I’m so glad we all had this little talk.
Here are my conclusions, and then we’re going to be done with it. Because I am the Great and Powerful Avid Bruxist and I can decide that.
- “You guys are making me out to be a lot more important than I really am. Likewise, I don’t think my last comment was important enough to ascribe any real intent to it…” Marty, my intention was never to make you important. My assessment of you is intelligent, well-written, sometimes funny, sometimes inappropriate, and a mite pretentious. But not important. To me. My intention with writing about this was to explore why I felt the way I did and discuss the boundaries and norms of blogging, commenting, editing, and blocking, which is exactly what I did.
- “…it isn’t as though I was fishing for guffaws.” Oh, Marty, but you were.
- “But as a fourth grade teacher, shouldn’t you know that the best response is none at all? It’s pretty obvious (to me at least) that I’m just trolling for attention.” I don’t know if it was obvious to you, until it was put in your face. And no, in my eight years of experience in the classroom, more often than not, I’ve found that shit about ignoring the bad behavior doesn’t work. What does work is talking directly to the kid, bringing the behavior to his attention, exploring with him why he’s acting this way, asking him directly to stop, and reinforcing the change in some way.
- “…and then you’d terminate me while averting any crisis of conscience (also silly, IMO) as a blog admin.” My boyfriend also mentioned my “crisis of conscience”. I wasn’t having a crisis of conscience, silly or otherwise. I wouldn’t feel guilt in deleting your comments and/or blocking you. But I do think that’s censorship. For me, this was an intellectual question.
So here’s what’s what: I spoke directly to you, I brought the behavior to your attention, I explored with you your motives, and now I’m asking you directly to stop. Not to stop reading or commenting, but stop being disgusting.
And that’s hard for me to say, because it brings up a lot of questions. Where’s the line you must not cross? Have I crossed it myself? And why do I get to be the arbiter?
The answers: Who knows? Yes, probably. And because I’m the GPAB.
Ready for your reinforcer?
…
Nah. Whatever.