The Flame Wars

Earlier today my doorbell rang, causing the instantaneous panic attack known as Doorbell PTSD, a common disorder caused by unwarranted CPS investigations where the person panics when they're not expecting a visitor who comes knocking. I opened the door, there were two old men with their Bibles in hand coming to share the word of the Jehovah's Witness. The guy asked me the following question: Why do you think there are so many problems in the world? He elaborated for a few seconds and if I get the gist of what he was saying, he wanted to know why I thought there was violence, drug use, family breakdown, and a host of other social problems.

What an annoyance, I thought. So I politely answered his question to the best of my ability explaining that: "People are stupid and the human race is like a large group of small children all put into the sandbox together being told to share one single toy."

Then I politely sent them on their way. Sort of like what I'm gonna do with the Flame Warriors and trolls that are popping up on Facebook, calling themselves family rights activists or rather the bad kids who can't play nice in the sandbox and just want to pick fights with whoever comes along. Because they too are nothing but a minor annoyance, and giving them the attention that they seek only fuels the fire. It also causes problems like nothing changing, nothing getting accomplished, and nothing but more idiots joining in.

The reason I am writing this is because many people have contacted me in support since this John Doe AKA John Anderson guy decided to advertise his ongoing flame war in the small and might I add, usually friendly Facebook group which I started a while back. Since then, nothing bad has happened with the exception of his small group of trolls tooting their horns and playing their games. My friends list has grown, people have continued to post their links and do their thing. So really they have done nothing but make themselves look stupid and piss a few others off in the process.

From what I can see, the guy has some sort of a personality disorder (keen grasp of the obvious, I know). He's apparently making fake accounts under the names of others with all kinds of accusations. I've heard this and I've read that, I've heard all kinds of things that I don't want to repeat on this blog out of respect for my readers. Nor am I going to give him much of my attention, as my focus will not be diverted and Legally Kidnapped will continue to move forward and continue to expose the Child Protective Industry for what it is.

Fortunately most, not all, but most of my readers act like adults who want real change and reform. They see the kind of harm that can come to their efforts by engaging in such petty and immature drives to expose every advocate who won't join their war or has any perceived affiliations with whoever it is that they don't like.

You know, I've been around for a while. I've seen lots of these Flame Wars over the last few years. Some have raged on forever. My favorite has been going on in Usenet for probably 10 years where the same small group attacks each other with the same crap over and over again. It still continues on to this day and these people have accomplished nothing and I often think it continues because they simply have nothing better to do.

So what is a flame war? Wikipedia puts it like this:

Flaming, also known as bashing, is hostile and insulting interaction between Internet users. Flaming usually occurs in the social context of an Internet forum, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Usenet, by e-mail, game servers such as Xbox Live or Playstation Network, and on video-sharing websites. It is frequently the result of the discussion of heated real-world issues such as politics, sports, religion, and philosophy, or of issues that polarise subpopulations, but can also be provoked by seemingly trivial differences.

Deliberate flaming, as opposed to flaming as a result of emotional discussions, is carried out by individuals known as flamers, who are specifically motivated to incite flaming. These users specialize in flaming and target specific aspects of a controversial conversation, and are usually more subtle than their counterparts.

Their counterparts are known as trolls who are less "professional" and write obvious and blunt remarks to incite a flame war, as opposed to the more subtle, yet precise flamers.[1] Some websites even cater for flamers and trolls, by allowing them a free environment, such as Flame-Wars forum.[2]

Now the problem with the trolls is that they don't make any sense. They present a logical fallacy in what would be otherwise productive arguments, known as an Ad Hominem, which Wikipedia describes like this:

"Personal attacks"

An ad hominem (Latin: "to the man"), short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attempt to link the truth of a claim to a negative characteristic or belief of the person advocating it. The ad hominem is normally described as a logical fallacy, but it is not always fallacious; in some instances, questions of personal conduct, character, motives, etc., are legitimate and relevant to the issue.

Saying that "So and so did this or that" does not solve the problems of Child Protective Services stealing and selling your children.

All the flame wars do is divert us from our purpose. They make us choose sides against one another. They keep us divided. Engaging will make you look just as stupid as they are.

"Examine that which is said, not he who said it."

- Arabian Proverb