5 years

This blog has been in business for five years and a few days.  I remembered at the beginning of the month that the anniversary was coming up, then it skipped my mind.  Sorry, blog.  I used to, by the way, hate to call it a blog.  

The core idea of this blog has always remained a very simple one: apply the lessons of the most rudimentary skills (such as I have) in critical thinking to the big millionaire pundits and see what happens.  I think in five years of doing this, I can say with confidence that George Will, for example, does not make the occasional forgivable error in argument, but rather engages in a systematic and morally despicable kind of activity, that is to say, sophistry.  The same goes for the other frequent offenders–see the archives for them.

Sophistry, I think, is a very bad thing.  Too many well educated people simply cannot distinguish good arguments from bad ones.  They either don't have sufficient factual expertise or they simply don't know what makes a good argument.

For a discussion of one such person, see here.

11 thoughts on “5 years”

  1. Major congratulations, my friend.  It’s quite a job you’ve taken on and so many of us admire the work you do.  Thanks.

  2. Congratulations on hitting the five year mark, and keep up the good work.

  3. Congrats, John!
    To celebrate this, how about a list with top 10 posts ever ?

  4. Hey Thanks everyone–I wasn’t really looking for that, but while it’s here, let me also remind everyone that I have collaborators here–Colin Anderson and sometimes Phil Mayo–my thanks to them, of course, and you all for reading.  I appreciate, though it may not always seem like it, the critical feedback.  Thanks again.

  5. yeah … great job Colin and Phil too.
    BTW, maybe you should add Phil to your “About” section. I know he’s good at logic 🙂 but that’s about it.

  6. Thanks for all your analysis; I have been reading the site for years, don’t know how I’d deal with the likes of George Will without it…

  7. A wonderful acheivement and a great site!

    Is there some carrot cake for the occasion?

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