Understanding people (read: I don't) - UPDATED

Friday I made the colossal mistake of wading into a hornet nest. Coram Non Judice, or as I prefer to call it, Capus Penitus Culus (Latin for "head inside ass"), is the hornet nest of which I speak. WHY I bothered to go there and try to reason with those people is beyond me, but go there I did.

TxBluesMan (or as I like to call him, the Caput a Palos - THAT, I will not translate; suffice it to say it's not very nice) is the proprietor of that blog. Who is he? Who knows? See, his thing is to blog anonymously. In what passes for his mind, he is simply following in the tradition of "Franklin, Hamilton, Adams, et al during the founding days of our republic". Yes, that is a direct quote from the egomaniac.

Of course, the Founders wrote anonymously because the things they wrote had the potential to get them arrested, imprisoned, or even killed by agents of the King. The things that the Caput a Palos writes certainly do NOT meet any comparison to the founders. Let me count the ways.

• He presents himself as some sort of legal expert. Of course, by blogging anonymously, his actual legal credentials are unknown.
• He slanders commenters who disagree with him. More on that follows.
  
• He writes horrible, ugly things about the FLDS and those who support them.
• He is extraordinarily rude, egomaniacal, and verbally abusive.
• He has "outed" (revealed the identity of another anonymous blogger) or attempted to "out" (in my case) others while treating his own anonymity as sacrosanct.
  

The truth is this: if the Caput a Palus wrote the ugly things he writes "in the clear", with his name, city of residence, and picture prominently displayed on his blog page (like, for example, MINE), I don't believe he'd write the way he does. He's not blogging anonymously in some sort of altruistic mission like that of the Founders. No, he's blogging anonymously because he's a coward and a bully.

Among the slanderous and abusive things the Caput a Palos has written about me (never mind others whose opinions he disagrees with) - in complete anonymity, remember - include:

• That I am pro-pedophilia and pro-polygamy
• That I am a wannabe lawyer (As if! I hold lawyers in utter contempt - and the Caput a Palos has done nothing to change that opinion)
• That I am a "religious nut"
• He mocked the very idea of a computer programmer like me expressing an opinion on legal matters - only the opinions of "lawyers" are valid in matters of law in his view
• Responding to a commenter who alleged that I was one of those people who are concerned about our own rights but tend not to want others to have rights, he wrote, "Only if they are Protestant - they tend not to be very tolerant."
• His latest: that I support the right of the FLDS to molest children
  

He, anonymously, writes vile accusations about me and others, who are not anonymous. If that's not cowardly, I don't know what is.

His sycophantic commenters are every bit as vile as he is; they've accused me of being menopausal, questioned my sexual preference, accused me of being a pedophile, and accused me of being a bad Christian.

That his commenters disrespect me is of little importance, except in this regard. They have made me even more aware of a basic flaw in human beings. When a core belief or deeply held prejudice is challenged by someone else, no matter how logical or persuasive the arguments against it, they will NEVER change their minds. N-E-V-E-R. They may not have counter arguments that make a lick of sense. It matters not. They will shut down the conversation by either fleeing or in the manner of an enraged ape, by flinging feces. There was lots of feces flying yesterday.

Reflecting on this tendency, I have to say that I'm VERY pessimistic about the future. If you can't convince someone that even unpopular minorities like the FLDS have rights under the US Constitution, how in the world are we going to convince the TV Generation that our government is engaged in fascistic takeovers of the automobile industry, the banks, and - coming soon - health care?

Am I wrong? I think not.

By the way, there IS one existing picture of the Caput a Palos - and I've found it.

UPDATE:

It seems that the anti-FLDS community is full of...well, something. I was over exchanging views at the FLDS Texas blog and had most of my comments purged because I was labeled a "troll" by the administrator.

Folks on that site accused me of misogyny, bigotry, supporting the molestation of young women, hating women, trying to inflict my "man" opinions on others, and, once again, I had my sexual preference questioned (if I EVER meet that c***s***er Stamp, I'll show him which way I go!). For this, I get flagged as a troll.

It sort of makes my point, doesn't it? Try to change the strongly-held beliefs and prejudices of some people and you'll only get feces in the face.