Fundamental conflicts January 25, 2010 9:09 PM   Subscribe

So: what's going on in this question?

— and I don't mean "is this real or fake?" I really believe that it's an honest question, and Xezlec seems to be very on-the-level on the whole thing.

What I mean is this: at this point in the discussion, Xezlec tried to take the issue to MetaChat, saying

“Another thing that bothers me is that there is a class of people in the world that I perceive as accomplished, intelligent, knowledgeable, and generally admirable (this group includes Metafilter) and that these people are disproportionately against me on this. In fact, some of my favorite mefites have been the ones that made some of the harshest, nastiest insults that I remember seeing on here against views somewhat similar to mine. Some of those were comments so filthy and cruel that I was shocked to see them here. There seems to be some really intense hatred over this.”

That didn't go well, and the MetaChat thread was quickly deleted, but I think this is actually something we should probably discuss here at metafilter, if Xezlec is willing to open up a little. Personally, as someone who really likes it here, I was sort of sad to see that someone was so impressed by our hatred and cruelty about a particular subject that he was afraid even to mention it to us. I'm therefore a little hesitant to bring it up, but I think it needs discussion, because it's a serious charge: are we being cruel and hateful toward people who have a particular intellectual viewpoint?

Unfortunately, Xezlec hasn't mentioned what the issue was, and I think he'd rather not mention it in the ask.metafilter thread simply because he doesn't want to start a big argument. This is, in fact, probably a better venue for discussing this than MetaChat, since it's Metafilter-related, and since talking about it here won't break any chatfilter guidelines.

Xezlec - would you elaborate a little on what the specifics were? What was this issue? And, if it's appropriate, what do you think we can do to make metafilter a little less antagonistic? I can't personally promise that everyone here will discuss this with you respectfully - but I can promise that I will, and I'll bet we can talk about it without being hurtful or cruel. Would you be willing to let us know what it was?
posted by koeselitz to MetaFilter-Related at 9:09 PM (4 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

Oh Jesus God no.

The dude's pretty vulnerable-sounding. Asking "does anybody else think _______" in a week, anonymously, is going to go over better than the unchecked discussion of the grey.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:20 PM on January 25, 2010


I don't really think he can mention it here without it going right back to his Ask thread, where he quite clearly is not saying what it is.
posted by smackfu at 9:22 PM on January 25, 2010


I should have said: alternatively, if it's pointless to talk about this here, the mods should close this up. Sorry if it's not helpful; I just thought I'd give Xezlec the opportunity, anyway.
posted by koeselitz at 9:24 PM on January 25, 2010


Xezlec looks like he's not really going to be talking about anything tonight and one more place to not talk about it may not be the best thing. koeselitz I know you were trying to help, but I think I'll close this up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:26 PM on January 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


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