Sports Fan Gets Tasered!

[Fat Man]

Well, considering the hate-filled posts of our most recent member, I hope certain other members of this forum who do support this website will finally learn to appreciate decent critics of this website -- such as Polite24, SportsGuy92, and Andy Austin (not to mention a few others) -- instead of consistently responding to them in a rude and insulting manner or engaging in exaggerated negative stereotypes.

I didn't think Andy was a bad guy, but I thought he needed to be taken down a peg. He had a football player's typical superiority complex. He seemed to think he was entitled to absolution from this site just ... because he was "so great". He also seemed to think we should all look up to him, because he had good grades AND played football.

The way I see it, a 3.3 GPA is a 3.3 GPA. Good, but nothing I should have to drool at the sight of. Just playing football doesn't somehow make that 3.3 the same as a 3.9.

I did feel bad about the way I conducted myself with Andy.

The main reason why I got pissed off with Andy was, not because he was a football player (oddly enough) but because he ignored my YouTube links I had posted to videos about how children with physical and mental or emotional disabilities, living in some boarding schools, were being badly abused and even tortured with randomly administered electrical shocks common from backpacks they were forced to wear, and how they were often denied food, and when they were fed it was usually mashed potatoes sprinkled with dried liver powder. Also, these children were not allowed to socialize and talk to each other. Not only were they punished for misbehaving, but they were also punished for NOT misbehaving when the opportunity to do so was presented to them.

And I had mentioned that children with disabilities in our school system are often more severely punished for minor infractions of school rules than are the more able-bodied children, and how athletic students are usually not punished at all for even far more serious infractions of the rules.

Andy ignored all the links I had posted to those YouTube videos. Or if he did see those videos, he made no comments on them, even after I had asked him what he thought, he would not respond.

No, Andy was just some conceited fop, always bragging about himself and his accomplishments, and I resented the authoritarian attitudes of both Andy and Tony when they criticized me for some of my forum comments.

Yes, both Andy and Tony were polite, but because of their authoritarian attitudes, as far as I'm concerned, they are just smooth talking scums!

Yes, Andy was not the typical "dumb jock" because he did score high academically, and was allowed to do so because he was also a good football player.

But I tried to point out to Andy, that if he had been physical handicapped in school, as I was due to my crippled up left knee, then he would have been harassed in school, as I was for not being good at sports, and he would have also suffered academically.

Andy has a real good life, too good as far as I'm concerned, and he seriously needed to be taken down a peg or two.

So, the REAL reason why I was pissed off at Andy, was not so much for being successful both academically and athletically, but because of his authoritarian attitude, and . . .

. . . mostly because he didn't comment on the links I had posted to those YouTube videos, when all I wanted was his opinion on it.

He chose to ignore it and continued bragging about how good things are for him!

[Earl]

I have a confession to make at this time: For the last two or three months, I've been spending way too much time at another website -- namely, able2know.org -- instead of devoting more attention to this website's forum. (If he's reading this, recovering_fan is amused by this admission on my part.) True, I've been faithful in deleting spam and banning spammers; but I haven't gone to the trouble of contributing to the threads of this forum, aside from posting in the games. And I certainly was negligent when BuffJock started posting. I procrastinated and didn't respond to him before he took flight like the intellectual coward that he appears to be.

With that being said, let me thank both recovering_fan and Fat Man for their intelligent, reasoned posts in response to mine about Andy. I appreciate and respect them. Perhaps I should explain myself here in a semi-personal way.

When Andy made his debut at this website by posting messages in the Guestbook, he gained my sympathy for two reasons: (1) He objected to being stereotyped as dumb and uncaring, not to the fact that we didn't like sports; and (2) I reasoned that any young college guy who was a self-centered jerk would not choose nursing as a major. Regarding Reason No. 1, I've always been sensitive to anyone's claims of being negatively stereotyped because I experienced such stereotyping when I was a kid. I deeply resented it because the stereotyping contradicted the way I actually was in real life. Regarding Reason No. 2, a pre-med major would appeal to some young self-centered jerks because of the high salary and prestige that doctors enjoy in our society. Nursing, on the other hand, was once regarded as a profession only for women. A nephew of mine chose nursing as a career around 2000 and once encountered constant discrimination from an instructor who was opposed to men becoming nurses. It didn't stop until he threatened to bring a lawsuit.

I was inclined to defend Andy because from time to time he would contact me by e-mail. More confession: When he was posting in this forum the first time, I avoided asking him some hard questions because I was afraid of running him off. In hindsight, I wish I had set up a separate "interview" thread as I did for Fit Man. I missed an opportunity there. And I also should have asked him what he thought about Fat Man's videos. After all, as I must admit, charity does begin at home.

