Some say that commenter Scribh is a troll, Scribh
- aka An Scríbhneoir Gael-Mheiriceánach,
- aka An Scribh,
- aka ASGM,
- aka Lord of Mirkwood,
- aka LOM.
Going forward, the question of whether Scribh is a troll will be discussed here only and be off topic elsewhere (except for whatever post I might do on it later).
Comment below, send me an email at abagond at gmail.com, or take the poll:
Thanks!
Update (July 10th): The Yes vote stands at 64% with 199 voting.
Update (July 10th): An Scribh is banned.
See also:
- Internet trolls
- trolls past:
- xPraetorius
- Jacques
- No Slappz
- Asplund
- Is resw a troll? / resw banned
No. An Irish ethnocentric, Boney worshiper and apologist for his hero’s enslavement of the free black citizens of Guadeloupe and that hero’s attempt to do the same to my ancestors. His French fetish even allowed him to come to the defense of French-Canadian blackface! A thoroughly disagreeable fellow but not a troll, whatever that means.
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I’ve said at least twice before that I’m unsure whether or not LOM-ASGM is an outright troll. But he might as well be one for all the havoc he creates.
If he doesn’t get banned, he needs to behave better. If he is unable or unwilling to control himself, he needs to be more closely monitored.
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I hate his deflections about being Irish when the topics are about black issues, that grinds my gears.
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Even though I can’t stand Scribh, I am going to say not sure. He has trollish behavior, but for the most part he is blind, morally bankrupt, and plain childish.
He claims to care about justice, but has no care for justice of anyone darker than a brown paper bag. So filled up with privilege that his socialist ideology clouds most of his judgement.
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I just Googled “Internet troll” to make sure I understood the definition. Wikipedia says, “In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion, often for the troll’s amusement.”
Does Scribh sow discord on the Internet? Yes, though not necessarily on purpose.
Does he start arguments and upset people? Sometimes, but I think we’ve all done that at some point in our lives.
Does he post inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages? I’ve certainly seen worse.
Does he intend to provoke readers into an emotional response or otherwise disrupt normal, on-topic discussion? Those don’t seem to be his goals as far as I can tell. He doesn’t seem to mind if he causes those situations as a side effect of discussing his opinions, but that’s not really trolling; it’s just being controversial.
Scribh seems to enjoy being here more than resw or nomad. I appreciate some of his posts, though I don’t always agree with him. I’m voting “No,” but when I first read the poll I was “Not sure,” so I see how some people are torn.
I also more or less agree with these statements:
“If he doesn’t get banned, he needs to behave better. If he is unable or unwilling to control himself, he needs to be more closely monitored.”
“I hate his deflections about being Irish when the topics are about black issues, that grinds my gears.”
“So filled up with privilege that his socialist ideology clouds most of his judgement.”
… and I actually agree with Scribh’s democratic socialist ideology! I believe that applying his ideas would solve some problems, but not all of them. For example, racism is not just about poverty.
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@Sharinalr: Yes i wish I could up vote you 1000+.
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@Mary
Thank you. 🙂
@Paige
“I believe that applying his ideas would solve some problems, but not all of them.”—Thank you for being more specific here. This was primary my focus when I made that statement.
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No, I don’t think that Scribh is a troll.
His interventions can become hot at times, but appear to me to be made in good faith.
Those interventions gave us some informative insights about how a certain class of White individuals in our societies think.
A similar remark I would make (if asked) about Kiwi, who oft is heavily criticized in this blog. Certainly not a troll either and also very informative about the peculiar thought processes in certain demographics in the USA.
Just my opinions…
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I think LOM should be cast out because he antagonizes and disrespects many Black commentors here on this blog. Both Fan and Taotesan left over him.
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Troll – “In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion,[3] often for the troll’s amusement.” – Wikipedia
I will vote YES! In my opinion, An Scribh is not only every bit of an internet troll, but in fact, a passive racist troll. He is never blunt or right to the point with his racism, but instead, reserve and quite selective in regards to how he chooses his words in most cases. He has on an innumerable amount occasions, derailed the blog topic with his nonsense.
And back in either February or January of this year, An Scribh aka LOM said: “I think that Solitaire and Afrofem are intelligent people; I don’t really like Sharina, Herneith, or Taotesan.”
