George Orwell on Blog Comments, 1938

When you meet anyone in the flesh you realize immediately that he is a human being & not a sort of caricature embodying certain ideas. It is partly for that reason that I don’t mix much in literary circles, because I know from experience that once I have met & spoken to anyone I shall never again be able to show any intellectual brutality towards him, even when I feel that I ought to.

Quote of the Day

Jeff Medcalf in a comment on a post by Rand Simberg:

It’s funny, but Adelman exactly fits a pattern I’ve been noticing. Excluding low-information voters, who largely vote on emotional or tribal bases, the people that I am seeing supporting Obama largely hope that he doesn’t mean what he says, while those that oppose him largely believe he means exactly what he says.

Hmm, where have we read similar ideas?

UPDATE: Richard Epstein’s thoughts.