Tuesday, January 18, 2011

More on Provocative Posts

Come to think about it, people should really be grateful for my posts that provoke their anger. Repressed aggression causes high blood pressure. By letting them release some of their pent-up anger here, I offer such people an opportunity to avoid getting sick. Just imagine how much money I help them save on medical care. And where is the gratitude, I ask you? 

12 comments:

Snarky Writer said...

The whole homeschooling fight made me think of this:
http://xkcd.com/386/

Clarissa said...

Loved it!!! So true. Thanks for linking to this great cartoon!

Clarissa said...

This one is also fantastic:

http://xkcd.com/414/

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your existence!

Love,
N

KT said...

Off-topic. I thought about this while reading your post on home schooled children.

Your blog is moderated, so if people post the same thing more than once, why do you approve of all the instances of their comments rather than just ignore the repetitions and approve just one?

I thought it might save you (and the commenters) from some avoidable conflict. :)

That said, I enjoyed reading much of the arguments presented in the post. Unfortunately, there were more hurtful words used there than exchange of real ideas :(.

Clarissa said...

Oh no, my friend, conflict with these people cannot be avoided. I did what you suggested a couple of times but crazy commenters raised a stink to the skies that I was censoring them and violating their right to free speech. Started a whole discussion forum about how I was persecuting them.

That was when I published my post on Asexuality in May 2009.

There is no winning with these people, they are all unhinged insane creeps.

Richard said...

The entire phenomenon of blogging is quite interesting, if perplexing. For example it is quite impersonal in spite of its use for personal confessions and general histrionics. For this reason blogs and commentary on them are filled with intemperate, often vulgar language. The feeling, often false, of anonymity, coupled with the impression that no body is really there on the receiving end (Clarissa after all is a pseudonym) leaves the impression that one can say anything because nothing counts. Yet blogging appears to be the media of choice of 21st Century public intellectuals which is unfortunate.

In the days before instant messaging and Ipods, intellectuals fought their battles by letters often published in the newspapers for the public to follow. Indeed in France this is still done to an extent. Some battles went on for months all eagerly followed by the public (Camus and Sartre come to mind). A letter is very different from a blog post; for one thing it is signed and dated, for another it is carefully composed with an eye to posterity.
In the case of public letters the fact that they will published in a newspaper or other periodical somehow imposes a certain formality. Public and private intellectuals thought nothing of engaging in written correspondence thought often produced thousands of pages of closely written script.

Well that was then and now with ever decreasing attention spans perhaps we will never see that sort intellectualism again, at least in this country.

Clarissa said...

A little while ago my favorite journal Times Literary Supplement published over several issue a debate between the three world's authorities on the history of Madagascar. Actually, they seem to be the only 3 recognized specialists on that subject. There was quite a lot of sarcasm and quips at each other's expense in those letters. And they were such a joy to read. I mean, just imagine those 3 scholars who are so enamored of a subject so obscure. It was lovely.

Kim said...

Yes, I'm grateful but sad as well that the discussions are really just name calling and judging verses anyone really learning or listening. I am a former teacher, feminist, atheist who homeschooled her first two children until they were seven. I did this because of my own knowledge of developmentally appropriate practice and the educational systems failures to address this issue. I also find that I supplement my as berger child's curriculum at home as the school system seems to overlook her. Am I bored? Am I mad? Am I one of "them"?
I would love to visit a blog from a political feminist versed in literature and philosophy with more of an open mind...

Clarissa said...

Then go and visit one. Or are you saying that I'm somehow preventing you from doing that?

" also find that I supplement my as berger child's curriculum "

-I hope to God that you didn't mean to say Asperger. Because that would be too scary.

Anonymous said...

You know, Clarissa, you really are just the epitome of everything that is wrong in the world. You may be an Aspie, but that is insignificant in comparison to what a rotten person you are. There is nothing wrong with being provocative, but one should have the ability to contend with others if they are going to bother to claim how provocative they are. Else you just appear to be a rather wretched selective reading wench who has no foundation for her "opinions". You aren't embarrassing to all the feminists of the world, you're an embarrassment to humanity.

Clarissa said...

You can't possibly fail to see how this is a very bizarre comment, right? I mean, there is murder, rape, genocide, hunger, global warming, dictatorships, deatly hurricanes, etc. And you have located the source of all the world's ills in me? I'm kind of flattered here but I'm seriously not all that important.

Freaky.