Friday Update

[chris_gerrib]

Yesterday was fun. In between being called a troll and an idiot over on the Nielsen Haydens' website, (see yesterday's entry for the details) I got to drop $600 for a new hot water heater. Isn't home ownership fun?

Apparently the weather here in Chicago hasn't gotten the global warming memo - we're anticipating single digit highs until Tuesday. (For the humor-impaired, that last is a joke. I know one cold spell does not a climate change make.) We're on full Bears Superbowl alert here as well. Don't get me wrong - I really hope that they win, but this is a football game, folks, not national defense. At least I can do my part (watch the game) with a beer in hand in a warm room.

I've got a "Mormons in space" novel sitting on my hard drive that I'd like to at least try to get into shape in time to enter this contest (March 15th deadline). However, I've got a corporate relocation and a charity auction to run, so my time is limited. Since this is verging dangerously close to a "I organized my sock drawer" post, I will bid you farewell.

Comments

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

Sympathies on the water heater. We got to go through that fun about a year back. Fortunately, we caught it before the leak completely destroyed the basement.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

The basement is unfinished, so there wasn't much to get ruined. It was more the $$ and the hassle.

[tnh.livejournal.com]

I think you're overstating the case, and that few if any of the people in that discussion perceived themselves as being in a head-on argument with you. A couple of them mildly suggested that you were a troll. No one ever called you an idiot. You weren't flamed or beaten down; more like you were brushed aside. And when people disagreed with you, you didn't come back and engage with their arguments.

You certainly would have gotten agreement if you'd said that terror is a tactic, not an ideology or entity. I'm also certain, contrary to your post of yesterday, that the participants knew perfectly well that Islamic Fundamentalism exists. What they disagreed with was your description of it.

One of the pleasures of Making Light is that complex arguments can be developed and sustained without devolving into flame wars. That particular thread is running middling fast, and is complicated enough that you have to watch your footing. I don't think you're stupid, but I do think you haven't clocked much time in debates that get past the stage of matching initial assertion against initial assertion.

Come back and watch for a while. The knack of it isn't all that hard to pick up.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the invite, and I do enjoy visiting your site. I do think my original statement of "irreconcilable worldviews" holds, and so I'll avoid political debates on your site.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Could I "win" at these kind of debates? Maybe - I could certainly do better. It's not my idea of fun.