In the Comment Section of I Do Not ‘Believe’ In Evolution, a suggestion came up that, when faced with the rudeness and insanity of many theists, I could resort to rudeness. It’s a wonderful idea. It’s also one I really don’t see myself using.
For one thing, though I may come across as moderately erudite when posting or commenting, that is, for me, an unusual situation. Unless I am in control of a situation, I tend to be somewhat deferential and non-confrontational. It may not be what I want, but it is who I am. Here’s a perfect example:
Back in 2007, I was at a forest fire in Idaho. I was stationed at a roadblock at the summit of a mountain pass. I saw about thirty non-fire cars per day, most of which had passes to get into one of the two towns within the closure. The vehicles sans pass sometimes got interesting.
The day before elk season started, a large Dodge Ram pickup (and I mean large — I think the tyres cost almost as much as my car) roared up and screached to a stop by the roadblock. A young man got out and marched in my direction. He was around thirty, had a buzzcut, and was very muscular. Before he even got up to me, he began yelling.
“Why’s my hunting spot closed?” he yelled.
“Well sir,” I answered, “where were you planning to hunt?”
He began to describe it and I coaxed him over to the closure map. He pointed to a spot two miles inside the closed area. I explained that, due to the 150,000 acre forest fire, that area was closed.
He then went off on me, explaining in no uncertain terms that the National Forest Service was illegal (this was in a National Forest), that the government was illegal, and asked me “How can you sleep at night with what you do to people?” This entire rant was well peppered with ‘fuck this,’ ‘fuck that,’ ‘fuck the other thing,’ and ‘fuck you.’
As he walked back to his truck (which had three high-powered rifles in the back window (even though it was bow season approaching)) gesticulating wildly and rudely, and telling me I was a jack-booted fascist (for the record, I was wearing mid-calf Georgia boots), I calmly pulled out my notebook, wrote down his plate number, and told him, “Have a nice day!”
I then called my manager who called the Sheriff dispatcher. Before he had the plate read out, the dispatcher interrupted him and said, “Oh, thats ________ _______. He’s a loudmouth asshole, but he’s harmless.”
Anyway, this is the normal way I respond to rude people. I tend to work more towards defusing a situation without backing down. I try to be non-confrontational without surrendering.
This also means that, when confronted with irrational people, I tend to aim for a path which will allow me to avoid the confrontation while still remaining true to who I am.
This is one reason I decided to start my blog. My pseudonymous presence on the web allows me to confront difficult subjects without the pressure of trying to come up with the perfect response instantly. I, with my blog, have the chance to stop and think about my response (and keep in mind what happened when I knee-jerked) in a calm and (hopefully) rational manner.
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