Friendly fire

So Kevin Baker and Billy Beck got into an argument. Things got heated. I can understand that. But we've seen this song and dance before, and it seems that Beck is unable to deal with people in a halfway civil manner. I said so in the comments:

And I'll say it again - Mr. Beck, you might be the most brilliant man on the face of the planet, but it means nothing. Because you piss off people to the point where they ignore you rather than listen to you. You can say that you want people to think straight, but your actions say otherwise.

If you're unwilling to have patience when dealing with people who want to understand you, then quite honestly you're not worth dealing with at all. Because I refuse to deal with folks who make me wear my IBA with the SAPI plate in the rear.

Look, there's a huge difference between dropping a bomb on your enemies and deliberately dropping a bomb on your allies. Beck has repeatedly shown that he's more than willing to target people who want to agree with him over minor differences in opinion. Half the time it's not even that the various individuals disagree with Beck, it's that they don't understand his train of thought, and so he does the Internet equivalent of nuking them.

Now as I've said, Beck might be the most intelligent man on the face of the Earth, but it doesn't amount to a hill of beans because he's never, EVER going to get his message out there. And this all started because of Beck's attack on Bill Whittle:

If that guy is what passes for an intellect in these times, we are more fucked than I have previously imagined, although it doesn't surprise me.

Followed by more on Beck's website:

If you're going to take seriously someone who dresses up in a goddamned Star Trek outfit and tells you that reason and logic are impotent, in order to explain the intellectual rot in America today, then you deserve where you're going.

--

As for Whittle, he's a wanker and a creep. Sooner or later, he will expose himself to the dumbest among you, and I am content with all I have to say about him until then.

Well ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLRIGHTY THEN!

Now, the merits of their respective arguments notwithstanding, Whittle has still managed to do something that Beck hasn't done - package his message in such a way that he builds support for his side rather than attack it. And by the way Mr. Beck, if you stop on by and read this, Whittle's video was one of the best tongue-in-cheek lampooning of Star Trek geekery that I have ever seen. Because Whittle knows that when you're discussing Star Trek, as Maureen Dowd did when she compared the Liberal Lord and Messiah to Mr. Spock, you cannot take yourself seriously.

So Beck doesn't like Whittle. Fine. Beck doesn't like the way Whittle gets his message across. Fine. Maybe, just maybe, instead of attacking a man that is read and enjoyed by thousands more people than Beck could ever hope hit his blog, he should try to find a way to get Whittle on his side.

But Billy Beck just doesn't do that. Because Billy Beck is always right. And so Beck goes into attack mode.

By the way, Becks response to my comment:

Fine, then. Go deal with this socialist government.

My response back:

Unfortunately I have to do so. It would be nice if I could concentrate on dealing with this socialist government without people like you shooting my side in the back.

I'm not asking you to compromise on your beliefs, I'm asking you to check fire on friendlies until you can determine if you have the same objective. Apparently you're unable to do so, which makes you a liability.

Dealing with friendly fire is bad enough. Beck takes it to a new level, where he doesn't just attack his allies by accident, he'll target you deliberately if you don't automatically fall in line with his way of thinking. And you know what? Beck's line of thought might be the correct one. But that doesn't matter when people are under attack, all they know is that they're under attack. And so Beck's message will go unheeded.

Enjoy being "right", Mr. Beck. You'll be enjoying it with a very small group of people. It took at least ten percent of the population to rise up against King George in order to have a successful rebellion. Three percent just ain't gonna cut it.