I then inquired with him the following question: An Scribhneoir, how does not liking someone, simultaneously preclude them from being intelligent? By who or what standard deems them to be unintelligent; which I seriously doubt they are? In this instance, he never responded.
Earlier today, Sharinalr responded to this post and added: “Even though I can’t stand Scribh, I am going to say not sure. He has trollish behavior, but for the most part he is blind, morally bankrupt, and plain childish.”
An Scribh, just in case you have the opportunity to read this, Sharinalr displayed an abundance of dignity in response to this post regarding your overall conduct. Ironically, on the other hand, you appear to have no knowledge of what it means to be a dignified person, therefore, rendering yourself incapable of affording her the same opportunity.
@Paige said: “and I actually agree with Scribh’s democratic socialist ideology! I believe that applying his ideas would solve some problems, but not all of them. For example, racism is not just about poverty.”
Really? Please enlighten us on the correlation between whether or not An Scribh is a troll and your personal labeling of him as a supposed Democratic Socialist. Is this label an attempt to shield his troll and racist behavior?
Further questionable comments by LOM aka An Scribh:
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Blacksage is a commentor here that LOM has disrespected numerous times. That is what i was getting at in my previous comment.
I may have disrespected Blacksage when he first showed up here by questioning his religion. I later regretted doing that.
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@ blakksage
If someone made a compilation of LOM’s greatest hits, he would probably be banned in a heartbeat. Those two you just linked to make him sound like a 13-year-old escapee from 4chan.
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Because Resw’s poll was juiced right after I banned him (the No votes suddenly tripled), I am keeping a close eye on this one.
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I don’t think scrib is a troll. I think he is a typical white supremacist liberal. As such, one should read his posts if one wants an insight into how these types think. For the most part, they will not spout their garbage in the ‘real world’. However, there are some who do. I have come across many of theses types to varying degree. The way to deal with these anal warts is to let them set forth, get them comfortable (you are actually listening!) and go in for the ‘kill’. You can refute their synopsis (I wouldn’t stick around for a lecture), or ridicule them. You can also give them the metaphorical or literal finger and ignore them, the choice is yours.
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@ blakksage
“@Paige said: ‘and I actually agree with Scribh’s democratic socialist ideology! I believe that applying his ideas would solve some problems, but not all of them. For example, racism is not just about poverty.’
Really? Please enlighten us on the correlation between whether or not An Scribh is a troll and your personal labeling of him as a supposed Democratic Socialist. Is this label an attempt to shield his troll and racist behavior?”
No, it was a response to sharinalr’s statement that Scribh is “So filled up with privilege that his socialist ideology clouds most of his judgement.” If you go back and read my comment more carefully, you will see that I said I “more or less agree” with her statement, despite the fact that I support Scribh’s politics. Sharinalr understood what I meant; she even thanked me for my comment.
“And back in either February or January of this year, An Scribh aka LOM said: ‘I think that Solitaire and Afrofem are intelligent people; I don’t really like Sharina, Herneith, or Taotesan.’
I then inquired with him the following question: An Scribhneoir, how does not liking someone, simultaneously preclude them from being intelligent?”
Maybe he likes people he thinks are intelligent?
Also, when Scribh said “Sieg Heil” he was clearly mocking Kiwi, not expressing support for White supremacy. I’m not saying Scribh is never racist, but I highly doubt he is secretly a neo-Nazi.
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@ Paige
“Maybe he likes people he thinks are intelligent?”
He dissed three black women in that statement in order to impress a French troll.
Why couldn’t he just have said, “I like Solitaire and Afrofem”? Why did he have to drag intelligence into it?
BTW, now that he and I have fallen out, he no longer finds me intelligent.
I think the reverse of your question is true: If he likes someone, he thinks they’re intelligent. If he doesn’t like them, they must be dumb.
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Hi, whatever happened to commenter Swank?
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@Paige, … thanks for the prompt response, … chuckles!
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@munubantu, I agree with you to a certain extent regarding An Scribh. However, I view his situation to a set of new tires. At some point, they become worn; no longer useful and therefore, must be discarded.
In a situation such as this, who better to decide than either the owner or primary operator of the vehicle to decide when the tires are no longer useful?
From another angle, how much longer would you have kept An Scribh as a commenter on your blog?
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@ Paige
“Also, when Scribh said “Sieg Heil” he was clearly mocking Kiwi, not expressing support for White supremacy. I’m not saying Scribh is never racist, but I highly doubt he is secretly a neo-Nazi.”
