I can’t really believe we need to chat about this again but should we meet in public, face to face, I’m under no particular obligation to treat you politely.
Shocking, I know.
I don’t have to be nice, or respect your point of view and life experience. In fact my legal limitations are not to touch you physically (that would be Battery) or threaten you (good luck with my lawyers, I mean that, and informing you I intend to defend myself is not technically a threat).
If that’s how it is in Meatspace why expect an Internet Utopia? Because you’re a special and important snowflake?
Spare me your fee-fees and I’ll spare you mine.
Sometimes speech is about persuasion, convincing someone that they are overlooking important information that leads to a different conclusion. I can do that, I just demonstrated.
But other times it’s about laying down a marker and making the opposing point of view look as stupid as it actually is. I’m not responsible for the fact your ideas are bad, based on falsehoods and lies, and espousing them in public makes you look a heartless bastard because of course it does!
You are a heartless bastard and identifying you as such is exactly the same as pointing to a tree and saying “That’s a tree.” Now just because a dog pisses on it doesn’t make it a tree but the fact it doesn’t run away is an indicator.
So don’t be puttin’ (or Putin) on airs about how it’s “insulting” and “beneath your dignity” to talk to a peon like me and how you’re deserving of “respect”.
Nothing but contempt until you prove differently.
Now in truth on my sites I’m pretty militant about most forms of troll behavior, especially doxxing and stalking and you can expect not just a quick ban but legal action to make sure you get the point.
But I’m pretty prickly and don’t run an oasis of civility in a desert of calumny and contempt. I view those seeking such as better suited to Fora on Crochet where there is but the one needle and it is blunt.