BrickBlog

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Et tu, Brick??? I was temporarily banned, from 10/5 to 11/22, from the West Mall for posting something or other about Bush's jesus crush and the effect that it potentially might have on the then upcoming election. I was subsequently, two days ago, permanently banned from the bitch queeen's site for posting a piece mildly critical of Mack Brown and his declining ability to lure the bluest of the blue chippers to Austin.

Katy has made clear her positions on religion, politics, and Mack Brown, and any who dare stray too far from those positions do so at the risk of their posting "privilege" on her heavily censored site. [CarKev, if you're reading, you're an obsequious, cheerleading little prick. (Boy, do I feel better now :).)]

What we need is a free bbs site where Longhorns of differing opinions can post those opinions without fear of censorship of ideas. [Censorship of language (such as the language that I use above in my Xmas card to CarKev) well, that's another story. THAT can be edited out, as well as repetitive posts, etc. -- but not ideas.] Ideas need to be expressed and heard; especially ideas with which one does not agree. By hearing and understanding the reasoning behind opposing ideas we are presented with the opportunity to reevaluate our own positions on issues. This may result in the strengthening of our beliefs or in the amending of them or, even, if rarely, in the rejection of them altogether.

Katy's site is not about the battle of ideas, as I believe Katy herself would admit. Hornfans is more about cheerleading; more about projecting a united front; more about holding hands and singing songs around the old campfire. Katy personally is averse to confrontational posting, as is evident from her few posts, and that's fine. It's a pity, however, that she has allowed her personal aversion to ruin what otherwise is an excellent site.

BTW, I don't mean for this to be an anonymous attack on Hornfans, I just cannot figure out how to get registered. [<-- obvious genius at work] At Hornfans I posted under the pseudonym of "Go."
 

Go,

Boy, am I glad to know you're still around. I had feared that you had dropped off of the face of the Earth. :)

You're certainly correct about the BBS idea. NWS and PennHorn seem to be on board with the general idea, and I'm sure others would flock to the board as well.

Hornfans has frustrated me for the very reason that it was, at one time, such a wonderful place for enlightening discussion (and, of course, heated debate). What troubles me is not just that Katy has embarked on a campaign of censorship, but that she has done so in an irrational and selective manner.

Oh well - what's done is done. And, in my view, Hornfans is done. I still have friends that post there, and I believe that the site still provides a good way to meet fellow Longhorn football fans, etc. But, it is no longer a place which provides a forum for intellectual discourse. To me, that's a sad thing.

One thing I should note - I'm not going to censor PA's on this blog (unless things get REALLY out of hand or off-topic). Everyone is free to express their opinions here - hell, I even allowed LonghornLaw to assault my character by cloak of anonymity (see above). That said, I just wanted to note that in my dealings w/ CarKev, he has been very pleasant and helpful.
 

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NWS,

In my defense, I never viewed my role as that of a coalition builder. It's not my strong suit. I'm the "bad cop" that tears opposition down and pulls their sense of security out from under them. It's up to the "good cop," usually someone like DWP, to come in later and look for common ground and build up a level of agreement.

I never approached Hornfans as a place for consensus or compromise. It was a place where someone could go and, without fear of insulting friends, relatives or colleagues, refine his ideas by submitting them to vigorous critique by the opposing side. I think the people whose feelings I may have hurt were those who approached HF as a place to receive unconditional encouragement for whatever idea they had. To be honest, those are the very people I would avoid debating in the real world - the only outcome is that you'll look like a condescending asshole. I guess my biggest problem was assuming that everyone on the board treated it like I did. I was wrong.

But, there's a difference between the way I acted on Hornfans and the way I act in real life. The real me doesn't take anything seriously, and makes a joke out of everything. And there's a difference between the BrickHorn of Hornfans and the BrickHorn of BrickBlog. I really intended this place to be more of a repository of my arguments post-HF refinement, and not a place to get into shouting matches and to go on tirades. The election pushed me off track, but I'm working to get back on.

With that goal in mind, I've deleted a few of the comments that have been posted. I'm not going to let former adversaries drag this blog down into the muck.

And, to answer your question, here's the post I was banned for. The quote came from a post by Texas, who is vehemently pro-war:

In reply to:
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these [Iraqi resistance fighters] are people (who as a Christian I know Jesus Christ shed His precious blood for and loves) who have given into evil

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Jesus needs to step in for his bumbling, inept lackey and fix this Iraq problem pronto. In fact, I think the US military ought to abandon Iraq and, instead of fighting and killing all day long, spend their time praying really, really hard to Jesus Christ. Maybe then, our Lord and Savior will swoop down from the sky and make everything better. And, then we'll all live happily ever after in a gumdrop house next to the soda pop river. Was it nice? No. Was it an effort to build consensus? No. But, that's not my style (interestingly enough, niceness and compromise were not the styles of Nietzsche or St. Paul, either). Apparently, my style isn't what Girlie wants at Hornfans, and I'm okay with that.
 

The not-so-much-anonymous-as-just-too-lazy-to-register Go here.