I don’t think that was the point. Instead, I believe what’s wrong is that LOM-ASGM mocked a person of color by equating him with Hitler. While anyone, including WASPs, might rightly be offended by such a comparison, I think it must be far more offensive to POCs because Hitler intended to kill them all.
LOM-ASGM considers himself to be an anti-racist ally, yet he makes racially insensitive statements like this frequently and when challenged on it becomes defensive, upset, and even defiant.
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“But I highly doubt he is secretly a neo-Nazi.” – Paige
Congratulations, I just figured out that you’re also an accomplished and certified mind reader as well. I wish you well in all of your future endeavors. Have a wonderful day!
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So Mirkwood gets his own little post. Honestly, this is one of the few places I’ve seen where the trolls are given the spotlight. Everywhere else, they’re usually buried.
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I don’t really like Sharina, Herneith, or Taotesan.’
LOLZ!!! I lost respect for scrib when he refused to do a post on Long Dong Silver, under the suggestion section. Unless your a masochist why engage him or those of his ilk seriously?
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I know LOM is lurking I am curious why he hasn’t commented.
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“Unless your a masochist why engage him or those of his ilk seriously?”
Pardon me, is it not an honorable thing, when a black man stand up and demand that black women be respected?
Aren’t you either contributing to or further enabling the continual disrespect of black women in general by standing by idly or as you put it: “give them the metaphorical or literal finger and ignore them” is a sufficient response to people like An Scribh?
Throughout history, Black women have been gang raped, made bed wenches and concubines and forcibly made to be a mistress, …. that’s if they wanted to keep their job. Now, here comes Herneith in 2017, essentially telling me that I should cease honoring black women on the behest of her mere suggestion. Really!
Either one or two posts ago, I wrote in regards to how important it is for black folk as a whole, must pathologically adjust to the white man’s behavior. Well my dear, the disrespecting of black women are in fact included within this adjustment. We should no longer turn the other cheek as you passively suggest. Because people like An Scribh, will call black women “unintelligent” one day and something far worse in short order.
In any event, I will continue to honor or respect black women, but only those who respect themselves and demand the same in return, especially when disrespected by white men.
CHEERS!
@Solitaire, I commend you for demanding that as a black woman, you deserve to be respected as any other normal woman would expect.
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@ blakksage
Are you being sarcastic? Did I do something wrong?
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LOM is a dunce. It is frightening to think that he actually teaches children. He is probably a troll in the classroom too.
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There is someone posting under the name “abagondlies” liking the last two comments, ^^^
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@ vanishingpoint
That is Resw. Look at the avatar.
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@Solitaire, you didn’t say or do anything wrong, I just believe that women, such as yourself, should be respected even more when they demand the same of others.
This holds true even more so when white men like An Scribh, spew their rhetoric of hate in a nondescript format.
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@ blakksage
Ok. The reason I asked if you were being sarcastic is I’m not a black woman myself. I thought I’d said pretty often that I’m a white woman, but it’s all right if you forgot or missed it. It’s just that I don’t deserve the kudos you gave me above. And it’s one thing which made Mirkwood’s comment about intelligence even worse, because he knew very well that I’m white.
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Pretty sure if you don’t go through with gravatar, wordpress issues you a ‘stock’ avatar, and there aren’t that many to have them chosen for you from.
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“I thought I’d said pretty often that I’m a white woman, but it’s all right if you forgot or missed it.” – Solitaire
Wow! @Solitaire, I did not know that you are white. However, keep the kudos because you stood up more so for the honor of black women than the other two people women who I believe are in fact, black. Quite ironic, with perhaps a touch of Stockholm syndrome in full effect! (smh)
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@Solitaire
” he needs to be more closely monitored.”—I think in part this is the problem. We treat him as if he is a child that needs to be taught and nurtured into the “right way”. The fault in this is we often take a protective measure of him when he gets into squabbles instead of letting him have that discourse.
In the past when he would says thing and another commenter would refute or discuss his bs, you or afrofem jumped him to protect or translate for him. He later expected that. Often going into a childish fit and name calling. Abagond was also guilty of this as he was a bit protective of LOM. It could be cause he felt sorry for him and didn’t want to be part of the heat he was already getting, but that type of coddling didn’t help.
