I think the only person who tried to label the situation, or us, as Big Brother, was Mieskie, in his last post.

No, it was someone else. MikeP, I think.

Look, can we just cut to the chase, buy an island off e-Bay or something, and form our own government already? I trust Buffista governance more than the government I helped elect into power.

the only person who tried to label the situation, or us, as Big Brother, was Mieskie, in his last post

Mike_P mentioned the term too, that's all.

But nobody's giving Mike a hard time. It's a literary or usage point as much as anything. The term gets used much more broadly than its original incarnation in the novel and its usefulness is diluted when that happens.

1984 was a novel in which Big Brother honed in on, careened toward and then literally decimated offending citizens.

t giggles

I have suggested this Buffista archipelago on several occasions.

May I say, as an unwitting Mieskie accomplice, and a newer than he was newbie, that I am really impressed, I can't stress that enough, with how this whole site is run. I've never been involved with anything online that is so open and clear and easily accessible. I don't really feel like a buffista yet, but I am happy to be able to read and post and think I will feel that way as I get to know people here. If my vote counts for anything, I wouldn't change a thing. You're fluid about things, but you know what matters. I, personally, have no problem with the idea of "we know who we are".

Okay, I missed that, my mistake.

1984 was a novel in which Big Brother honed in on, careened toward and then literally decimated offending citizens.

Shouldn't that be 'careered'? :)

(Y'all would have been proud of me the other night. I managed to get a friend of mine and his DW arguing about whether or not 'slayage' was a gerund.)

(Other possible islands)

Piping up to say, I understand and share some of the butterflies-in-stomach feelings about being forced to handle m. this way. But that, to me, is the point: I feel that he forced our hand. We either had to conform to his manner of discourse or he had to leave. He was the source of the rumblies in the tumblies, when he responded to the slightest of disagreements with name-calling and aspersions cast over the entire board.

Perhaps we are averse to confrontations here, but we aren't afraid to disagree. It's just always been the Buffista way to argue without raising voices or calling names. M. couldn't handle that, so he's gone, and I for one will breathe easier once I shake off the unpleasant but necessary taste of it all.