Thursday 26 January 2012

"Beyond Belief"

"History repeats the old conceits,
the glib replies the same defeats.
Keep your finger on important issues
with crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues..."
In the comments thread to a post entitled "Taiwan Election Analysis" at PRS, I chimed in with a note that evidently jarred with the echo at that airy place. It was obviously beyond the expectations of the author "Steve":
"Where intellectual leadership comes from is irrelevant, what that leadership believes and propagates matters."
Remedial lesson #1: when I refer to "the Left", I'm not talking about geography.
"Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t give you the the right to ad hominum criticize, it’s just a reflection of you and your own biases."
I'll put this on the record here only because my more acerbic response was disallowed there:
  1. "Rights" are not conventions on what can be said in polite company.
  2. My criticism was not ad hominem, it was merely strongly worded - and any honest person can see that.
  3. To dismiss unexpected and unwelcome criticism as mere "bias" is precisely what I'd expect from some prancing little daisy fresh out of "gender studies" class.
That narrow, insectivorous fixation on electoral dynamics is not the broader picture, nor is it even an important aspect. To deliberately repeat the cliche: what is important are ideas and their consequences when put into action.

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