Instapundit: Threat or Menace?
This guy does not care for Instapundit:
Put simply, Reynolds is the leading purveyor of modern McCarthyism on the Internet. He is a daily source of cheap shots, pot-kettle criticisms, and two-cent sanctimony.
OK then. Call me crazy, but when I see somebody drag out “McCarthyism,” it sets off my Godwin Alarm. It has been flung about so much that, as Orwell said about the word “fascism,” that it “has now no meaning except insofar as it signifies ‘something not desirable.'”
April 8th, 2004 at 11:28 am
“Godwin Alarm” – I love it.
I’m not sure everyone who reads you might remember that one…
Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
April 8th, 2004 at 2:25 pm
Ann Coulter probably read the thing about “McCarthyism” and thought it was intended as a compliment…
April 8th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
Now, now.
April 8th, 2004 at 10:08 pm
Instapundit can summon people before a select senate committee and interrogate them about their communist activities?
COOL!
How can I get that superpower?
April 8th, 2004 at 11:08 pm
I never used Nazi/fascist terminology in re: Reynolds. Nothing close.
And the term was McCarthyism. That would refer to persons encouraged by McCarthy and others to harass people who held unpopular opinions but had committed no crime, or people suspected of holding such opinions, notwithstanding a lack of factual support. I won’t burden this site with further rehash of the arguments.
cheers.
April 9th, 2004 at 8:38 am
I never used Nazi/fascist terminology in re: Reynolds. Nothing close.
And I never said you did (nor did anybody in the comments, as far as I can see).
McCarthyism…would refer to persons encouraged by McCarthy and others to harass people who held unpopular opinions but had committed no crime…
Except there’s an important distinction: McCarthy was a government official, acting in his official capacity. Glenn Reynolds is a college professor (granted, it’s a state-funded college), acting as a private citizen. Now, if we’re going to call it “McCarthyism” every time a college professor happens to “harass people who held unpopular opinions,” maybe it’s time to drag out some of the experiences of conservative or Christian students.
I won’t burden this site with further rehash of the arguments.
And for that, may we be truly grateful.
April 10th, 2004 at 7:47 am
Heh.. Sounds like they’ve got InstaReynold’s pretty much pegged! ; )