OK, there is this blogger named Steve. Steve is of some interest, so let's see who he is. This is what Steve says this about himself in the about section of his own blog:
Though I grew up in Garland, I was born in Irving. And my dad's biggest bragging point about me is that you could see Texas Stadium from the window in the room where I was born. So, as you can see, I never had a chance. I love the Dallas Cowboys more than most of my family members and I'm here to keep haters on the straight and narrow. I'm also the resident hippie-hater. Don't bring your liberal crap in here, because it won't be tolerated!
Lately, Steve has been arguing with Stephanie Zvan about the crazy anti-health teabaggers over on this blog. More recently, Stephanie wrote a post about Atheism and Alienatation. In that post, Stephanie provides a very interesting and detailed discussion of what Atheists try to do, try to not do, are told to do, and told to not do. (This is not unrelated to this recent post by moi: What to do if you accidentally end up with a roommate who is religious?).
Well, the first comment on Stephanie's post is what I would count as a death threat. It is not 100% clear that it is a threat. It does not say "I will kill you." It does tell Stephanie and all atheists that the sooner they die the better and that before that they don't really count as humans (to put it slightly more politely than Steve did).
What is funny about this is that Steve posted that remark anonymously, and Stephanie outed him.
My original title for this post was "Poe or real? Death Threat Doling Blogger Exposed!" because I did not believe it was possible for anyone to be as over the top as Steve appears to be. But as I've read around and collected the info for this post, I decided that he really is what he seems to be, and as you can see, I retitled it.
And, in that title, when I say "bad move, Steve" that is not because of something I'm going to do, like I'm going to come to Stephanie's rescue or something. It is because Steve has actually messed with the wrong person. In fact, I kind of feel sorry for poor ol' Steve. This is not to say that I wouldn't come to Stephanie's rescue. I would. But I know her very well and I know she'll have things totally in control. I will simply make myself available in any way I can be helpful. Perhaps I'll make cookies and tea for those of us who are going to enjoy watching what happens next.
Oh dear, poor Steve....
Oh, if you ever digg or stumble on or otherwise promote blog posts, this would be a good one to do, don't you think?
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I'll pray for you, Steve.
Being an atheist, the purpose being to rub it in, of course.
And when I say "this blog post" (to promote) I mean Stephanie's, the one with the death threat on it.
Going for the Drama King title? Regressing to adolescence? This breathless "oh he is going to get it now" is a bit, check that it is way, over the top. Dimmer by the day, I guess I wander off to some other blog. Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog takes a while to load but the drama is a far more mature and interesting. You are making "The Intersection" read like balanced intelligent conversation and that is not a compliment.
Onkel Bob, don't forget your toys.
Greg, I do have to quibble, myself, though. I'm supposed to do all the entertaining and I don't get any cookies?
Concern troll subtlety fail.
Since when is calling out a death threat and applying social pressure against violence unnecessary drama? How does the person who made the "you should all die" statement not the one injecting drama?
"Onkel Bob" = "Steve"?
Wow. I'm still trying to figure out the "point" that Anonymous/Steve thought he was making in his little statement. He rants that "Atheists don't need to be polite at all" then says atheists are "worthless fuck stains" who should die. Doesn't seem too polite, there.
I guess self-described Christians don't need to be polite at all, either?
Oh, wait! That must be one of those double standards.
I guess Steve is truly ignorant. He has his own blog and should therefore know that the blog owners can get IP addresses, etc.
Oh, I just looked - Steve is a Ron Paul supporter - no wonder he is such an ignoramus....HAHA
NEBob: Yes, that's the moment I decided he was not a POE, when I saw that Ron Paul post...
I wouldn't call it a death threat really, but this cat is certainly a world class tool. I spent about a minute and a half on his blog and that was enough.
Yet another attempt by a retard to silence the voice of someone they deem to be effective. It's sad, really. I mean, what other possible explanation could he have, other than wanting to make sure Stephanie felt personally threatened? And honestly, when's the last time Stephanie told an entire class of people that they should die in a fire? Where's the proportionality? Where's the... shall we say... eye for an eye?
(Psst, Jason. Do we need to have a chat about "retard"? You're insulting the developmentally disabled by comparing them to Steve.)
That's the best thing about this guy? I guess eh hasn't had any achievements in his life, eh? I can one up him, from the room I was born in, was a spectacular view of Newport Beaches Pacific coast. I guess, by his logic, that's why I', a die hard surfer, marine activist and a student of Marine biology - I say mine is more fun
Steve has showed up in the comments of my post to say he suspects friends he left alone with his computer after talking about the original argument and to apologize. The apology has been accepted.
Oops, my apologies, Stephanie. In fairness, though, I never call the mentally disabled "retards". And the ones I have interacted with in the past are some of the kindest, sweetest people I've ever known. I usually save the word "retard" as invective for people who truly have every opportunity to become an educated, functional and contributing member of society, but have their spark doused by outside forces.
Whether this guy is legit in his apology or not (I'll be the first to say it smacks of "OMG I GOT CAUGHT", but there's no way to tell one way or another except by judging him on his apparent honesty), he espouses some otherwise horrifying beliefs, and I have to wonder how much is the fault of outside influences retarding his thought processes.
In sympathy for PalMD, I'm not doing online cookies right now. On the other hand, the garden is burying us in eggplant. How about baba ghanoush and some home-baked herbed bread chips?
(Outside forces like religion, or libertarianism, or having read Ayn Rand. I'm a hateful troll, I know. :) )
Ooh, baba ghanoush.
For some reason the security at our work network isn't allowing me to access "Almost Diamonds" this afternoon so I don't get to watch the show....
Probably not your network, Mike. Google won't let me at my own blog right now, either. At least it's still sending me the comments.
Okay, so he apologized to Stephanie, but what about all the Red Sox fans he insults on his blog! Who will stand up for them!
First they came for the Sox fans, and I did not speak out because I was not a Sox fan...
Will we never learn?
I'm geting that too, and I got it earlier on another blog on that network.
Somebody should tell Google they are borked.
As you tell the story, Steve exhibits all the characteristics of a murderous psycho like the one that killed people in Pa a few days ago. Their ranting is filled with hatred of the world, they make obtuse threats of killing people or wishing them all dead, they're self-righteous, etc. The problem is that people ignore them thinking they're a harmless loony, and then when they get their hands on guns or make up explosives like McVeigh, everyone says "oh, I never saw it coming; he was such a nice quiet little boy."
That dumbass needs to be checked out and if he's got any guns they need to be confiscated. Steve sounds like a terrorist to me.