Practical Penumbra

Anybody Else Wanna Negotiate?

While reading this week's Alliance homework assignments I came across a few interesting items. Over at Johnalism there's a great post called "The Idiot's Approach to Online Debate" (April 14th). Excerpt:

So let's say that yesterday it was sunny for the majority of the daylight hours but it rained for one of them. Therefore, I make a statement like this:

Me: It was sunny most of the day yesterday.

Other person: Oh yeah, real sunny...that's why it rained from 4 to 5.

Me: I said it was sunny *most* of the day, not all day. Quite a difference when you look at what I really said.

Other person: You are backpedaling.

We see a lot of this kind of thing when people are arguing an emotional rather than intellectual positon. Of course, the most common emotional position these days is "We hate Bush," although you occasionally get this discussing abortion, gay marriage, gun control and a few other "hot button" topics.

Taron at ISDL has a brief look at the State Religion of Indiana; the punishment for heretics is terrifying....

Chachi over at The JG Spot tells us How Bush Could Have Prevented the 9/11 Attacks. I wish he had permalinks! It's the second April 12th entry...

Here's my compilation of the Top Ten Taglines for Air America from the Alliance of Free Blogs:

10 Air America: Actors With Faces For Radio
9 Air America: Where washed up comedians get a second chance.
8 Air America: We think Al Franken is funny, I swear.
7 Air America: The Few. The Proud. The Totally Insane.
6 Air America! We must be smart! We have the hip little smart person glasses!
5 Air America: Like Air Jordan...but less sporty.
4 "Air America: Goofy looking, yet unprofessional."
3 Think of us as the audio version of the Democratic Underground.
2 Almost as unbiased as Dan Rather.
and the #1 tagline : Air America: Did We Mention We Hate Bush?

Posted by Susie at April 15, 2004 08:35 AM | TrackBack