jchenx's Journal: Slashdot asshats

Wow, I know there are plenty of asshats on Slashdot, but this guy takes the cake.

Only a few hours after the shooting occurred at my beloved alma mater, someone posts the insightful comment that Virginia Tech should not be put to blame. At this point, solidarity is important. As an alumnus, the last thing I want to be told is how my school sucks because it wasn't able to prevent this tragedy from happening. So, I completely agree with this post (and so do many others, as it's modded up +5 to insightful very quickly).

Well, the asshat 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF decides to make the woefully inapproriate comment that actually VT should be blamed for "instituting a ban on students possessing firearms on campus". Basically, this moron is trying to turn this tragedy into supporting his pro-gun beliefs.

Naturally, I decide to call him out on it. What follows is not him backing down or apologizing for being insensitive, but increasingly stubborn attempts by him to prove his point.

It ends with a disturbing post where he admits that he "doesn't give a rat's ass" about people's feelings or sensitivities. Here's another stunning comment: "You mean irrationally and emotively siding with the faculty of VT simply because their part in this tragedy is not as direct and obvious at first glance?"

Good god, this guy is scary. It's useless to argue with someone with such a different belief system than myself, or most people. And it's obvious now that he really is trying to just use this tragedy to further his own pro-gun beliefs, feelings be damned.

Ironically, he doesn't seem to realize that this makes him the same as Jack Thompson, the anti-video game activist that's trying to do the same thing. In his latest crusade, he put the blame on the VT shootings on Microsoft for Counter-Strike and Halo. Nevermind the fact that MS didn't develop Counter-Strike, and only published it on one of the many other platforms its on (and not even on the PC, where it's most played). Just utterly crazy and depressing.

Why can't some people just pay their respects and share their condolences like most?

Because some people live for troublemaking

[WillAffleckUW]

And you're just a convenient target to them.

I keep hearing that our youth are becoming very self-centered, and only think of themselves, maybe there is a point in that, but I hope not.

Re:

[Captain Splendid]

That's because they are, quite literally the richest 16 year olds in history. Give it another 10 years or so, and they'll be plenty less selfish.

Re:

[WillAffleckUW]

Good point.

I try to help my son understand that he should revel in our Scottish, Welsh, and Germanic Celtic heritage and that saving money now means he'll be way better off than his peers in just a few short years.

Seems to be working so far.

Re:

[Captain Splendid]

Hehe, I've always said us Celts were the "cockroach tribe". Throw as much shit at us as you want, and we'll still find a way to survive. I mean, look at the Irish. By all rights, they should have pretty much been wiped off the face of the earth many times over, but they're just as strong as ever.

Re:

[WillAffleckUW]

Genetically, while there is some minor differentiation in certain regions in Ireland, all Celts are pretty much the same mixed bag (it never was a race so much as a society, with lots of interminglings. Some thoughts are those small areas in Ireland are where the Picts had moved to.