Have you ever had a political spat online that got out of control?

[Rocknrule]

In an earlier post, I talked about an incident a few weeks ago, when a right-winger on Topix somehow traced my phone number to some of my posts and stalked me until I called the police. Have any of you had a simple political argument that was taken too far by your opponent, like this? Have you been stalked, threatened, etc. by right-wing Internet Tough Guys before? That incident taught me that some Internet Tough Guys are legitimately dangerous, not just e-punks that need to be put in their place.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. “Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Or: "Never wrestle with a pig; you get all muddy and the pig enjoys it."

[leftofcool]

2. No, but I am pretty sure that internet stalking is now a crime

in all 50 states. One never knows who is on the other side of the keyboard. That is why I always remember that "it is only words."

[CTyankee]

3. Not online but I got hate mail after 2 of my LTTE were published in my local newspaper.

I think they were from the same guy. Crudely written with crude sexual references to Clinton and Lewinsky. They were in response to two letters some 3 years apart, dealing with the economy and with the Tea Party.

I decided that to keep them would defile my very soul and threw them out.

[walldude]

4. One time long ago

I was talking online about a job I was doing and let just a bit too much information slip out. A freeper called "security" at the place I was working and said I threatened to blow the place up.

The worst part wasn't losing my job, that actually worked out great for me(thanks you dumb freeper fuck, I now make triple what I did), the worst part was they had me in this room with my boss and "security" and they had a copy of my DU post on the table. Now nowhere in this post did I threaten anyone or anything, but even though it was sitting right in front of them they kept asking my why I made threats.

It was insane.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. I remember that walldude

It was insane. Glad you're doing so much better now. :hug:

[walldude]

17. Thanks.. I learned a lot of lessons from that incident..

Granted it was my own fault but still....

[pacalo]

6. I admit I can be sassy when I'm angry, but I've never allowed myself to continue

arguing at the first sign that the other person wants to take it to the next level. People who can't tolerate different opinions are insecure & not very stable-minded, generally.

[JoePhilly]

7. I have a good friend who had something similar happen.

He wrote and OP-ED that was published in (if I recall) the Washington Post. It was back when Bush was President, and he wrote about why the Iraq war made no sense.

A few days later, there was a right winger calling his home leaving messages and screaming at him. He tried to ignore it at first, but the messages got worse. So he finally answered the call. My friend is a bright guy and so he did what he could to allow the nut to make his point, and to indicate that he was in fact making some worthy points (which he was not).

So once the guy calmed some, thinking that his arguments were making sense, my friend suggest that a better way to get his "good ideas" out would be to write his own OP-ED on the topic. After all, sure, he could convince my friend that his positions were worthy, but doing that would only reach my friend.

In the end, he got the guy to think that he should write another OP-ED so he could reach a larger audience.

My friend didn't let his kids go to school alone for weeks after. And he reactivated the alarm system on his home (which he'd rarely ever used prior).

[pacalo]

8. Your friend is very wise.

[JoePhilly]

9. Its one of the events that turned him from moderate Republican ...

to moderate, socially liberal, Democrat.

He had been a moderate fiscial conservative, not a hawk, but willing to use force when needed, with little interest in social conservatism or social liberalism.

He re-examined everything, and has tossed the GOP in the trash.

[pacalo]

13. A sign of true intelligence is the ability to change one's opinion after analyzing the facts.

From what you've said about him, I admire him.

[JoePhilly]

15. Thanks ... I will tell him (I mean that).

He and I became friends about 20 years ago, because our wives were best friends, but living in different states.

Over the years, he and I have had many political debates. Never heated, never angry. Each was truly an intellectual exchange. Make your case, present a logical argument. Defend it. All with humorous jabs back and forth.

He grew up in NC, became an army ranger, National Guard (retired), worked for the DOD, DOE, has some great unrepeatable stories about the role of Cheney's folks during the Iraq WMD fiasco, which is what caused him to write his op-ed.

He has told me that the GOP has gone stark raving nuts. His view is that they once had some valid points. Points he could defend. But not anymore. And he still tries. When the GOP puts something out, he tries to determine why it would be a good idea. But each time, he fails.

We got together over the holiday, and I was telling me a story about how his mother (staunch GOP) didn't believe that the HCR bill helped her. He had researched the specifics, what she payed before, what she will pay going forward ... she didn't believe him.

[pacalo]

21. There must be a lot of impressive NCarolinans...

On a discussion board I used to go to before DU, there was a married couple from NC who were the sweetest people -- never a harsh word toward anyone, both very intelligent & sensible, & very uplifting to the board.

They were staunch supporters of Bush in the beginning, but gradually changed their opinions after the Iraq invasion. Watching their opinions change after learning the facts & seeing that they seriously considered the facts drew my utmost respect for both of them.

[SpiralHawk]

18. Absolutely - any real conservative would toss Republiconism in the trash

There is nothing whatsoever conservative about modern Republiconism with its borrow-and-spend ruination of America's economy over the abominable 8 years of Bush-Cheney Chickenhawk idiocy & greed. And there is absolutely nothing conservative about Republicon trashing of the environment, and ethics in general.

Republicon claims about being 'conservative' are just another part of their overall FAUX imagery, and in reality what Republicons are up to is OCCULTED. DARKLY.

[Rex]

10. No, I only see cowardly posters on the Internet trying to be intimidating

or clever. I live around a ton of freepers in Texas and not a one would dare talk politics with me.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. A local board I used to post on was shut down

Two guys (both right wingers, BTW) got into an argument that got out of hand and after about a week, they agreed to meet in a local park and fight. That board was then shut down and the TV station that had it on its website has never started it up again. It's been nearly 10 years now.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. Letters to the editor decades ago.

They used to print peoples' names and addresses. This was a large metropolitan daily paper (probably the Houston Post).

I got a letter from an unknown male. I got it out and looked at it. He said "I used to play basketball a lot. I fell in with the wrong crowd, etc."

After I looked at it I realized it was from somebody in TDC (Texas Dept. of Corrections - State prison).

Picked it up with two fingers and put it in the trash immediately.

Obviously men were reading the paper and sending letters to females looking for pen pals.

[bigwillq]

16. No (nt)

[guitar man]

19. It wasn't a political site

But about 8-9 years ago I was watching a couple guys go at it on a local musicians board. The funniest part of it was they both lived in the same apartment complex, literally one right over the other upstairs/downstairs. I and a bunch of other guys figured out who they were by their usernames but they didn't figure it out for about a week. They were going at each other like cats and dogs and when they figured it out, they wound up out in the parking lot beating the hell out of each other. I know violence isn't supposed to be funny but, there was another guy on the board that lived a couple of apartments down and he was watching them out the window and giving us a blow by blow from the scene!.... I still get a chuckle when I think about it :spray:

[Mojeoux]

20. I've had some scary exchanges, some good cautionary tales here.

That someone would be wicked enough to call someone's work and tell lies, is astonishing but I guess in line with the far Right slippery slope. So cool it worked out for the best in the end.