LogThots: A New Series
I've been thinking about this for awhile, among many other changes/future endeavors I have in mind. I won't be talking about them all here, since most of that's private until I make a final decision. But this... this is an introduction for a new series I have planned. LogThots.
(I suppose the name is up for debate, but I like the imagery of this. It directly references the subject matter while also alluding to defecation and promiscuity, which also happens to reference the subject matter, as luck would have it. It also implies we are categorizing this bullcrap, adding to the potential interpretations. Call it multi-layered or whatever, I just think it's a short and snappy title with some meaning behind it.)
I've written about him before in relation to other topics, but I've never really tackled the majority of his ideas directly. I am, of course, referring to a well established individual on this platform who goes by many names. ThoughtRevolution, MetaphysicalAxiom, LogicianMagician... this list goes on. I'm not even confident I know of all his accounts. But for the purpose of this series, I will be mostly focusing on what I believe is his oldest account. ThoughtRevolution.
One night, when I was heavily drunk and joking around, I said: "Oh, man. That ThotRevulsion guy! I bets I can debunk his ridiculous logic with my eyes closed!" And then, I passed out. When I woke up, head laying on my keyboard, I realized I had written analyses of three of his blogs while out cold.
Ok, so maybe it didn't quite happen like that. But already, I've looked at some of his blogs, and I've grown convinced that this could be a series. He has a VAST library of blogs where he rants and raves about ideological topics that are rather easy to push over. Normally, I would accomplish this via just commenting on the respective blog, but ThotRev deletes critical comments and blocks people who dare not agree with him unquestionably. So, these pieces will also provide a place for other people like me to discuss his ideas.
One reason I've been thinking about this for a while rather than simply doing it, though, is that it's not a small amount of effort. Writing a comment is one thing, but crafting an entire blog requires getting a picture, deciding on a title, writing and proofreading, and actually publishing the thing. I've got a bunch of things going on, but I finally decided to do this because the only way to stop bad ideas is to properly demonstrate why they are bad ideas. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and all that jazz. Also, I hope people will find it entertaining, enlightening, or maybe even both. Hopefully both.
However, there is also the matter of bullying. I'm not easily intimidated by mean words online, but that doesn't mean I look for people to bully. I'm just not that kind of guy. But as you can see from the above screenshot, I don't really think I could be accused of bullying ThotRev. He very actively antagonizes people, and attempts to be hyper offensive as a branding for himself. If he can't handle some good natured banter, then his entire online persona is a lie anyways, and should be exposed as such. I don't think that's an idea people would object to.
It can also be correctly noted that I'm not punching down. Far from it. I've found blogs by ThotRev where Ottman himself has commented, and even featured his blog.
Additionally, he has more subscribers than I do, even if you don't count the cumulative number across all accounts. He's not some newcomer to Minds that I'm pushing around, I'm pretty sure he's been here longer and more actively than I have. He has even got upset when other people don't let him respond to their posts because of a block, so it would be incredibly disingenuous for him to pretend that he doesn't like a bit of controversy and negative attention to be associated with his channel. I will likely be arguing in this upcoming series that he absolutely thrives on it.
Lastly, and this is the biggest concern, he very well might be a troll. Reference Poe's Law. Taking a troll seriously is like fact checking a joke; you look like a buffoon who just doesn't "get it". But after all this time of looking through his content, he's either a super deep cover troll that will never break character, or he's genuine. And either scenario is acceptable to me, as I will now explain.
Let's say he's not a troll. Then, I'm debunking arguments he's made, and everything is fine. Even better, his blogs are getting more exposure, and I have more content material. As long as he doesn't blindly spam my threads, I won't block his accounts or delete his comments, so he can even respond if he wishes to tell people how I'm wrong in my assessments. Everyone wins.
What if he is a troll? Well, here's the thing. I've already skimmed through a surprising amount of material(I hadn't initially realized that he wrote so many blogs). He's been doing this a long time with consistent style and the same kinds of arguments. If you make actually self aware content, and occasionally telegraph that, yes, it is satire, then alright. You are in on the joke. But if you start method acting so well that you are deleting the comments of detractors, making multi comment long chains responding angrily towards people, and even making posts complaining that trolls be trolling you... you have to face reality at some point. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck... then it's a duck. If you act like an unaware faux-intellectual long enough, to a degree where you are indistinguishable from one, then for all intents and purposes: You are a faux-intellectual. You are still acting like a clown, even if you know it to be only an act. The audience watching you act like a clown are not fools for laughing at something that is a clown by every measurable criteria except for subjective intention.
If he finds joy at having fooled me and everyone else, even better. We are having fun laughing at his broken logic, and he is having fun laughing at people taking his broken logic seriously. Everyone's laughing, so again... everyone wins. Similarly for the intellectual perspective, ThotRev is playing a kind of devil's advocate, which is perfectly acceptable for both our purposes and his.
I only name this series LogThots as a classification, so people know more or less what to expect as it goes forward. It will primarily be blogs by ThotRev and his alt accounts, but if I find some other blog with similarly ridiculous logic, I might do a piece on it as well under the same banner. I do not advocate, and even recommend against, brigading ThotRev's channels or otherwise harassing him in any way. You will get blocked and have your comments deleted, anyways. But I only control my behavior, so I will be doing what I consider is morally and intellectually acceptable.
And that will be dissecting ill advised arguments, made in ignorance in an attempt to feign ascendance. To defeat bad ideas with better ideas, in that hope that society as a whole might reap the reward. Am I being a bit dramatic? Perhaps, but I'm always a bit excited to deconstruct absurdly bad arguments. It's both intellectually stimulating and entertaining, to me at least.