Andy is an enigma to me. In a series of e-mails earlier this year, Andy asked me to comment on the stereotyping of football players. He claimed that he didn't want people to think he was a bad guy, but also did not want to be put on a pedestal. I responded by saying there was a connection between the stereotyping of nonathletic kids and the stereotyping of football players; and, incidentally, I still believe that this is true. I went into some detail about my own experiences. More confession: Not only that. I felt reluctant to make certain negative observations to Andy about high-school football as a social institution; so, I wrote him several meandering e-mails that didn't answer his question instead of simply stating what I believed to be true. That was when Andy fell strangely silent and has not contacted me since. There are three possibilites that would account for this: (1) He got offended with me for some reason -- which is not good if he's unwilling to contact me and explain why he got offended, considering that I'm not much of a mind reader; or (2) He got bored with me, which is okay -- since I'm an oddball, anyway, and I'm old enough to be his dad instead of being young enough to be considered not too far removed from his own generation (After all, my younger daughter is as young as he is and is also a university junior); or (3) he's simply too busy, which I think is most likely. Or perhaps two of these reasons are both true, or maybe all three of them are.

Anyway, I say this to you, recovering_fan and Fat Man, so you'll have a better understanding as to where I've been coming from through this peculiar episode. I'm not down on either of you, really. I just wish there could be honest communication between our two sides: the one side that at least simply isn't interested in sports and the individual athletes who have some sense of decency and sanity (unlike BuffJock -- who, as the troll he most certainly was, could very well be a complete liar misrepresenting himself, as "Harold" was in the "Letters 2009" column). Athletes and nonathletes seem to live in different worlds. Neither understands the other. For example, what really distressed me about the "Welcome Sports Haters" thread at A2K is that both sides were talking past each other without really listening. I seriously doubt that neither cycloptichorn nor kuvasz know where I really stand. The argument was no longer an attempt to critically examine the culture associated with the more popular school sports, but became stated along the lines of "You're saying I have no right to enjoy sports!" which wasn't true at all. I've never tried to deprive anyone of his (or her) enjoyment of sports. I wonder if the other side didn't deliberately try to frame the theme of the thread along those lines, or if they misunderstood Chumly's purpose and the message of the rest of us who were on his side.

Fat Man, I'm still not convinced that Andy is authoritarian; but we'll never know for sure one way or the other because I was too star-struck (yes, I admit it! ) to ask him a few probing questions while also defending him where he needed to be defended. And I also want to hear about individual football players who aren't jerks subscribing to machismo (properly defined, that is). I want to believe there are more Joe Ehrmanns around. So, Andy remains an enigma, thanks partly to me. But I still think his appearance to apologize for the TechN9ne (spelling, anyone?) flaming post was sincere. I mean, what did he hope to gain, otherwise? I don't see there was any other reason for him to have done that. But that's just speculation on my part. That's just me again.

In my next post in this thread, I'll devote my full attention to BuffJock. I bent over backwards to be accomodating in my post addressed to him. That approach of mine proved to be absolutely ridiculous. I know he's fled like a chicken, but I still feel the need to respond to particular statements of his. Hey, at least this gives me something to do.

[recovering_fan]

Hi Earl,

Yes I'm still reading. I'm just trying not to get too invested in this website right now by writing long posts.

Yeah, what you say about Andy makes a lot of sense I guess. I suppose he really must really have wanted to apologise to have braved the broadside that he knew he'd get when he came back. I guess I owe him an apology for the obnoxious way I acted.

As far as able2know goes, I haven't posted there in months. Many of the more successful people there seem incredibly arrogant and dismissive of anyone less fortunate than themselves. I'm not talking about Cyclo or kuvasz, who showed me no personal disrespect, but about others, who made me feel unwelcome, just because I wasn't rich or famous. The site "able2know" seems more about who you know and who you are, than about what you know or how well you can reason. It's bad enough that no one in real life will talk to you when you are unsuccessful, but on the Internet it should be the quality of your words and ideas that matters. At able2know, that is not the case.

I'm sure they'll continue to welcome you, though, Earl. It's only losers like me they don't tolerate. (Keeping the riff-raff out...)

--RF

[Earl]

(I shouldn't be up so late.)

Hi Earl,

Yes I'm still reading. I'm just trying not to get too invested in this website right now by writing long posts.

Hi, recovering_fan. All I was saying about myself is that my first responsibility is to this forum, not A2K. I've spent too much time there to the detriment of this forum. Just as your time is for you, my time is limited. I have concerns removed from the keyboard, as do you. You're free to post here as frequently or as infrequently as you please. Your contribution is not based on how long your posts are.

