I’m surprised the spindly old hippie has it in him, but “Doctor” Miller has once again roused himself to move the goal posts in this, the third quarter of the Iranian Bestiality Bowl and Farsi Festival.
Beaten on those darn facts, Miller is scrambling for higher ground now, scolding Steyn:
What onus do you feel, as a person who has considerable influence, to promote understanding, not just tear us further apart?
In some circles, that’s what’s known as “topping from below.” (If you don’t recognize the expression, you aren’t the type of person who should google it.) Frankly, I think Miller was just looking for an excuse to type the word “onus”…
Steyn responds in the expected fashion, in a post that, in the interest of public health, really should carry a “latex allergy” warning.
(And why do I get the feeling that one of Miller’s J-school colleagues in particular is really jealous right now…?)
Don’t you love it? Sometime during the 1980s I think, the purpose of journalism went from “raising hell” to “making peace.”
Were you to ask Miller if Woodward and Bernstein shouldn’t have “tried to promote understanding” of Nixon & Co., you’d be greeted with a rightly baffled look. But then again, Richard Nixon was an Evil Criminal Mastermind — those millions of Muslims who wish us all dead? Harmless and misunderstood!
Dear Mr. Paine: don’t you feel an onus to promote understanding of the King’s position, not just calling him an “ass”? Where will that get us? It’ll just turn people off…
Dear Mr. Mencken: didn’t your mother ever tell you that if you can’t say anything nice…?
Dear Jesus: about all this “hell” stuff…
You know: I’ll bet Miller is one of those fellows — and they have been legion for decades now — who have a big poster on their wall with a picture of Einstein and his quote, “Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities…”
Without even realizing that HE is one of the mediocrities, rather than a “great spirit”!
Anyway, Steyn finishes him off:
So now you’re coming on all collegial and angling for a big-picture debate about the broader issues. Well, you’re welcome to contact my agent and try to book me for a speech at Ryerson for my usual fee, and I’ll be more than happy to take your question afterwards – although I should warn you, as I always say on these occasions, that, while I welcome hostile questions, after a certain point I’d rather just settle it through physical violence.
See you all outside the Gould Street doors, girls & boys! But it sounds like a “DRESS CODE IN EFFECT” affair, so remember: NO DENIM.
Safe word: “Fallaci”.
