” Blomberg, “stupid” isn’t right, either, because it contemplates that the person is an organic oligophrenic who can’t learn better. These, however, are people whose assumed stupidity gives them cover for being willfully mean.”

No, I disagree there, because I believe ignorant would be better used towards those that are unable to learn better/further/more. Humans do have the capacity to learn, as long as there is that desire. Unfortunately, in this day and age, we are seeing that there is little of that desire on the right (especially among those identifying as TPers).

Also, I don’t thing being “willfully mean” is the same thing as stupid. There are plenty of smart people that are mean, as we often time see here at this very blog.

” “Pigheaded” and “bullheaded” give some idea of their intransigence, yet those are basically innocent animals who eat grass (and in the case of pigs, less esthetically pleasing matter). Phrases like “intransigent malice”, though accurate, are too elegant. We’ve got to come up with something else. Suggestions, anyone? ”

Pigheaded and bullheaded is often insulting to those animals, but I agree that there has to be a different word or phrase to be used to describe people acting/speaking stupidly, as opposed to calling them ignorant.

But, this is something that I see as being a widespread social issue, Reynardine, not just something here at the SPLC blog. Thus, it will be something that has to be recognized and then advocated on a broad front. However, such educational projects by the “commie liberal pinko elites” will not be accepted as necessary, right away, because most people in the media, have no problem with extending miscommunications, because they are just cut & paste types now, no longer serving as active and actual journalists (sorry, should of put a period in there some time ago)!

Given that Dick Cheney said that what the American public needed to get it on board with the PNAC agenda was another Pearl Harbor, that was awfully convenient, but anything further would call for speculation on my part.

About that “no soul” thing. Yes — it’s true. As a Ginger (and not a Day-walking Ginger), I have no soul. This does, however, assist me in dealing with some of my corporate clients.

Reynardine — Yes — I believe that many of the English, in particular, are still viscerally terrified of a bunch of freckled, red-headed, kilt-wearing Scots breaching Hadrian’s Wall and returning England to something less Norman and Saxon and much more Stone Henge in flavor!

;-)

One of my favorite description is “triumphantly ignorant,” or “triumphant in her/his ignorance.” I think I ran across this concept (or being incredibly ignorant and either proud of that fact, or so self-centered that the individual simply assumed that if he/she thought it, it had to be right), in Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” years ago

These are, I believe, extremely useful descriptors, given the teapartiers, WNs, League of the South-ites and other assorted folks penchant for both astounding ignorance and abject stupidity. But — you are correct. It can be difficult to deliver witty comebacks to such folks in response to their comments because of their all-too-frequently limited vocabulary.

Also, since I spent rather a lot of time in England growing up, I was introduced to the whole Ginger thing at a tender age. I have found, however, that possessing a freckled face has been useful, as it is difficult for others to stare intently at me (in an effort to intimidate, etc.) because the freckles just sort of reflect glares–or maybe disorient the viewer, whose unconscious mind attempts to “connect the dots.”

“Pigheaded” and “bullheaded” give some idea of their intransigence, yet those are basically innocent animals who eat grass (and in the case of pigs, less esthetically pleasing matter). Phrases like “intransigent malice”, though accurate, are too elegant. We’ve got to come up with something else. Suggestions, anyone?

“Ginger”, like “Carrots”, “Rusty”, “Rhubarb”, and sometimes (for females) “Peaches”, have cropped up as nicknames, usually affectionate, for individuals, but “gingerism” and the odious nicknames that go with it are something new. I wish we could deport foreign bigotries, but you make it sound like this one is already naturalized.

“This is the statement of an utter moron. How could anyone believe that a man who is allegedly a secret Muslim “stealth jihadist” bent on installing a government run via Sharia law is also a “Marxist?” Extreme ignorance, that’s how. ”

I think that we are being cruel to the word “ignorance” here. We use it way too often, and in manners that it should not be used.

I was brought up to the understanding that ignorance is not knowing information, while stupidity is knowing information, but continuing to use incorrect information anyway. Thus, people would know, by now, that the Earth is round, and anyone saying it is flat is “stupid” (not ignorant).

It is like saying someone is being misleading with information instead of just saying that “they are lying”.

I think that we, as liberals/progressives/Democrats, like to think of ourselves as above average in intelligence and education (and when compared to some of the trolls here, it’s not hard to think that), and we often like to believe our ‘opponents’ in our debates are like ourselves in knowledge and articulation.

We HAVE to stop thinking this way, and stop using the Marquis of Queensbury rules of debate here. How many times have you read something on this page here, and wonder how the person was even able to sign into their computer? These are the ignorant ones, to the most part, but to call someone like Judge Kreep ignorant (even if using the adjective “extremely”), is taking things, imo, a bit too far.

