Really stupid. Really really really stupid. Others can tear his whining to shreds for the blatant inaccuracies and dishonesty that are present in it. But I want to highlight a ridiculous assertion he makes near the end of his "why the left hates me" commentary. He writes:
if a book says things that are obviously untrue and can be disproved, then it is not dangerous -- it is merely fiction and should be ignored. A book is dangerous only if it exposes something in the culture that some people are eager to keep hidden.
You know there are a lot of books I could use as examples here, but the first one that came to mind was The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. And I could list a lot more, but after that example, do I need to? Books can clearly be dangerous, and whether or not they are clearly does not turn solely on the veracity of their content.
Posted by armand at January 29, 2007 11:27 AM | TrackBack | Posted to BooksAnd you seize on the corollary, albeit implicitly: the remedy is not to ban them, but to loudly and often point out their stupidity.
Posted by: binky at January 29, 2007 11:46 AM | PERMALINKI don't think he's stupid.
I think his brain has been eaten by a bizarre belief system that he is increasingly desperate to justify to himself.
It's not exactly the same thing.
Posted by: jacflash at January 30, 2007 11:55 AM | PERMALINKNo, but it's damn close. I read that piece of shit, and I'm tempted to sue him for wasting my time. Even as a wingnut defense it was bad (though not as bad as the minor-Cheney's defense of the "surge" in the WaPo last week).
Posted by: binky at January 30, 2007 04:23 PM | PERMALINKHey wait, that wasn't me posting that last comment.
Posted by: binky at January 30, 2007 05:49 PM | PERMALINK(going on the assumption that the first binky was in fact baltar)
Bravo to you for struggling through D'Souza's tome. I read about thirty pages of it in the bookstore; that was enough.
The minor-Cheney thing probably requires some snarking. I don't actually remember enough of it to do the job -- all I remember is how I was laughing as I read it.
Posted by: jacflash at January 30, 2007 09:16 PM | PERMALINK