I was guilty of it when he first got here and have been guilty of such coddling with other commenters in the past. In the long run it does not help them because they become dependant on the coddling and never open up to other thoughts and ideas. He needs to have that discourse to grow. Right now he is just crying and waiting on someone to save him.
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I preety much ignored LOM once it became clear to me he had no intention of changing.
I wasn’t at all moved to “protect” him since he was unapologetic about his disrespect,
Typically on anti racist blogs WP try to protect other WP oblivious that that kind of behavior is insulting to other POC.
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@ blakksage
With all due respect, this started with Mirkwood making unfavorable comparisons involving me and other women here. I would prefer not to have that trend continue. Ignoring a troll like Mirkwood is a dignified response.
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@michaeljonbarker: And that is what’s problematic with LOM he has no intention of changing and is unapologetic about his insults. Especially the one to former commentator Taotesean that was so vile and disgusting. And it’s disconcerting that he is a teacher especially to young kids. I can’t imagine what he’s teaching them.
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@ Sharina
I don’t disagree with your criticism of me and I’ll get to that further down.
But first I’d like to clarify that when I said “he needs to be more closely monitored,” I meant monitored = moderated = Abagond. Perhaps what I should have said was: If Abagond doesn’t ban LOM, Abagond needs to sit harder on LOM to avoid a repeat of this:
I feel a little bad saying this because I don’t know why Abagond didn’t take care of it when Taotesan first e-mailed him. It could have been due to a family emergency or any number of other valid reasons instead of coddling LOM. And I know Abagond is only one person trying to moderate this whole show. Maybe if LOM wants to continue to comment here, he needs to accept being on auto-mod permanently, or at least for a long probationary period until LOM proves he can exercise self-restraint.
“We treat him as if he is a child that needs to be taught and nurtured into the “right way”. The fault in this is we often take a protective measure of him when he gets into squabbles instead of letting him have that discourse.”
You’re absolutely right. I’ve been trying lately not to do it — MJB is correct that it doesn’t work, which I found out the hard way.
I can’t figure out exactly why, but somehow LOM manages to come across much of the time as childish, almost like a little puppy. I feel he manipulates people into treating him in that coddling fashion, although I don’t know if he does it consciously.
I don’t mean to pick on Afrofem; this just happens to be an example that I saw again recently and so remembered where to find it:
“There is a significant age difference between you and most of the commentariat. Older people are very aware of cycles of attitudes and behaviors that are not readily apparent to a person under thirty.”
This is the type of response LOM is able to wheedle out of people (again, not just Afrofem but me and others) when he’s doing his “gee whiz” little-boy-looking-up-to-his-wise-elders act.
But LOM’s pushing 30. Kiwi is younger than Mirkwood and yet didn’t get the same “young’un” pass when he began pitching his tantrum.
So yes, I do agree with you that Mirkwood shouldn’t be coddled. The problem is, he’s practiced at eliciting such coddling. As soon as one commenter figures him out and stops coddling him, he latches onto another one (often someone newer who doesn’t know LOM’s history here). How do we prevent that?
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Solitare said,
“I can’t figure out exactly why, but somehow LOM manages to come across much of the time as childish, almost like a little puppy. I feel he manipulates people into treating him in that coddling fashion, although I don’t know if he does it consciously.”
I’ve never viewd LOM like that. Puppy ? lol
I see him as a snake.
If he thought putting groups of people in camps would bring about socialist society he wouldnt think twice about doing it.
Resw use to troll him preety hard but that was more for resw’s entertaiment then a proper calling out. LOM baited preety easliy because white racists of the liberal variety have a self image to maintain.
Curiously I found resw baited far more easily then I expected. Apparently raceless, sexless individuals have self image’s too.
Why is LOM here ?
Criticism rolls of his back because he believes he is superior to everyone here despite him also believing he is “oppressed”.
Remember he believes lions have more human value then black people. He fashions himself as the zoo keeper studing everyone here so that he can project your oppressions upon himself in some christ like way.
Of course he posses special knowledge that would solve racism and it is all of you that hinder it.
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Interesting how Resw was all over the comment section when the question about him was posed, but the commenter who is the subject of this post is completely silent. If ASGM is determined to be a troll, he is a very different one.
Has anyone been following his blog? Does he still post there? I always wondered why he spent so much time here if he has that blog. One of the reasons why I didn’t maintain my own blog is because
– I have other social media to tend to re: other organizations I work with
– It simply takes so much time
Doing an occasional guest blog is just about all the time I have.
