But beyond humor that misses, with some audiences or with all, what characterizes snark? Two things, I think. One is that it is an appeal to emotion – it is a statement with a particular affect, and the affect is an appeal to an attitude in which both writer and reader participate, but they participate in an exclusionary way. This is what makes it a branch of irony. Instead of arguing to everyone on the basis of shared reason so that, at least in principle, everyone could be included in the shared sentiment, snark depends upon exclusion. It is a refusal to offer a public argument, with the possibility of reasoned inclusion, and instead depends upon prior shared views that merely exclude because snark does not make an attempt to persuade. It is ‘affectively exclusionary’ in the language of moral psychology.
[…]
Two, because snark depends upon a prior shared commitment, it is a form of question-begging argument. Not precisely a form of argument, because it is about affect, not reason. So, more precisely, snark is the affective cognate of a question-begging argument, in which the sentiment of the conclusion assumes the sentiment of the premise. It assumes that one already shares the attitudes necessary to … share the attitudes.
Blogging
Blogging and the Law
The Wall Street Journal article titled “Bloggers, Beware: What You Write Can Get you Sued”. The article started with a discussion of a woman who was sued because she was in a dispute with a software company over accusations that customer data was compromised in an online forum. She was sued for defamation and she claimed protection under the “shield laws” which protect traditional (print, television) journalists. Her insurance company, Allstate, was paying for her legal costs under her “umbrella” insurance policy which is designed to fill in for potential issues not covered under auto and home owner policies.
Traditional issues with the web related to copyright infringement issues; one time I ran a different site that was hit with a “cease and desist” letter for publishing data about a certification process (not specific testing information) – I took the information down and posted the letter on the site instead. Nowadays it seems that much of the copyright infringement issues have migrated to downloading music because of the revenue losses; the newspapers and other institutions don’t seem to be going after blogs much.
Tournament of the Home Offices
Our esteemed colleague Zenpundit has initiated a tournament of the home offices, and tagged me.
How embarrassing.
Monkeywrenching socialism – Introduction
I always thought that if we every got within shouting distance of a tipping point where we would become a socialist country somebody would start up an extended discussion on monkeywrenching socialism. Nobody else seems to have done so (feel free to educate me on other efforts in comments) so I thought I’d put in my two bits with a blog post series.
Let me be clear as to what I am talking about. This is not about felonious conduct. It’s not a mirror image of left-wing monkeywrenching. It’s about exploiting a simple fact of life, that socialism doesn’t work and the socialist ideology makes headway only when the long-term effects are hidden or obfuscated. Monkeywrenching socialism is about improving society across the board from politics to economics to culture by introducing moments of clarity and insisting that there is no moral or ethical high ground for a wrong system that has caused as much damage in the world.
Peacefully adopted socialism depends on people feeling a misplaced sense of loyalty to the corpse of the system that socialism is usurping. People know that something is wrong but they ‘play fair’ long after the socialists have started their long march through the institutions and played dirty pool to tear the guts out of the old order before anybody notices.
More soon.
Monocle and Strategy & Tactics
The masthead of our blog at Life in the Great Midwest used to say that we “shill for no one” and it is true, no one that pays us, at least. But Dan and I are big fans of the magazine “Monocle“. Monocle covers obscure topics – the first magazine covered the modern Japanese navy (which is why I picked up the initial issue on the spot and wrote about it here). The magazine has beautiful pictures from expert photographers and covers topics like the Falklands, Iceland, and other interesting spots around the globe. Fashion and art are also frequent and well-written topics.
I heard that Monocle was going to open stores so I stopped and took a photo as I walked past this shop in London. Unfortunately it was closed at the time but I wish them the best in their stand-alone stores. Dan bought me a subscription to Monocle for xmas which was much appreciated. I send the issues on to my nephew at college when I am done – even if he doesn’t read them he will look cultured to whomever he brings back to his cinder-block dorm room.
Another favorite of the blog is the magazine Strategy and Tactics. This magazine covers military topics from the ancient world to WW2 to today. Every year when I renew my subscription I also buy one for Dan and now Gerry, as well (he might be wondering why that shows up in his mailbox every month). The magazine came from the era of physical (not PC) war games and they used to put a game in every issue – but now most of the magazine focuses on relevant articles.
I particularly like the “for your information” column where individuals write pithy articles of 2000 words or less on topics that I, at least, find fascinating. Here are some highlights from the latest issue:
– the statistic that 2008 was the first year that the US air force added more pilot less drones to the armory than manned aircraft
– an article about how the Israeli army used armored bulldozers to level enemy strong points in their wars in Gaza
– A very good article on Gerald Bull, the artillery genius who designed a long range 155mm cannon and worked on a gun large enough to launch satellites into orbit – he was assassinated (likely by the Mossad) as he worked on a project for Saddam
– an article about the survival of the battle cruiser Seydlitz, which barely escaped sinking after Jutland in 1916
It helps that I already know a lot about these topics, I guess (I added the part about Bull and the Mossad from my general knowledge – I think when he was shot he had tens of thousands of dollars on him that was untouched, which you’d figure an average assassin would have taken).
If you have some time I’d check out both of these interesting magazines. If anyone has shopped at the Monocle store, pop in a comment.
Cross posted at LITGM