Josh writes:
Interesting comment from Jordan Carter on Span's valedictory post:
I think this medium as it is now is very largely suited to Opposition mentalities and politics. It is a place to vent.
Makes a bit of sense -- people go online to whinge, and when you're in Opposition, you've got more to whinge about. Which suggests that when National finally gets back in, the NZ blog scene will be dominated by lefties. Silver linings, eh?
But whinging is, well it's for whingers, isn't it? Let's not mince words (here at Brain Stab, the only thing we mince is kittens, so that Apathy Jack can inject their puréed remains into his bloodstream, thereby increasing his Unnatural Powers and cheating death for another day). Whingy, whiny, runny-nosed crybabies -- who'd want to be one of those?
And yet, plenty of folks here on the Intar Wubs get a bee in their bonnet, a bug in their ass and/or a bunch in their panties and before you know it they've worked themselves up into a lather, talking crazier than Apathy Jack with an armful of kitten juice. Why bother?
As I've mentioned to other people recently, my reason for writing online is to make people LOVE ME! LOVE ME, YOU FUCKS! WHY WON'T YOU LOVE ME?!! Part of that is due to the fact that I honestly don't believe that anyone cares about my opinions. Abortion for instance -- that's been doing the rounds a bit lately, but what's to gain by me mouthing off about it? Especially since my views are mostly of the wishy-washy "I think abortion is bad, but I also think telling other people what they can and can't do with their bodies is bad" variety, and mostly influenced by how recently I've listened to Anika Moa's "In the Morning". God knows I don't care about what other people have to say.
That said, as a former Philosophy student I am interested in how they say it -- the arugments people use and whether they can express them without bitching like a twelve-year-old. As I've initmated before, the argumentative abilities of your average blogger are somewhat piss-poor. Rather than whinge, though, let me leave some constructive advice:
- Look up straw man.
- Look up ad hominem (paying particular attention to the circumstantial ad hominem).
- Stop fucking doing it.
2 comments:
I'm not sure that the right wing dominance is just down to the fact that Labour is in Government. There are lots and lots of left wing people who are opposed to Labour (you can reasonably easily divide the left of centre blogs into pro and anti-Labour), and so the Oppositional mentality should work for that too, surely?
Interesting post though.
Interesting? I was just looking for a way to use the Apathy Jack/pureed kittens gag. Still, I'll take what complimenst I can get...
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