Here verbatim is the post that led to my permanent banishment by Bill Lit... I mean, CarKev:

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"judging from his favorite 2 schools, it doesn't look academics is a huge priority." -- WTFHornfan


Given Youngblood's talent, academics SHOULDN'T be a high priority as far as his future professional career goes. His eventual profession, at this point, looks to be "football player." To advance his chances of succeeding in that profession, OU or Miami, either, are better schools than Texas.

First, OU and Miami both have slightly more visible programs today than Texas does, but there are other factors, as well.

For example, if a kid wants to play in a national championship game and has the chance to go to either Texas or OU, he should go to OU, no question about it.

If a kid is concerned about a football staff's ability to develop his talent, he should definitely go to either Miami or OU.

If, OTOH, a kid wants to become a lawyer in the state of Texas, then the University of Texas is probably his best bet."
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The above post was deemed to be much, much too critical of the current state of affairs regarding football recruiting at THE University in relation to that at OU and Miami.

Plainly and simply, Katy does not want different points-of-view expressed on her website if it leads to confrontation (which, of course, it almost invariably does). She'd rather her posters all play nice and tell each other lies than to boisterously disagree in their search for the truth.
 

Go,

I have to agree w/ NWS - it's horseshit that you were banned for that comment. But, I think what has happened is that the message board operators are convinced that the opinions expressed on the boards have a significant effect on recruits' decisions. And, thus, the censorship is an effort to present a united front in the interest of improving the program. It still sucks, though.

NWS - yeah, I have been guilty of shit-slinging a few (um, okay, a LOT of) times. But, in my defense, the reasoned arguments usually fall on deaf ears. When I posted that sarcastic reply to Texas, I had just gone through an excrutiatingly frustrating PM conversation about creationism and the religion clauses of the First Amendment with another conservative poster. Despite my efforts to present a reasonable analysis of the amendment and the views of the Framers (complete with quotations and citations), the final response I received was along the lines of: "I don't care what you say. This country was founded by Christian men inspired by Christianity. It's all there in the Constitution. The Left has stolen our public schools. The First Amendment says they can't take away the public's right to teach religion, but they do it anyway..."

That's a paraphrasing, but it's pretty accurate. And it's also representative of the typical discussion. There's simply no point in reasoning with some people. I tried to reason with everyone for a long, long time. I spent a lot of time and effort composing comprehensive, reasoned posts. Eventually, I got tired of wasting so much time and effort in a futile attempt to persuade, so I adopted the HenryJames model and started sniping. It's much more efficient and a lot more fun. :)
 

Brick -- I agree but IMO it's worse than that. Katy or CarKev or whoever seems to have the megalomaniac belief that he is Mack Brown's assistant.

And that's wonderful. I have no problem with that. We all have our delusions. But it needs to be pointed out that Mack Brown is no more the University of Texas than John Mackovic was before him. If they choose to be Brown apologists rather than Longhorn boosters that's fine, but I wish in the name of honesty they'd change the name of the site from "Hornfans" to "BrownFans."

I disagree with the view that the best way to help a program is to lock your crazy uncle in the attic. You should get your uncle professional help -- and that's where I come in!

Just kidding. But a program's problems need to be discussed; they should never be ignored. God knows there's enough praise for Texas football on that site, including from me, that if any recruit is wavering between committing or not and Hornfans makes the difference (which it doesn't) then color that wavering recruit's house burnt orange (inside joke).

The old 360 board was rife with criticism of John Mackovic's program. Was that criticism in the best interest of the Texas football program? Hell, yes, it was! Absolutely it was. It, among much else, led to Mackovic's firing which led to Brown's hiring which led to the current state of the program, which is a pretty damned good place to be if you ask me.

Hornfans is what it is, though, and I realize that. When I first began to post there after the 360 board went kaput, I was issued a warning the first day and put on probation by the end of the week. I knew then that it was only a matter of time before I'd be gone for good. Looking back on it, it's fairly amazing that I lasted as long as I did.

Signed,

The anonymous "opposite of stop"
 

... and another thing.

What's wrong with shit slinging? I mean, of course, if it's done tastefully. ;) The thing the monitors at hornfans have never learned is that once a poster resorts ONLY to shit-slinging to make his point, he's lost. Allow me to backtrack. Those monitors know that, but what they don't seem to realize is that we ALL know that just as well as they do. Once someone resorts exclusively to ridicule, personal remarks, name-calling, etc., his argument is done.

Shit-slinging can be used effectively on occasion, but not as the main weapon in one's debating repertoire. There is an important difference between someone like Brick who sprinkles bits of trash talk here and there among some real gems of exposition and someone else who engages solely in mindless "yo' mama" taunts because he has nothing of substance to say.

Hell, if Ludwig Wittgenstein can threaten Karl Popper with a metal rod, I'm certainly not above the occasional bit of attempted intimidation in argument myself. Besides, it's very unlikely that anyone will ever be hurt from a cyber-poker.

Go
 

Brick,

From one 2L to another, where do you find time to maintaing a blog ... wait, I take that back, as I sit here drinking a beer, watching South Park, posting on your blog and eating sunflower seeds.

I would say I miss you at hornfans, but truth be told, I don't even miss myself there these days.

Peace in the Middle East, Hombre
Naked_Bongo