Reply #40: Exactly. I'm sick of all the passive aggression and faux "cilivity"

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Rhetorical "civility" is just a ruse to gain the upper hand in an argument, usually used by cavalier people with no connection to the effects of their language-- or the people in power.

Example: I don't think there should be gay marriage. Marriage *is* after all a sacred institution and we simply cannot risk alienating Bush's base.

Gay Poster: WTF???!!! So I can't visit my goddamn partner in the hospital because you want to cozy up to the RW Christians???? Fuck that!

Example: I think that a woman's right to choose is a complicated issue. I do believe that the husband should have some say in whether or not she has the right to abort. If that means permission slips, so be it.

Female, Pro-choice Poster: I had to go to a battered women's shelter because my goddamn ex-husband beat me into a coma and you want me to ASK HIS PERMISSION! I guess all the battered women are just shit-out-of luck, huh!

All of these "nice people examples" usually respond with posts that say "I was merely...." and then they follow up with "And if you can't have civil discussion..."

It's always the privileged people with no issues: the men, the straight folk, the wealthy, the christians, who get to be staid, calm, and emotionless. Because everything is ALWAYS an intellectual exercise for them: justice, bodily integrity, and freedom from persecution especially. That's why they called it "acting classy", because only the upper classes have the luxury to be so emotionless and proper.