Indefinite suspension for cause.

I have decided to suspend both "Gulf Coast Pirate" and "Tyler" indefinitely for ad hominem attacks and shrill remarks unsuitable to SST.  pl

Comments

[Ishmael Zechariah]

Colonel Lang,
I am sorry to see Tyler go.
Ishmael Zechariah

[turcopolier]

IZ

So am I. pl

[YT]

LOL!

Poor Tyler...

Col. sir, is it possible for me to have his email address?

[turcopolier]

YT

No. pl

[steve]

I hope it is not permanent. While I disagree with almost everything he says I think he truly does care about the country and has some sense of integrity and consistency.

Steve

[turcopolier]

Steve

Which one? pl

[David Habakkuk]

I am sorry to see Tyler go.

While I disagree with a lot of what he says, on some matters – like the absolutely imperative need to control mass immigration, alike in the United States and Europe – I completely agree with him. And I also like him.

To anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear, it is has been clear for years that a kind of ‘white backlash’ has been brewing, on both sides of the Atlantic. It would have greatly helped us all if the general response of élites had not been characterised by an ugly combination of myopia, condescension and evasiveness.

[Colonel]

I was wondering when you would lock Tyler's heels. I hope he'll learn to control his anger and be permitted to return. (as well as GCP). Tyler's obviously a well read and intelligent young soldier. Although I seldom agree with him ( I fail to understand his romance with the buffoon Trump) when you sift through his messages and filter out the personal attacks he has interesting points to make.
Old Gun Pilot

[Jack]

Sir

I'm not questioning your decision. I recognize your even-handedness and rationale to maintain decorum at SST.

However, as we've seen with the straw poll some months back, the majority of SST correspondents tend to lean rather left. Tyler's viewpoint IMO is an important one. We could all of course request a toning down of the heat but as I see it we are going through a passionate period of politics in the west. Witness the vitriol of the campaign for the Presidency in Austria and the recent campaign for Mayor in Rome and the Brexit campaign in the UK. The Borg is going all out to maintain the status quo. Those of us opposed to the supremacy of the Borg are inherently disadvantaged. And in particular those of us opposed to the continued growth in big and bigger government interfering in more and more aspects of our lives are truly in the minority. I hope you will reconsider and allow both GCP and Tyler to share their perspectives.

[rjj]

was getting flashbacks:

kids in the back seat of a car on an interminably long sunday drive - expecting apoplectic driver with a bad case of the stares to start with wild backhand swats from the front seat.

[Daniel Nicolas]

Perhaps they will plead their case for reinstatement at a later date. Sometimes good minds can become blind for a time, but often see the light later.

[turcopolier]

All

I will let them sit in the penalty box for a while to cool off. pl

[LG]

Thank you. I like them both, Tyler in particular.

[The Twisted Genius]

Jack and others,

They have not been summarily executed, just suspended. They know the rules. They took their chances. I'm sure neither of them have lost the will to live over this. Don't worry. We will ALL get this.

Yes, this is pretty damned sarcastic for me.

[The Sheep Look Up]

Is this because of the ((( ))) echo effect?

[Joe100]

I have found Tyler's substantive input quite valuable - specifics on police and border security situations and issues, etc. (including gun recommendations). This is insight and perspective that is absent in my "community" (pretty lefty) outside of SST.

Tyler's tone has clearly and unfortunately gotten pretty shrill of late - I hope he can return to his former quite valuable self after a "time out".

In my work area over the past three decades (far from foreign affairs) the only hope I can see for real domestic progress is to elect a President not linked to either political party establishment (like Trump). I have found that similar "deep states" (with some minor variations) blocking productive work exist on both sides of my issues.

[turcopolier]

Sheep

It is because of a general lack of civility. What can I say? I am old and old fashioned. pl

[Robb]

No argument from me, the comments and discussion were becoming unreadable.

[kao_hsien_chih]

Same here, and that sentiment applies to both Tyler and GCP. They have their blinders (but so do almost all of us) that drive us nuts when we don't agree with their worldview, but it is also fairly obvious why they think what they do.

[David Habakkuk]

All,

I learnt, long ago, as a generalist television current affairs producer, that if you want to understand how the world works, you need both the ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ views.

And one of the views one most needs is that of the ‘intelligent worm’.

Do not think that is condescension, it isn’t.

If you want to understand contemporary British politics, you need, among other things, to understand what happened in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotherham_child_sexual_exploitation_scandal .)

If one had wanted to make a programme about this before the scandal broke, it would have been necessary to talk to people who had been there, on the ground, and wanted to understand what had happened and tell others about it.

In my experience, the question of whether people have the experience that enables them to know the truth, and the desire to tell it, has only a distant connection to their professed political beliefs.

Indeed, in dealing with ‘grassroots’ British politics, I commonly found that people way to the ‘right’ of me, or way to the ‘left’ of me, were much more useful than those who shared my, broadly centrist, political beliefs.

Anyone who thinks that the people who are to be trusted are those who share, or profess to share, their own view of the world, is a moron.

[Bobo]

Colonel
I can only applaud your patience in corralling those two as they can be a little out there at times though they do add to the conversation. I can only wait to see Tyler experience and write future articles on the level of Fred's travels but then that only comes over time.
I'm attempting to get my older grandkids to regularly read this blog for educational purposes so before you let them back tell them to knock this pseudo-sexual crap off as I do not want my daughter berating me for bringing S&M sites to the children.

[Jack]

David

"Anyone who thinks that the people who are to be trusted are those who share, or profess to share, their own view of the world, is a moron."

Would you care to elaborate?

[The Sheep Look Up]

(In case you were unaware) FYI:

http://www.vox.com/2016/6/6/11860796/echo-explained-parentheses-twitter

[Medicine Man]

Not that you need my encouragement, Col., but I think you made the right decision. A few years back you commented, in the wake of a shooting I believe, that the only way for people to productively discuss topics of passionate disagreement was with as much deliberate dispassion as possible. It was as true a statement as any I've heard.

While I largely agree with your other commenters that Tyler's PoV is important and that he has some interesting things to say — I know that I've read some of his passages with great interest — I'm not going to claim that I particularly like him nor am I going to plead for his reinstatement. On the contrary, I think you should have a three-strikes rule on your blog, perhaps measured retroactively, and those who persistently decide to disregard your instructions on how to behave on SST get shown the door permanently. I don't think Tyler would be the only one, but he would certainly be at the front of the column of exiles.

[fanto]

Colonel,
thank you for decisive action. I am old fashioned as well and have low tolerance for rambling.