I seriously enjoyed Chez’s post yesterday in which he staged an intervention in order to break me of my obsession with debating people like Sirota and Greenwald.
Not to spend too much time navel-gazing, but, again, it’s not only something I’m compelled to do as part of my somewhat argumentative personality, but it’s also kind of my job. I write and debate politics, and I’m trying to make a modest living doing so. Above all else, though, I’m a creature of the political discourse and sometimes making a critical point on various issues requires jumping into the fray against seemingly immovable people who strongly disagree, otherwise I’m only preaching to the choir.
Perhaps it’s delusional of me, but I think I can change some minds now and then. Even if the impact isn’t immediate, I hope to occasionally pull a Jedi mind trick and plant a seed of self-doubt that will eventually flourish into a change of mind. It can happen.
So nice try, Pazienza, but no. I have no intention of giving up as long as there’s “someone wrong on the internet.”