I can’t help but comment on the evolution of Goldstein’s rhetorical strategy. First he said (go to rameshponnuru.com and you can follow all the links!) that my article on Tribe was “profoundly silly.” (Me, I think that what’s silly is the use of that intensifier before “silly.”) It was just a profoundly silly article that can’t be taken seriously, which is, I guess, why Goldstein has written 17 pages about it–that number is not an exaggeration, by the way–and bought all those websites. When I responded to the “profoundly silly” post, he came back with a post that said that my response had caused his opinion of my levelheadedness to sink. He was writing, you see, more in sorrow than in anger. In the next go-round, he commented that he had never heard of me before my article. I’m a nothing! A nobody!

So let’s reconstruct the chronology here. Goldstein had never heard of me. Then he read my article, which both struck him as “profoundly silly” and left him with an impression that I am at least somewhat levelheaded. Then this impression faded away. And now, of course, he is talking about how there have to be “consequences” for all this silliness. This sort of thing certainly played a role in my decision not to match Goldstein page for page.

Okay, that’s all (unless Goldstein starts making threats to my puppies). (Note to Goldstein: I don’t actually have any puppies. You can scratch that off the to-do list.)