Now, I haven't received even the courtesy of an e-mail explaining the reasoning behind this ban, but I can guess. For example, many smalldeadanimalists have e-mailed me with words to the effect that my stark criticisms have made them cry. One gentlemen wrote to inform me that my comments had inspired him to a whole new direction in life, and he was coming to Toronto to marry himself a nice young hockey-player. So, I was stirring up the pot a bit too thoroughly and Kate, rather than allow a true and free debate and letting the chips fall where they might, clamped down in an attempt to impose some right wing version of "political correctness".
However, one thing that I know for sure: the ban had nothing to do with my violating any of Kate's new posting or anti-trolling guidelines, which I have bent over backwards to observe, and indeed have observed much more strictly than many of her ideological soul-mates.
For example, I have stopped referring to the other participants on SmallDeadAnimals as "ignorant bush-hicks from the foothills outside of Gooberville", and I've stopped referring to Stephen Harper as "Harponey", although I thought that last was a rather good one. In fact, I think the only real difference in the level of invective that I have employed, as opposed to that which has been used upon me, is that I, being a Liberal, seem to know more words than the average SmallDeadAnimal. I would constantly get the whole "latte drinking scumbag" thing, and I didn't have the heart to tell them that I don't even drink coffee, because I don't think they would have known what else to call me. In fact, on several occasions I offered to buy everyone on the blog a thesaurus, only to have this offer turned down in language that I will not repeat here.
And, as noted earlier, it isn't just that I can't post to SmallDeadAnimals. I get the following message when I attempt to visit the site:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
I'm not really a techy, but I assume my IP is being blocked. Is there any way to dodge this other than posting from a different computer?
And I would like to return, because it isn't that Conservatives are totally incorrigible. Do you remember the story about the farmer and his donkey? The farmer says that he has the smartest donkey in the world. In fact, the donkey can learn anything you might care to teach it. But before launching into a demonstration, the farmer takes a big 2-by-4 and whacks the donkey over the head. When asked why, he says, "Before you can teach them, you have to get their attention."
Tories are a bit like the donkey, I find.
Maybe Kate hasn't realized it yet, but they need me over at SmallDeadAnimals, and I am anxious to get on with their education.
17 comments:
Give it up...you tried but it won't ever change a thing there.
I was banned awhile back. Best thing to do is ignore the site...it'll just cuisinart your brain.
Go bug "dust my broom".
I'm banned from there too.
It's typical behaviour for the hard core of the Blogging Tories. They are a group unto themselves and have, as such, very little to do with the actual Conservative Party and/or conservative movement in Canada.
In all honesty, sometimes the behaviour of certain Blogging Tories makes me feel ashamed of being a Tory.
You can use anonymouse.org to visit sites anonymously that you have been banned from.
STOP OPRESSING US!!!
Gah. I am envious... You are wasting your time there. Let them all slap each other on the back and waste their own oxygen. You don't need to be there :P
Is there any way to dodge this other than posting from a different computer?
Sign onto a proxy server and then go visit it.
try this list
Blanks, I have also accused of being sexist. What races do you think I malign overmuch? I try to be fair, but I tend to malign whoever pisses me off at the moment. Right now its Conservatives especially, but when the Libs get in it will probably tilt back the other way a bit. These days, however, reaming out my fellow Libs is a bit like being a heckler at the special olympics.
You can't really call it a "Tory" thing, as I have been banned from a couple Liberal sites, for simply trying to instigate debate instead of agreeing with everything said in the post. I'm not known for drive bys either, so it's more of a blogging thing, some people ban, some don't.
In almost a year, I have yet to ban anyone, and unless the language level gets too high, I intend to remain that way.
Werner, there are still a few of us that ARE involved in the political end of things, and get involved in the election process as well, you should know that. We are the same ones who are willing to call the Conservatives on bad moves like Emerson and Fortier.
DazzlinDino: Please don't get me wrong. I am not condemning all members of the Blogging Tories. I was speaking about a certain group within that blogroll only, the one that gives Tories a bad name.
DazzlinDino: I, too, am involved in actual party politics (I may even end up on the executive board of my constituency next month or not too long thereafter), and it is for that very reason, I think, that those of us who are active politically in the real world (as opposed to the blogosphere) should choose their blogosphere alliance carefully.
In case you couldn't access it, here is your Bull of Excommuni-cation:
"BCL has been banned, after several warnings. (That is not a topic for debate, but to explain the disappearance of the comment referred to.) Unfortunately, other users of the Toronto Real Estate Board computers may now have problems accessing the site as well.
Posted by Kate at April 27, 2006 11:23 AM"
Your offence was to be as vehement in attacking Cons as they were in attacking Libs - immoderate language all around, but it is their love-in.
I got very tired of malevolence and lack of fact and logic myself and almost quit last night, but I'm going to keep on prodding for facts where possible. I hate to see propaganda accepted as if it were Gospel truth. And I'm no Liberal.
I'll probably attempt to access the site through an anonymous server. But I might give them some time off first.
I had an onslaught of Scary People from SDA not long ago after the owner of said dead animals posted a link to a post on my blog.
Afaic, she and her roadkill cult can stay right where they belong.
Go towards the light, BigCityLib, the light that is sanity. ;)
no worries mate, you can now have the time to focus on important matters like our new leader.
Th cons might be rising in the polls but that is just temporary I think. And just because they scraped a softwood lumber agreement together in short order, I truly believe it won't matter a whit to Liberal support, because after all, we don't do a lot of logging in Toronto, where our power base is.
Kennedy is my man . . . leading Canada into a new age of being the first "International country" would bring a smile from Trudeau's grave for sure. Time to unite and get the party back in power before the Cons can get any more headlines
The SDA crowd is truly mental, not to mention disgusting. They give any decent Tory (and yes, we do exist) a bad name. I don't know if anyone has ever looked into this, but I believe that the stuff found on SDA violates a bunch of anti-hate crime laws.
SDA is pure right-wing propaganda, but the trouble is that it gets around 7,000 hits a day. I agree with Werner that some of the posts are "mental" and "disgusting" and crowd hate-law territory. Unfortunately, raising the hate-law issue would only result in noise and publicity that they would revel in.
Personally, I try to register the odd fact, reservation and protest on SDA to ensure that the non-converted who hit the site don't get the idea that what is there is unadulterated fact and meets with universal approval. I would not expect to convince any of the regulars there that they are whistling Dixie through the nether orifice.
Kate's too clever by half to violate the hate propaganda laws specifically, but I predict one day she will be charged with something...either a human rights complaint or a hate crime for the totatility of her writing in its effect on people's behaviour. I can just see one of her loopy minions going postal.
Too bad bad writing isn't a crime in Canada. If it were, she'd be doing serious time in Jolliette right about now.
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