Since what he wants is to get back at a world that rejected him while embracing others, helping him necessarily means shitting on good, talented people who are well-loved.
That isn’t a recipe for accolades. It’s a recipe for being seen as the minion of a wannabe cartoon supervillain. Of course, if that’s what you want, by all means, don’t let me stop you.
Stephanie Zvan is one of the hosts for the Minnesota Atheists' radio show and podcast, Atheists Talk. She serves on the board of Secular Woman. She speaks on science and skepticism in a number of venues, including science fiction and fantasy conventions.
Stephanie has been called a science blogger and a sex blogger, but if it means she has to choose just one thing to be or blog about, she's decided she's never going to grow up. In addition to science and sex and the science of sex, you'll find quite a bit of politics here, some economics, a regular short fiction feature, and the occasional bit of concentrated weird.
Oh, and arguments. She sometimes indulges in those as well. But I'm sure everything will be just fine. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.
Vox Day has always seemed to me to be a petulant child. He seeks to gain what he cannot make or buy by throwing a temper tantrum and ruining the experience of everyone around him.
If you give him what he wants you are complicit in his transgression of civil norms and blackmail. You are lighting the way for more grown children to do the same and there is every chance that Vox Day given his heart’s desire will simply want more, more often. In the end being rolled by Vox Day may very well simply show that you can be rolled by anyone willing to throw a fit.
I feel a reflexive desire to attack him. A public spanking sounds good. But, first off, Vox Day would likely enjoy that. I know he would enjoy the attention, for that is what a lot of this is about. In the end, as much as a limited dose of controlled humiliation and largely symbolic violence might feel right, you are still hitting a child. Albeit one in a man’s body.
Of course there is one response which is pretty much impossible to counter. A punishment which Vox Day, in his heart of hearts, fears the most. Walk away and ignore him. Let him throw his fit and rattle the rafters with his cries. Vox Day is a tiny man of profoundly limited capacities. Without controversy and counterpoint he wouldn’t even deserve a footnote. He will soon be forgotten.
As long as he continues to hurt people, he can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. And the people who help him should have it made very clear to them that they’ve made that choice.
The man’s thriving on not being ignored. He’s the world’s most successful troll, you have to hand it to him, despite his utter uselessness at writing, thinking, being a human being and most other skills that I’m aware of. Can’t someone please come up with some strategy for ‘not ignoring him’ that doesn’t actually empower him to go on hurting people and generally trashing the place.
I fully agree with consoling and trying to make whole any injured by Vox Day, as long as those efforts do not include or reference him. Unfortunately there is no way to make concessions to or attack him that will not empower the beast. Sometimes hazards cannot be removed or mitigated. All anyone can do is help the wounded and build a fence to try to keep others from being injured.
This is one of those situations where the more you fight him the more powerful the beast becomes. Every attack, no matter how richly deserved, will become a bloody shirt of unrighteous betrayal and another claim that he is the real victim. If you fall back he will see weakness and go on the attack. A strict policy of profound indifference and non-engagement is, as far as I can tell, the only viable, if not entirely pain-free, strategy. He is likely to lash out, call-out, and repeatedly declare victory before the full weight of the silence overtakes him.
It’s funny; he aspires to be an “alpha male” but he’s about as un-alpha as I’ve seen. Basically, his whole existence is an exercise of projecting his insecurities outward. Presumably in order to cling to the idea that his problems aren’t anything to do with him. It’s amazing that anyone takes him seriously at all.
Vox Day has always seemed to me to be a petulant child. He seeks to gain what he cannot make or buy by throwing a temper tantrum and ruining the experience of everyone around him.
If you give him what he wants you are complicit in his transgression of civil norms and blackmail. You are lighting the way for more grown children to do the same and there is every chance that Vox Day given his heart’s desire will simply want more, more often. In the end being rolled by Vox Day may very well simply show that you can be rolled by anyone willing to throw a fit.
I feel a reflexive desire to attack him. A public spanking sounds good. But, first off, Vox Day would likely enjoy that. I know he would enjoy the attention, for that is what a lot of this is about. In the end, as much as a limited dose of controlled humiliation and largely symbolic violence might feel right, you are still hitting a child. Albeit one in a man’s body.
Of course there is one response which is pretty much impossible to counter. A punishment which Vox Day, in his heart of hearts, fears the most. Walk away and ignore him. Let him throw his fit and rattle the rafters with his cries. Vox Day is a tiny man of profoundly limited capacities. Without controversy and counterpoint he wouldn’t even deserve a footnote. He will soon be forgotten.
As long as he continues to hurt people, he can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. And the people who help him should have it made very clear to them that they’ve made that choice.
The man’s thriving on not being ignored. He’s the world’s most successful troll, you have to hand it to him, despite his utter uselessness at writing, thinking, being a human being and most other skills that I’m aware of. Can’t someone please come up with some strategy for ‘not ignoring him’ that doesn’t actually empower him to go on hurting people and generally trashing the place.
I fully agree with consoling and trying to make whole any injured by Vox Day, as long as those efforts do not include or reference him. Unfortunately there is no way to make concessions to or attack him that will not empower the beast. Sometimes hazards cannot be removed or mitigated. All anyone can do is help the wounded and build a fence to try to keep others from being injured.
This is one of those situations where the more you fight him the more powerful the beast becomes. Every attack, no matter how richly deserved, will become a bloody shirt of unrighteous betrayal and another claim that he is the real victim. If you fall back he will see weakness and go on the attack. A strict policy of profound indifference and non-engagement is, as far as I can tell, the only viable, if not entirely pain-free, strategy. He is likely to lash out, call-out, and repeatedly declare victory before the full weight of the silence overtakes him.
Batten down those hatches … we are in for a blow.
He aspires to be this guy
It’s funny; he aspires to be an “alpha male” but he’s about as un-alpha as I’ve seen. Basically, his whole existence is an exercise of projecting his insecurities outward. Presumably in order to cling to the idea that his problems aren’t anything to do with him. It’s amazing that anyone takes him seriously at all.