Poisoning the Well

There are people on the web who feel their job is to poison the well, so to speak. They berate and pick and insult and quote us out of context in order to get a rise out of us. When we respond because they have finally irritated us to that point, they take a snapshot and post it for everyone to see. It's their mission, since they cannot deal directly with what we have to say. Those who are stupid enough to look at the snapshot and conclude that this is who we are, can then ignore what we say. It's a convienent informal-fallacy-based apologetical device used against anyone who threatens them.

So, our choice is to tolerate their treatment of us and to respond kindly to anything they throw at us, which is a real feat in and of itself, or for them to take that snapshot of us when we are upset at them for treating us like dirt. Me? No one treats me like dirt. I respect myself too much. Hence, you see the snapshots that people like Frank Walton have of me. It's a win/win situation for them, so why should I care which side they win on? The problem is that only stupid people will believe them. Smarter people will sit up and take notice that the whole reason they do this is because such a person is 1) a threat, and 2) he has self-respect.