Apostate Replies II

Read this post for background info.

I've always found it fascinating how certain people interact with the rest. Recently, at work, a fellow acted kindly towards me for the first time. I quickly realized the reason: he wanted something from me. Before then, his behavior was sometimes indifferent and often contemptuous.

Indifference I understand. It's the effort that some put into being rude that I do not get. This applies to the online world as well.

For example, last year, the Apostate sent me an email. An excerpt:

Hey, Isaac:

I just wanted to write a quick note to thank you for linking to me. I got the most hits I've ever gotten and made it into the fastest growing blogs of wordpress.

I don't know how many of the visitors you sent my way will return, but it was good to know that something I wrote was actually being read by someone. I don't care too deeply about traffic, but it's nice to have an audience when one has something to say.

I enjoy your blog and am in awe of your story.

[Emphasis mine.]

That was a sweet message. However, recently, we disagreed on the reasons for the gender imbalance in the academic fields of the US. A portion of her reply consisted of using the word "Paki" and this paragraph:

Hey, Isaac? Feel free to stop reading this “train wreck” at any point. I won’t miss you. After all, I never read your blog, because I find your wingnutty views ridiculously silly.

[Emphasis mine.]

Did she just pull a Kerry? She enjoyed reading my blog before she never read it! Note that I've been blogging since 2004. The "wingnutty" quotient of my views has been fairly consistent since then.

So, what exactly changed?

This recent post sheds some light. Life deals us with enough misery as it is. Why someone would want to create more is beyond me.

Comments

[Apostate]

Boy, you sure know how to hold a grudge, don't you? I called you on your sexist views, so you can't let it go. For what it's worth, you are still on my blogroll and will remain there.

This is just amusing, because who cares if we disagree, really?

About the "never read your blog" comment: "read" can be meant in two ways -- one past tense, pronounced "red" and the other present continuous, pronounced as spelled.

When I said I never read your blog, I meant it in the present continuous sense, not in the past tense. Meaning, to make myself yet clearer, that I don't now read your blog and in fact, haven't read it for quite a while (at least a year, I would say, off the top of my head). Not that I never read (RED) it.

Your story of how you escaped *was* fascinating, which doesn't mean I can't disagree with the rest of your views, with which I wasn't immediately familiar. I only realized the extent of your wingnuttery when you disagreed with some of my "anti-American" posts.

In any event, if you want to call me a bitch, go right ahead. Veiled allusions aren't necessary to spare my feelings - I AM a bitch, and quite comfortable with it, as the post you linked to makes clear.

Move on, boy.

Ciao.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Apostate: "Boy, you sure know how to hold a grudge, don't you? I called you on your sexist views, so you can't let it go."

On this matter, I've written three posts from start to finish, including this one, in over two weeks. That constitutes a grudge?

As I've said before, the reader can go through my blog archives and make a judgment regarding my "sexism". But that sexist charge makes no sense coming from you.

I think that women, as a group, make choices that lead to their low representation in the sciences and engineering faculties.

That, according to you, is sexism.

You've repeatedly written that you hate men.

What would you call that lovely sentiment? Why do you point out a supposed vice that which you wholly embrace?

"In any event, if you want to call me a bitch, go right ahead."

Thank you for the offer. As you noticed, I didn't excerpt your own crude words on this matter -- nor shall I substitute my own. Though, why you aspire to such an "ideal" I still don't get.

[Alex]

I only skimmed over her "article", but goddamn ... she's the embodiment of every quality a bad leader could possibly have. The kind of person who seems to think that the best way to get results is by stepping on everyone else. Which is, needless to say, an extremely ineffective approach to leadership.

I've spent the majority of my adult life being in a position of authority over others, and I've taken great pains to avoid being "a bitch". It's not enough to simply be authoritative - a good leaders is also fair, honest, and capable of and interested in not only looking after the welfare of his subordinates but looking to help them advance whenever possible. If I can help my people do well that means that the organization as a whole does well. Only a fool would work to improve their own position while stifling their subordinates and sabotaging the organization.

Actually, now that I think of it, she has a very middle-eastern outlook on life. We ran into these difficulties all the time when attempting to rebuild the Afghan and Iraqi armies - their "leaders" didn't seem to understand that acting like selfish assholes was rather counterproductive.

[MikeT]

Apparently she doesn't realize the nuance of the English language at work with the statement "I never read your blog." The meaning is essentially the same if you read "read" as past tense or present tense. Some languages like Spanish and Italian have a past tense that continues into the present (past imperfect/passato imperfetto?) and English's present tense can have a similar connotation.