Same job, different uniform.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Taking You Seriously Shouldn't be this Hard

One of the things I appreciate about blogs like Powerline is the respect the writers show to the dimmest wit and the meanest spirit. This is not to say they don't engage in ridicule, but there is a way to ridicule that extracts the ridiculous without stooping to banal name calling.

I also enjoy the occasional inflammatory rant. It's refreshing that not everyone has been suckered by political correctness into demonstrating false courtesy. And few can rant like Dallas Boyd.

Dallas Boyd can be delightful to read when he is not offensive. He channels his opinions with ferocity. He is a fearless writer, but he is also rash. When he is not directing us to his latest article in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Student Newspaper, he is hurling profanities or childish insults.

Why?

If you're a blogger or writer and are referencing something you find foolish, let the text speak for itself. Good readers will recognize the absurdity. Is "His crappiness is so deep, so broad, so all-encompassing that the human mind can scarcely comprehend it" clever or just amateurish? Is the writer inaccurate? Set out to prove it. Use words that make us resort to our dictionaries, not wince. Do you want us to laugh? Chesterton, Wodehouse and Waugh managed it without calling a world leader a "dork." Save "holy s**t" for water cooler talk. Avoid profanities altogether. Refine it--then post it!

This blog is just a small space for one glorified runner, her sisters and one hell-of-an actor to write about what someone called the "fiddle faddle of daily life." If you read nonsense here, that's to be expected.

There is a problem, though, with a blog like Blognostic that has a pattern of posting on sensitive political subjects and embarks with the kind of fanfare that includes this description of its contributors: "four attorneys, two fathers, six Southerners, one Rhodes Scholarship finalist, an immaculately coiffed Chihuahua owner, two motorcyclists, one Harvard graduate student, five Christians, [and] four Citadel graduates"--then hurls elementary insults.

I expect more from the caliber of writer that Blognostic offers. We're ready to read. Give us quality.


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5 Comments:

Blogger thebeloved said...




Kudos for clean eloquence and wit. Why does something have to be ranting to not be politcally correct? Also, I agree there is absolutely nothing wrong with nonsense. We all need a full dose every now and then to freshen our lives and regain perspective.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

 
Blogger girlfriday said...




Good point on the ranting, beloved. (Sounds strange to say that.) Why should the PC crowd have all the reason and calm and we have Anne Coulter? That's not fair. She may not be funny or clever, but she doesn't rant

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

 
Blogger girlfriday said...




How many times can I say "hurling?"

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

 
Blogger AbbaGav said...




A hurling-great style guide. Letting the text speak for itself is one I forget all the time.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

 
Blogger Unknown said...




I might suggest, Jeb, that anyone referring to a member of Congress as a "horse's ass" is guilty of nothing more than redundancy.

And disparaging the horse.

Saturday, December 31, 2005

 

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