Josh Moon calls us (well, me and Prowler) out

[Kaos]

Josh Moon typically makes decent sense.  Not here.  Here, we've got another "this flows both ways, Auburn is just as culpable and we should be nicer" column.  Tempted to listen to Finebaum Monday just to hear somebody (likely Finebaum) blow this shit completely up.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20110220/COLUMNISTS26/102200338/Just+Saying++After+tree+poisoning++a+call+for+civility

So, this is where we are -- a 62-year-old man who claims to be a former Texas state trooper has been charged with criminal mischief for allegedly poison­ing the 100-plus-year-old oak trees at Toomer's Corner in Au­burn.

Why?

Because one group of college kids beat another group of col­lege kids at a game.

Harvey Updyke Jr. allegedly became so enraged that Au­burn beat his beloved Alabama Crimson Tide -- and that some Auburn fans hung a jersey on a Paul "Bear" Bryant statue -- that he obtained a highly lethal poison, traveled to the historic corner where Tigers fans cele­brate sports victories and generations of Auburn stu­dents have gathered, and he doused the area something good.

It's so bad that Auburn horti­culture professors -- who hap­pen to be some of the best in the country -- don't believe they can save the trees and might have to tear up half the block to keep the poison from spreading and killing the grass and other vegetation around Samford Hall.

If the worst comes true, Au­burn -- the city, the school and the fans -- will lose a landmark.

Over a football game.

Honestly, it shouldn't be sur­prising to any of us, because we've been headed down this path for a while now.
We live in a country in which hateful and hurtful words are considered acceptable political dialogue, where a man opens fire on a congresswoman in a grocery store parking lot and where the loudest and dumbest get most of the attention.

We live in a state where a pol­itician suggests that it's time to "empty the clip" to solve illegal immigration, where fistfights at football games are common and where fans spend their days belittling one another on call-in radio talk shows.

Day after day, Alabama and Auburn fans, by the thousands, sit behind keyboards and spew the most unbelievable venom. Some people have become so obsessed with these online fo­rums that they're essentially living a second life -- one where there is no accountabili­ty for truth, no embarrassment for wild, otherwise unbeliev­able theories, no reservations about being rude, crude and un­caring.

Most of these people would never act in real life the way they act on those message boards, granted. But as people slip deeper and deeper into that cyber world, the real world lines get blurred.

Couple that virtual reality with the angry, hate-filled back-and-forths on some talk radio programs and, well, what hap­pened at Toomer's can't exactly be surprising.

But it should be embarrass­ing. It should shame us terribly that grown men and women around us -- some of whom we call our friends -- have created an environment where the vit­riol and human interaction has achieved this level of toxicity.

People seem to be hell-bent on being miserable and spreading their misery around. Even in this state, where the last two BCS national champions reside and sports life is as good as ever, there is little joy.

Fans hate each other. They hate the media. They hate the other school's boosters. They hate the recruits that didn't choose their school.

It's a rancid environment.

And it's time for the sane among us to clean it up.

Forget shutting down mes­sage boards or boycotting talk radio, I say we flood them with reason, civility and common sense. Every day for an hour or so, all of us should venture onto an Internet message board and conduct conversations as though we're talking with a real, live person sitting across from us.

Whenever you see a ridicu­lous conspiracy theory, politely poke holes through it and squash it.

Whenever you hear a caller intentionally spouting off erro­neous information on a talk ra­dio show, call up and politely set the record straight.

But more importantly, be proactive. Get out front. Start your own message board dis­cussions about upbeat topics. Call into the radio shows and push calm, rational, adult con­versations.

I know it's a pain, but it has to be done. It's time for smart, sane people to stand up and take control.

Because the idiots are ruin­ing things.

Josh Moon's "Just Saying" appears each Sunday and Thursday. He can be reached by e-mail at jmoon@gannet­t.com.

[Jumbo]

Fuck Josh MOOON.

[Tiger Wench]

He's right. 

[The Prowler]

KILL 'EM ALL!!!!!

[Kaos]

He's right.

You don't get it. 

You cannot kill some things with kindness.  Can't cure them either. 



Big fat nasty fail, except for the fact that there are nice looking women in the pic. 

[Tiger Wench]

You don't get it. 

You cannot kill some things with kindness.  Can't cure them either. 

So what exactly are you gonna do about it, K?  I'll tell you what.  Not one fucking thing.  Because there isn't anything you can do except mouth off on a damn message board.  Be mad, be angry, be pissed off.  FINE.  I am angry too.  But some of y'all are acting pretty fucking stupid.

[Kaos]

So what exactly are you gonna do about it, K?  I'll tell you what.  Not one fucking thing.  Because there isn't anything you can do except mouth off on a damn message board.  Be mad, be angry, be pissed off.  FINE.  I am angry too.  But some of y'all are acting pretty fucking stupid.

You've got your opinion. 

I don't share it. 

You should know by now that you've got zero chance -- no, less than zero chance -- of swaying me. 

Don't waste your time. 

And you have no idea what anybody's going to do.  We have lives outside this board.  How we handle it there is nothing for you to worry about. 

[Tiger Wench]

Walter Mitty is your idol, isn't he?

[AUJarhead]

Forget shutting down mes­sage boards or boycotting talk radio, I say we flood them with reason, civility and common sense. Every day for an hour or so, all of us should venture onto an Internet message board and conduct conversations as though we're talking with a real, live person sitting across from us.

Oh, please, please, please.