If MRAs on 4chan (I mean the ones posting on 4chan itself) are just trolling, then that is one hell of a dedicated act they have going.

I couldn't help but think of this after reading that.

There's a funny thing about ambiguity, communication, and human cognition. We're often capable of acknowledging a certain amount of ambiguity while we're thinking a subject over. Our brains are, after all, more of a jumbled myriad of voices than a single, unitary "I."

Exactly. I'll admit even I indulge in this kind of thinking too when I'm stating a minority viewpoint. It's a deep part of the American individualist mythos, and a powerful one at that. It's also quite true in many cases.

Before I finally finished my PhD, my handle was StMunks ;)

She seems to be working from a position of, "The more people I piss off, the more right I clearly am!" So what matters most is to say whatever is most likely to hurt and enrage, not what makes the most consistent sense.

"Do you even know anything about the story, dear?"

You just took care of one of the hardest parts about writing a good article - coming up with a snappy title. Thanks!!

It's comforting to think of bigots as all being ignorant and that those of us with more open minds are the ones always coming from a place of knowledge, and there are certainly plenty of ignorant bigots to let us keep believing that.

Hardcore online Islamophobes - and almost any variety of bigot, really - are often very well versed on their objects of hatred. Hatred is passion, after all, and nothing encourages a person to read up extensively on a subject like passion.

I usually (*usually*) try to not engage the worst ones head on. If only because I don't want to be criticized by my colleagues for tainting the data with my participation.

Thanks! No links to offer at the moment (not any without hefty fees, at least), but that will hopefully change by the end of this summer.

Wow, I can't believe I missed that little war.

May I please have your permission to use selected bits of your post to create an Urban Dictionary definition for "meth-gyver"?

Exactly.

What's this only "a bit" of butter nonsense?

I'm pretty sure one male in an enclosed space with 100 females isn't going to be violating anybody's consent if he knows what's good for him.

I... wait, what? I wasn't even talking to you. I was talking about Sqarr's post from way way back near the start of the discussion.

Okay if I use this in my rhetoric of hate speech class in the future?