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“Interesting how Resw was all over the comment section when the question about him was posed, but the commenter who is the subject of this post is completely silent.”
Maybe it’s a shock for LOM to parsed so publicly. As a school tearch he is used to doing it to others.
I voted that LOM was troll like. He doesnt quite fit the traditional definition of a troll. That said his unrepentant disrepect and voyerism should be grounds for banning.
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My two cents:
The main thing I have against An Scribh is driving away or helping to silence commenters, in particular Taotesan.
He seems too sincere to be an outright troll, but he does seem to have a strain of heartless self-righteousness. If he feels he is right, then it does not matter who he hurts or how.
My hope is that with Resw gone he will settle down.
He does derail threads to certain pet topics, but he is hardly alone in that!
Overall I put him in the same category as gro jo and Kiwi: they have trollish behaviours but I would not consider them outright trolls.
That he is not trolling this thread is to his credit.
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This is another one who needs to be carried round back and shot like some IRA terrorist who has decided to follow around and menace black people. After that we can continue the MA(bagond)GApocalypse with grojo jojo.Nah.Gro Jo can stay.
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Functionally, a troll. They believe their own B.S., true, but they’ve told themselves a whole lot of lies to arrive at their position.
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Seems to me that LOM adores Abagond. I think he would love to write like Abagond. But he also considers Abagond to be an exception which is why he is so abusive towards other commenters here. I don’t think he has ever contributed anything in the way of knowledge or insight as so many other people here have.
Comparing LOM to Gro Jo, I would say that while I don’t always like Gro Jo’s delivery, Gro Jo has a lot of good insight and has a lot of knowledge of a vast amount of subject matter. LOM on the other hand, sounds like a fool and is good for an eye roll type of entertainment at best and at worst he sounds like a condescending jerk who does not command respect.
The problem is that LOM seems to believe that his opinion is just as valid as anyone else here. That is just not true. LOM can never ever have anything more than an opinion, an opinion that is not based on experience. He would like to think that his opinion is as valid as anyone else here but it is not. He should just listen if he is truly interested but he can’t.
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Gro Jo is a contrarian/dissent commentator and that’s okay we don’t need an echo chamber, he has lots of information and I learn things from him, so he’s a contributor to this forum. LOM contributes nothing and he does is offend. I don’t know why he stays in this space.
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“Overall I put him in the same category as gro jo and Kiwi: they have trollish behaviours but I would not consider them outright trolls.” I’m shocked you put your little buddy Kiwi on my level. It used to be that you’d fly to his defense! I state my position and defend it against all, if that’s trollish I plead guilty.
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Thank you Mary.
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“give them the metaphorical or literal finger and ignore them” is a sufficient response to people like An Scribh?
Yes, it is a legitimate response. These miscreants thrive on attention responding to them seriously just encourages them in their lunacy. You can try to ‘reason with them, but they are not interested in what you have to say. They either want to get a rise out of people who respond or have their fragile egos fed. I’m not going to do this. He is similar to the benighted buffoon no_slappz. I tried to reason with no-slappz but to no avail. Belive me it is, was a waste of time as with scribh. The elevator doesn’t go to the top with these characters.
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@abagond
I don’t agree with Gro Jo’s approach, but I wouldn’t categorize him with Kiwi or LOM. Right or Wrong Gro Jo stands on his own. Kiwi and LOM can’t or won’t. They both have to have your perceived approval or blessing to feel secure in what they say. Even though Kiwi has left, he still seeks that approval from BIGWOWO and will likely accept or seek it from you here.
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Now that we know what LOM/Scrib is we can just ignore him. Those who comment on this space have the choice of ignoring him or indulging his shenanigans, I choose to scroll past and ignore him.
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Current poll results:
It has been pretty steady. On June 28th, with only half as many total votes, the Yes vote stood at 61.68%.
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@ abagond
What is going to happen to Scribh?
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It’s the Summer Mirkwood is on Summer vacation i am sure he’s lurking maybe he will return or maybe he will leave we will see in a couple of months what he is going to do.
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@ Paige
I banned him:
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@vanishing point said:
The problem is that LOM seems to believe that his opinion is just as valid as anyone else here. That is just not true. LOM can never ever have anything more than an opinion, an opinion that is not based on experience. He would like to think that his opinion is as valid as anyone else here but it is not. He should just listen if he is truly interested but he can’t.
