‘One Anonymous Bloke’ had seemed to have reduced their targeted harassment at The Standard for a while but they are back to their practice of repeated abuse and smears, with little or no attempt made to address arguments other than attempting to discredit people deemed to be from the wrong political tribe.

Not a good look for (I think) a Labour Party activist.

From one thread on Who is behind the New Zealand Initiative? – many aimed at one person, but also generally against liberalism and the ‘right wing’.

Yes, even her closest victims noticed the massive gulf between Libertard and Earth.

And:

To argue against it, all you have to do is notice that the closer to Libertarianism any country gets, the more slaves there are: the actual real world effects of your fatuous notions are the exact opposite of the rhetoric you espouse.

And:

In North Korea, the Soviet Union and China, the weak prey upon the strong just as they do in New Zealand Singapore and Hong Kong.

Libertarianism favours the strong, and right now, in New Zealand, the number of children living in poverty – comparing apples with apples, has doubled since 1984.

In so many ways you have utterly failed to grasp, poverty is violence. Whom will you inflict your vile creed upon next?

And:

Witless gimps mouthing platitudes such as “no intelligent company director would kill their own workers”. Flailing incompetence in possession of dogma and a ministerial warrant.

And:

Why are voluntary activity and trade your cherry-picked benchmarks, when I specifically mentioned health and safety? Your opinions – and the incompetence they foster – depend on you never knowing the “ins-and-outs”.

The real world doesn’t conform to the crackhead’s twisted vision. Pay it no mind.

And:

It was trash like you. Own it, get some personal responsibility then fuck off to Randistan.

And:

This is one of the reasons you’re known as trash: poverty doesn’t offend you, but harsh language! Oh! The humanity.

Weka defends this string of abuse (so her understanding of the toxic nature of this behaviour was short lived):

“is abuse not moderated here?”

Only where it’s pointless or flamming. Read the Policy (at the top of the page).

OAB again:

I’d remembered it as 2.7%. It makes no difference to the basic point: poverty is violence, imposed upon the poor, and your rote-learned dogma blames the victim.

And:

Nope, just one you disagree with, and that’s the extent of your contribution.

Meanwhile, if Ayn Rand bludges on Medicare while snorting crack in a forest, will a Libertarian ever have anything other than empty rhetoric to show for it?

And:

Empty rhetoric, and flaccid ad hominem tantrums. Meanwhile, my life is fine: warm house, good relationships, rewarding work,

Got anything substantive to say, trash?

Full of irony – it’s common for online bullies to accuse others of what they are guilty of.

Imitation: not merely the sincerest form of flattery, also the only weapon in a Rand-parrot’s arsenal

And:

Nobody forced her to choose the USA over Somalia.

And:

How does someone ‘harm’ another person through peaceful exercise of economic power?

By switching off their electricity, for example. By raising the rent. By attacking the incomes of lowest paid workers. By espousing Objectivist gibberish while holding the office of Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

By not realising that Grey’s Law is talking about you.

And:

And then, the next thing you know, the Talley’s employed practical Libertarian principles and put the ethical competition out of business.

Paging Dr, McGrath, it’s time for your reality check.

And:

No. Surely you’re familiar with the admiring tones of your beloved crackhead’s paean to William Hickman.

And:

Wonder no longer: they pretend poverty is a result of poor choices because they’re pretending their personal good fortune is a reflection on their character and competence.

It’s self-serving confirmation bias parroting the ravings of a crackhead. Interesting from an anthropological perspective and that’s it.

And:

There really is no equivalent progressive think tank.

Quite true: the Left has peer review.

I’m peer reviewing OAB’s behaviour because the left seem to be remiss.

And:

Universities, scientists, and other reality-based researchers.

A rare non-attacking comment. Then on to some TS infighting.

Putting words in mouths and thoughts in minds. Stop projecting your feeble misanthropy: you’re boring.

Yes dear.

“The worst possible system apart from all the other ones” – does that phrase ring a bell in this context, Weka? It should, because I’ve employed it in answer to CV’s feeble projections enough times.

Another non-attacking response, but a general attack on ‘the right wing’.

That isn’t quite what I meant.

Right wing “think tanks” exist solely because fact-based research invariably debunks right wing reckons, so they need to invent a bunch of bullshit to avoid saying “make our donors richer now!”. What use is such distorted sophistry to the Left?

And:

patients and much of the media will never have access.

Depends what you mean. The Lancet, for example, is free. That isn’t the significant barrier to most, though: the barrier is study, or to put it another way, ignorance. Railing against ignorance is futile: no-one can know everything.

Anyone can apply the scientific method, though, or how would right wing lies ever get debunked?

And:

The reason the Right needs think-tanks is that they can’t handle the truth: I’m quite happy to derive left-wing facts from peer-reviewed journals, thanks.

At a time when the Rights’ attacks on education are doing serious harm, the left’s job is to first defend, and then repair our schools and universities, not compete for funding.

And:

The same as for anyone else: great leaps forward have occurred and some steps back.

25 comments on a thread of 200 – standard tactics of abuse and  attempts to discredit until they drive away views deemed to be alternative, followed by generalised attacks on the right.

OAB’s resident trolling is typical of the left’s stepping backwards. This is why the left and The Standard are not taken very seriously.

An intolerance of any non-tribe contributions, critical thinking or debate, with sustained harassment a common tactic supported by others openly (as per Weka) and supported by a lack of intervention by site moderators.

But it looks is unlikely to change. One Anonymous Bloke has been doing this unrestricted for years.

The floggings will continue until polls improve.