Tornado Alley (PROG)

[oldberkeley]

exactly! well said Steph

Unfortunately, it was exactly the opposite of well-said. It was very poorly said. But more on that in a minute.

I’m not going to take the time to debate each bit of the shall-we-say highly-nuanced and personalized interpretations of facts that fill your post. This is a debate that has been raging for many decades. In my opinion, a two-state solution is the only answer and that will eventually happen. But not with Hamas in charge of Gaza.

Again, we progressive liberals can disagree about some things but maintain our solidarity; you seem like a kind, intelligent, fine person and I agree with you on most issues.

The following is perhaps off-topic, but in another way it’s relevant. Stephanie, please don’t get mad about what I’m about to say.

Unorganized ranting is never good. Sentences contain complete thoughts and though they may be complex, they always begin with a capital letter and end with a period. All written languages are structured this way for a reason: clear, concise, effective communication that shows effort and forethought and allows and even encourages the reader to think. Jumping all over the place in an illogical and hard-to-follow manner with each random and disconnected pronouncement separated by an ellipsis is not persuasive; as a matter of fact, it’s one of the trademarks of the irrational nuts you rightfully abhor. Piling it on for a paragraph or a page makes it no more true or effective, any more than screaming a lie makes it more true.

If a writer can't correctly say something full of truth and beauty and yes, even passion, then perhaps he or she just needs to take a deep breath, spend a bit more time, think things through.

The proliferation and popularity of posts that merely contain link after link is grinding away our better abilities, not only in writing but in critical thinking. As each year goes by I’m noticing the Google-ization of message boards, perhaps of all online writing. Fuck Google. Since any half-wit with a computer can find multiple links for any and every moronic belief they hold, where is the power?

Instead of frantically surfing the net trying to find correctly-written articles that support one’s position (but are not one's own thoughts or words) perhaps a person would be better off reading a book on the subject, seeing a quality movie, attending a lecture, taking a class. They might even be able to find an intelligent, well-spoken person with whom they could engage in that rarest of life's pleasures, a good conversation.

They might not end up knowing as many random facts, but they would have a much deeper knowledge, a knowledge devoid of links but one that they could speak from coherently and genuinely.

Stephanie, I’m sure that you're now thoroughly pissed-off and disgusted with my lecture, so I’ll stop. Keep the faith, keep your eyes on the prize, keep fighting.