properly aligned grid of canvas interactive drawing squares (posted on dump.fm)
see also
Day: October 6, 2012
the new aesthetic - still new
Speaking of Rhizome, was disappointed to see they've embraced James Bridle's "new aesthetic" pseudo-genre.
A couple of people picked that apart but of course they aren't on next week's panel. We can't have folks disagreeing -- it's unseemly.
Update: Bridle uses the Gish Gallop as a lecture strategy, overwhelming the listener with more spurious and contradictory examples than can be handled in one sitting. You can respond to this by either (i) saying "aww fuck you man, I give up" or (ii) rewarding Bridle with another speaking engagement.
belated smear response
"Straw man" made me think of some random trash-talkin' last year I never dealt with. This is a comment I posted on Rhizome.org today, in a thread where my name came up:
Will Brand claims "there was a guide a few years ago to arguing with Tom Moody that described the strawman accusation as cheap to produce and costly to disassemble." If Brand can produce this "guide" and provide some context I'll be happy to respond to the accusation. Secondhand reference to a disappointed person's attempt at satire seems about par for Brand, as a writing technique.
My criticisms of Brand got me perma-blocked as a commenter on Paddy Johnson's blog (this happened a couple of months ago). But it's like playing whack-a-mole to stay on top of his disinformation across the wide internet. I've been letting some of it slide.
romney in first debate
Janet Ritz (Huffington Post) claims that Romney used a creationist debate tactic of rapidly inundating your opponent with lies. (hat tip Bill):
The Gish Gallop, named after creationist Duane Gish, is the debating technique of drowning the opponent in such a torrent of half-truths, lies, and straw-man arguments that the opponent cannot possibly answer every falsehood in real time. The term was coined by Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education.
Matt Stoller (Naked Capitalism) notes that Romney was lying but reminds us that Obama isn't really an opponent of Romney on most issues:
[Obamas'] second term agenda is to cut Social Security, Medicare, frack, cut corporate taxes, bust more teachers unions and pass more neoliberal trade agreements. He is proud of this record. So are his people. But he knows he can’t run on it because it’s unpopular, so instead, he presented himself as a nice likeable guy.