Posted on 07/31/2015 11:49:41 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
The time has come to take action against thread hijackers.
Let me begin with an example of thread hijacking:
Like most Freepers, I am pro-life. Abortion and and euthanasia appall me, and marketing the results even more so. I support candidates who oppose the culture of death, and cheer when it is thwarted.
I also do not find it necessary to mention these facts on EVERY. FREAKING. THREAD.
There is a certain type of Freeper, though, who has no such restraint. For these zealots, any thread that deviates from the pro-life cause, no matter how trivially, is a heresy that must be immediately suppressed.
You are shocked by cruelty to animals? I guess that means you couldn't care less about the cruelty of THE MILLIONS OF CHILDREN ABORTED EVERY YEAR!!!!!
You lost a beloved pet? Why can't you mourn THE THOUSANDS OF ABORTED BABIES WHO DIED THE SAME DAY?!!!!
Your car shredded its transmission and you're looking at thousands of dollars in repairs? Why aren't you thinking about THE BABIES WHO WILL NEVER GROW UP TO BE AUTO MECHANICS BECAUSE THEY WERE ABORTED?!!!!
(OK, maybe I made that last one up.)
Arguing with these people is pointless. It's the same principle as wrestling with a pig - you just get muddy and the pig enjoys it. Similarly, trying to convince them that they are being rude is a waste of time - THE CAUSE is far more important little things like courtesy and respect.
So, what can we do about it?
We can get drunk.
I hereby propose The Thread Hijack Drinking Game. The rules are simple: When a poster tries to hijack an unrelated thread to his or her pet cause, you 1) reply to the hijack attempt by quoting the text in question, followed by the word "DRINK!", and 2) Take a drink (or any volume) of your favorite beverage (alcoholic or non-alcoholic). Moderation is suggested on animal cruelty threads to avoid alcohol poisoning.
This game will not, I admit, solve the thread hijacking problem. But after a certain number of attempts we will no longer care.
And if anyone is offended by my little proposal, I can only say...
DRINK!
Yeah, along with the bribes, er, kickbacks, um, finders fee the schools get for each diagnosis.
Of all the useless things to say on post 6500.
Oh, well, I’ll pay closer attention next time and say something truly historic and meaningful.
No, not “Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue.” Better than that.
Although that’s a pretty high bar.
But now you get ID’d to buy glue.
Not like the old days..
I don’t think Tom is really a sociopath: he’s just very self-absorbed. However, part of the issue seems to be that he thought about the questions, rather than simply emoting.
For example, one question was about a group of young children getting into a dispute at the playground, and one starts to cry. What would you do? Tom said he would do nothing. That was not the “empathetic” response. However, it’s the smart response, because (a) if none of them is your child, someone will call the cops if you get involved, and (b) if adults intervene when children have a conflict, they’ll never learn to work things out for themselves.
Glue sniffing was a thing when I was in elementary school. I remember taking one of those questionnaires that asked about different social pathologies, and I asked the teacher, “What does glue sniffing mean? You can’t help smelling it.”
I’ve had a very sheltered life.
Yeah, the tests are rigged for such outcomes.
Given intelligent answers makes it skew towards “we detect EEEvil!”
[in my case they said “Hyperactive antisocial”]
Sharpie pens.
UGH.
Constantly.
Oh, and the rubber cement we had in school.
And the art fixative spray.
The one day everyone left class stoned due to the teacher using fixative spray until there was a haze in the room.
Yummy.
*blarf*
We made ammonia gas and phosgene in chemistry class. Good thing phosgene is heavier than air.
My dad would have said, “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.”
I thought you came out hyperactive-antisocial because you WERE hyperactive-antisocial. I thought your intelligence was just an added plus.
I almost made chlorine gas once but the teacher caught me before I rinsed the Comet down after the hydrochloric acid.
I flushed the pipes for about 30 minutes and the Comet went down without hurting anybody.
How do High Schools ever get the insurance to teach Chemestry?
I grew up in a body shop. In the Winter it was too cold to open up windows for ventilation. Doing a lacquer job on a full size care would leave you walking about an inch off the ground when you left the paint stall.
That’s a good question. Maybe they don’t do anything dangerous in the lab anymore.
Vent fans?
I say things like, “If this is upsetting you, we can go home for your nap now.”
We had them, but couldn't use them in the winter. There's a pretty narrow temp range where lacquer will spray and level properly. This was a small family business. Lacquer was expensive and a screwed up paint job could cost more than a week's worth of groceries.
That’s interesting, thanks.
Great tag line.
Was Pooh being attacked by a horde of Piglet’s friends and relations?
This was back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. We were probably breathing stuff that’s been long since banned.
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