Category: Rhetoric

Politics, Rhetoric

“Hello, God? It’s me again: Fear-addled Bitterclinger”

Sociologist-in-chief is dusting off his cliched and inaccurate rendering of evolutionary biology to explain why voters are reacting so negatively to Democrats, Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared,’ Obama said … Continue reading “Hello, God? It’s me again: Fear-addled Bitterclinger”

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Rhetoric, Uncategorized

That’s with a “T”, not an “L”

It seems like yesterday that the Obama campaign was mocking [disabled war hero victim of torture] Senator John McCain for not being able to use a keyboard.  And it seems like just a few minutes ago, the first crisis the Secret Service had to handle was when BO dropped his Bubble-Busting Blackberry. Well, all that too-cool-for-you cutting edge techno savvy networking is soooo 2009.  The … Continue reading That’s with a “T”, not an “L”

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Rhetoric

Words, Just Words… Lots and Lots of ’em

From “Notable and Quotable” on the op-ed page of the WSJ: John McWhorter writing last week for TNR.com: Why does Sarah Palin talk the way she does? . . . [She] is given to meandering phraseology of a kind suggesting someone more commenting on impressions as they enter and leave her head rather than constructing insights about them. . . . The easy score is … Continue reading Words, Just Words… Lots and Lots of ’em

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Rhetoric

Blogs and the Mainstream Media

I talked Friday with a colleague in Communications who described a current research project and its puzzling results.  He asked people about the credibility of blogs and the credibility of articles in the mainstream press.  Blogs scored lower: “Anybody can write anything in a blog,” people thought.  But then he had people read “posts” in blogs and “articles” in the mainstream media on a particular … Continue reading Blogs and the Mainstream Media

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Religion, Rhetoric

The Level of Argumentation at Stanford

Mike Lucas, a gay porn star, gave a speech at Stanford criticizing Islam. The reaction to the speech prompted him to write an op-ed for The Stanford Daily. That brought on a torrent of comments which are remarkable for their intolerance, abusiveness, and sheer idiocy. (Warning: Strong language!) Here are a few brief ones: • i am scared of this man. • This is just … Continue reading The Level of Argumentation at Stanford

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Education, Rhetoric

Vonnegut’s Rules

The late Kurt Vonnegut’s rules for writing short stories.  They’re excellent rules for writing any sort of fiction.I wish more screenplay writers would follow these rules; movies might be a good deal better as a result. When I watch “deleted scenes” on a DVD, my respect for the writers always plummets. It’s always good that the scenes were deleted, and I generally wonder why anyone … Continue reading Vonnegut’s Rules

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Cats, Dogs, liberty, Politics, Rhetoric

Reason at the MLA

Hat tip to Instapundit, who entitles his post “Cats and Dogs Living Together”: Moderates have been spotted at the meetings of the Modern Language Association, which rejected resolutions against Israel and for Ward Churchill in favor of ones expressing support for academic freedom. I especially admire these remarks, from someone who opposed even the more moderate resolutions as showing too much sympathy with the indefensible: … Continue reading Reason at the MLA

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ethics, philosophy, Rhetoric

With Friends Like These….

J. O. Urmson, introducing a volume of essays by H. A. Pritchard: Certainly it must be conceded that his influence in his lifetime was great, particularly in his own university of Oxford; but this may be counted a misfortune. Did he not constantly overbear his opponents with dogmatic assertion? ‘If we reflect, we become forced to admit…’, he would say, and further discussion would be … Continue reading With Friends Like These….

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