Blockheads

The staff at Digital Journal have never been particularly good at the job of keeping order or maintaining civil discourse. In the past they have tended to over react, handing out suspensions to the guilty and innocent alike as though they were candy. Recently however they have decided to give up the struggle to maintain civil discourse. This retreat from responsibility has gone hand in hand with their apparent realization of the financial benefits of catering to the extreme Right end of the ideological spectrum at the expense of all others. The decline of Digital Journal into an amateur version of Fox “News” can be traced back to the staff’s recruitment of the late, and totally unlamented, “swarm. These folks specialized in personal attacks by a seemingly endless army of Right Wing “drive by shooters” who would appear for one or two articles, discharge a volley of invective, and promptly disappear. Abuse complaints were legion but since one cannot grow a base of extremist cliental while also punishing abuse the staff retreated from the fray to do whatever it is that they do when they are not doing their job of keeping order. Since then whenever there is a report of abuse they have become more difficult to find than Waldo. However, just before they disappeared on their boat trip up denial the staff implemented a new feature that allows a DJ member to block the post of any other DJ member (except the staff---I know, I have tried). While I am not overly impressed the staff they did get this one right. Hey, they were due. Like they say “even a blind pig finds a few acorns.” This is a useful tool since there are only so many hours in the day and one can only try to talk reason to the unreasonable for so long before one begins to sound like them. Talking reason to some of these folks is rather like trying to teach a pig to sing---it wastes your time and annoys the pig. I have been using the feature ever since it appeared and so far I do not think I have missed anything of substance. On the rare occasions when I have unblocked folks it has been the same tired old cacophony of hysterical rants, tin foil hat conspiracy theory and foaming at the mouth invective. Why bother with such bilge? As they say: Illegitimi non carborundum. So, to those who respond to my comments and receive no reply from me you may assume that you have been demoted to the ranks of the blocked. But don’t let that stop you---by all means continue your rants. I am sure your fellow travelers will appreciate your efforts even if I do not see them.