Now, I don't want to get a lot of flak about this from the distaff contingent, but the leap from rational commentary in this section on any topic to partisan sniping and griping is a lot more like a bad case of PMS than intelligent reaction.
I may be appalled by your spin on a topic of which I have some knowledge. (I'll call it spin, and forego the blunter word, lie.) Bludgeoning you with words ("Jane, you ignorant slut!") won't convince you, or anyone else reading your comments. It should not.
This is not discourse, it's a shouting match, a battle of wits with all participants unarmed. For non-combatants, it's disgusting, dismaying, distasteful, and, ultimately, unacceptable. We leave the debate.
It's Gresham's law of blogging: bad commenters drive out the good.
Okay, I voted differently than you did, last election. Does that mean I am evil, anathema, consigned to Hell by any just God? Of course not! Although you might be. I can't say for sure - in fact, I won't say it.
I don't do periods.
Article comments
1 - SFC Ski
Very well put, Dr PAt.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
SHUT UP YOU RIGHT-WING LIBERAL!
[Partisan overload]
3 - DrPat
Gosh, Suss, you need some Pamabrom and Pyrilamine Maleate, bad!
You can even buy it in private. No one else needs to know...
4 - carmine
And why exactly would you believe the silliness of Gresham's so-called law?
I think Mill's marketplace of ideas is more likely the reality. Eventually we buy what serves our interests best. Bad ideas eventually vanish, good ideas in time will surface and remain, and it all occurs in the realm of intellectual capitalism. Competition leads to improvement. Actually that is what old Socrates and even Hegel figured too. Dialectic illuminates truth through conflict, "Jane you ignorant ...."
Carmine
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
But it's good you don't do periods, while everyone else in other threads speak out of their colon. It's putting rational thought in a comma. They dash to conclusions, trying to be greater than a stranger, when in fact they're less than reasonable.
And you can quote me on that.
6 - DrPat
Gresham formulated his observations in a time when coins were valuable metal. Good coins, full weight and full value, were hoarded, while trimmed coins and those made from less-valuable alloys were spent.
Eventually, there were more of the "bad" coins in circulation than the "good." Gresham's Law is based on that observation.
Nothing to argue about, sorry.
7 - DrPat
I didn't mean to bracket you with other partisans, Suss...
8 - carmine
Yes, but Gresham's laws do not apply in many many instances. For example often the better currencies or stronger currencies surpassed the trimmed coins. see http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/?article=selgin.gresham.law The section on currencies that were not legal tender demonstrate how the law has commonly been misapplied. The fact of the matter is Gresham's law actually demonstrates we want to keep what is most valuable to us not that we hope to own things of low value. That is why trimming gold and keeping it makes sense. I get to keep the gold. That is also why paper money makes sense since it has no intrinsic value it remain more valuable if the nation behind it are productive. Now with regard to Blogging I think the more garbage we publish the greater the sea for the truly beautiful boats to float upon. That's my "law": write lots and the seaworthy will have something to float above. So those of us period prone prattlers keep whining!
carmine
9 - Matthew T. Sussman
That's ok. Shit hyphens.
10 - DrPat
You're a star, Suss! I kiss your asterisk...
11 - Silas Kain
Damn. Does this mean I'm ovulating?
12 - DrPat
At YOUR age?!?!
Well, maybe. Do you experience bloating and irritation?
If not, why not?
13 - D L Ennis
Thank you, Dr Pat!
D L
14 - Silas Kain
Yes, Dr. Pat, I experience bloating. And with many of these posts in the last three days I am VERY irritated. I may be male but there are days when I feel like I have fallopian tubes.
Oh, and you are far from evil. An anathema? Well, we're all an anathema at one time or another.
Next question. This is gonna sound nuts. Does anyone know how long it will be before crawfish will be safe to eat again?
15 - DrPat
I won't be noshing on crawdads for at least three 'dad generations after the cleanup is complete -- these are scavengers, after all.
Guess what they're eating right now.
16 - Silas Kain
How long is a 'dad generation? Oh Lord, what happens to the shrimp industry now?
OK, America, what say you that we take Mardi Gras to Washington, DC? We should march on the Mall on Sunday, February 26. That'll send Congress over the edge. Can you see all those old Conservative Congressmen hiding from those bare breasted girls?
17 - DrPat
Brrr! Can you say "frigid nipples"?
Hey - great idea!
18 - DrPat
Silas, crayfish can live up to 15 years. Since they're "debris feeders," the cleanup would need to be fairly complete before a population of them would not be chock-full-o-junk.
And since they also dine on dead crawdads, to be safe, you'd want to wait 3 generations...
Don't cry, Silas. Remember that the Atchafalaya Basin also has a sizeable shrimp and 'dad supply. In fact, I expect their economic status to climb as Mississippi Basin fisheries try to clean up after Katrina.
19 - Silas Kain
I'm going to have some Zatarain's tonight. Every little bit helps.
20 - Silas Kain
A huge oil spill has emerged from storage tanks downstream from the Mississippi River. Can things get any worse?
21 - Bob A. Booey
I wish my girlfriend would make the same pledge. The last few days have been miserable :)
That is all.
22 - Silas Kain
Dr. Pat? Any news on the Bayou in and near Biloxi? I'm hearing some distressing things about body parts and the like. With all the attention on New Orleans what are folks doing about Gulfport and Biloxi? Also, there are reports of the oil spill south of New Orleans. My friend in Alabama says that they are concerned that up to 2 million gallons of oil could be headed to the Gulf. Is this true?
23 - DrPat
According to a Phoenix Online paper, AZcentral.com:
On the EPA Web site, I found this:
Finally, in North Texas e-News, they reported today that
24 - Silas Kain
Thanks, Dr. Pat.