When All Else Fails . . . Resort to Manners.

I've only "seen" Ace this angry once or twice before.

How funny that I linked his post, but didn't even think to read through the comments. I felt that his elegant, simple Anglo-Saxon language had summarized the case against those who had attempted to censor Fitna, and didn't imagine that his commenters would do any better.

Besides which, I do not tend to agree with those who want to indict all Muslims as terror-sympathizers. After all, that's not just a moral problem, but a practical one as well: suddenly, you're declaring war on a larger pool of people than if you just stuck with the Islamo-fascists. Even if it were morally acceptable, why would I want to take on a significant portion of the world's population? (As Benny Hill put it in quite a different context, that's "like burning down the house to get a piece of toast.")

And, frankly, I don't like to wade through a bunch of bigoted crap.

Ace, on expressing oneself in a public forum:

I should say this is a difficult call because there are legitimate discussions to be had about precisely how complicit most Muslims are in terrorism, and how much Islam itself is to blame.

But for the love of God, please understand that when you broach these concededly-legitimate topics you should do so as thoughtfully as possible, and not in the white heat of anger.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I realize that that was part of the problem, and that he stirred some up by immediately (of course) claiming Christianity was the "real" problem.

But just because he's a terrorist symp is really not a license to write crap here that would get you fired at work were you to say it there.

This is a business. People do read this at work.

I am getting tired of having to remind people of these basic facts. You are threatening my very goddamned livelihood and no, your "right" to free expression is not going to trump my right to make a buck.

Here's a simple guideline: Before you spout off on a charged issue, ask yourself if someone reading this at work might be in trouble with Human Resources for reading the site if a coworker happened to read your commnent.

If the answer is "Yes," then do not hit publish. Take a breather, rethink, reconsider, rewrite. Or consider exiting the argument altogether if you find you're too angry to mind a respectful, respectable tone.

Either there's going to be some self-regulation here or there's going to be external regulation. Either way, there is going to be regulation.

That's just the way it fucking is.

Yeah. That's why I have my commenting policy: you can put me down all you want, and you can, for the most part, take on public figures who put themselves out there for criticism. But personal remarks directed at other commenters and other bloggers are off-limits, and I like people to keep the ad hominem to a minimum.

Of course, it's a good deal more difficult for Ace, because people actually read his blog. (That might reflect the fact that he has a work ethic when it comes to posting, of course. [Insert inane joke about sexism here, followed by equally inane remark about the bawdy humor at Ace's site—the difference being that playfulness and genuine anger are two different things, for those who don't get that distinction.])