Thursday, November 1, 2012

Steyn and the Sad, Strange Little Mann

 Have you been keeping up with Steyn's latest suit? As if it needs to be said, a PhD is no guarantee that a man is honest. Or even smart. (And neither is a Nobel Peace Prize, while we're on the topic.) I feel a little guilty watching this unfold, as though I'm observing a piece of large machinery bearing down on a yappy little dog, and no one can convince him to get out of its path. As the Simpsons' Milhouse said, "I fear to watch, yet I cannot turn away."

Hey, Mr. Steyn, I've got an idea for your next Christmas album cover:


 .

Posted by at
Labels: ,

5 comments:

  1. Mrs. PinkertonNovember 2, 2012 at 2:59 AM

    Oh gosh. So funny, on so many levels. There are numerous things wrong in the world, but this makes me feel placated. You're a genius, Beaz.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 2, 2012 at 8:13 AM

    Morning Ladies. Can I play devil's advocate here? Do we take joy in the misfortune of others? I often think of this when I too chuckle at the nonsense people do, and the comeuppance they almost always suffer. It is a fine line, I guess, between passing on information about our world, and taking pleasure this way....any thoughts?

    Barbara on a "rain again" day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mrs. BeazlyNovember 2, 2012 at 11:27 AM

    I don't take joy in the misfortunes of others. I do, however, sometimes see humor in the way people insist on pursuing and publicizing their folly as though it is a virtue. That's why I implied that this whole process of Michael Mann suing Mark Steyn was going to be painful to watch, but interesting nonetheless, especially when more details about Mr. Mann's research methods are revealed. And I do think it's very funny that someone would call himself a Nobel Peace Prize winner just because he got a participation ribbon, and funnier still that he would cite this in a formal complaint as evidence of his credibility.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mrs. PinkertonNovember 2, 2012 at 8:16 PM

    For my part, it's not a matter of enjoying seeing a man getting kicked when he's down, so to speak. It's more like wondering in amused incredulity when he willingly lies (ahem) down in front of a train.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mrs. PinkertonNovember 3, 2012 at 9:40 PM

    Or, as Mr. Darcy (BBC TV version, 1995) says (of Wickham), "Yes, his misfortunes have been great indeed." Mr. Darcy says this with pointed sarcasm, since Wickham's "misfortunes" have been entirely self-inflicted. This type of 'misfortune' falls under the category of what philosopher Alice von Hildebrand calls "illegitimate suffering" and thus it is fair game, so to speak, for satire. The challenging part for the Christian writer is to tread the line between satire and cruelty without deliberately overstepping it.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)