I couldn't comment the other day. I'm not sure what all I was going to say except--victim does not equal hero. We have a way of equating pitiable with heroic and they are not the same. Some victims are heroic; they often don't like to be pitied. Some are noble and some aren't. Discussions shouldn't be shut down just because someone has suffered. Treat with respect, yes, but that doesn't mean anything goes.
Anna Venger | Homepage | 11.03.06 - 3:27 pm | #

"Ironically, Hitler is now sometimes used as a negative image for the negative emotional conditioning often used by those who tend to agree with proto-Nazi forms of pseudo-science based on a worldview rooted in scientism. In each case an abuse of science and a rejection of its limited scope is taking place."

Congratulations. The above snippet is perhaps the most perfect example of bad writing I have encountered in any blog this year. It has all the elements of a museum-quality piece: passive voice, hyphenated prefixes, and a density rarely seen outside the Earth's inner core. But the real show-stopper is the breathtaking use of intellectual adornments like "proto-Nazi" and "scientism." The whole exercise feels like watching the scrawniest dork in junior high dressing up in a $1,500 suit for the Saturday dance.

Well done, sir. Clarity is the enemy, and you are the victor.
Victor Yuschenko | 11.16.06 - 10:17 pm | #

...a density rarely seen outside the Earth's inner core.

Then you haven't read the language used in many academic journals, not to be elitist, as obviously they're just a bunch of nerds trying to impress each other and so on and so forth.

Well here, I'll try to state it more simply for you. Hitler is often now used as an icon for evil by those who would have been most easily taken in by Hitler and the passive agressive nature of fascist thinking in general.

I hope terms like "icon" and "fascist thinking" don't take your breath away because then this whole excercise would be like watching dorks debate.
mynym | Homepage | 11.20.06 - 1:16 am | #