Call Me Crazy, But...

Angels & Demons

Literary equivalent of baboon poop.

The header for this section is not a reference to the execrable novel by Dan Brown...

Cinematic equivalent of mandrill feces.

...nor to the equally odoriferous Hollywood film...

...but rather to a curious syndrome that afflicts public discourse in the Internet Age: The tendency on the part of far too many rhetorical combatants to divide the world into Angels ("people who agree with me, and are therefore virtuous paladins to be celebrated") and Demons ("people who disagree with me, and are therefore heinous scoundrels to be vilified").

I will say flat-out that I myself have fallen victim to this syndrome on occasion. I am, after all, only human...

"...which means you start the game with two strikes on you already."

Something like that, yes...

Anyway, this topic is on my mind because of an exchange I was a part of yesterday, on Twitter. A person who I'm sure is in most ways a perfectly normal and rational human being simply couldn't accept that another normal, rational human being could, in good faith, disagree with his views. Once it became clear to him that I rejected his position (which consisted entirely of the appeal to authority fallacy), he called me a "nutter."

That is the epitome of the Angels & Demons approach to rhetorical combat in the public arena: "Anyone who doesn't see things my way is mentally ill."

More on this in the days ahead, but as a rule of thumb if the only response you can come up with to a contrary argument is to suggest its advocate is crazy...well, perhaps your own argument is not so strong as you think it is...

"Fuckin'-A right, man!"

Speaking of Twitter...

If you happen to be on that social network, I recommend following @smod2016,
a droll fellow whose posts never fail to put a smile on my face. A sample:

Things That Make Me Happy: MVP Edition

My beloved Kansas City Royals had their five-game winning streak snapped last night when the pitching collapsed in the 8th inning, allowing the Detroit Tigers to salvage the final game of the series with a 7-4 win at Kauffman Stadium. Can't win 'em all, yada yada yada...

One bright spot: All-Star center fielder Lorenzo Cain went 2-for-4, raising his season BA to .318 (4th in the American League; he's hitting .350 so far in August), and putting a smile on the face of this Royals fan.

"I'm just happy to be a ballplayer, and a Royal."

Keep it up, LoCain...and give Mike Trout a run for his MVP money...

I've Said It Before

And now I'm saying it again: A huge proportion of folks engaging in online debates are Bucky Katt:

From the delightful comic strip Get Fuzzy, by Darby Conley, which you should read every day.

Until Next Time...

Music enriches our lives in countless ways, not the least of them being its ability to bring back fond memories. When I was growing up there wasn't a lot of country music played in my house, but my mom was a big fan of vocalist Patsy Cline. As a 10-year-old, I remember her crying when she heard the news of Cline's death in a plane crash at age 30.

Today's send-off was my mom's favorite Cline song, a rendition of Willie Nelson's "Crazy" that is widely considered the definitive version. It reached No. 2 on the country charts in 1962, the year before Patsy's death.

Did I mention that "Patsy" was my dad's favorite nickname for my mom (whose name was Patricia)? Miss you, mom...