EarlyBird:

Thanks Ghandi, but you need a history lesson apparently. You'll notice that I did not say he denied the Holocaust, which is typically capitalized to refer to the committed against the Jews by the Nazis.

The whole of my misunderstanding comes down to this: When you used the phrase "communist holocaust denying" to describe Melvyl, I took you to mean "communist (holocaust denying)" rather than "(communist holocaust) denying." That you didn't capitalize it wouldn't even be odd around here given that so many don't seem to be aware of the "Shift" key. (I know you are aware of it, so hold on a minute.)

EarlyBird:

Melvyl calls himself a communist. I said he was a communist holocaust denier.

To my knowledge, he never explicitly called himself a communist. However, you seem to have inferred it from this sentence:

Melvyl: "You find communists tedious; do you have any idea how boring I find you twitty little Ayn Rand obsessives?"

He is welcome to say he is, or not, although I suppose you are welcome to keep saying he is. That's not what I object to; you say he denies the communist holocaust. Has he said as much in some other thread? Nothing I read in this one gives me that impression.

EarlyBird:

The wretched, brutal, stupid, horrific communist experiment cost about 20 - 50 million lives, depending upon which historian you refer to. It was the result of a brutal government which committed mass murders against its citizens, enslaved its citizens, starved its citizens, and disallowed its most basic needs to be met. It was one of the most grotesque systems ever devised, all in the service to some utopia where "everyone would be equal." Just read a history of Mao's China and your toes will curl. Then go on to read about good ol' Uncle Joe's Soviet Union.

All of this is true.

EarlyBird:

Oh. But I keep forgetting: the communists started out with good intentions, so that one doesn't matter.

Melvyl attacked me because I believe in people having as much freedom as can be allowed. He's a bonehead. Don't help him.

I certainly wouldn't agree with the first statement, and I doubt Melvyl would either. But like I said before, he's a big boy and he can come back to agree or disagree with any of this.

Without reading the whole damn thread again, it does seem as though Melvyl did call the first name. It matters more to me who called the worst name. I'm "helping" him only to the extent that I would rather not see the most awful of insults bandied about so carelessly. Even on the internet, even here in the Fray, where words like "c***" and "f***" are not uncommon, there exist baser charges to be made.