What's in a name?
My latest exchange with MostlyGenius has provoked his electronic confrere, one self-named "Linoge", into this peroration here. Entitled "fools in sheepdogs' clothing," Linoge begins:
"Three Percenters" are self-righteous, anarchist, egotistical, self-centered, solipsistic, incorrigible asses, and are appropriately full of shit.
Well, OK, then. Another country heard from. I will answer the substance of his complaint in another essay. But I was fascinated by his moniker. I'll make a wild guess and say that this ain't the name his daddy gave him. Ergo, he chose it. So what is a "linoge"? I thought first it might be French. But the French-English dictionary search function returned "Le mot linoge n'a pas été trouvé." Roughly translated, "Your stupeed request is silly you know, you ignorant American."
There is a fellow calling himself "Linoge" elsewhere on MySpace, found here, who is a Satanist. He's a different guy from our Linoge, but he apparently takes his name from the same place, a Stephen King novel called Storm of the Century. From the Wikipedia description of the opening of the book:
A very powerful blizzard hits the fictional small town of Little Tall Island (also the setting of King's novel Dolores Claiborne) off the coast of Maine. While trying to deal with the storm, the citizens of the town are visited by Andre Linoge (Colm Feore), a menacing stranger who apparently knows all of the townsfolks' darkest secrets (among which are abortion, adultery, growing marijuana, and gay-bashing). After having killed one of the town's residents (Martha Clarendon), Linoge is jailed. Even though he is kept in jail by the town's trusted constable, Mike Anderson (Timothy Daly), Linoge is somehow able to force people to commit suicide or kill others from within his cell. Linoge constantly repeats "Give me what I want and I'll go away" through his victims as well as to his victims.
Linoge, of course, is an anagram of legion, as in the Gerasene demon found in Mark 5:9
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
and Luke 8:30:
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.
You may remember that Jesus ends up casting the demons out of the man and, granting their request that they not be sent back to Hell, allowed them to dwell in a herd of pigs. The pigs then drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee.
OK, so maybe it's a good name for a Danish Satanist with a url of http://www.myspace.com/linoge666. But why would our fulminating critic choose such a name? He claims in an on-line profile that he is "a moderate, small-l-libertarian, Christian, with a warped outlook on life and a strong sense of self-reliance, self-defense, and probably self-importance."
Uh, huh. A Christian who selects an on-line name whose principal meaning, as near as can be determined, is an evil character from a Stephen King novel and a bunch of swine-dwelling demons who kill themselves.
His tiny footprint on the 'Net tells us that he is a fan of science fiction television shows such as Firefly (see http://whedonesque.com/user/7010), Battlestar Gallactica and Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles. He speculates on the important question of why the reclusive Firefly character "Mr. Universe" (who isolates himself from all human contact, marries a cybernetic "lovebot" in a Jewish wedding ceremony, and yet remains fascinated by his fellow humans, keeping track of their every move by means of his own private futuristic NSA) fails to have pornography on his many media monitors. That's easy, answers Legion, uh, I mean, Linoge, "he just wanted to be faithful!" He then expresses admiration for the onanistic Mr. Universe's control room: "Either way, as command lairs go, it is definitely up there."
OK, let's recap. We've got a self-described Christian who takes the name of demons literary and literal, but who admires a fictional character who embodies the emotionally stunted masturbatory teenager's fantasy of knowing and smugly denouncing everything, but is at the end proven to be merely a sad, pathetic character who dies alone never having known true love or real life. But that's OK, because the "command lair . . . is definitely up there."
You know, most folks pick a name that reflects who they are, or what they value. Take Pete at WRSA. He's "A Concerned American." The one I love is "A Keyboard and a .45." What a great moniker. Then there's "Oregon lawhobbit." It tells you who he is -- a lawyer --, what he appreciates -- Tolkien -- , and where he lives. I almost always post under my own name. However, on the militia blogs I usually use my radio call sign, Dutchman 6. You can make your own survey, but most folks follow this pattern.
