Mamamontezz's Mental Rumpus Room

Trollage.

We hear much lately about Freedom of Speech, and our right to voice our political thoughts and beliefs without fear of governmental reprisal. This is a freedom each of us holds very dear, almost ahead of some of our other rights as outlined by the constitution. It is our freedom of speech that allows us to defend these other rights.

It is our freedom of speech that protects us from imprisonment if something we publish is deemed "dangerous" or "un-American" by some lower level bureaucrat at a linoleum-topped 1960 military surplus desk in some basement office with no windows, as is the case in many of the "enlightened" nations of western Europe.

If we did not believe that this freedom were real, a great many of us would never have mustered the courage to put our thoughts on the electronic page. But we do have faith in the system, faith (for the most part) in our elected officials, and faith in our fellow diarists and bloggers.

To say that the Blogosphere is "one big happy family" would be both cliche and patently untrue. Yet within this seething mass of contradiction, flame wars (Meow), and extreme URLs we do see small, tight-knit groups which do function a lot like families, albeit predominantly dysfunctional ones.

The Munuviana folks are an excellent example of this. As a group, they are diverse, intellegent, and supportive. We do not typically share the same political, moral, ethical, or religious beliefs. And I have not encountered a single instance when any of them has participated in any manner of Blogopheric Warfare against another of the bloggers Mu.Nu.

Another is the group, proudly self-proclaimed Loyal Citizens of blogger Emperor Misha of the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler. A much more political group, the Loyal Citizens proudly acknowledge and celebrate their conservative politics, often in satirical, angry, and well supported "rants" and defend these views from those who would disparage them, either through negative linkage or in the comment threads at the Rottie or on their personal blogs. They follow, albeit unsaid, that motto of the U.S. Marines-"No better friend, no greater enemy."

There are also both loosely knit and more formally joined groups of bloggers from every other viewpoint, putting their beliefs out regularly, and sharing them with whomever finds them and returns as regular readers.

We are the equivelent of the single sheet, mimeographed papers and flyers that could be seen on every campus in America during the 1960's and 1970's, railing against every form of injustice, rallying people to exercise their rights, and pushing people into acting on their civil responsibilities to change what could be changed.

We are also our own worst ememies.

There are those among us who delight in tracking back the URLs of commentors on the blogs they frequent, and indiscriminately placing "spam" comments on their posts. These "Off Thread" comments often contain links to pornographic sites, offensive or repugnant images, or are filled with diatribes and ramblings which are equally offensive to anyone with any sort of civility.

One such comment found its way here the other day. The individual chose to call me a Nazi by use of the phrase "Reich Whinger" and linked to a photo of what probably was the product of his own sphincter floating in the appropriate household recepticle for such biological by-products. This linked photo was said to be said "Reich Whinger" in the natual habitat of persons with conservative political beliefs.

This is offensive on many levels, not the least being that as I have never so much as accessed this individual's blog, much less left any sort of comment on it. The comment was an unprovoked attack on me as a woman, as a human being, and as a blogger. And as this is offensive to me, as a woman, as a human being, and as a blogger, I chose to exercise my free speech and edit the comment. I also have left a notice in the comments that this blogger is not welcome on this site, nor are his attacks and ramblings, unnecessary and unprovoked as they are.

Today, I see that he has travelled back into this blog to see how his handywork was received, and apparently was unappreciative of the edit. In a search of my linkage through Technorati I see that he has directed his 25 or 30 weekly readers to come over here and see what I have done. Of course, instead of stating that I edited his filth, I am accused of "impersonating" him.

Actually, that is quite funny. Funny enough to ban his IP. And don't even begin to state that I'm violating the Free Speech Rights of this individual. I'm not the government. I'm exercising my Free Speech Rights.

And have a nice day.

Posted by Mamamontezz at May 15, 2004 12:05 PM