Comments: Never go full retard

I love it when people comment here. I don't encourage it enough. Once BlogSpot got the comment spamming under control with the bitmap word challenges a couple years ago, things were great. The level of discourse here is almost always high (generally higher than whatever ramblings Jack or Pablo have posted on any particular day) and very intelligent. A lot of web sites and blogs mainly have people trying to outsnark each other. But, do you read the comments on the heavily-trafficked sites like, say The Huffington Post, or YouTube, or even Amazon.com? What are these people actually trying to prove? I was watching some YouTube vids of John Prine tonight (who seems like about the last person who would generate some sort of flame war in the comments). And this popped up in the comments on that great song Paradise:




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Which makes me flash back to this exchange in Tropic Thunder:



Kirk Lazarus: Everybody knows you never go full retard.

Tugg Speedman: What do you mean?


Kirk Lazarus: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, 'Rain Man,' look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, 'Forrest Gump.' Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Peter Sellers, "Being There." Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, "I Am Sam." Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed...
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