Fine distinctions

I'm sitting here alternating between snorting derision and amused disbelief. Take the time and read this exchange on another blog, between the Intellectual Insurgent and someone with whom I was previously unfamiliar, one Patrick. The basic premise made by Patrick is that the Insurgent and myself, being similarly depraved in his view, are indeed one and the same person.

I assure you, Patrick, that there is more than one person who thinks that

a) your friend Mahnscreecha is vain in every sense of the word, a fount steady dribble of sloppy reasoning, facile tripe and vapid stream-of-consciousness rambling aspiring to, but never quite reaching, the level of informed discourse. Besides, her English is god-awful.

b) self-loathing homosexuals like you who pander to the extreme right are objects not of, as your blog claims, "liberal hatred", but rather of a varying mix of pity and contempt, which is not the same thing. It's not a new concept - indeed, both you and Mahnscreecha share this trait - that the marginalized sometimes identify with those doing the marginalizing. Alan Keyes comes to mind, or Roy Cohn. It is easier - and yes, the prevailing social order condones it - to say "I am not like those people"; it's even easier to believe it. The reason I mention the term 'contempt' is that everyone who's ever been in a minority at some point has thoughts of trying to 'pass'; most people move beyond it. The contempt thus is for your human weakness, not any strength you think you find in being contrarian to your own. If you find yourselves attacked, it's not because you have, to quote, "gone off the liberal plantation' - it's because others take a more principled stand for themselves and their own than you have the strength to take. I also assure you that this contempt, mixed with pity - "there but for the grace of god go I" - is a different thing entirely than what you face from your so-called friends; you desire a "yes", but will never get more than a "yes, but" from them.

c) there are quicker, more effective and less humiliating ways to get into the pants of a Marine than to, ahem, feign interest in or concern over the tone on his blog. I mean, really, Mary; don't beg for it, unless of course that is your thang. A short "Wanna fuck?" is quite sufficient in my experience.

As far as being one and the same person is concerned, that's a theory worth entertaining. After all, in the virtual world, how much do you really know about the people in it? There are subtle clues, photos posted of relatives, or of one's surroundings, that seem to confirm that, yes, the insurgent and myself are on opposing sides of the country. If you scroll down just a bit, you'll see pictures taken in New York City, whereas the Insurgent claims to be in Los Angeles. But really, other than substantially differing outlooks on life and politics - libertarians aren't Progressives, even if we have areas of agreement - different writing styles - notice how she blogs about law and I blog about polls, consumer psychology and marketing - but we're both scornful of wingnuttery, so it's all the same, right?

Wrong. There is a much broader universe of thought out there beyond the confines of the extreme right. This is also where you find the vast majority of Americans, over 80% or so. The Insurgent and myself happen to be two of them - not one. It might please people who use the term 'commie shill' to think that the Vast Leftwing American Conspiracy is perhaps just one guy; however, I assure you it's not.