olvlzl

Changing the Subject 101

When did the practice of assuming that everyone was going nuclear when they said they didn’t like something become the standard? Why is it that when someone says they don’t like pornography, find it degrading and possibly dangerous it is assumed that they are calling for the government to censor everything? Why is it that when someone disagrees with something someone has said, or the way they have said it, it’s assumed that you want to silence them by any available means?

I don’t know about you but I’ve come to suspect that the people who react as if the button has been pushed are really over reacting so they won’t have to deal with the argument. It immediately takes it from the particulars of the case and turns it into a federal case over abstractions.

Funny way to run a life of the mind. Really lousy way to run a political movement.

By the way, look at the first paragraphs of the first story in Dubliners if you want to find out what the last part of The Dead means. It's got the clues.

I'll be away until next Saturday.