Below the line with debater cbarr, who 'can do it in one sophism'

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/22/below-the-line-commenter-cbarr

Version 0 of 1.

<em>For the last few months, we’ve profiled commenters who are active in sections like CiF, Food, Culture, and Sports. Now we’re shifting our focus to those commenters drive the conversations that make life Below the Line, no matter what section, so special. Do you consider yourself to be a master debater? Fill out our latest BTL questionnaire</em>

cbarr joined our ranks on 1 March 2009. He's made 16,643 comments and racked up a meagre 163 abuse reports. 

<strong>Which commenter do you debate with most often in the comment threads? What do you respect about them? What do you disagree on?</strong>

The Feminist Cabal. We debate everything.

<strong>How would you describe that opponent in three words:</strong>

Annoyingly, overbearingly intelligent.

<strong>Which other commenters have some of the most interesting debates below the line? </strong>

Leopold1904 and Kristinekochanski.

<strong>What’s your favorite rhetorical device?</strong>

Dialectics! (an old Marxist joke)

<strong>Who is your favorite philosopher?</strong>

Karl Marx as my favourite!

<strong>Which one can you not stand?</strong>

I want to say Thomas Hobbes, but his writing’s too much fun. That leaves John Stuart Mill.

<strong>Describe your debating strategy:</strong>

I can do it in one sophism.

<strong>Which Guardian journalist would you most like to have a debate with?</strong>

Hadley Freeman on which is the best Sesame Street character. The answer is Grover.

<strong>What’s the best argument you’ve witnessed recently in the comments? Send us the link if you can!</strong>

Soooo many. The independent debates tend to have a hefty chunk of well-thought out comments as well as a lot of heat.

<strong>Tell us an argument you made BTL that you’re particularly proud of:</strong>

My defence of my calling Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party fascist regardless of the severity of the language as an accurate description of the NCP. [It was] under Simon Tisdall's terribly written article, 'Omar al-Bashir is no Bogeyman'. Appeasement at the time was a terrible thing and has left fractured and destroyed communities in its wake.

Berchmans -

now only Muslims get the label. Life is duller!

Sometimes the label fits as in the case of Omar al-Bashir. We can look at the tenants of fascism and look at the tenants of the Sudanese state we find our selves staring at a state governed and controlled through a policy of absolute cultural hegemony something that post referendum in the event of a yes vote we are assured will be reinforced. This is a threat against the idea of the other in Sudan it is cultural and ethnic hegemony under a military rule with all the entertainment of pseudo spirtual corporatism under a singular military and cultural ideal. The enforcement of cultural hegemony has being carried out through the utilization of a genocide to bring national unity. The guise of assaulting the inner enemy to bring unity under nationalist mantras. Omar al-Bashir is a fascist. And a genocidal maniac and apologizing for his actions is a sickening level of appeasement.

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.