DIYbanter - View Single Post - On Vituperation, Invective, Opprobrium and General Snarkyness

Ken[_6_]

Rheilly Phoull wrote:
On 17/11/2017 4:31 AM, wrote:
First a bit on me.

Neither of my parents spoke English as a first language (Gaelic &
German), nor were they born in the US. Growing up Mid-West, East,
South and Mid-Atlantic, and working in various professions and 'jobs'
from Janitor to Machinist, and in the US and Middle East, I have seen
a bit of the world and experienced a few sorts of people and cultures.
Dinner guests in my childhood through teen years included the likes of
Dorothy Parker, Helen & Scott Nearing, Hannah Arendt, Felix Morrow,
Oscar and Edith Tarcov, Richmond Lattimore, J. Glenn Gray, Peter
Drucker and more. Those are the highlights, but I could drop a bunch
more names if needed. I get my words from my father, and my humor from
my mother. My politics are quite far left of center, but no where near
as far as my parents - who were both gun-owning believers in personal
responsibility, and felt the world owed them nothing, quite the
opposite. I had an aunt in the Irish Post Office, my father was
seconded to the OSS during WWII spending most of the war on both sides
of the line in Europe. I am married, two step-kids (but I got them
very young), four grand-kids, two cats, two dogs. I also consider
myself an elitist of the first water - I dislike spending time and
effort around ignorance - which I believe can be fixed and is a
deliberate choice, never an accident past the age of consent. I also
deeply believe the Islamic mandate: Never refuse food, water or
shelter together with the Social Contract (best summed up by Karl
Marx), although I subscribe to no religion in the belief that religion
per-se is largely responsible for much, very nearly all, that is evil
in this world - along with any -ism that requires absolute adherence.
I am a few months from (technically) retirement age, although I very
much enjoy what I am doing and intend to stay at it as long as that
enjoyment remains. Due to my wife's and my efforts over the last many
years, retirement will be comfortable.

It takes a lot to get me to light off on someone. But, anything worth
doing is worth doing well - and I try. Some seem to learn and get over
it. Some seem to escalate the exchanges beyond banter. I feel like the
opposite of the Taxi Driver in the Rutabaga Stories - I can be a much
nicer person 'at home' if I vent my spleen in venues such as this one.
But, for the record, it ain't nohow personal - nor is any one in the
focus worth any actual time, effort or real emotion. I reserve that
for friends, family and some very few actual enemies, all now dead
(not from my efforts, sadly). Usenet requires the hide of a
rhinoceros, a dry sense of humor, and considerable tolerance if it is
to be enjoyed. Considerable, not complete.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

So--- the complete legend in your own mind then ??
Me too!!!!!