This really is it in a nutshell. I challenged him on here not so long ago and came off looking like the heavy. Words like ‘bully’ were banded around and ever mindful of the legacy of my online presence if my kids or nieces and nephews looked me up, I acquiesced to his comments that he had been so upset with my commentary to him that I brought him to tears in the past.
I believe Solitaire said he is quite young compared to many commenters but I wonder if he is even younger still than he said. Sometimes people that may not have for example been in a steady relationship and have not yet had to make sacrifices and compromises in life, can be quite socially unaware and he was quite selfish and self absorbed in his commentary. He was like a eager little beaver wanting to demonstrate his intelligence and that he is knowledgeable about what interests him but not respectful of the fact that he has not had ‘life’ experienced in the same way that many people on here are and that this often informs what you read. In other words, ive never felt that despite what he was trying to portray about a kinship with other minorities, he never came here to learn.
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@Omnipresent: It was Afrofem who made us aware of LOM’s age. I feel she was a better person than me because she showed him mercy and compassion. Even though he was self absorbed and rude and he just didn’t plain give a da*mn about how he disrespected black commentators. So good riddance to him and his garbage.
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@ Omnipresent
About this time last year he said he was 27. He also has mentioned a live-in girlfriend of French Canadian background.
He might actually be a 13-year-old poser, though. Who knows.
I have difficulty giving him a pass for his age. At 27 I wasn’t where I am now in my understanding of racism, institutionalized white supremacy, and white privilege, but I was still much further along at his age than he is.
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@ Mary Burrell
“It was Afrofem who made us aware of LOM’s age.”
Yes, that’s true.
“I feel she was a better person than me because she showed him mercy and compassion.”
Don’t feel bad. I tried that route with him for awhile and the little stinker exploited it for all he was worth.
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Plus he came from a privileged background in New England where he came from a bubble of “whiteness.” It still blows my mind that he is a teacher of young middle schoolers, that too me is scary because young kids are impressionable.
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Oh god, that was something else he did, wanting to be “down with the working people” when he obviously comes from a very comfortable upper middle class background and doesn’t have a f’ng clue what it’s like to know to the last penny how much money you’ve got at all times. He’s never paid a late utility bill in singles and coins, the last dollar in pennies. He’s the type that goes to Goodwill for fun and shouts across the store to his friend about how cheap the prices are.
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@Omnipresent: That was what galled everyone he never learned anything. I can only hope in the future as he gets older that he will get his head out of his hind parts and do some self reflection and do better. I never bought into his bull sharkey about being an ally.
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@Mary and Solitaire
I didn’t even invest half the time with him you guys did and I got p*ssed off with him. So its hats off to you all for enduring. It sounds like he got first second and third chances but instead of being genuinely contrite and learning he ran roughshod on this blog. I’m sure that some commenters will appreciate that Abagond has apologised because from what I have seen LoM was enabled to a degree and some people just cannot be given free reign it seems.
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I hate Taotesean was hurt.
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@ Omnipresent
It was beyond frustrating. I hope maybe some lurkers now or in the future will benefit from everything so many of us poured into LOM, because otherwise it was a complete waste. He didn’t learn one. damn. thing.
Well, I learned a few things from dealing with him that have helped my understanding, so I guess there’s that.
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Does anyone know where in New England Scribh has lived or worked? I would be interested in knowing what type of communities have influenced him.
(There are huge variations in socioeconomic status and ethnic demographics between different municipalities or even neighborhoods in NE. It’s more than a ten hour drive from one far end of NE to the other, and many communities have long histories and strong identities. Each municipality usually has its own town meetings, during which the residents can give their opinions and influence their community.)
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@Paige: I believe he lived in Vermont a very hyper white space.
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@Paige: I believe it was Vermont or Maine.
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@ Mary Burrell
I think he had plans to move to Vermont this summer. I used to think he was from Massachusetts but now I believe that may have been a faulty assumption on my part.
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@Solitaire: Oh, okay.
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@ Mary @ Solitaire
Was Scribh from Maine originally? Some parts of Maine are very rural and isolated, with almost all White people. The southern coast is more populous and somewhat diverse. There are 45 towns in Maine that Niche.com rates a B- or higher for diversity (which is only about a quarter of the amount in Massachusetts, but it’s still something).
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@ Paige
I don’t think he ever said outright which state he was from.
