Another sign

[fpb]

Michael Chrichton, one of the few people who have genuinely been willing to take unpopular positions out of reason and conscience, has died on this historic day. Do you see a connection? I feel, at least, that the grimness and sadness of this day have been compounded. May a brave man sleep the sleep of the brave, "and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest"!

Comments

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Can you even read English? I "chose to make" no connection. (And the use of the verb "to choose" in that context is a vile cliche' that shows an ear for style worthy of, say, Warren Gamaliel Harding.) I asked a question: can you see a connection? And I said that I saw a similarity in theme and mood. The similarity I saw was the death of individuality, the demand that everyone think the same, the triumph of the Political Correctness which of all things Crichton had always most opposed. Remember "Exposure"? Remember his opposition to anthropogenic climate change orthodoxy - one of Obama's strongest planks? Do you imagine that a man like that would have been dancing in the streets with Oprah Winfrey and the other therapeutic-culture boomers?

Well, someone with your idea of style and your ear for language clearly does not have the tools to understand any real independent mind, any real revolt against the tyranny of the commonplace and the misconceived, such as Crichton had and carried out. And it follows that the connection between the death of the enemy of Political Correctness and the political triumph - which, I hope and believe, will be temporary - of that sterile and mindless attitude is wholly invisible to you. But that is your own disability, not anyone else's problem.

As for your intellect, I judge as I find. Your cliches in style and thought were there on the page for me to see. If you want to be called anything but a commonplace follower of commonplace and foolish notions, you have to prove yourself such. Especially in my own blog, and especially when you take it on yourself to "assess" me by failing to even read what is actually on the page.

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

Oh, I humbly beg you pardon me, Great Arbiter of Language Style! My typo of "chose" for "chooses" is a heineous crime indeed, and does indeed show a very poor grasp of my native tongue. Whatever will I do with those degrees in English I earned, and the various articles on literature I have published? Dear me... how deluded I am, to think I could wield the language!

Anyway, back to point. I'm sorry, but rhetorically, by asking the general question of whether or not we see a connection between the two events, you are in fact implying there IS a connection. It doesn't matter what the issue you felt connected them. I merely said that I did NOT see the connection. Yes, that might be because I do not have the rabid perception of the Obama camp that you have. But then, I am a deeply commited independant moderate, and so do not find EITHER extreme to be balanced.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Hell no I'm not. Asking a question is asking a question. I see you belong to the Secret Police school of crticism (force your answer down the prisoner's throat no matter what). And you still have not understood that I was speaking about style, not grammar, and that the abuse of the verb "choose" is a depressing piece of dead talk. For someone who brags about his degrees in English, in the plural, not to be able to tell the difference between criticism of style and criticism of grammar is, yes, sir, a heinous crime, and compounds my charges of careless and prejudiced reading. And your deep commitment to mediocrity has already led you to completely fail to understand my politics. Keep it up, you are on your way to a perfect track record.

[8bitbard.livejournal.com]

There might not be any direct causal connection between the modern cult of death and sterility and the banality of most modern architecture, but that doesn't mean they aren't a perfect aesthetic match.