A dear friend of mine who holds a PhD in history with a background in classical philology, served post-docs at Cambridge and Durham in succession, has examined doctoral theses from Oxford to the Sorbonne, and has a bibliography made up of some internationally celebrated works, was just told on social media that, because he said something critical of Trump, he was a “Libertard” (sic), that all uneducated folk like him could do is regurgitate stuff with which they have been indoctrinated, and that he should really finish his high school diploma.

My friend’s response was, “Sure thing, bud”.

While the whole thing is riotously funny on one level, it is also a sad indictment of our age.

Cool story, bro.

Social Media GOLD

It really really isn’t.

At least it wasn’t “Mumsnet gold” like that last rapey thread.

Knowing a lot of things about a lot of things doesn’t always make you right.

Just smug. 🙂

If anyone calls me a liberal as an insult I merely tell them that in civilized countries “liberal” is a complement

But no one ever has.

Been called a liberal as an insult quite a few times on facebook arguing with americans

Well there’s your problem then. 🙂

If you deliberately set out to argue with people (Americans, internet etc), don’t get all offended when they call you a name.

I didn’t – I took it as a compliment and told them so

Is this the north Edinburgh defence?

I guess you had to be there……. Or not

Was the OPs mate chatting with chewkw, or some other bot?

Has that stolen loo gone viral? 😉

Is this the north Edinburgh defence?

Not yet.🙂

The OP was laughing at people less educated than himself and we’ve found a word that TJ doesn’t find offensive.

Basically, were all winners.

Blimey, ancient Greek stamps must be hard to get hold of

When does the GOLD arrive?

Can someone summarise with explanation please? A diagram would help.

What happened that was golden?

This story sure made for edge of the seat reading….

He can’t be that smart if he’s arguing with folk on Facebook.

He wasn’t called a liberal, he was called a libertard. Now I’m wondering if a libertard is like a leotard but with a liberal covering.

For mr p & cheasy beanz 🙂

senor j I think it’s a bit more

Matt OAB, hope this helps.

👍

Err..nope can’t find the riotously funny bit anywhere ..

CFH – I think the graph is funnier. A platinum graph on the lolz front.

Has Saxers been on the cough syrup ?

It’s stuff like this that’s stopped me using Fb, that and having much more stuff to do these days.
My response to any American using the term ‘Libtard’ to describe me, or anyone making anti-Trump comments, is to point out that their dad, or granddad likely did their time in the US military, in Europe or the Pacific doing their damndest to kill Nazis, or Nazi allies, and they must be spinning in their graves if they knew their descendants had become what they risked their lives fighting against.

The idea that someone who disagrees with you is stupid and therefore uneducated is the real problem here. And it shows that you simply don’t understand people properly from an online argument, because in this case the person accused of being uneducated clearly wasn’t.

I was considering posting about this earlier today. Online, everyone takes the worst possible interpretation of everyone else. This tends not to happen in person so much.

Saxonrider’s friend appears better able to deal with these situations than Saxonrider is

massively “clever” person posts critical remark about Trump, receives typical response.

It’s not exactly Del-boy falling through the gap in the wine bar

Saxonrider’s friend appears better able to deal with these situations than Saxonrider is

Huh?

I posted because I thought the exchange I described was emblematic of the state we are in as a society both in terms of polarised ‘discourse’, and in terms of what happens on social media.

Sorry if the way I said it, or the thread title I gave it made it come across any differently. Basically, molgrips gets it, above.

Oh, and I didn’t realise that the only possible interpretation of something being gold was that it must literally be funny.

To be ‘social media gold’ I think it needs to have some special appeal or be rare and of interest. I thought you just described an everyday run of the mill exchange and were a bit over wordy about it. So yes, I think the thread title is incorrect

To be ‘social media gold’ I think it needs to have some special appeal or be rare and of interest. I thought you just described an everyday run of the mill exchange and were a bit over wordy about it. So yes, I think the thread title is incorrect

Fair point.

sad indictment of our age

Seems a tad harsh OP, jumping to a conclusion/judging someone isn’t a new thing.