Hunting The Muse

Adequacy.org || Why the Bombings

Adequacy.org || Why the Bombings Mean That We Must Support My Politics - This link is being passed around as something witty, but it actually pisses me off. Actually, it's not so much the article that pisses me off, it's the fact that so many people think it's witty and a good point. It's one of those artful zinger pieces that SOUNDS wise but is actually pretty silly and doesn't hold any water.

Think about it - it's quite possible that we, our society, might be doing some things WRONG... (duh), and also that there might be solutions out there, eventually, that would be win-win. These solutions are going to be introduced by people that believe in them, and you know what? That's politics. Does this guy think this shouldn't happen? Or that ideas should only be introduced by people who don't advocate them? Or that they should only be brought up out of context, rather than when it's most relevant? This guy's essay is basically hypocritical because it's a reaction to articles with politics the author disagrees with - he wouldn't have written in in reaction to articles whose author's politics he agreed with. It doesn't matter that the essay itself is essentially neutral. All that means to me is that he removed his own teeth - he shied away from taking a risk and putting himself out there, in favor of trying to score a few style points - and it looks like quite a few people have fallen for it.

That's all why I disagree with it. The only reason it pisses me off is because it reminds me of what I hate about debates - debaters saying sound-bites that SOUND cool and actually have no essence, and then people reacting to them by giving them points for being witty - never mind the fact that it actually wasn't a very good point. Posted by Curt at October 19, 2001 05:50 PM