But apply that to Linoge, and what's in a name?
Demons as appreciated by an emotionally immature onanist. Sheesh.
15 comments:
So what does it say that on a whim I took my moniker from the guy who lived in the shadows and always chose to accept the impossible mission?
christians are anarchists!
even if your idea of anarchy is actually chaos, and you have no other word for placing your allegiance in only the kingdom of god, if you are a right-headed christian and you understand the second temptation, you are an anarchist, because for you there can be no state and no god-king.
you can even think that some form of tiny or limited government will actually be a good. (you just have to let it compete in the market to prove itself). my contention here would be that what you're thinking of is not a state at all, at all. if the free market runs the show, they're just "government services," and that's definitely no state. if the free market doesn't, well, then you've bitten the apple again, and here we go one more time.
so an anarchist may not realize s/he's an anarchist, much like a libertarian may not realize they're a libertarian. living your life in accordance with the Non-Aggression Principle makes you a libertarian, even if you don't know what it means. however, simply being aware of the term and calling yourself libertarian is not enough.
therefore, christians are de facto anarchists, even if they're confused or ignorant of the subject.
no king but jesus.
Respond if you want, Mike, but for myself I'm pretty much done. Mr. Linoge certainly isn't saying anything new here.
It's not as though there isn't anything to say in response, because there is, however, I'm getting the idea that some of these bloggers are finding themselves in the same situation that Jay Leno lampooned in a recent Correspondent's Dinner in DC: the cable networks heroically cramming 30 minutes worth of news into a 24-hour format.
Since I have no life, I read quite a few gun blogger's efforts on a daily basis, and there is a pattern. First, of course, is any firearms related news with the obligatory tut-tutting when the Gummint does something disagreeable. Then we have various range reports/new gun purchases. And any relevant drivel from our betters in office that seems worthy of response. For a few chuckles, some might post something on the eternal Glock/1911 or AR/AK flame wars. Then there's the whole 3% stuff for a little variety.
Beyond that, what? They wake up each day to that blank screen, knowing that there are loyal readers out there who are expecting some content. The election has been decided and there won't be anything really newsworthy until the new Administration takes over. The Zumbos and HS Precisions of the fireams community don't stick their collective feet into the cowpie all that often, and yet there's that blank screen to fill.
I would submit to you that we're not much more than 'blog fodder for these folks. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time with Sebastian when he linked to your now famous LTE, and I don't regret or withdraw anything I said. Not that it would do any good, as I also post under my real name and since the Internet is forever, any retraction would be pretty useless. I've 'graduated' to the point of having my stuff being able to be Googled over at David's place, so I now risk being repetitive.
We all know about trolling on various sites and boards. I'm starting to think that these folks who sanctimoniously decry our assertions as little more than trolls with blogs, and I intend to treat them as such in the future. This might not be completely accurate in every instance, but the latest smearing from Brillianter and now Linoge seems to fit the description. My time is better spent on PT and loading ammunition, frankly. And I cannot help but think, as I said over at MG's the other day, that this sort of dismissal is a good thing: if the various alphabet agencies come to regard us of the 3% persuasion with the same disregard as our so-called allies in the RKBA movement do, the shock of discovering that we were serious all along won't serve to halt an attck upon us rather abruptly.
Are the 3% being thought of as a threat? Are they the ones the Generals are speaking of in the reports when they write:
The (JOC) Joint Operating Concept will guide the development and integration of Department of Defense (DOD)military concepts and capabilities2 for waging protracted (IW)Irregular Warefare on a global or regional scale against hostile states and armed groups.3
*3* An armed group is a group that employs force to achieve its objectives; is not within the formal military structure of any state, alliance of states, or intergovernmental organization; and is not under the control of the state(s) in which it operates. (Proposed)
(As posted on my own weblog...) What is in my chosen online callsign?
