Since I began this blog of mine at Beliefnet.com, \u201cAt the Intersection of Faith and Culture,\u201d it hasn\u2019t taken me long to elicit a not insignificant number of visitors.\u00a0 And even though the overwhelming majority of comments that some of these visitors have taken the time to leave have been negative in nature, I am nevertheless as thankful as I can be, and for two reasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
First, the more traffic that my blog attracts, the better it is for me.<\/p>\n
Second, for however adverse to my thoughts my detractors undoubtedly are, that they have seen to it to expend energy in responding to my writings, in many cases over and over again, proves that they find it worthwhile to respond. <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n The satisfaction I\u2019ve received from all of this is not, however, unqualified.\u00a0 It is, in fact, accompanied by some measure of disappointment. You see, it has only been in a minority of instances that any of my respondents have challenged the substance of my arguments, and even then, the challenges have been delivered as part of a package that consists of ad hominem attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n To sum this up, my disappointment stems from the realization that the people from whom I have heard lack either the intellect or the will to articulate their disagreements with others in a manner that is at once intelligent and civil.\u00a0 Perhaps many of them lack both capacities.\u00a0 But judging from the quality of some of their comments, I am more inclined to think that, for the most part, it is the will that is lacking.<\/p>\n In order to argue well, you must first understand<\/em> your opponent. It is clear to me, though, that my interlocutors have taken little time to actually read <\/em>what I have written.\u00a0 Instead, they recognize from early on\u2014possibly as early as the title of the post\u2014that I approach the issue from a perspective that they do not share.\u00a0 As a result, like the proverbial bull in a china shop, they rush in\u2014not really to critique, for a critique is supposed to be aimed at the content of the position to which it is directed\u2014but, well, to have to their say.\u00a0 And like the bull for which the sight of the matador\u2019s red cloth induces in it a furious, irrational rage, my respondents appear similarly incapable of resisting the raw emotions that my postings ignite in them.<\/p>\n I find myself in something of a dilemma.\u00a0 On the one hand, for however downright ugly and foolish some of these commentators can be, it is my <\/em>blog posts upon which they are commenting.\u00a0 That is, while there can be no question that this is the last thing that they intended when they indulged their obsession with the ad hominem fallacy, in doing so they are helping me, <\/em>and <\/em>in ways that they haven\u2019t been able to imagine.\u00a0 So, I confess, I feel almost obliged to at least answer them.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the other hand, not being the best tempered person myself, I am well aware of the temptation I face to reply in like fashion to every smug, confused, arrogant, hate-filled comment that I receive.\u00a0 This, I do not want to do, for my religion\u2014Christianity\u2014identifies arrogance, cruelty, and hatred as vices, sins, and, thus, demands of its adherents that they repent of them.\u00a0 God counsels as well against folly.\u00a0 But by responding to folly, I become the fool.<\/p>\n What\u2019s a guy to do?<\/p>\n I think I have found something of a way out of this troubling situation. My solution is two-prong.<\/p>\n First, unless I find a comment to be totally beyond the pale, I will, all things being equal, approve of it.\u00a0 This way, the person who composed it can at least enjoy that small satisfaction for which he yearns, the satisfaction of having others be able to read his \u201cthoughts.\u201d\u00a0 This will be my way of repaying him for reminding me that my articles are <\/em>being read.\u00a0 With this token of my appreciation, I should think, my logophobic respondents should be well pleased, for it is a foregone conclusion that except for at my blog, no one will ever read his thoughts again. This goes without saying.\u00a0 Those who do nothing but hurl insults at those who dare to assert and defend their views are too fearful to do the same.<\/p>\n Second, with all of the writing I do (not to mention my other responsibilities), I simply have neither the time nor the patience to reply to many of the comments I receive.\u00a0 Even if some of them warranted a response\u2014clearly, I do not think that most of them do\u2014I wouldn\u2019t have the time to supply it.\u00a0 So, I will try to address some of the points\u2014when they are discernible\u2014in future articles, <\/em>not comment threads.<\/p>\n One more thing.\u00a0 To show how grateful I truly am for those who take the time to comment, I will happily link to or otherwise mention their <\/em>blogs.\u00a0 For some reason, however, for as brilliant as many of these people presumably think they are, I just don\u2019t see them being nearly as eager to state their blogs as they are to state their insults.\u00a0<\/p>\n The reason for this should be obvious.<\/p>\n Jack Kerwick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since I began this blog of mine at Beliefnet.com, \u201cAt the Intersection of Faith and Culture,\u201d it hasn\u2019t taken me long to elicit a not insignificant number of visitors.\u00a0 And even though the overwhelming majority of comments that some of these visitors have taken the time to leave have been negative in nature, I am…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n