The ABC of Blogging. posted by Richard Seymour

Charlotte Street has a few hints for up and coming bloggers on how to handle tough comments box brawls and inter-blogging feuds. To excerpt:

A priori - your apriori supposition is that: ‘I operate by the clear light of reason, you according to preconceived notions’. You are using pure thought and evidence, your opponent is unthinkingly in thrall to canards, tired clichés, and various pieces of received wisdom.

Emotion –your opponent is necessarily and invariably ‘excitable” “agitated’ “animated”; you, by contrast, are immobile, impassive, devoid of emotion - a computer imbued with consciousness.

Entertaining - You find your opponent entertaining. His arguments are 'amusing', 'diverting' and so on, a kind of sport, which you have enjoyed. At some point, however, this becomes 'embarassing' and you should advise your opponent to retire before he humiliates himself. At all costs avoid suggesting you are seriously engaged with what he is saying.

Etc. Very witty and right on the money. Of course, its all very amusing, diverting, but ultimately embarrassing and anyway that was my point in the first place even though he has utterly failed to understand it or to adduce empirical evidence for his frankly barking assertions. In sum, "your thought is doctrinal, his is redneck and mine is deliciously supple".