I Commented on Rock Beyond Belief

[John Greg]

The following comment is in moderation at Rock Beyond Belief.

Salty Current said:

“By the way, you already have a couple of the ERVites on this thread. They will turn it into a pit outpost if left to their own devices.”

Now, if one prefers truth to bombast, one only need look to Justin Griffths’ posts discussing the erstwhile ERV slimepit — that is, those that still have comments visible. It is quite clear on those threads that the majority of angry hostility, hard-edged accusations, insults, and invective in fact came from FfTB regulars, not the former Slimepit Denizens™.

As has been pointed out to you Paul, one of the more important characteristics of the erstwhile ERV endless threads, was the open discussion, the lack of censorship — in particular, the lack of censorship or limitation of discussion or opinion due to ideological or philosophical differences.

The former Slimepit Denizensâ„¢ even invited FfTB blog hosts and commenters to join in the discussion. Very few accepted, perhaps because they knew they would not have control over the direction of the discussion.

However, that is off-topic to your original post. This has not been an attempt to derail your thread, it is only a small piece of self-defence against slander and false accusation.

Anyway, back on topic. You are comlpetely in the right to not want to be tarred with the patented FfTB anti-ERV brush and feather brigade.

It is a typical response from the FC5 (PZ Myers, Jason Thibeault, Stephanie Zvan, Ophelia Benson, Greta Christina) and their supporters to damn by association even if you have no play in that association, by which I mean, even if the only comments posted to your, or Justin’s, posts were polite, supportive, friendly comments, had they come from anyone who also posts on the former ERV slimepit blog, then the FC5 would damn you for allowing such freedom of expression, and condemn you to the FfTB pits of whatever is hell for today.

That is perhaps one of the primary challenges you face: not being inundated with posters who post things you do not like, but being condemned by your associates for allowing people they do not like for posting on your blog (and it matters not what the comment content is), and therefore dragging you into something you don’t want, as you comment in your post up yonder and above.

One more small bit of self-defence, if I may. If you did a search, you would find that, in point of fact, the Abominable Phrase, and the World’s Worst Magic Word, appear far, far more frequently on FfTB than they do on the erstwhile ERV slimepit. And that, as they say, is a fact; not opinion; not supposition; not claim; a simple fact.

Lastly, I have a question for you. What, in your estimation, is the precentage of what you call “foxhole atheists” in the US military?

I hope Paul will let it through.