July 12, 2006 at 6:33PM Please, let’s not feed the troll
People! Listen to me! By sending things like this to Richard Waghorne, you’re only encouraging him. Saying things in anger only gives trolls justification. It backfires on you. It’s not clever.
Rather than giving out to him about something he wrote or said, why not do something about it and prove him wrong? A case in point being the Irish language. You love the language right? It offends you that he believes something you love dearly to be redundant, archaic and useless, right? Then show its the opposite! Show there’s plenty of vigor in the language. Speak a bit of the language to those around you each day. Talk in Irish and English to your kids regularly. Mix it up! And have fun doing it!
If you feel you need so say something, count to ten and calm down. Write something. In measured tones. Make sure the troll isn’t the only reason you have for writing it: when I wrote this piece, I wrote it just as much because I’d something to say ever since I read this piece on Thinking Out Loud. Now print it out and get somebody to read it. When your happy with it, post it.
If you don’t have a blog, there are many fine venues to express yourself. By getting defensive, you only help him.
1 On July 12, 2006 at 23:51, Donal wrote:
So true. I only came across his blog yesterday when I spotted the title on Irishblogs but I won’t be going back. Life’s too short.
2 On July 13, 2006 at 12:43, Adam wrote:
Well said; I posted a second post in response to another Waghorne rant and quickly realised that if I was to rebuke everything on his blog that he disagreed with I’d be better off renaming the site “Responses to a Troll” or something similar. I did respond a second time to throw back his use of my quote to make a point; I was mature enough not to get personal however, but I did point out that I would have responded to him directly were his comments enabled (and there’s no way I’d e-mail him because it would never be aired, I can only imagine how many well thought out emails he recieved on certain posts that he kept to himself as so to avoid looking a fool).
From now on when I read a post of his that shows ignorance or anything else I’ll just remember that I’m not the only person who sees it and there’s no need to point it out!
3 On July 17, 2006 at 16:13, potato wrote:
I’ve been avoiding many of my favourite blogs over the past few weeks because of the amount of shite being talked about the importance of blogs in elections and in spouting about Waghorne. Really, people like him feed off and depend on the amount of spluttering indignation he can stir up - your post is spot on the money. “Institutes” like the grandiosly titled FI (or their leftwing equivalents) depend on controversy to maintain their influence, if you implemented all their policies in the morning they’d have to search for even more extreme positions.
4 On July 21, 2006 at 13:45, Treasa wrote:
having looked at that post...I’m reminded that I seem to recall Richard has some links to/works for/does research at UCD and I understand that I, as tax payer, fling a lot of money in their direction too. I guess though because UCD is such a pillar of the Western European Tradition (or whatever it was that he yammered on about) that’s not as much a waste of money as Udaras na Gaeilge.
I can’t be bothered asking him though. I have far too many other fun things to do.