Posted by:
SL Cabbie
(
)
Date: October 13, 2018 07:10PM
Here's my "metaphorical take": You were standing on the curb on a very busy street, perhaps carrying some packages, and you started to step off, and an individual--rightfully--gave you a warning for which you were extremely grateful to be able to avoid a speeding car. In the confusion, you dropped something, and asked him for some help picking it up...
He complied, and now you feel a strong need to defend him, even though you've read a number of "media accounts" that show him in an unpleasant light. Perhaps he was a shoplifter, perhaps he's up on domestic violence charges; pick something...
I have no doubt there are some "gender issues" here, but I'm going to borrow a "process comment" from an old PhD mentor of mine (still a very believing Mormon I care very deeply for): "You keep trying to 'one-up' me."
Now, I'm not going to tell you to lay off (I know better). I am going to ask/invite you to look at the issue more deeply, that's all. My old mentor simply looked at me and said, "Pay attention to what I'm saying!" It took me about eight months to understand why he said that--this was about 20 years ago--and in order to work through my own biases and perceptual blockades, I had to cross-examine myself ruthlessly. Your mileage may vary, but really this is just a request for an "open mind."
Cabdriver Confession: I actually trolled DCP's blogsite one time, and imperfect human being that I am, I enjoyed tweaking his mustache... He recognized my moniker, of course... I don't recall what he said about this site (pretty much the only one I visit under this moniker, honest), but it was really nasty.
I also caught hell from an old friend for bringing his name up here, so I'll just tell another story about the time he engaged DCP on another site, and I caught wind of it. My friend called him "Denial C. Peterson," and Danny Boy (please call him that; I know he does hate that one) "gave me credit" by hollering that my friend wasn't being original. I popped in and said I'd given him "a franchise." DCP went away immediately.
Other than that one time, I've never "trolled DCP" although I did give my friend Cricket permission to "lift this one from RFM." Will Bagley loved it incidentally. I'm human enough to want to share it with certain folks, particularly since Peterson called Will a "lying, venomous gasbag." Will loved this piece...
http://www.salamandersociety.com/interviews/danielcpeterson/I also looked at some of the apologists' sites he frequented, occasionally "mining them for material" (with ADMIN's permission; I was told he was "fair game"). It wasn't pretty, honest. Now I "purposely chose my cabbie identity" here because of the "opportunity" it offered (since my profession isn't noted for following Miss Manner's Bible). From my treatment background, I knew there were times I would need to be nasty in order to communicate effectively.
Terribly un-Christian of me, but see, there was this Egyptology class I once took, and Christianity no longer "worked for me." And it had nothing to do with Christian ideals (which, I think you'll admit, sometimes "give rise to martyrdom"); it had to do with the actual historical origins of the faith.
Nobody on this site, myself included, is going to argue that you're not a really nice person. What I'm saying is there are people I won't be "nice" to, at least here. Peterson is one (which is why he's not permitted here even though he wanted to participate for awhile, and I think that actually happened).
It's not about me being a jerk; it's about my "taking care of myself," and I thus reserve this luxury for myself. There are always those out there who would "make me there victim."* They might well succeed, even, but I've found it a lot less onerous, at times, to make sure the price they have to pay is really high. Word gets around...
You're welcome to believe what you want about DCP; I don't share those beliefs, however.
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*From my student teaching days: One of my leaders/supervisors in my "cohort" identified this management device: "Get mad! Go ahead and get mad, and let them realize you're angry." That's not a license to "abuse" students, but it is a device for creating an environment where you can teach them something.