Opinion, judgement, and trolls.

I've just come from a blog wherein a mighty firestorm is raging, because the blogger dared to ask the question, "How can you be a Christian and a democrat?"  Based on not only the platform of the party but also the responses of delegates at that convention.  YES, MORE POLITICS.  I'm sorry, but it is important and especially now!  Those that wish to skip on can scroll down because I have pictures that I intend to put up when I'm done unless I get too long winded.

This blogger has been accused of being judgemental, along with those who have supported her.  Don't speak evil of others, they say.  Judge not lest ye be judged.  Funny how they can pretend that they live their lives according to that Biblical tenet and ignore such as, "Thou shalt not kill," and "Before you were formed in your mother's womb, I knew you."  But here's the point.  The question was a valid one, and not "judgemental".  If you are a Christian that believes the Bible to be the inerrant Word Of God, then the democratic party supports a plethora of ideas that are against your faith. (Not to mention that Obama's lackeys have told approximately 5% of the lies ever told by mankind in the last two weeks {the following was a made up statistic, meant to inject humor while pointing out a severe liability of the Obama administration})  If you are a "pick and choose Christian" then by all means, disagree.  Just be prepared to give an accounting in the next life why you didn't follow the playbook.  If you are a non-believer, then the whole thing never applied to you, so why get involved?

Which is a nice segue into my next point.  Among the commentors was someone who fits my definition of a troll.  I'm going to put up some of his and my exchange (with the understanding that other people said things within this but I am respectfully leaving them out).  So without further ado, let's play, "You Might Be A Troll If..."

Anonymous (date/time link redacted) Sorry, you must watch too much Faux News. No one cheered 'abortion any time, any age, etc.) and no one booed God. Time for you to get into the 21st century and turn off Rush Limbaugh and his hate-filled propaganda. No one is forcing you to have an abortion. I am personally against it, except for rape and incest. Tell me you would carry a rapist's child and raise him/her and I know you are the misguided one. Four More Years! First clue that you are dealing with a troll- "anonymous".  Not every anonymous is a troll.  Some have legitimate phobias about putting themselves out there.  This person, however, clearly has not ever been a follower of the blogger, was "trolling along" for political/religious discussions  to invigle themselves into, and has not the courage to self identify.

Second, lead with an insult, even if it is a sideways one (Fox News is false news, therefore you are deluded.) Follow with more insults ("get into the 21st century", "hate-filled propaganda", "you are the misguided one".)  This way, as you'll soon see, you can get all self righteous and claim that the other person isn't being a good Christian if and when they snark back.

Third, bring up Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck/ Bill O'Reilly.  Even though you've probably never listened to any of them- at least, not long enough to hear anything except you don't agree with them.

Four, stupidly declare your true agenda ("Four more years!"). This way, we'll know how to respond to you in a way that you can bring out the rest of your sound-bytes (in this case, generated by Barackobama.com) in following posts.

Okay, here's my rejoinder, and his next response.

                                           CW Martin Then how about not voting democrat because they booed including God in their platform? Or that they rejected gift baskets from the local Christian Churches because "You don't believe in abortion"? THESE THINGS HAPPENED. I don't need to listen to any radio guy to recognize the many lies this President has told, and he's probably doubled that amount in just the last two weeks! Perhaps you listen to too much of the news-from-the-left on CNN and MSNBC. You might want to dig into a few of the things your guy has gotten caught in- particularly the Libya thing- and maybe instead of saying 4 more years, you'll sing a different tune.

Come on over to my blog, anonymous, and read my post on the Libya mess. I'm not afraid of trolls.
AnonymousCNN is in the middle...first thing propaganda does is marginalize other news sources. You are too ignorant to figure this out. As a Christian, you are OK with the hate spewed from Faux News and Rush. The churches I grew up in preached compassion for your fellow man/woman. By voting Republican, you must have skipped that part...Good luck reconciling your faith and all the hate from the far, far, right...

Notice how it was alright to put "Rush Limbaugh and his hate-filled propaganda" and "Faux News" on HIS post, but attacks me for saying something about CNN and MSNBC by accusing the Great Destroyer of "marginalizing other news sources".  Can you repeat after me:  "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander..."

Then, I am ignorant.  Why?  Because I don't bow to his superior wisdom, of course!

Next, to be a troll in a religious discussion, you HAVE to say you were raised in a church.  Perhaps he was, but if it was any Church I went to- or would go to- I obviously missed the part about Republicans having no compassion for their fellow man.  I guess I should go back in the Bible and look up the parts where compassion equals enslaving people to a welfare system too insidious to easily escape, or the part where compassion means killing babies seconds before their first breath.  {The preceeding was a reference to partial-birth abortions, and not an attack on a woman's right to choose.  I have no problems condemning doctors for skipping the Hippocratic oath to do this abomination; other abortions, the woman will have to weigh her conscience on her own.}

Oh, and don't forget to throw in the "attempt to guilt" ("Good luck reconciling your faith...").  Easy to add this when faith is just a thing to be mocked, isn't it?  But, I digress.

CW Martin (First part a reference to another comment and thus removed) ... but what do you expect from a troll. Frankly, the lamestream media does enough to marginalize itself. Trolls like anonymous help that out, and if he/she were as intelligent as they think, they'd see how everything they say is a contradiction. BTW, troll, the invite's still open.

Anonymous (after other pro and con comments by others) Pitiful responses...call Rush tomorrow and he'll tell you how to think... And the number one rule of being a troll- Don't be original!  Repeat worn out lines as often as possible!

So let's review the rules for being a troll:

Always post anonymously.

Be sure to insult early and often, so that you can be self-righteous later.

Third, bring up sources that oppose you and use them derogatorially.

Fourth, slip in a nugget that lets everyone know where you came from and how you got there.

Five, set up rules that must be followed by your opponant and flagrantly disregard them yourself.

Sixth, remind opponant that they are ignorant for not agreeing with you.

Seventh, claim a background of having been raised in the environment which you now oppose.  That way you have more ammunition for being self-righteous.

Eighth, Use that supposed background to shame opponant for not being a very good whatever.

Ninth, sum up by repeating earlier "arguments".

If you can do all that, then you, too, might be a Troll!  Good luck with that!


And now, pictures!

Later in the evening...

Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave..

In my continuing effort to bring you the finest in odd fungi...

Faerie toilet?

A little blue jay colony is forming on the woods beside "fields 15-17".

Here began our journey exploring the ravines to the north of the trail.  This moust be the low spot of the woods.

Mostly it was more like this.

Footholds to an ancient tree house...

..and by the looks of the tree, I mean ancient!

You tell me, we'll both know.

I don't know what the heck he was, but I sure had a hard time evicting him!

Finish with a stop at The Spot.

This morning, it was the all-chipmunk revue...

Then we stumbled onto the lame-legged doe and her chillun.  They weren't of a mood to pose, despite appearances.

This was the doe that was stomping me in the video.  Didn't see her kids until they took off.

Oh, and chipmunks.