I see what you’re getting at, but he could just as easily be from some tony white suburban enclave in Massachusetts, Connecticut, or New York.
He didn’t strike me as having any rural characteristics whatsoever.
Also, he admitted that he comes from money. Grandpa was a bankster. LOM is a teacher yet never seemed to have money woes, doesn’t appear to hold a second job in the summer, and was even able to travel abroad.That screams trust fund to me.
What’s the average income in those rural areas of Maine you’re talking about? What’s the poverty level?
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Struck me as somewhere off the mass pike.
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@ Solitaire
“I see what you’re getting at, but he could just as easily be from some tony white suburban enclave in Massachusetts, Connecticut, or New York.”
I don’t think he lives in New York, because he mentioned being a New Englander multiple times. I could see him being from a preppy town in Massachusetts or Connecticut, however. I actually used to work with a guy who was like Scribh in some ways, and he did grow up in the third-richest town in Massachusetts. He was a part-time tutor who had a whole house to himself. His parents owned two homes and were spending most of their time in a house that I think was in New Hampshire, either at the beach or in the mountains. This guy was very smart but a bit socially clueless. He overslept and missed tutoring sessions a couple of times yet never seemed too stressed about it (maybe because he had the house no matter what).
The median family income in the poorer and more rural counties of Maine is around $45,000 a year. The poverty rate in these counties was between 15 and 20 percent in 2010. In comparison, the national average was about 15 percent, the rate in some neighborhoods of Boston was around 40 percent, and the rate in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota was 98 percent.
@ v8driver
Scribh certainly could be from somewhere just off the Mass Pike, but that wouldn’t tell us much about his background. As you may know, the Pike runs through many different towns, all the way from Boston to the western edge of MA.
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Just a hunch,
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@ Paige
You have a valid point. Even in rural isolated areas, there often are some residents who are wealthy, like physicians.
Still, he doesn’t strike me as having grown up in a rural isolated area. He lacks understanding of certain things, such as what it is like to grow up where highbrow culture is not right at your fingertips.
However, you know that region of the nation well and I do not. Perhaps I’m extrapolating too much from rural life in other parts of the country.
Being raised in a diverse area does not guarantee a white person will not be racist. Heck, there are people raised in interracial families who are racist.
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It probably strokes Mirkwood’s ego that we are talking about him. So Mirkwood was in this space under the guise of being an anti-racist ally and all the while he was just getting his jollies by offending people and being a jerk. He should have got the ban a lot sooner. I am hoping in the future when another jerk like this shows up it won’t take so long to ban them.
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Wherever he’s from his patriotism to Ireland has always tickled me. Having been brought up in Ireland I can definitely state, as I have to him many times, that his understanding of modern Irish culture is fundamentally lacking… Oh dear! I’ve managed to bring Ireland into the thread! Lol
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Yeah, that Ireland business I will not miss that.
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Trying to figure out where he’s from and what frames his thought process, it doesn’t matter he is a jerk wherever he’s from. He needs to be and do better.
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He’s probably masturbating as we speak, LOLZ! Seriously, perversely, I’ll miss the loon! He provided many hours of hilarity.
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Ewwww Herneith… Ur comment gave me an awful visual there for a moment! lol.
He had a go at me once twice when I cut him down on his Fenian view of l Ireland today but sometimes he did make me chuckle!
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Honestly, I don’t think he is a troll per say. Just extremely pig headed with a one track political agenda. What I don’t get is why he ever bothered with this blog tho.
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@ Zoe Jordan
“Honestly, I don’t think he is a troll per say. Just extremely pig headed with a one track political agenda.”
I agree.
“What I don’t get is why he ever bothered with this blog tho.”
Well, it is a well-written, progressive blog that posts daily and has a very tolerant leader.
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@ Paige.
For sure, But so far removed from anything of interest to him. That’s why I wonder.
Although he did seem to feel the plight of the Irish at the hands of the British was comparable to that of Africa. Perhaps he just wanted allies and felt the many black people who contribute here would relate to his mission. I know he comments on at least one Irish Fenian blog, perhaps like the Jehovah’s Witnesses they are committed to getting out there and spreading the word?
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@Zoe J.
“Perhaps he just wanted allies and felt the many black people who contribute here would relate to his mission.”—That is what I gathered from him when he first started commenting. I think his focus on socialism being the cure for racism made him blind.
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