November 10, 2004

RIP Arafat

But not in too much peace. I'm not going to mourn for him, and I hope that with his passing maybe there can be more encouraging developments over there. But it's not likely.

I got into some debates yesterday at Matthew Yglesias's blog and was disappointed in the number of people who say something incendiary just to troll (yes, it's true!). At least one guy was honest enough to say that's all he was doing, when I called him on something inflammatory he said about being a homophobe in Jesusland. I said, if you are going to be resentful about those terms, you have to justify why they are are unfair, or why they don't apply to you. He didn't even try. Hrmpf, loser.

I like a good debate. I don't mind people who disagree with me (it wouldn't be much of a debate if I did), but I expect people to be able to back up their arguments with something logical and rational. Let me be give some specific examples: endorsing someone because they have a firm handshake isn't logical. Endorsing someone because they will fight the alien ghosts isn't rational. I don't mind sarcasm either (which you might guess if you'd read any other articles on this website), but it needs to serve a purpose. Sarcasm for the purpose of getting people riled up is just irritating and lazy.

Incidentally, I think Matthew might need a vacation. He wrote today in defense (sorta) of John Ashcroft. It's not even the point that he had some good points, but damn, Matt, you've got a reputation to consider.

Published: November 10, 2004
Editor: stacy