Well, it could be all those things you baselessly hypothesized, and more.
... Or it could simply be the username I started employing years ago in high school, simply because I liked the sound of it, and no one else was really using it. Nah, that would be too simple... and too accurate for folks like you, especially considering that it would completely incinerate your sad little straw-man.
And here I thought the hoplophobes had the market cornered when it comes to projection... you certainly have helped prove to me that you are, in the end, no better than those deluded fools. It is certainly no surprise to me that your argumentative tactics bear a striking resemblance to those who would gladly strip me of my rights...
I should, however, take a moment to thank you for expanding my vocabulary. One can always depend on life-long bullies and harrassers, such as yourself, for providing new and interesting ways to try to insult and demean other people. Bravo.
Ack-shully, we may really be a bit solipsistic; for example, I once formed the United Solipsist Society... but I wouldn't allow myself to join.
'lifelong bulliers and harrassers'?
Considering your opening paragraph, you have nothing to complain about, Linoge.
And please don't forget that you chose this argument, unless you'd care to provide a photo and/or video of the gun being held to your head forcing you to write and then post your blog entry.
Next time you're at a loss for a blog entry, try kittens or something. Don't go seeking a reaction and then presume to get all butthurt when you get one.
Looks like I am relegated to the moderation queue over there, until I pay him for my posts. HE should be paying ME! lol
You can try to teach them, but you can't make them learn.
Linoge,
So you weren't really serious about admiring the pathetic Mr. Universe?
Vanderboegh
So does that mean that the only people you want on your side are Christians?
What about Hindu? Or Muslims? Why can't a satanist be a patriot? Because I missed the memo where someone had to love Jesus to love this country.
HinduMuslimSatanistPatriot said...
So does that mean that the only people you want on your side are Christians?
What about Hindu? Or Muslims? Why can't a satanist be a patriot? Because I missed the memo where someone had to love Jesus to love this country.
December 5, 2008 9:34 PM
Any can be a patriot, loyal to the Constitution, of course. I'm not a theocrat. My point with Linoge was that his self-selected name seemed inconsistent with his claim to be a Christian. What was he? I wondered. Now we have his statement that he thought up the name in high school and was not influenced by Stephen King. OK, fine. So, I'm trying to visualize how that happens. He's laying in bed, late at night, and he's going through possible nom-de-plumes. "Limoges? No, that's a kind of china. Linotype? Limberger? Linoge? Yeah, Linoge. Sounds, intriguing. Mysterious. I'll be 'Linoge.' Aside from the fact that it doesn't mean anything, its perfect."
Perfectly believable.
I never said I admired Mr. Universe.
I never said my name was not influenced by Stephen King.
And yet you insist on continuing to make baseless assumptions, fallacious projections, and pointless insinuations.
Your insecurities run deeper than I think anyone, especially yourself, will ever realize. However, as I mentioned on my weblog, I am done dealing with you and your ilk - not worth my time, effort, or increased blood pressure. You are already entirely enthralled with your own self-importance, and who am I to burst a deluded fool's bubble.
"I never said my name was not influenced by Stephen King."
Now we approach the truth, my poor offended Legion. So, what kind of guy adopts the name of an omniscient evil-doer in high school and claims to be a Christian?
Which is my initial question, isn't it?
Insofar as Mr. Universe goes, I would point out that your expressed love for his "lair" is similar to people admiring Mussolini for making the trains run on time. Appreciating the facade while ignoring the ugliness beneath does not say much for your perception. Thing is, though, Mr. Universe is purely fictional. Sheesh.
So, Linoge pops by one last time to tell us he is done with us? That makes no sense. If he was done, we would know it by NOT hearing him whinge anymore.
I think the real reason for his last post was because he likes to say 'ilk', alot. I halfway expected him to say 'shiny' at some point, but it is clear that he only learned the bad things from Firefly. He would make a great Dobson.
Linoge in all his glory
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