Judge Kreep (sheesh, I hate using such a title), is educated, and has to be keeping pace of information that he is interested in. That he decides to ignore facts, or to dispute the information that is verified by multiple sources no longer makes him ignorant, but stupid (perhaps “extremely” so?).

Children are ignorant. Tribal members of the Amazon are ignorant. Teens raised by wolves are ignorant.

Adults who have been through the school system, have access to media (be it newspaper, radio, television, internet), and still believe in the ridiculous after being informed the truth of about an issue, are NOT ignorant. They are stupid.

Otherwise, I love reading your posts Rusian, and agree with you 99.995% of the time.

Erika — I hear you on the “legal website” thing. As a woman who works in a still male-dominated field (environmental consulting is still very male, although not nearly as much as when I started. There are rather a lot of women geologists now, although the professional literature still runs regular stories on how difficult it is to keep them because of harassment in the field, and how a significant number change majors after dealing with shit-heads during field camp [shit-heads is a technical term]). However, I have gotten to an age where I am willing, in some forums, to call people out over it. I am well aware of some of the macho, dick-measuring posturing among attorneys, since I work with a lot of them, and web posting tends to bring out the beasts in us all from time to time.

Frankly, I am surprised that “Blonde” is in fact, a male (or that he is claiming to be). There were certain, uh, I guess the best word is “characteristics” to his initial posts — the coy nature of the intial questioning, the petulant comment about the bikini comment, and some other word choices that suggested to me that “Blonde” was a female, but unfortunately, a stupid one, unlike Erika or myself. I’m still not entirely convinced, although it’s neither here nor there at this point as far as I’m concerned.

Also, Reynardine, I am a “ginger” (redhead). You haven’t lived until you’ve been the only woman working on a contaminated site undergoing demolition, charged with taking samples of suspicious substances to ensure that they aren’t something hazardous that needs special handling, and having a bunch of guys chanting “firecrotch” at you while you are trying to deal with the weird liquid that never freezes and funny-colored soil that turns out to be 2% cyanide. But like several other who comment on this site, I write fiction in my spare time, and I simply view such experiences as fodder for my writing.

that is why I think “mysognist” who still thinks that “blonde jokes” are funny.

I myself, due to a mixture of white/reddish/sunburnt hair, look blond from a distance. That is neither here nor there. Some years back, in response to a Mafia-themed thread, I used “La Piovra” as a screen name, a synonym for “Cosa Nostra”, and like it, a grammatical feminine (though it indicates an aggregate of plural individuals who are mostly men). That grammatical feminine gender got me addressed with unbelievable vileness on what was supposed to be a respectable forum, and the moderators didn’t give a damn. So I don’t doubt you.

I truly would like to meet most of the regulars here. Some of the interlopers we could do without. That rotten little corpse-defiler, herein unnamed, is another matter, and out of consideration for our prudently prudish mods, I shan’t describe the images he stirs in my mind.

But…you can fix your typo using white out, directly on your screen if you like.

LIberal / Conservative / Democrat / Republican / Teabagger – don’t matter, silly is still spelled the same.

“if you can’t take the heat…”

I quite enjoy reading the regular contributors to these comments, which was why, after years of simply reading in silence, I decided to join the fray. And I am also sure that I would enjoy most all of you (Erika, Aron, Ruslan, Reynardine, Joseph, etc.) in person. I also enjoy the clever skewerings that often take place of racist and/or crackpot right-wing oafs (and the like) on this site by all of you. I do have a problem with the gratuitous use of gender-based put-downs, however.

A lot of sites on the Internet are male-dominated when it comes to commenters (I would expect that men wouldn’t notice this, but it is true if you look). Since I like guys and guy-humor (yes, although female and all touchy-feely with the environmental work, I do enjoy a dose of rough, crude humor on a fairly regular basis), I read a humor website and, since the comments are often the best part, I registered with a “nom du guerre” that indicated that I was female. This experience was rather an eye-opener. Some of the regulars liked my comments, but I typically got way more down-votes than up-votes, along with a fair share of patronizing and raunchy remarks. I wondered, “are my comments simply not funny? Have I not been commenting long enough, and is this some sort of hazing all commenters go through?” So I re-registered using a masculine persona (not “Chet Chesthair” in terms of macho, but close). Low and behold, I get almost all up-votes now, and a lot of them, even though I am making the same types of comments. It does make one think about sexism on the Internet (or it makes some of us think about it).

I hope I haven’t insulted anyone or cultivated enmity against myself, because I do respect SPLC’s work and find the blog instructive; I also really like and respect the regular contributors to the comments section.

But really, its just another mysognist with poor reading comprehension, an inflated sense of self worth, and a sense of humor so bad that he or she still finds “blonde jokes” to be funny – not to mention actually thinking that “you Libs” is a valid retort.

Of course, this may well answer the question on who would actually vote for the Kreepy Kreep