Skip to main content

Epigrams and Fluff

First the epigrams and then the fluff. These epigrams came to me through my e-mail and I think others might get a smile from them as well. The connecting text is not mine. The author is Karl Keating from Catholic Answers.
"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects" (Will Rogers). This is another thing that becomes more evident with age. Its corollary also is true: "Everybody is knowledgeable, only on different subjects." And there is a corollary to that corollary: "Academic letters after a person's name tell you nothing about his true intelligence. Some of the dumbest people are smart people." "Intelligence is almost useless to someone who has no other quality" (Alexis Carrel). See what I mean? Carrel was a scientist and physician who participated in the medical bureau at Lourdes. He discovered that when it comes to the supernatural, many intelligent people seem unable to apply their intelligence intelligently. "What is most resistant to salvation is not sin but habit" (Charles Peguy). It's easy to repent of a single sin, no matter how serious. It's hard to repent of habitual sin, no matter how light. "A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you" (Bert Leston Taylor). This reminds me of another epigram: "Generally speaking, women are generally speaking" (Robert Benchley, who, after getting home through a soaking rain, told his butler, "Get me out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini").
The fluff is a blogger by using the name Calgary Grit, who writes a left leaning blog out of, well, Calgary. He decided he wanted to take a look at the 'other side' by viewing the blogs nominated for "Best Conservative" in McCelland's blog awards. When he gets to NWW, he says nothing about anything I've written, and there's lots to choose from. Not all of my posts are gems and if he wanted a soft target he could probably have found one. His review of me consists entirely of dismissing my wife as a hysterical anti abortion zealot. Now, it's not so much his pro choice stance that irks, it's that he does a drive by shooting on Rebecca's lengthy and thoughtful post without giving any indication about what his own opinion is is how and why he holds it. Today he comes back with a response to my wife's second post, the one she wrote after the drive by, and it's clear he should never have broached the subject because he doesn't know a damned thing about it (he says it's too "icky": a sure sign of maturity and depth, that). It's pretty clear he didn't do much if any research before he wrote either. There are tough pro choice arguments to be made (I don't buy them) but you won't find them on Calgary Grit. I've been by Mr. Grit's site before and never found anything engaging there. If I was ever to start including left leaning blogs his would not be among them. I almost added The Upper Canadian but then he went and defended Susan Sontag's anti US tirade made just after September 11, 2001. Nope, I'm not giving publicity to that. Maybe I'll reconsider on UC in the future but Mr. Grit's blog is both boring and uninformative and I can't see why I'd send anyone there to waste their time. This not to say that I only link to people I agree with. I have links up to people who I disagree with but who are thoughtful and interesting in their points and I'll continue to seek out such blogs. They make good reading and good friends. A blog that attempts a quickie takedown of the right, however, and does not take the time or effort to understand what it is critiquing (like, say, confusing insipid with inspired and then attaching the mangled adjective to the wrong noun) is not one that I'm going to pour much time or effort into debating.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reuters joins CNN on the bench

Makes room for CanWest to join the majors Kudos to CanWest for calling a terrorist a terrorist . Many, including The Last Amazon , will be happy to hear it. Reuters is among the worst of the major western news services, where I would also place the BBC and the CBC. Unsurprisingly, Reuters is not happy about the changes CanWest made to Reuters wire stories: Our editorial policy is that we don't use emotive words when labeling someone," said David A. Schlesinger, Reuters' global managing editor. "Any paper can change copy and do whatever they want. But if a paper wants to change our copy that way, we would be more comfortable if they remove the byline." Mr. Schlesinger said he was concerned that changes like those made at CanWest could lead to "confusion" about what Reuters is reporting and possibly endanger its reporters in volatile areas or situations. "My goal is to protect

Where credit is due

A good'un from Sawyer Brown . Thank God for You Well I've been called a self-made man Girl don't you believe it's true I know exactly how lucky I am When I'm gettin' this close to you It's high time I'm giving some praise To those that got me where I am today Chorus I got to thank momma for the cookin' Daddy for the whuppin' The devil for the trouble that I get into I got to give credit where credit is due I thank the bank for the money Thank God for you A strong heart and a willing hand That's the secret to my success A good woman - I try to be a good man A good job - Lord I know I've been blessed I'm just a part of a greater plan It doesn't matter which part I am Chorus I got to thank momma for the teachin' Daddy for the preachin' The devil for the trouble that I get into I got to give credit where credit is due I thank the bank for the money Thank God for you

A very limited form of inquiry

Real Clear Politics is carrying commentary on James Q. Wilson's WSJ article on ID (got that?). Wilson, the respected social scientist, gets it mostly right when he says that ID is not science because it can't be tested: So ID is not science. Does this mean that science, in any way, implies the non-existence of God? No. Does this mean that belief in God is irrational and that we should all be "free thinkers"? No. Does this mean that it is impossible to arbitrate between various theories of the existence/non-existence of God and come to some reasonable conclusions? No. Does this mean that we cannot say that humanity is meant to exist? No. In other words, rationality outside of science is quite possible, and has been around for a long time. How do you think humanity invented science in the first place? We surely did not do it scientifically. Science as we know it is the product of millennia of philosophical debate -- from Aristotle to Lakatos. Science depends upon phi