Somebody get some smelling salts & move the lady to that fainting couch. Poor dear just got out of finishing school only to discover that the world isn't entirely made of taffeta dresses and lace doilies. That bad man was brusque, profane, and made reference to Cthulu!

I'll give you this, though: "stumbling upon hate speech" is an innovative way to Godwin a thread.

All I'm saying is that I don't understand why he would make his point in this manner.

English is not my native language and I only use the language in work contexts, so my exposure to profanity is pretty much limited to Hollywood output. I'm probably missing something important here.

(Btw -- the title has now been edited to include the author's name, but it wasn't there when I wrote my original comment. If I'd noticed that this rant is by Zed Shaw, I wouldn't have bothered trying to read it in the first place.)

Zed's character in this piece (and others) is culturally-specific, so I can see how it would perplex someone from elsewhere. It's easy to imagine veins popping out of his forehead and his face beet-red, but it's actually just a voice for expression, in a "ha-ha, only serious" way.

One could think of it like heavy metal music. From the musical output of some bands, one might think they have serious issues, but if you look deeper you might see bright, engaged, and literate folk - perhaps fans of H.P. Lovecraft & Tolkein - adopting exaggerated characters for their own amusement, a little catharsis, and maybe a groupie or two. While it's not my favorite genre, I don't think anybody in Metallica really feels like a mute, paralyzed paraplegic - I just think somebody liked Johnny Got His Gun.

I personally think that the world would be a boring place if the only way to make a point was with your hands folded politely in your lap. Sure, it's valuable and effective to do so, but to disallow other modes of expression would be like saying that the only legitimate colors to paint with are pastels.

I think Zed is hilarious, but I can see how you might not "get" him. He's a writer. He may not be merely trying to persuade. He might also write to entertain, vent, or just to express.

I think you're missing the point of the oppugn.us website? http://oppugn.us/posts/1270018322.html

It's a shame because he's dead right ... It must be difficult waking up every day with that kind of anger ...

I have no problem with the chosen writing style because that's all it is. I don't think he's actually thrashing around his room and loading a pistol.

The rant is an important traditional form of rhetoric in hackerdom, and this is a fine specimen. Both vitriolic and poetic (Neckbeard 9000!), the point, in case anyone missed it, is: Flash bad.

I'm not particularly offended by the language or writing style, but signal to noise ratio was pretty low. If you are going to write like this, at least be funny.

If you're going to read one of Zed Shaw's rants, at least have a sense of humor.

The guy has a strong opinion on many things. Strong enough to piss off the people that agree with what he says. He also adds in a lot of "noise", because frankly, it gets people's attention. Case in point: This article.

It's a hard one to say isn't it? On the one hand, ad hominem is mostly useless, but on the other hand, some things are so deeply wrong and reeking of badness that to not attack them when discussing them is to do a disservice to any discussion of the debacle.