I have tried to write two very different posts, one last night, the other early this morning. In point of fact, neither was any good and no longer exist. A further point in fact is something inside me needs to come out. I just need to get it off my chest. I have been reluctant for a variety of reasons - misunderstanding and hypocrisy being the chief ones - but, as occasionally happens with me, unless I lance this particular brain-boil, I will be incapable of moving on to far more important things.
I have mused recently that I am amazed that folks who hold views not at all tied to anything resembling facts can function. I have always had one individual in particular in mind as I have come to understand the phenomenon of agnotology, discussed quite frequently recently. It is this guy. Anyone even halfway familiar with this site knows him. In recent weeks, I have come to the conclusion that the extreme disconnect between what is, and what exists in this individual's head, has become so great that some kind of break is inevitable.
Seriously.
If you peruse comments or posts written by this person, those who have had experience with him over the years will notice a drastic change in tone, approach, and attitude. At one time, he seemed almost apologetic for being less educated - he carried on because I had a college degree and he did not, even as I had not mentioned this little factoid at all, and consider it irrelevant in any event. Now, he is all over calling me (and, admittedly, others) "idiots". He has bragged about his "genius IQ". He insists on his intellectual superiority.
All this boasting should lead those who have been around this person to know that something is going on. This exaggerated, Walter Mitty-like public persona just flies in the face of evidence and history.
Why am I writing this? Unlike Alan (whose position I admire), I actually do care for this guy. He is, after all, a fellow human being. He claims to be a Christian, even as evidence of that faith seems slim to none, seeing as he spends the vast amount of his time, in turns, insulting those he thinks are "liberals", or hating on sexual minorities, or immigrants. Yet, I shall do what he (and, again granted, others like him) cannot seem to do and give him the benefit of the doubt that, at the very least, he is trying to be a Christian.
With each comment he types, each post he puts up the rage, the hatred that seethes below the surface seems just below the surface. Like water about to roil.
So, yeah, I worry about him. Any individual with that much rage, who exaggerates his own persona to the point of foolishness, is obviously suffering. Since he refuses to move beyond the cozy company he keeps (I am tempted to call him cowardly; I think that is too negative, because I think what he really fears is the kind of exposure that might just cause everything to crash around him), and he refuses to interact in a serious, adult manner, I'm not sure what can be done. If anything.
So, I wonder. And worry. I have been and will continue to pray for him, his family, and any close to him should the break happen.
