‘Staler than last year’s Christmas fruitcake’
November 12th, 2009
So says Bill Mann in a post that seems to be more stand-up comedy routine than serious opinion.
Little has changed with the handgun groupies. Certainly not their point of view (summary: “The Second Amendment is the revealed word of God”), no matter how many lone-gunman shooting sprees we have.
And the anti-handgun control arguments posted here? Staler than last year’s Christmas fruitcake (an apt metaphor for a lot of these pious pistoleros).
C’mon, NRA and its acolytes: Time to freshen the material.
“Freshen the material.” This really does read like a late night comedy show.
His responses to paraphrased arguments against gun control demonstrate how short of “material” the gun control crowd is getting.
This comment on the post pretty much sums it up:
Do you really think that answering those who oppose your arguments, by cherry-picking that opposition’s worst arguments, presenting them in ludicrous form, and then ridiculing them, while never articulating your own position, is something a responsible writer should do?
Via Sebastian: We bring facts and arguments…they bring dismissive insults and ignorance. Keep it up.
November 12th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Rediculous
Idiots all
November 15th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Well, ad hominem is the last recourse of a failing argument, so there’s that.
I don’t think it fools anyone. In my experience, most Americans see through this kind of thing, and find it distasteful anywhere other than someplace like Saturday Night Live, and even there, humor is more of a release than a commentary.
I used to work in a club on the stand up comedy circuit, saw a lot of well known comics come through, and while a lot of them riffed off current affairs, virtually no one in the audience seriously discussed the topics inspired by the comedy afterward. Even my friends and acquaintances who watch John Stewart, laugh, quip on the issues, then pretty much drop it.
Satire and comedy are not really very effective vehicles for serious argument; they appear to be, but it’s really only a matter of “material”; they exercise our funny bone more than our head bone, and it’s quickly forgotten.