'Troll War-Fair & Peace' in the Borderline Gypsy's Headline

This is a post of self-indulgence with links spinning off in all sorts of directions and puh-lenty of quoted text...it's not a 'normal' barge-post, but then I don't really subscribe to notions like that!

Just be warned!

It is possible that it all kicked-off with a post by @jessiearias entitled My Thoughts on|| "Battles" behind the computer screen, the reading of which seems to have released energies within me which have played out over the past week or so. Lol, no blame, just acknowledgement of a thought-provoking post which initially produced some resistance within me. The resistance was an indication of work needing to be done. I really like it akshully, and am grateful to have come across it!

First up was 'The Incident of the White Knight' :

Barge was surfing when he came upon a medieval stoning scene and stepped in (coz there was an uninformed & unprovoked attack taking place, the recipient of which is someone I like and respect). There is no doubt that barge started it - in a narrow, local context although, as Bah points out, barge's intervention was an insertion within an ongoing insertion, and not merely an 'insertion'. Barge also inadvertently switched gender due to the streams of what felt like masculine aggression _{(read this sentence any way you like lol)}...oops, and this was our first ever encounter too :-O. In the end, barge's hand got spoken to and he survived...what a multi-limbed boat! Not really shaken, a bit stirred as the energies tempting a response in kind poked their heads up and asked him if he wished to engage their services...I'm good for now, sez barge!

Next up was 'A Brief Episode of the Simpsons' :

Here barge was a bystander who got splattered with some bile when a character from the Simpsons stepped out onto the page and dropped a _little turd. No previous history between the two and it hit me quite powerfully first thing in the morning, as unprovoked attacks do (and as mine must've felt in the first 'White Knight' move, above). Again I felt my own weapons being drawn. Although I took a BIG step back, there are still some claw marks to be found in barge's responses. My facetious fantasy had got spankingly hot-rocked and barge pooped in return - a veggie one and not really that smelly. This was followed up with a troll kiss blown over the Steem airways for good measure.

Then came an unexpected dessert at a time I thought all gastronomic activity had concluded:

A brand new account showed up and looked like it wanted to kick the living shit out of an old barge comment.

"Hello", sez barge to himself. "How did you even find your way there? It's a tiny little backwater of the Steemniverse. Did you get lost?"

Hmm, let's acknowledge that happenstance is possible, but I wanna speculate and sniff out a possible hunting trail ^(GROWL)........if I'm digging around that obnoxious fucker barge...well I'd go to his blog, hide resteems and scroll down - obviously, I'm smart innit! I'd likely spot a post entitled "Like a Virgin, Downvoted For The Very First Time, partly/possibly coz that sounds like punishment, which in this context, is great! If I were to read that post I'd come across the following sentence, which contains some links and promise of juicy material with which to (maybe) roast a boat on the barbie:

I have on occasion challenged the viewpoint of a post, but this has been done relatively softly IMO, see for yourself 😌.

The second link ('viewpoint of a post') goes to a post published 23 April 2018 - entitled 'Istanbul's gypsy quarters or life beyond the law' and written by @rosy440.

I responded the next day, on April 24, stating my POV:

Hi there, this is a fairly detailed look and you have some interesting pictures and observations. I do get the very clear sense however, that the overall tone is not neutral. There is a clear and relentless flow of criticism of, even prejudice towards, the Roma way of life that runs through your post. The picture I get from your presentation is a negative one - you highlight what is 'wrong' with them. What you say about them seems to betray how you feel about the issue. Is there nothing positive to be said about them? I'm not talking about Ottoman times, but now. It is not an easy issue to get a balanced view of, accepted! Perhaps you have personal experiences that influence how you perceive them, I do not know!

Apart from the lack of any celebration of the Roma, what I consider missing from this 'analysis' is the history of persecution that the Roma have been subjected to, and which seems reflected in attitudes towards the Romany people in modern Turkish society. They may have had special status in Ottoman times, but things seems to have changed. Check out this article from a 'Romany' perspective entitled The Perception of Gypsies in Turkish Society. Your conclusions seem to be that they are unwilling to integrate. Isn't the message of the video - which is the final thing you leave the reader with - "look gypsies steal even from those who are trying to help them!" ??

Gypsies/Roma have always been easy targets and scapegoats. Their insularity may also be seen as a defence against a world that refuses to leave them in peace and continues to violently try and force them to submit! To blame them for their insularity and way of life is to ignore centuries-old pain....to do so is to perpetuate the hate, the prejudice, and it does nothing to ease any of the social 'problems' that you discuss.

The conclusion that The Perception of Gypsies in Turkish Society comes to is:
"The common characteristic of the negative images and prejudices about Gypsies is their reference to what is different between Gypsies and the remainder of societies in which they live. The common point of these historically produced images and prejudices is the representation of Gypsies as strangers."

