Re: More musings about the state of this group

I've resisted the urge to reply here, but in the interest of the type
of truth-telling PR has held up as a virtue, here goes:

On May 31, 3:49 pm, poisoned rose <prose1...@xxxxxxx> wrote:

"RichL" <rpleav...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Snipped a lot of stuff about whether Poisoned Rose's farewell address
is comparable to Allabest.

PR makes the point that his kiss-off was not like the "Gettysburg
Address" and was more of the "I'm taking a break." Aside from the
botched historical analogy (Lincoln's address was not the long-winded,
high-flown one at Gettysburg; Everett's was — and — the obvious short-
lived kiss-off from history was Nixon's 1962 gubernatorial concession
speech) PR is quite correct in saying he'd never said never...RichL
is correct in saying no one has called Allbaest for his serial
departures and comebacks because, unlike PR, Allabest never made an
issue of this schtick.

But on top of that, you look down your nose at just about everyone here..

If an intelligent, emotionally balanced stranger dropped into this
newsgroup and started reading threads, just how many people do you think
would draw his respect? Whom do you think I wrongly disrespect? How many
of the eggshells who hyperdefensively flail at me warrant my serious
regard? The YTs? AllaBest? Nil? Dan Camper (now gone thoroughly
psychotic once again)? Please.

I think Nil is a good example. His interactions with others here is
almost always pleasant, informed and helpful. His feud with you is an
aberration. Did you ever consider whether you played any part in this
unpleasantness?

Snip of debate over RichL's ignoring the homophobia in the forged PR
post.

You want to be
considered a positive influence?  Treat people decently.

I strove to be a positive influence by supplying intelligent, informed,
straightshooting content and challenging people to leave their musical
comfort zones. I'll leave the calculated reassurances and ego massages
to others.

PR was undoubtedly a positive influence when raising viewpoints about
music other people were not familiar with. He was less interested in
pursuing discussion of music with which he was not that familiar, and
often castigated me for an admitted penchant for relating Beatles
music and general music discussions to jazz and popular music of the
preceding generation.

I also think PR often failed to make the distinction between "straight
shooting" and a willful desire to insult people. It's one thing to
tell someone his fly's down, another to say his daughter's ugly.

Snip discussion about Raja's broken resolution not to post lists and
its effect on the number of posts here, and who helped drag RMB down
to its present level.

You're good at the music part but seem to think that the Beatles' part
is secondary.

I don't think there's one person here who wouldn't concede to some
degree that "everything has been said" about the Beatles already.

I'm in agreement with PR here. I'm all for broadening and generalizing
on a music-related basis.

The main purposes of these posts seem to be to flaunt
your perceived superiority when it comes to music criticism and to
deride those who don't, in your eyes, measure up.
I can't think of another person, whether on usenet or in real life, who
would come back to a place that he consciously rejected only to
sporadically stick his tongue out at those he left behind.

I intended to post only once, but I should have realized the
woundlickers would flood me with dopey replies calling for follow-ups.
It's the entire reason why I posted so much more than I'd "like to"
during the past year or so. I mean, do you really think I expected my
one post to draw such a lengthy, libelous, labor-intensive forgery?
Woooow.

OK, I'm switching to the second person here:

Your original post elicited the response that it was intended to.
What would you expect the response to an article by Eric Clapton
titled "The Yardbirds suck since I left" be?

As for the ridiculous issue of whom I "respect" -- a question which
Cancer has bafflingly gnawed on for months and months -- I have two
speculative theories:

1) If after all this time, I did suggest some list of "respectable"
posters, the immediate response would be a pile of others attacking me
for having the arrogant audacity to declare "verdicts" on everyone.
After they goaded and goaded and goaded me to take exactly that step.
So, sorry...I'm not falling into that feeble trap.

2) If after all this time, I did suggest some list of "respectable"
posters and fulfill Cancer's craven need for an answer, I bet she would
just avoid all the points I made about this or that person, and instead
would just post one of her typically empty poses of feigned, sarcastic
indifference. "Oh dear, oh dear! PR does not respect me! How will I go
on? Whatever will I do???" As if she didn't already know how much I
disrespect her. These sorts of theatrics are pretty standard behavior
for her, whenever someone criticizes her and she can't dispute the
reasoning. So lame. So substanceless.

Come on. The truth is, you'd rather not give anyone the satisfaction.
In addition to Abe Slaney, I'd guess that you'd credit Ian H. and John
G. for their abundance of musical knowledge. I would have guessed
RichL would have been on the list at one point; Blackmonk too, maybe
Dale. There's six.

Anyway...why did I leave? Answer: Blockheads like the above dominating
conversation. Clearly. Did *anyone* pay attention to my multiple "Idiot
factor approaching critical mass" warnings leading up to me signing off?

What the hell were we supposed to do about it?

And gee, I'm just *so* delusional for believing my absence took away a
large chunk of RMB volume, eh?

Why the interest in whose piss is filling up the cesspool?

Maybe someone could check the ratio
between my own posts and others' responses in this thread. I guess this
post will produce yet another week of frantic assurances and
massages.... The needy dance for validation goes on.

By the end, the number of your RMB feud posts was far outweighing your
music posts, and near the end I believe you crossed over a line of
decency. I thought that at some level, your departure was due in part
to a realization that the madness here had made you behave in a way
you generally would not have. That being said, I do miss your music-
related posts, and enjoyed our interactions, even though I was often
on the receiving end of the patented PR barbs. I've said that I always
felt like Dana Andrews talking to Clifton Webb in "Laura," but that's
fine, because the Webb character was by far the most interesting in
the film.

So, as far as I'm concerned, come back anytime, and bring Abe back
with you.

The Arranger

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