Once again, it is employed by the increasingly odious Professor Cole (who makes me embarrassed to be a Michigan alumnus), and slapped down by the Baseball Crank.

Rand,

I find it amazingly disingenuous that you completely ignore 95% of a multipage article to focus on just two paragraphs that weren't even the main point of the article as though they were the point. The Baseball Crank didn't slap down, he obfusciated.

I don't agree with a lot of what Prof. Cole writes, but he has a valid point that having solid information about a society in question can greatly enhance your capability of making good decisions about said society. Calling Goldberg to task for never having actually read books about Iraq, in spite of all his bloviating on the issue, is a fair criticism. And that was the point of the article.

You get annoyed when MSM reporters go out and say something stupid about aerospace projects that could've been solved by at least skimming through an entry level book on the subject, yet you give a pass when people whose ideology matches yours pulls the same bunkum.

That's called hypocrasy Rand, and you are better than that.

~Jon

I was ignoring most of Professor Cole's latest condescending rant because Jonah responded to it quite ably. I was focusing on the Chickenhawk argument because I tire of it. It's my blog, and I'll focus on what I want to, and there's nothing hypocritical about doing so.

I don't agree with a lot of what Prof. Cole writes, but he has a valid point that having solid information about a society in question can greatly enhance your capability of making good decisions about said society.

I know of few who would dispute that. Certainly neither I or Jonah would. It's a semi-interesting strawman, though. I guess.

As for Jonah's not having read any books on the Middle East, that's Professor Cole's weird fantasy, not reality, so it's hardly a "fair criticism."

When it comes to judgement about the Middle East, at least Jonah is willing to put his money where his mouth is. It'll be interesting to see if Professor Cole responds.

This reminds me of a comment made by the lawyer representing Ward Churchill: "What do I know, I am only an constitutional lawyer specializing in the 1st ammendment."

In both cases it is an attempt to dismiss an opinion without debating its merits.

Huh. I ignored 100% of Cole's rants -- I must therefore be 5% more hypocritical than Rand is.

Rand - Thanks for the link.

Jon - I didn't "obfusciate" anything. I just found one particular passage in Cole's post to be morally offensive and logically indefensible, and responded to it. Plenty of people weighed in on the rest of the dispute.