“I came back for my own purposes,” said the Time Traveler, looking around my booklined study. “I chose you to talk to because it was . . . convenient. And I don’t want you to do a goddamned thing. There’s nothing you can do. But relax . . . we’re not going to be talking about personal things. Such as, say, the year, day, and hour of your death. I don’t even know that sort of trivial information, although I could look it up quickly enough. You can release that white-knuckled grip you have on the edge of your desk.” I tried to relax. “What do you want to talk about?” I said. “The Century War,” said the Time Traveler. I blinked and tried to remember some history. “You mean the Hundred Year War? Fifteenth Century? Fourteenth? Sometime around there. Between . . . France and England? Henry V? Kenneth Branagh? Or was it . . .” “I mean the Century War with Islam,” interrupted the Time Traveler. “Your future. Everyone’s.” He was no longer smiling. Without asking, or offering to pour me any, he
Not this asshole again. Didn't he get spanked hard enough last time?
ReplyDeleteLast time? What are you talking about?
ReplyDeleteWhat's your objection to his argument?
I must admit I haven't bothered to listen through this latest stuff (the guys grates on me) but here's him getting torn to shreds 9 months ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metafilter.com/62107/Interesting-Arguement-About-Global-Warming
OK, I read the first several screens' worth of comments there. I can see that he's oversimplifying the argument, and potentially leaving out a couple alternatives. Even so, I am more inclined to side with him, than against him.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to critique, and hard to create. This guy's trying to pose the argument in a way that even closed-minded idiots can not refute, and has forgone some granularity in the process. I'm willing to cut him some slack.
I dunno. It bothers me to see someone wrapping up an appeal to emotion and pretending it has a logical basis. His argument (at least in the first one) could easily be reproduced in a Chick tract explaining how the consequences of not worshipping Jesus are so terrible that you're better off worshipping just to be on the safe side.
ReplyDeleteGiving him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps thats the point: he's trying to reach people who are swayed by that sort of "logic".
Either way, the guy grates on me...