Common Sense (and lack thereof)
Call me a late bloomer or anything you like, but I've only just now realized how serious the Journals deletion and suspension performed b Six Apart in a recent attempt to 'protect the community'. Stumbling across a news item just now, I slowly realize how stupid WFI is. There's also a link to a journal by one Lizbeth Marcs that gives an excellent analysis on WFI, and, after reading it, I whole-heartedly agree with her when she concluded that they are nothing more than a vigilante group.
Why did I make this example for my Common Sense rant? One of the comments to the above journal stated that Liz is the Queen of Common Sense. And I agree. I suspect you would too if you went and read the journal entry yourself.
By Dictionary.com, common sense is 'sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence.' Does WFI possess this when they issued the 'atrocity' that lead to the deletion and suspension of many LJs? Well, they did do it without 'specialized knowledge, training, or the like', and it's borderline 'practical judgment', but it's nowhere near 'sound'.
I've seen WFI being referenced as 'Warriors for Ignorance' since their actions, instead of having a positive effect, was a major blunder because not only they scare a lot of the innocent people of LiveJournal the world, they also gave the actual criminals a heads up, giving them time to remove all evidence of their atrocious acts the WFI were trying to fight. In light of these events, WFI was touted to have performed one of the biggest Missing of the Point (there should be an award for that).
Also agreeing with many people, I like reading and sometimes writing fiction with contents not particularly for the faint of heart, but that doesn't mean I condone the actual acts of it. There are also genres that I find disturbing, like slash, but I don't go around and condemning everyone who writes it. It's all about the freedom of speech. I may not like what you're writing, but that doesn't give me the right to forbid you from writing it. I can just choose not to read it. This is like Laura Mallory all over again, when she tried (and apparently still trying) to ban the Harry Potter books from schools and libraries in her state.
Maybe WFI can win the award for the organization category and Mallory takes the individual category for the biggest Missing of the Point Award for 2007. But then again, Mallory already won Washington Post's Idiot of the Year Award 2006. And I've heard rumors that WFI isn't an actual organization, instead only one woman being helped by her brother. People would go nuts over any chance to be in the fifteen minutes of fame, eh?
For these people, their thoughts are 'common sense' to them, whereas to other people, they are complete idiots. Apparently, the actual concept of common sense is dependent on the individual. One's common sense may not be another's. Then, what's so 'common' about it?
All this lead me to believe that common sense is as fictional as Unicorns, fairy godmothers and my project manager's intelligence.
Cheers,
SQ
Why did I make this example for my Common Sense rant? One of the comments to the above journal stated that Liz is the Queen of Common Sense. And I agree. I suspect you would too if you went and read the journal entry yourself.
By Dictionary.com, common sense is 'sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence.' Does WFI possess this when they issued the 'atrocity' that lead to the deletion and suspension of many LJs? Well, they did do it without 'specialized knowledge, training, or the like', and it's borderline 'practical judgment', but it's nowhere near 'sound'.
I've seen WFI being referenced as 'Warriors for Ignorance' since their actions, instead of having a positive effect, was a major blunder because not only they scare a lot of the innocent people of LiveJournal the world, they also gave the actual criminals a heads up, giving them time to remove all evidence of their atrocious acts the WFI were trying to fight. In light of these events, WFI was touted to have performed one of the biggest Missing of the Point (there should be an award for that).
Also agreeing with many people, I like reading and sometimes writing fiction with contents not particularly for the faint of heart, but that doesn't mean I condone the actual acts of it. There are also genres that I find disturbing, like slash, but I don't go around and condemning everyone who writes it. It's all about the freedom of speech. I may not like what you're writing, but that doesn't give me the right to forbid you from writing it. I can just choose not to read it. This is like Laura Mallory all over again, when she tried (and apparently still trying) to ban the Harry Potter books from schools and libraries in her state.
Maybe WFI can win the award for the organization category and Mallory takes the individual category for the biggest Missing of the Point Award for 2007. But then again, Mallory already won Washington Post's Idiot of the Year Award 2006. And I've heard rumors that WFI isn't an actual organization, instead only one woman being helped by her brother. People would go nuts over any chance to be in the fifteen minutes of fame, eh?
For these people, their thoughts are 'common sense' to them, whereas to other people, they are complete idiots. Apparently, the actual concept of common sense is dependent on the individual. One's common sense may not be another's. Then, what's so 'common' about it?
All this lead me to believe that common sense is as fictional as Unicorns, fairy godmothers and my project manager's intelligence.
Cheers,
SQ