Tuesday, December 15, 2009

msteger blog - attempted to comment

but his comment function blows up with "too much time elapsed!" if you take more than a few minutes to compose, you know, a comment that is thoughtful and not all extremist-ish. See image to the right. Using the back button results in a blank form so your text is lost, which is generally not the case with most comment submissions.

This has happened to me several times before and I officially give up trying to leave comments on his blog.

I addressed a couple of issues in my lost comment; I will very briefly recap one here.

Mr. Steger's Dialog v. Pitchforks update article starts one paragraph with "The vitriol of the extremists continues" and finishes up with "even the city-produced Christmas parade (one blogger objects to it being described as a "grassroots effort").

I did not object to the Christmas parade being called a grassroots effort; there is nothing intrinsically objectionable about that phrase. I objected to the characterization of the parade being labeled a grassroots effort when it is demonstratably not:
Grassroots in what way? The manner of its founding "in 1972 by the Junior Chamber of Commerce" or its current incarnation led by Parks department staff and volunteers, with donations collected by/at Parks, using a COR email address and phones, hosted on the COR website, and with a set of rather Draconian rules (pdfs apparently produced by COR's H. McCrady) hosted there including the permitted number of Santas (one, in case you are wondering)? I know the definition of "grassroots" is rather fluid these days, but seriously folks.
That's an example of extremism? A civil objection offered up with specific reasons and supporting evidence gleaned from the COR website? I submit that Mr. Steger paints too broadly and energetically with the "extremist" brush, and it weakens his argument.

3 comments:

Mark Steger said...

I'm sorry for the trouble you had with the comment function. I'm looking into it. As for your criticisms of the Christmas parade, they are not vitriolic, merely grouchy. I regret implying otherwise.

frater jason said...

Thanks, Mark. No worries. I am grouchy, that's for sure. I was probably overly grouchy in this post. That's "meta-grouchy" in case anyone's keeping track.

Keep writing; we need as many voices as possible out there. I still miss Ed's voice, as much as I frequently disagreed with him.

Destiny said...

I miss Ed too!