I didn’t know whether I – a mere scribbler – should feel flattered that I was deemed worthy of the scatological venom of professors (not all of them from minor institutions, and some of them quite eminent).
Theodore Dalrymple recounts and reflects on the oft-remarked lack of civility on the internet. What made him, a mere scribbler, worthy of the venom of professors? An astringent piece about about Virginia Woolf and George Bernard Shaw, the latter of whom disbelieved the germ theory of disease and vilified Pasteur and Lister.
I suspect that he had that contrarian mindset that supposes that the truth must be the opposite of what everyone thinks, instead of the judicious mindset that supposes that the truth might be the opposite of what everyone thinks.
I have nothing to add except that spam and vitriol make the net less pleasant than it could be. Oh, yeah: I like his distinction between contrariness and judiciousness, too. I tend to be contrary, I fear, though I’ve never gone so far as holocaust denial, 911 Truthers, or those who are convinced that HIV was manufactured in a lab to commit genocide against whoever.
Tipsy Teetotaler ن 