The flamewar that sputtered and died

[fpb]

I never heard anything louder than the silence from inverarity, anthonyjfuchs, tealterror0 and the rest of the gang since I published my review of a review. It seems I'm likely to live a quiet life from now on.

Comments

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

This is probably a good thing.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

One would have liked some sort of apology, explanation, even excuse. As it is, inverarity has followed the Soviet practice of silencing undesirable facts, and likely enough most of his fans don't even know that he has been answered, let alone refuted.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I don't think Inverarity is capable of admitting that he is wrong; it's a character flaw I've seen him exhibit a few times in personal exchanges, where he'll (a) put forward an argument which is subsequently shown to be wrong, (b) fail to respond with either rebuttal or concession, letting the discussion lapse into ego-saving silence ... and then (c) fly into a rage when asked to restate his position. He'll go feral with personal attacks and childish slurs rather than address the topic and admit that his original position was incorrect.

I witnessed this a couple of times debating Harry Potter over on Fiction Alley and just recently - again about Harry Potter - on his Live Journal, here (http://inverarity.livejournal.com/88916.html?thread=602964#t602964). A trivial matter in comparison with the concerns covered with your own Inverarity issue, but still an event that shows the man simply can't handle his being (shown to be) in the wrong.

While I'm here ... I greatly enjoyed your 'review of a review'. Not only the content but also the craftsmanship of your writing; the florid formality of your prose was entertaining purely in its own right. A both informative and entertaining post!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

My relationship with inverarity had already collapsed before this review, thanks largely to anthonyjfuchs, and Inverarity's implicit support of him.

I am glad to have your approval for my review, but you do it too much honour. it was thrown in as it was, a first draft; it is full of spelling mistakes and dangling propositions, and at least one argument I had promised to develop - the difference in context between the slaughter of Black Kettle's band and American war crimes in the Philipines forty years later - was not in fact developed at all. But I am a historian - one of the worst insults inverarity. ever threw at me was his claim that I didn't know how to write academic prose and had no idea what peer reviewing was - and when put under pressure I can and will produce history.

Your comments have also sugggested to me a number of other points, but if I ever write them, I will probably do so as an LJ post - they would be too long for a simple answer. But thanks for writing this; it is comforting to have an intelligent person's public approval.