The response:

Thank you very much for your attention! I treat all people very well. I wish all lived together. Understanding and freedom should be an integral part of modern society;)

I wrote back:

I hear what you state, but your post on gypsies seems to tell a different version and a different story, as stated in my comment. I am saying that I do not see this (treat well, wish all live together, understanding and freedom). When I read your article (and I did so twice), I got the impression you do not like the Roma. In other words, it seems as if your post embodies aspects of the very prejudice that Gypsies have faced, including blame towards them. This is what I am saying.

Final interaction between barge and author. No further engagement, issue dropped off the side of the boat without a push:

@barge, I understand you. I described how it related to the Gypsies of the Turkish people.

That was that, until 29 Nov, when I received two comments from a brand new user called @aaleie. The comments were on the post about the Roma, with the quoted 'discussion' above. As per the screenshot in the cover image, the account has only posted twice, both times as comments to me. It is now 9 days since the account was created!

The first comment informed me that I had been exaggerating and offered me a couple of links:

I think you exaggerated a lot when introducing gypsies as scapegoats and percecuted. It is the other way round - the ottomans were using them to do their dirty jobs.

The second comment was written an hour later and is longer. It's a rant, an outlet for whatever, vitriolic and unbalanced. I don't recognise myself in anything Aaleie seems to be saying about me, or the words I wrote. The firings are blank.

Here's the first part of the second comment:

I am utterly disgusted that anyone can even try to justify the gypsy's atrocities in Europe.

Have you ever take a look on rapes done by gypsies regularly in Eastern Europe? do you know that gypsies hold the slave trade and prostitution, selling babies and stealing cars, in Europe? drug dealers, etc.?

Don't you feel shame to speak in favour of criminals and killers, rapists and baby sellers?

Shame on you, are you a gypsy, trying to hide gypsy crimes?

Also, the author supports her claims and descriptions with documentary, and you don't provide any proofs and documentaries, how gypsies are made scapegoats and are oppressed?

YOU ARE A LIAR, DEAR. YOU ARE HERE TO LIE, NOT TO ADD TO THE CONVERSATION.

Oh dear, Dear!

Links and commentary are provided and Aaleie then works him/herself up into a FRENZY of full cap sentences, ending the piece with:

DON'T YOU EVER APPEAR IN FRONT OF MY EYES, AS I WILL PROBABLY KILL YOU WITH MY OWN HANDS, FOR DEFENDING CRIMINALS AND SERIAL RAPISTS AS GYPSIES!

FUCKING COMMIES EVEN IN BLOCKCHAIN TRY TO BRAINWASH ! BRAINWASHING THAT CRIMINALS ARE INNOCENT!

I mean what is one to do when placed in a narrow logical cage of un-logic like that? The boundaries are set and the position offered to is to defend the Gypsies as being not what Aaleie SEZ they are...LOL, or else to engage in cross-blockchain Ad Hominem Ad Infinitum.

I knew I wasn't going to play along or respond in kind. I had read the comment at work and any triggered anger had given way to the seed of inspiration for this post. I was curious about the genesis of the engagement itself. I've stated the 'route' I think it may have taken, but what prompted it? It seems clearly to be a targeted attack thinly disguised as 'discussion around the Roma'. There must therefore also be clear provocation or 'triggering' points that launched it (from the human-behind-aaleie's POV).

It's kinda WTF at first glance, but also has other dimensions to it. This is a brand-new account, and it is a claimed account. The language used is of a relatively seasoned blockchainer, not that of a newbie. From this therefore I deduce that it is most likely to be some existing, older user's alt account.

Right, so who has barge interacted with of late who might wanna come round in this manner?

The only account that springs to mind is the 'adversary' in the tale of the White Knight. But this is speculation (I have not, for example, compared use of language between the two accounts to check for fingerprints) and tbf, the person has already been subjected to a number of public floggings and she even came up with a rather sweet last line in a comment. However, there was some additional light-hearted barge stuff on the Truth Troll's page which mentioned her. This, in a sensitive, paranoid and angry mind could well have set off fireworks. I have inhabited versions of such a mind myself in the past :).

Perhaps it is so; perhaps @caladium or @aaleie may like to comment/clarify; perhaps not or neither. I have chosen not to engage in ad hominem warfare - if anyone spots counter-examples in any of the links I have provided, I'd be happy to listen and learn. I feel I have taken responsibility for the anger that was triggered within me (and there was), and that I have by and large avoided getting distracted by giving expression to it. I wish to not engage in conflict whilst not avoiding it at the same time. It's a balance I'm figuring out and actually, the three accounts I have referenced in this post are my teachers and gurus in this respect! Thanks for the guidance and triggers guys :D.

May there be a deep experience of Peace for the 'adversary', but keep your bullshit coz I ain't no sitting duck or magnetic vessel for suppressed energies! I will not harm or distort you with words or intentions, but I will express my discomfort if I choose to do so. I deflect that which is sent to me in anger up and out into the cosmos, to be returned to the energy of pure neutral potentiality. I do this with the intention of non-violence and non-provocation, and I do so actively.

Thanks for reading

@barge

^{[Paraphrased lyric]:} "Give your fig-leaf covering of security and comfort to the Tormentor (Adversary); may (s)he have life times of Rest!"