Banned in Texas

I had a new experience today. After I posted a rather mild criticism of something Texas Fred said on his blog, he responded by calling me an ugly name and suggesting I direct my comments elsewhere. I tried to respond again and he has apparently banned me from leaving any more comments. I've never been banned before.

This is particularly odd because I agree with Fred on many issues and have quoted him several times. He's left comments here that were friendly enough. He is a self-described "conservative redneck" and tends toward colorful language on his blog. I also part company with him on some issues, and that's what happened today.

The subject of Fred's post was the ongoing mess in Iraq. I agree it is a mess and we need a different strategy. The problem I had was with this statement:

... this is not just a battle, it IS a war, and soon it will be a World War, and we will either defeat and erase Islam from the face of this earth or they will defeat and eradicate all Christians and Jews…

I might have taken this as exaggeration but he repeated the thought in a comment:

KILL EM ALL AND LET ALLAH SORT EM OUT!!..

And I am quite serious in that statement too!

There are two problems with this. The first is ethical: war is hell and sometimes non-combatants will get in the line of fire and be killed. That is regrettable but accepted by civilized nations as long as we make reasonable efforts to avoid it. What isn't acceptable are attempts to wipe out entire populations without regard to their individual status. Suggestions that we "erase Islam from the face of this earth" are borderline genocide.

The other problem is more practical. Realistically speaking, it is simply not possible to kill every last Muslim. That's the point I raised on Fred's blog. Here is my comment:

Leaving aside the ethical considerations of such a genocide, is this really a workable plan? Even if we nuked all the major cities in Islamic countries, there would be many millions left. Exactly how are we supposed to get the rest of them? We can’t even find Osama to kill him, and that’s just one guy.

Call me a wussie if you like. I’m just being practical about it.

I was hoping to engage Fred and his readers in a conversation about ways we could accomplish the goal more effectively. Instead, he came back with this:

Tell me all that bull s*** when the sons a bitches are killing us, and you’re not a wussie, but it rhymes with wussie…

Why don’t you find you an nice, less than real American Conservative Redneck blog to comment at?? Do us ALL a favor…

Incidentally, Fred didn't use the s*** substitute, he spelled out the words. I pondered this for awhile then left the comment below. I've tried posting it twice and it won't stay online for more than a minute. I presume this means Fred has applied blocking software that deletes comments from me. For the record, here is what I said that Fred does not want you to see:

Fred, what did I say that is B.S. ? You offered an idea to resolve the Islam problem. I pointed out a possible flaw in your plan. I didn't advocate surrender. I didn't deny that we have a problem. I didn't call you any names. Yet rather than answer the questions I raised and maybe tell me why I'm wrong, you simply call me something that rhymes with wussie and tell me to get lost.

On my blog, I like it when people leave comments disagreeing with me. I engage with them and usually learn something from the exchange. Yes, I have core beliefs that aren’t going to change, but I don’t feel threatened if someone challenges me on them. In your case, I happen to agree with you on a lot of things. All I did was raise a tactical question about how to best achieve the goal, which we both share, of how to save the West from the Jihadists. So I really don’t understand why you responded with such anger.

I note you reserve the right to ban anyone who posts “libber BS.” I’m not sure exactly what that means, but from your last comment it sounds like I am getting close to the line. It’s your blog and you can run it however you like, but I’m very surprised if you want to put me in that category. I’m a conservative, Christian, veteran, Texan, law-abiding, loyal American. I’m with you most of the time, especially about Bush, Iraq, and immigration. I really don’t think I said anything offensive.

If your position is that the only people who can leave comments are those who don’t question anything you say, then I guess I should leave. Even allies sometimes have to disagree. Even so, you will remain welcome to comment on my blog anytime you like. Cheers and thanks for the ride.

What makes this even stranger is that just a few days ago Fred took great offense when the moderator on another blog warned him about foul language. Most of his readers agreed the other blog could set its own standards but did not think the particular word was out of line. Fred still could not stand the thought that someone dared to question him.

I'm very open about comments on my blog. I don't get all that many of them but if someone wants to disagree, or post anonymously, I allow it. The only comments I've ever deleted were commercial spam that had nothing to do with the subject of the post.

Fred is certainly entitled to run his blog however he wants. If he doesn't want to read my comments, then it's his loss, not mine. Fred can comment here anytime and I'll discuss any issues that are on his mind.

UPDATE 6/27/07: Fred responded in the comments of this post. Click here to see what he says. Others have chimed in as well.

Today Fred also deleted Driving Out The Snakes from the Naked Bloggers blogroll which he oversees. A word of advice to those listed on his various blogrolls: don't say anything Fred doesn't like or he'll probably delete your blog as well. I had no idea he would be so vindictive.

Everyone please pray for Fred. He's saying things that make no sense, and all I can guess is that he is a deeply troubled person.