“Hi, you don’t know me; you suck”
There I am, minding my own business as usual, and I see I have a DM on Facebook. I open the DM. It’s from a total stranger who is not a Facebook friend. I have one mutual friend with him. So Facebook is letting total strangers DM us now? I don’t remember agreeing to that.
The stranger’s name is Tony Philpott. Google tells me he’s a successful screenwriter in Dublin.
Dear Ophelia. Just viewed your recent exchange on Atheist Ireland. I have never, ever resorted to an ad hominem response, but having viewed your exposure on such issues I will break my rule. You are a “closed” person. A person without dimension, a person with whom discourse is impossible. The very act of engagement, is, to you, an affront; it is deemed to be an affront to feminism, an affront to you personally. I would dearly love to engage with you, but no matter the validity of my argument – you, and your followers would deem it mansplaining. On that basis, any response, be it critical, or simply in the interest of expanding the dialogue, can only meet with a closed, insular mind.
?????????
I don’t know him. I haven’t had any “exchange on Atheist Ireland” – Atheist Ireland is nothing to do with me, I’m not in any groups or circles of Atheist Ireland’s, I’m not in a position to have exchanges on it. I have no idea how Tony Philpott thinks he knows any of that about me.
People are so bizarre.
That name sounds familiar, and not in a good way. I wish that I could remember the context in which it caught my eye, previously.
That’s…odd. Odd that he’d claim you had an “exchange” on AI when you haven’t; odd that he’d judge you at all based on whatever limited “exposure” he’s had to your views; odd that he’d get you so wrong; odd that he’d feel compelled to tell you about it.
Well, how lucky for you that you’ve decided so, Tony. Now you never have to test your
hypothesiscertainty by actually trying to engage (however dearly you’d love to!)(P.S. How I wish athedudes would learn the meaning of the term “ad hominem.”)
Could this be a case of one of the pitters impersonating you on comment threads at AI?
Yeah, on internet forums/comment threads, it seems that all too often the phrase “ad hominem” is just a fancy way to say “insult”, in some persons’ minds.
Actually, that’s an accurate use of ad hominem:
Philpott writes:
Not all insults are ad hominem, but when alleged defects in a person’s character are used as a reason not to engage their arguments, that is indeed an ad hominem response.
Silentbob, I believe you have found Lady Mondegreen’s point.
“Hi, I just wanted to talk to you to tell you that there’s no point in talking to you.”
Silentbob, okay, I guess in the broadest sense I guess you’re right, it’s an ad hom. But really I think Philpott here thinks argumentum ad hominem is fancy words for “This is to inform you that I think you’re a poopyhead.” He isn’t responding to a particular argument or position. Hell, it’s impossible to tell what he’s responding to. “Your recent exchange on Atheist Ireland”–where Ophelia tells us she she hasn’t been? Maybe “on” means “about”–but then who were the partners in this exchange? What was the subject?
Huh? What issues? This is some mighty sloppy writing. He isn’t making an argument at all, he’s just making incoherent noises expressing disapproval.
“…….incoherent noises expressing disapproval.” IOW, farting sounds.
This sounds like Michael Nugent (or some other AI bigwig) has been mouthing off about you to this bloke and he’s just absorbed this without questioning it. This is the only explanation I could think of for an out-of-the-blue attack like this.
Dear Tony Philpott,
You strike me as the kind of person who complains that the neighbour’s grass is an inch too high. Or that kids should not be allowed in supermarkets or on aeroplanes. Do you also tell random women on the street to smile? Do you ring the parking inspectors when a car has been parked five minutes more than it should? Do you explain to the birds how to sing and the wind how to blow? What goes on in your mind Tony Philpott? I imagine the world must be rather disappointing and dull for you. Dear Tony Philpott, please go and do something nice, maybe bake a cake for someone you love or learn how to macrame. Or maybe go for a walk along a creek and memorise some Wordsworth. Listen to some Debussy, or try Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. Sit in a cafe and watch people go by, and wonder about all the things that might be going on inside of them. Life is short, Tony Philpott.
Kind Regards,
Emily Vicendese
Mr. Philpott: “you and your followers would consider it mainsplaining”
When people bring something up to deny it, it means they are really are thinking it or doing it.
Hey. I’m just commenting in this thread to say: I expect there’s no point in commenting in this thread.
Later tonight, I’m also gonna call up a pizza delivery place and not order a pizza, just complain a while that even if I did, I probably wouldn’t like it. Since I don’t like their pizza anyway.
After that, I plan on calling up someone I’m attracted to, and telling her: hey, I’m not asking you out, just figure you’re gonna say no anyway, and I’d just like to say: damn, that would smart, if I did, and you did. I’ve never been good with rejection.
Then I’m gonna write a letter to editor of a newspaper I generally regard as too trashy to line birdcages with and don’t even read to say that: I don’t even read your newspaper; there’s no point. But I bet it still sucks. Not that you’re gonna even read or print this letter. Seriously, take my advice; if you’re still reading this sentence, you’ve already read more than I figured.
(/Further bulletins as events warrant. ‘Cos obviously, you didn’t really want to know, so it totally makes sense to tell you.)
… actually vis à vis the dating example, am I the only one getting weird flashbacks to (early, even) grade school from some of this?
‘Little Stewie totally thinks you’re dorky and smelly and he hates you and if you keep catching him glancing at you sideways during naptime, that’s the only reason why, honest!’ (This handed to you in a clumsily pencilled note from a put-upon third party who looked completely baffled themselves, as they handed it to you.)
… and you find yourself hoping he really does hate you, as this is probably the least trouble.
Heh, no, I’m not getting that kind of flashback, more just the usual “I’m going to rain random verbal abuse on you because I’ve heard that someone said there’s a rumor that you’re totally full of shit about everything at all times so there ha yaboosucks.”
The name is eerily familiar. The absence of any actual subject for you to have been ‘closed’ about makes me wonder if this isn’t some kind of spam sent out to random women. Certainly, a twue slimer would at least have some pre-established anti Benson tropes.
I could be wrong but having seen the increase in popularity of this rather bizarre approach I suspect those PUA seminars, that promote negging of women as a means of boundary testing, are working as intended.
By that I mean the seminars are making bank and the marks are making fools of themselves everywhere they go.