Scott Sigler's The "Ground Rule Double"

Chatting online with Scott Sigler on Twitter, after avoiding an argument about politics, we came to some conclusions:

He was angry about the lunatic fringe of my party and my end of the theoretical political spectrum.

My objection was specifically about his taking offense as to actions of the fringe of my wns of things, because I most assuredly ain't on the fringe, I'm as moderate as can be -- which is not to say I agree with The Other Guys.

So, Scott's upset by a position taken by the fringe.

I ain't part of the fringe, and ain't gonna jump to the defense of our fringe. Which doesn't mean I'm in favor of his party ... or his fringe for that matter.

And we both know. we're dealing with fringe elements in both parties. And even when we're objecting to 3rd Parties, we're mostly objecting to the fringe elements in -those- parties.

So, Scott came up with this idea of an an Internet meme for dealing with cases where you aren't agreeing with the Lunatic Fringe -or- agreeing with the opposition. All you're agreeing to is, "Yes, you got nuts, we got nuts, alla God's chilluns got nuts." Since everybody knows it's a rule, it's Ground Rule, and since everybody knows it applies to both sides, it's a

Ground Rule Double

or GRD. So, Scott and I agreed we have created a new (beta) Internet Meme, the "Ground Rule Double." AKA, we're either dealing with your nuts or my nuts. In any case, we aren't arguing with each other. So, our personal feelings about the whole process are beside the point. We agree it's a GRD and we aren't going to argue between ourselves about this particular skirmish. Doesn't mean we agree, or we won't argue equally vehemently later, about something that might be apparently identical.

But about the incidents and consequences of this particular instance, we say, "F*** it, don't let's worry about it, GRD."

BTW, I think it was mostly Scott Sigler's idea, and he keeps blaming it on me. That's okay. GRD.