Yeah, what you say about Andy makes a lot of sense I guess. I suppose he really must really have wanted to apologise to have braved the broadside that he knew he'd get when he came back. I guess I owe him an apology for the obnoxious way I acted.

You're human just as I am, obviously. I've apologized at A2K four times for losing my temper.

As far as able2know goes, I haven't posted there in months. Many of the more successful people there seem incredibly arrogant and dismissive of anyone less fortunate than themselves. I'm not talking about Cyclo or kuvasz, who showed me no personal disrespect, but about others, who made me feel unwelcome, just because I wasn't rich or famous.

I wasn't aware of any bias there based upon income; but I wouldn't deny what you say, either. Some (or at least a few) of the members on both sides of the political spectrum are friendly. The problem seems to be that many of them are highly opinionated. Sadly, the Internet brings out arrogance on the part of many people, not just A2K members.

The site "able2know" seems more about who you know and who you are, than about what you know or how well you can reason.

There does seem to be some cliquishness there. I've had an easier time establishing a sort of rapport (at least as much as is possible in an online forum) in several of the game threads and Radio A2K, whatever Letty's thread is called. Of course, there's no debating there.

It's bad enough that no one in real life will talk to you when you are unsuccessful, but on the Internet it should be the quality of your words and ideas that matters.

I agree.

At able2know, that is not the case.

I personally don't quite agree with the name of the website. It's a place for people to express their opinions. Although certain members might be able to give advice to someone or might even have factual information to impart, A2K really is not a reference source. Whether you get answers to any questions depends upon which member happens to respond to your question.

I'm sure they'll continue to welcome you, though, Earl.

This may surprise you, but I don't feel free to express all of my views at A2K. For example, not too long ago, on the basis of an innocuous statement I posted in a religious thread, I was accused of fomenting anti-Catholic hatred by a member who's not even a Catholic anymore. That rankles me because I've objected to Catholics or any other minority group being oppressed in any country. If I made even the slightest criticism of the sports culture, Cycloptichorn would get on my case like fleas on a dog. I'm not exaggerating when I say that he seems to hate me. If he knew you were posting here, he'd say that this website is morally equivalent to the Ku Klux Klan. For some reason he thinks the culture is sacred. (I guess Joe Ehrmann would upset him. Tim Tebow does, I know that. That's because Tebow is one of those evil evangelicals <sarcasm intended>.) If I expressed some of my religious views, I'd be castigated as a bigot (no matter how kindly and gently I expressed myself). Any popularity that I've enjoyed there lately is because I've refrained from expressing any controversial or politically incorrect views.

It's only losers like me they don't tolerate. (Keeping the riff-raff out...)

You are not a loser, recovering_fan. You clearly are a man of intelligence. You've posted many intelligent comments here in this forum. Your input here is appreciated. I've not been successful in all the areas of my life. Even at the age of 61, I'm still a work in progress. Please don't get yourself down because you met a few snobs at A2K. There are so many members there, I'm sure there are a few nice ones you haven't met. Some of the meanest, most arrogant persons you meet online are actually insecure, which is also true of people away from the PC. Please don't be discouraged. You seem to be a lot smarter and better educated than I was at your age.

[recovering_fan]

Thanks, Earl. I'm glad you don't consider me a loser. I think that unless one is a devout "mainstream" agnostic and at least a member of the middle class one doesn't rate as anything else at that site. But I'll try to ignore what they think.

[Earl]

You're welcome.

Until very recently I was thinking that I'd have a continued involvement with A2K. I hadn't posted any topics there yet. I was even thinking way ahead to next year when I intend to post a lengthy OP on Raoul Wallenberg on his 100th birthday (which, needless to say, I would post here as well). I was also thinking about posting my novella there in its entirety when I finish writing it. (Incidentally, I've made many revisions since the time I e-mailed you a copy of an earlier draft. The text has been much improved.) But lately my interest in A2K is waning again (not that I mean to discourage you or anyone else from posting there). I don't feel like I really belong there after all, even though I like some of the members. I guess I really do have mood swings.

[recovering_fan]

I think they would find the Raoul Wallenberg eulogy touching.

However, I wouldn't post the story you've put so much time into at a2k.
(For one thing it would require at least two posts, and probably more, to put up all the material.)

[Earl]

Oh, it would require quite a few posts, as a matter of fact. It's already more than 35 single-spaced, typewritten pages long; and it's only about half-finished! The writing's been slow. It'll take me months to finish.

By the way, today I did what I said I wasn't going to do; namely, I posted a bunch of Cream at A2K. (I'm referring to the '60s rock group, not the dairy product. I mean youtube music videos.)

Wow, this topic went in all sorts of directions (and I'm not even through with it yet).