Comments on: In the valley of vituperation

By: Helen

Helen — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:51:46 +0000

I never do blanket statements, myself.

By: GJ

GJ — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:24:01 +0000

Helen, at the risk of being accused of pedantry, zealotry is not confined to RWDBs. It exists at both ends of the antiquated L/R continuum.

As I post this I must confess to spending sleepless nights worried about my (always) balanced but boring focus on such issues.

By: TimT

TimT — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:52:29 +0000

Well, I like blanket statements. Always.

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:13:35 +0000

Yes, you’re right, GJ, I guess there are always (heh) occasions to use “always”. Let me rephrase. It’s a marker for the Blanket Statement™ which RWDBs are so fond of, along with “never” (as in, The Left never condemn the excesses of the {insert disliked entity}.)It’s just a flag to look more closely at the sentence, not necessarily bad or wrong.

By: GJ

GJ — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:17:35 +0000

Helen, I don’t believe using “always” is necessarily a marker of sloppy thinking. Its use may of course be the result of sloppy research – but that is a separate issue.
It was also the name of a sentimental song – I think!

By: Helen

Helen — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:14:53 +0000

I think that the irony is that he is using “always…” which is a marker of sloppy thinking, unless you’re being funny, while asserting that bloggers are guilty of sloppy thinking.

And the reason he never sees bloggers reading a book is because he can’t see them. They’re on the intertubes. Duh!

By: skepticlawyer

skepticlawyer — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:09:09 +0000

Very clever, Don.

By: Jacques Chester

Jacques Chester — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:47:18 +0000

Im not sure what to think of Burchells complaints about political blogging.

My first thought was “Don’t Feed The Trolls”.