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We were like dayflies, who had come to the end of their day, where the dream dissolves into nothingness. Why did we fly? Whom were we doing it for?
- Johannes Steinhoff, Luftwaffe ace, 1945
After another long, winding political debate on one of my frequented boards, I wonder at the end what the whole point of it was. I certainly don't feel I convinced anyone of anything they didn't already believe. I was forced to clarify some of my own thinking, and got to sharpen my polemical teeth a little...but in the end, do these virtual coffeehouse arguments really make a difference in any meaningful way? Heck, you could say that about the whole political blogging enterprise - its great to have access to the thoughts of so many people, but its far from any kind of universal group mind. If anything, it just seems to cement viewpoints more firmly, since folks are naturally drawn to other folks who share their viewpoints. Birds of a feather, and all that. And the various camps rarely seem to interact, except for the occasional throwing of verbal javelins across the chasms.
Perhaps my expectations are unrealistic sometimes, something guides to polemics warn against. Anyway, I guess I'm a little more sympathetic to Vodkapundit's complaints today than previously.
- Johannes Steinhoff, Luftwaffe ace, 1945
After another long, winding political debate on one of my frequented boards, I wonder at the end what the whole point of it was. I certainly don't feel I convinced anyone of anything they didn't already believe. I was forced to clarify some of my own thinking, and got to sharpen my polemical teeth a little...but in the end, do these virtual coffeehouse arguments really make a difference in any meaningful way? Heck, you could say that about the whole political blogging enterprise - its great to have access to the thoughts of so many people, but its far from any kind of universal group mind. If anything, it just seems to cement viewpoints more firmly, since folks are naturally drawn to other folks who share their viewpoints. Birds of a feather, and all that. And the various camps rarely seem to interact, except for the occasional throwing of verbal javelins across the chasms.
Perhaps my expectations are unrealistic sometimes, something guides to polemics warn against. Anyway, I guess I'm a little more sympathetic to Vodkapundit's complaints today than previously.
no subject
I like the quote. Does this perhaps suggest that you're beginning to feel a certain disillusionment with the side you've been flying for up to now? :)
http://tgryn.tripod.com
It's not the "side," so much as the nature of the enterprise itself. Who, exactly, are we trying to persuade? Or is it all just self-indoctrination, where the goal is mainly to persuade ourselves that we are 'right'?
Anyway, Steinhoff's is an interesting story. He was one of Germany's top WWII fighter aces with 176 victories, flying from the beginning of the war to its ending. He was also known as "the handsomest man in the Luftwaffe". Unfortunately, in the final days of the war his ME262 jet crashed and he suffered massive burns which left him scarred for the rest of his life. He did live until 1994 and helped reconstruct the West German air force after the war.
http://history1900s.about.com/library/prm/bljohannessteinhoff1.htm
P.S.