Posted on 05/27/2022 4:53:01 AM PDT by JonPreston
As I ignore the ignorant and simple-minded after lgiving the a fair chance.
You have proven yourself, not ignorant and simple-minded, so much as proud, vacuous, incurious and craven.
Good Day, sir.
Wow, the Young Putineers sure run out of the kitchen today!
This is not the school playground. This war is not a football game. Stop acting like it is.
Be a grownup.
How exactly am I acting like it’s a football game?
Name calling and baiting, to start with. Thank you for not using one of the NSFW ones.
It’s not just you. You are merely one among many. The Russia-Ukraine threads have devolved into what our British cousins would call a football hooligan brawl. Picking a side, cheering it on, name calling, picking fights, hurling insukts, gloating, trying to get one-up, etc.
If you’re not 100% Team Ukraine, you get called a “Young Putineer” or something saltier by Team Ukraine. If you’re not 100% Team Russia you get called a “homo-globo-Biden-worshipper” or something saltier by Team Russia.
Anyone who tries to contribute more dispassionate analysis or view the conflict within the larger geopolitical context receives knee-jerk insults from both sides and called nasty, silly names. There can be no reasonable discussion, apparently.
The football match is more fun, I guess. Y’all have fun now. It’s just not my cup of tea.
The only name I call those cheering Putin’s bloodthirsty conquest is Young Putineers. It’s a derisive term based on the Soviet Young Pioneers, which was the Russian equivalent of the Hitler Youth. On the other hand, I’ve been called a warmonger, moron, neocon Biden loving motherf*cker and fag by that same group. I’ve also been told that I will be “dealt with.” So I’m not feeling particularly guilty.
Yes, I know about The Young Pioneers. Both the Ukrainians and Russians I have known who were Young Pioneers in their childhoods (nearly every kid was one the latter decades of the old USSR) liked the summer camps and winter ski trips, hated the commie gobbledygook that made their eyes glaze over. It was just part of youth in the USSR then, same as going to school.
And yes, I can sympathize about the name calling. It gets crazy nasty on these threads.
The old antivaxxer threads got really nasty, too. If you didn’t 100% buy into crazy conspiracy theories about King Cobra snake venom and teensy-weensy mechanical octopuses, etc., you got called a Fauxi Nazi $hot$hill troll who wanted to lock people up in concentration camps even if you were anti-mandate and anti-lockdown and called a “mudblood” even if you had never been vaccinated. Same dynamic on the Russia-Ukraine threads.
The thing is, I didn’t cheer on Putin.
FR used to be so different. Up until about ten years ago, we had a large and lively group of smart, knowledgeable people who hung out on the foreign affairs threads, made thoughtful contributions and learned from one another. Sure, we had some heated debates, but they were tempered by reason. Occasionally some rude ignorant bozo would blunder in and spout insults and nonsense, but we’d quickly see those doofuses off.
Things have really gone downhill over the past couple of years. Sad to see and so disappointing. So many great Freepers have left. I really miss the old FR.
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