Feeding the trolls

I should know better than to do so - but there is no fool like an old fool. Besides, they can be amusing at times as they caper about, trying to appear rational. Seriously, however, Mr Anonymous is perfectly entitled to his opinions but I wish that he and his ilk had the personal courage to write their own blogs rather than, like a burglar shitting in someone's living room, deposit their bile in spaces other people provide. Still, he has given me a glimpse into a particular pathology - albeit a little exaggerated and caricatured.

For this I am grateful to him - even though on a rational level it horrifies me. The world he inhabits seems to be a complete inversion of the one I know. He speaks of "pregnant couples". What strange branch of biology is this? He contradicts himself and when challenged says that I knew what he meant. So he evidently also considers himself a telepath. I may be strange in this but when English-speaking people address me in English I assume that they have chosen their words and that they are using the same general dictionary - and not, like Humpty Dumpty, assigning new meanings as they go along and then expecting others to keep up with this.

Most of all, I am grateful to him for this gem:

there's a reason why universities didn't offer degrees for women. It's because women generally are less critical and not as innovative or intellectually daring as men. Sad to say but it's true. Women are more collective and want to please authority figures such as teachers, instead of critically engage with the material and question academic dogma

many women in universities today are there for the social benefits. They like social bonding, communication, gratifying their own egos. Sadly many men are becoming like them instead of pursuing Truth

This is so crazy it is risible. On the one hand he complains about feminist scholarship and on the other he says that women are incapable of engaging critically with received wisdom. Therefore, whatever women do, unless it is darning his socks or being an incubator serving his divine right to be a FATHER, it is wrong. Because, of course, men have always pushed the boundaries and have never used their time at school and University simply as a means of making contacts for later life but always as a place for the pursuit of Truth. Haven't they? Well..... no. And of course, as we all know, men are devoid of the desire to seek ego gratification.

And yet, although he seems a caricature, this man does, I fear, represent quite a large body of opinion. There are many who feel a sense of grievance as they perceive their own easy privilege slipping away and their lazy, self-serving assumptions challenged. Secretly, or maybe not so secretly, they would love to emulate the Taleban. For them, the world of The Handmaid's Tale is a Utopia. I hope their numbers are dwindling but there are times when I fear that the contrary is happening. Particularly as we move into difficult economic times.

When anybody starts capitalising "Truth" - whoever they be - part of me wants to run for cover. For often they will have guns and the will to use them to assert and impose this Truth. The other part of me, however, is determined to refuse to allow them to bully me into submission.

So, I am amending my comment policy. Any abuse from any "Anonymous" and for which there is no link back will be deleted automatically, without being read. I have heard such verminous garbage many times before and do not intend to provide a resource for cowards, who lack the courage to put themselves on the line, to propagate their hate.