--- In [email protected], "Xenophaneros Anartaxius" <anartaxius@...> wrote: <snip> > Turq writes. He says certain things. Sometimes he seems > to take viewpoints opposite of what he wrote about > before. He seems to imply he has a choice in what he > does, and his flip flops are an expression of that > choice. I do not always agree with what he says, but I > have no evidence he even agrees with what he says. He > just says it, and in his writing characterises the > ideas a certain way, with a certain slant, like the way > a journalist writes. It is that characterisation that > get people riled up here. It is a deliberate and > effective technique.
My impression after 16 years is somewhat different. It's posturing. He takes postures that he thinks make him look superior. That's the single driving force behind what he writes, to exalt himself and put down other people. Aside from his sadistic demonizations of others, what most irritates folks is his inauthenticity: there's no "there" there, just a wildly inflated shell of ego with nothing inside, an empty center. He doesn't care if people like him, he just wants desperately to be feared and admired, and he says whatever he thinks will accomplish that at any given moment. It's purely opportunistic and self- serving, designed to portray himself as "special" no matter what the immediate context. It doesn't have to bear any relationship to reality; it doesn't have to be logical. It doesn't have to be genuinely insightful. It doesn't have to be consistent. His skill with words may be his greatest weakness in this context, because he can make himself sound special without actually having to say anything significant or even sensible. That's why he so rarely engages in serious discussions; his ability to string words together is impressive only when he's doing one of his solo expostulations (and then only if you don't read them closely). If he has to think and understand and respond meaningfully rather than just come back with a wisecrack or putdown, he crashes and burns. He's unable to sustain a conversation beyond one or two exchanges. Actually, that wasn't always the case; he used to be able to carry on a conversation. Apparently he got beaten down so many times he's no longer willing to take that risk.
