Pupil Box Daddy Earns A C-
Posted by Lynn Swann
A Guest Editorial By William "The Refrigerator" Perry
Box Daddy's attempt to school Lynn Swann and David Gelernter earns a C- here at the William "The Refrigerator" Perry School For The Polemically Challenged. Box manages to highlight Gelernter's more obnoxious and egregious flaws, but Box then turns around and embraces a point of view that is more-or-less equally flawed and fails to see that the same types of criticisms he's levelling at Gelernter also apply to his arguments.
Box is correct to point out that Gelernter's particularly idiotic brand of populism, if taken to its logical conclusion, would suggest abolishing police forces, the FDA, and so on. However, Box's position, if taken to its logical conclusion, would be universal socialism (which Box probably advocates) in the form of an oppressive totalitarian government (which he hopefully does not advocate).
As a scholar with expertise in the history of Western civilization, I can tell you authoritatively that the overiding theme of this history is the attempt to balance personal freedom and individual responsibility on the one hand with the public interest on the other hand. Gelernter obviously errs too much on the side of advocating for personal freedom. Box Daddy errs too much on the side of surrendering these freedoms. The answer that is in everyone's best interest is obviously somewhere in between the two extremes. This should be obvious from both history and common sense.
Box Daddy refuses to concede that such a thing should even be considered by a reasonable person. He likens such a position to suggesting that we breathe helium instead of oxygen. Why does he do this? As far as I can tell, it is for no good reason other than to fancy himself provocative. But the intelligent reader knows otherwise. And that keeps Box Daddy from being an effective polemicist. Well, that, and his rambling and unfocused writing style.
I would give Box Daddy a grade of a "C" but I had to take off extra points for his repeated attempts to tar my good friend, Lynn Swann. Box tries to give the impression that the ridiculous position of Gelernter is shared by Lynn. Lynn called Gelernter "wrong-headed" and even wrote that he hates (his word) Gelernter. Lynn merely cited Gelernter to point out that Gelernter sounds reasonable compared to a certain previous entry by Box. And Lynn's right.
Final grade: C-
Respectfully,
William "The Refrigerator" Perry
P.S. Joke overheard in the 1980s: Did you hear that the Giants traded Lawrence Taylor to Chicago? They wanted to put the Coke Machine next to the Refrigerator.
A Guest Editorial By William "The Refrigerator" PerryBox Daddy's attempt to school Lynn Swann and David Gelernter earns a C- here at the William "The Refrigerator" Perry School For The Polemically Challenged. Box manages to highlight Gelernter's more obnoxious and egregious flaws, but Box then turns around and embraces a point of view that is more-or-less equally flawed and fails to see that the same types of criticisms he's levelling at Gelernter also apply to his arguments.
Box is correct to point out that Gelernter's particularly idiotic brand of populism, if taken to its logical conclusion, would suggest abolishing police forces, the FDA, and so on. However, Box's position, if taken to its logical conclusion, would be universal socialism (which Box probably advocates) in the form of an oppressive totalitarian government (which he hopefully does not advocate).
As a scholar with expertise in the history of Western civilization, I can tell you authoritatively that the overiding theme of this history is the attempt to balance personal freedom and individual responsibility on the one hand with the public interest on the other hand. Gelernter obviously errs too much on the side of advocating for personal freedom. Box Daddy errs too much on the side of surrendering these freedoms. The answer that is in everyone's best interest is obviously somewhere in between the two extremes. This should be obvious from both history and common sense.
Box Daddy refuses to concede that such a thing should even be considered by a reasonable person. He likens such a position to suggesting that we breathe helium instead of oxygen. Why does he do this? As far as I can tell, it is for no good reason other than to fancy himself provocative. But the intelligent reader knows otherwise. And that keeps Box Daddy from being an effective polemicist. Well, that, and his rambling and unfocused writing style.
I would give Box Daddy a grade of a "C" but I had to take off extra points for his repeated attempts to tar my good friend, Lynn Swann. Box tries to give the impression that the ridiculous position of Gelernter is shared by Lynn. Lynn called Gelernter "wrong-headed" and even wrote that he hates (his word) Gelernter. Lynn merely cited Gelernter to point out that Gelernter sounds reasonable compared to a certain previous entry by Box. And Lynn's right.
Final grade: C-
Respectfully,
William "The Refrigerator" Perry
P.S. Joke overheard in the 1980s: Did you hear that the Giants traded Lawrence Taylor to Chicago? They wanted to put the Coke Machine next to the Refrigerator.
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