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.

I am SUCH a scrooge

I was previously unaware of the Richardson Christmas parade, then in the last week I've had two brushes with it. First, I had a request to be in the parade (not me personally, me as part of the Crime Watch effort). Then I received a copy of Richardson Living with an article called "Let's Celebrate, Y'all."

I'm grouchier-than-normal this morning, so I'll take it out on the Christmas parade. [What kind of luser beats of up a Christmas parade?]

1. I viscerally dislike parades; they are a mob version of a scary clown at the circus. Self-consciously "happy", but hollower, more artificial and disturbing the closer you get to it. I suspect if you like clowns you will like parades, and if you dislike clowns you will dislike parades. I will call this the parade-clown continuum. I auditioned clown-parade continuum but that was unacceptable because it sounded like a parade of clowns which, IIRC, is one of the signs of an impending Apocalypse.
   
2. The flash crap on the COR Christmas Parade webpage is incredibly annoying. Luckily Firefox's NoScript extension can selectively hammer that kind of thing into submission.
3. From the article: "As the community grows, there are still traditional events we can count on..." Interesting choice of words, and an interesting argument in play. Why would community growth imply the loss of traditional events? Ahhh, what if the demographics of the growth segment didn't look (or sound, or eat, or worship) like the traditional community? That would do the trick. If I were an easily-offended member of a minority group in Richardson (and I'm not, as far as you know) I might read this as "well, at least this Christmas parade hasn't yet been replaced with a pinata march or Ramadan celebration." The only thing missing here is the our way of life meme.
   
4. Continuing: "...and this grassroots effort is one." 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.