I ain't no mod, just an old fart with an interest in guns and classical liberalism. But, being old, I've seen some shit. And we're all seeing shit in Wash, DC--not that there's anything wrong with that. So some of us are tense and trepidatious (may have made up that word...). Trolls are a thing, but not everyone who throws sand is a troll.
I think it best to throw some old words from an old blog entry. It's about the difference between liberty and freedom.
Freedom is untidy; Liberty: less so.
Rather than to establish “freedom,” The US Constitution secures for us and our posterity the “Blessings of Liberty.” I prefer liberty to freedom, and I’ll tell you why.
My liberty to swing my fist in the air stops at the end of someone else’s nose. That is, I must consider “the Other” when I choose to do things. Were I to exercise “freedom”, I could swing my fist with no thought of consequences. Therein lies the actual problem with respect to freedom and liberty.
Liberty requires an understanding that everyone’s judgment differs about what is and is not desirable.
Embracing liberty does not mean allowing The Stupid freely to run rampant. Rather, liberty requires that we understand the existence of The Stupid, and mitigate against its effects upon The Common Wealth. The Stupid blindly pursues freedom whether or not it sullies The Common Wealth.
Liberty is the check on freedom when the exercise of freedom infringes upon the Common Wealth.
Liberty allows us to regulate corporations whose wastes sully the Common Wealth. Liberty allows us to regulate predatory lenders who create nefarious financial instruments. Reducing regulations, for example, increased the freedom for Wall Street, and we still perceive the results nearly ten years later.
Liberty also requires a thicker skin, so as not to feel too offended too soon. Yes: suck it up sometimes. Ain’t no thang, as it were.
I suppose for a mod it's pretty easy to poke a few keys and delete and ban a true troll. That being the case, it's not really necessary to unleash nine pellets of 00 buck through the door right off the bat. Best to engage the person first and allow the mods to discern whether liberty has been violated by freedom.
Carry on.
CDFingers