism based on misreading a sign, and lying about a whole group of people just because you disagree with them politically, is pretty friggin' bad. And Jan, it is a good indication of the kind of person you're defending... You're welcome to continue doing so, of course, but I warn you... People will judge you as a person based on your willingness to defend those actions... People will think you'd be willing to lie that way, yourself.

I've no doubt that the photoshop of Donald's hat was intended to heap ridicule upon Dr. Douglas. But according to the folks who made it, the intent was to make fun of his letter transposition ("ISRAEL", vs "ISREAL"), and nothing more... (As I wasn't there, I cannot say... ...nor can I be held responsible, whatever your interpretation...)

Tell me, repsac3..exactly what is the agenda of yourself, and the others, in your constantly trying to tear down this man, and his ideals? Is it your idea of intellectual elitism? Or did you guys just never get that Junior High School bullying out of your systems?

I'd really like to know.

As I've said several times, I can only speak for myself in this regard... (Though perhaps some of the others to whom you refer would be willing to chime in and speak for themselves.) But here's why I created American Nihilist, and why I often post about the antics of Professor Douglas:

I hate bullies. For well over a year, I read as Donald Douglas excoriated liberal blogger after liberal blogger, often in pretty nasty terms. I found him to be wrong politically, of course, but that wasn't it. My problem with Dr. Douglas was that he was pompous and kinda mean, as well as being wrong.

Also, I was mystified by this whole nihilist thing. See, everytime he called me a nihilist, I asked him--a professor of political science--to back what he said with evidence of my nihilism. I'd challenge him to choose any dictionary, copy the definition of the word "nihilism," and then show examples, in the form of quotes from me, that support the notion that I am a nihilist. When he labeled some other blogger, I challenged him to do the same with quotes of that person. And while he was very free with the label, he has never actually shown that any liberal blogger has ever expressed a nihilist thought. In fact, he has never even tried.

As Donald attacked other bloggers on his site or theirs, labeling them no good nihilists everywhere he went, this whole "nihilist" schtick of his became kind of a joke around the liberal blogosphere, and folks began to know him as the wingnut who goes around calling everyone nihilists, like the boy who cried wolf... He practically made the word meaningless through repetition...

So one night, I was bored, and created a blogspot blog that was a funhouse mirror of American Power. Where he used black, I used white, and where he used white, I used black. I intended it to be a one-off joke, where I'd do one or two posts calling everyone and everything "nihilist," and that'd be that. I sent authorship invitations to a few of the bloggers who Donald had attacked as being nihilists, figuring that we'd all have a good laugh... But instead, a few of 'em accepted the authorship positions, and started writing posts, in character. And the rest, as they say...

Authors have come, and authors have gone, but we're still here, still dealing with Donald's many attacks on others, and yes, launching a few on him, as well. The blogroll is made up of blogs/bloggers that Donald has attacked on his blog. Any of 'em are welcome to become authors here, anytime they wish. Other than illegal acts or items that threaten the continued existence of the blog, I don't censor anyone's writing. They're all adults, and thus each author is responsible for defending or apologizing for his own posts. (Yes, I know that Donald would prefer that I treat them like children, and only allow posts that I personally would approve of, but I see that as being far too "nanny state" for me. Should Donald ever run a group blog of his own, he is free to censor it any way he sees fit, but I believe that each individual author is capable of dealing with/defending their own posts.)

In a nutshell, Jan, that is why I expose the foolish and the dangerous or nasty things Donald Douglas says on his blog. I don't like bullies in general, and I specifically don't like the way Dr Douglas treats the folks he doesn't agree with, so I decided to do to him what he was doing to others. Should he ever stop mistreating people, I'll stop calling him out for it. In the meantime, we'll all be here, Donald in his place, and we in ours...

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to reply, Jan... I hope that I've made some things at least a little more clear... If you have any other questions or comments, please feel free to stop by American Nihilist or any of the other blogs I frequent... Everyone's welcome, even Dr. Douglas... (I'd advise against bothering to contact me again via Donald's blog, however--particularly if you expect a response--as he obviously frowns on my commenting there...) Should this be our last encounter, I hope you didn't find it too hard to stomach... (Obviously I'm biased, but I really don't believe any of us are the monsters Dr. Douglas makes us out to be... We just disagree with his political beliefs, and even moreso, his behavior toward those who don't see things as he does, politically or socially. For the most part, however, we're quite pleasant, if we do say so ourselves...)

September 21, 2010 6:42 AM

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The following was submitted for moderator approval to the relevant post at American Power at 2:55 AM (WIS blog time) on 9/22/10:

American Nihilist tracked back with Dear Jan... (Repsac3's reply to an inquisitive American Power commenter)

We question whether Dr. Douglas will permit it to appear, and if he does not, why he refuses.