Fraternization of ideas as Culture War treason?

Speaking of political fashion, I met someone at a party who seemed very interested in me until I made the mistake of saying I was a member of the National Rifle Association. Eyes which had been wide open with dilated pupils turned to narrow, pinpoint slits, and I was promptly discarded as a piece of suddenly unattractive intellectual (and sexual) rubbish.

I say this lest anyone think logic has anything to do with guns or penises. Moms who have lost children to "guns" are about as logical in blaming those who are against gun control as parents are who blame child molestation on those who are against penis control. If you are on the "wrong" side of one of these arguments, you are more than wrong; you're akin to being a criminal.

Ditto abortion. If you don't want to imprison women for having an abortion, if you think abortion might not always be murder, why, you've become a murderer, if not a Himmler.

I've been told that the smart thing to do is simply not to have these arguments, for they are not arguments at all, but hopeless, intractable cultural differences. (And to the extent that they are that, it is a bit like arguing over likes and dislikes; a waste of time which will get you labeled "rude" or "offensive.")

For years I thought that offering logic and reason in such a sea of personalized emotion and ad hominem rhetoric was little more than symbolism. The blogosphere changed that, because it did for ideas what Ebay did for physical things.

I don't think it will ever come to this:

TimeBlog.jpg

(Idea progression generated by InstaPundit.)

posted by Eric on 12.16.04 at 10:40 AM





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Tip: Date them within the first year of college before they are tainted by the LLL profs. You have a better chance if you can 'inseminate' them with right biased views to counteract the poison that the university set rolls out.

mdmhvonpa   ·  December 16, 2004 11:04 PM

"Speaking of political fashion, I met someone at a party who seemed very interested in me until I made the mistake of saying I was a member of the National Rifle Association. Eyes which had been wide open with dilated pupils turned to narrow, pinpoint slits, and I was promptly discarded as a piece of suddenly unattractive intellectual (and sexual) rubbish."

Actually, that's better than the usual encounter--someone who fishes unbidden for your political opinions and then, after he's spent a half hour haranguing you about why they suck and you're an ignoramus, still expects you to hook up with him.

Sean Kinsell   ·  December 17, 2004 01:02 AM

Sean, that sounds like the opposite of "sucking up."

Maybe they expect rightist insemination....

Eric Scheie   ·  December 17, 2004 07:34 AM

Well, they're out of luck: I dress left.

Sean Kinsell   ·  December 18, 2004 01:17 AM

What the image might not make clear is that it will be bloggers driving the tank.

NIcholas Packwood   ·  December 18, 2004 06:24 AM

(Hence, not a most convincing crackdown. I would not want folks to think I was implying something totalitarian about the blogosphere. Ahem.)

NIcholas Packwood   ·  December 18, 2004 06:25 AM

I think the totalitarian tactics are more likely to come from the other side, because they have quasi-governmental power.

They can't go after bloggers in the same way as they can in Venezuela, but there's an interesting remark here:

"At some point we will see the MSM start to fling nasty dirt at the bloggers. Since the bloggers generally post for free, their economic interests in the blogging world is not really at risk. Thus, I imagine that within a year or two, we will know through some source or another what porn sites various political bloggers have visited or any other relevant gossip to encourage the bloggers to "tone down their criticism." Or worse yet, the MSM may stop by various employers of amature bloggers wondering what their policy is regarding those who may blog from work (they will be just researching a story of course....)

I have a feeling that the fallout of the MSM vs. the internet is still in its infancy."

It's not just the MSM that fear the bloggers, either.

(More fun and games here.)

Of course, the stuff which might happen in the future could make this incident look like a walk in the park.

Eric Scheie   ·  December 18, 2004 02:08 PM

Extremely interesting once again. Thank you for warning us of this impending Communist Operation Smear Terror from the media against bloggers. We must not back down. We must stand and fight for our freedom and values.

I'm very glad to see Professor Nicholas Packwood of the excellent blog Ghost of a Flea commenting here again. He is a hero. I note that he was smeared for exactly the same reason and in exactly the same way that that other Packwood, the Senator from my home state of Oregon, was smeared. I continue to thank him for this beautiful picture of Dawn (yes, I think of her as Dawn). I continue to worship her. Thank you.

The normal rules don't apply to these things, of course. It's skullduggery rather than conventional war. And whether the victim is "squeaky clean" is beside the point, really.

Example from the film "Hannibal":

"But people don't always tell you what they're thinking... They just see to it you don't advance."

Eric Scheie   ·  December 19, 2004 09:57 AM


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