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10 November 2005

Rightie wrongie ruminations

Regular readings of these e-scribbles will be all too familiar with the exchanges of opinion between this pile of posts and the ones at Responsible Government League.

Not surprisingly, the post about RGL's support for Jack Layton - bizarre as the concept was in the first place - garnered a response from Liam O'Brien which, again not surprisingly, seems to be arguing about something other than the point.

It is an old debating tactic to argue against a straw man: set up a completely erroneous, irrelevant or even preposterous set of ideas and then knock them down. It is also an old tactic to brand an opponent of some position as being something they aren't - like being a child molester. Or paranoid. Or accuse them of some other failing, again without any evidence to back it up.

The title of the post - "Remind me again of why we're supposed to support this government...": is a sign of what follows: a post that uses all of the same old tactics, either directly or indirectly.

Oh well.

So much for the short-lived spate of postings at RGL that were well-thought out and provocative. Now it seems to be back to warmed over Conservative Party talking points. He must be on their automated e-mail list.

I wish there was a smiley for shrugging and shaking ones head.