August 2, 2006 at 2:37AM There’s no greater waste than a closed mind
Richard Waghorne writes that the kerfuffle concerning his screed against elements of Irish culture he doesn’t like “is closed”. So be it. He made his pronouncement without engaging any discussion with the more reasonable elements in the Irish blogging community, instead tarring us all as “language zealots”.
He writes, “you lost”, referring to all of us who disagreed with the stance he took no matter how well reasoned or well researched our counter arguments were. But how did “we” lose? Did “we” lose because a bunch of hotheads flamed his email account?
Yes, we did lose in a way; we, Richard included, lost the chance for real debate. Richard caused us all to lose because he didn’t follow up his arguments anywhere, be it on his weblog or in the comments section of any of the posts about his original post.
And I have to ask Richard why this is so? What fear drives you to write your pieces, post them online, and then hide away when others attempt to engage with you about them? Since you turned off comments on your weblog, you’ve steadily disengaged from debate with your fellow bloggers. Why? Back in February, you endorsed Damien’s suggestion for a bloggers’ debate: what’s changed since then? Really, all I’m looking for is a response. You can email me or comment on this entry.
Addendum: there’s reaction elsewhere from Bernie Goldbach and EWI at FreeStater.
Second Addenum (August 3rd): Richard has popped his head up on GUBU. Play nice now, kids! I’ve left three comments: let’s see what response they get.
Third Addendum (August 3rd): I got an email from Richard! And guess what: neither smoke nor sulphur billowed from my computer.
1 On August 2, 2006 at 9:10, Donal wrote:
My God, when will the pain end? Richard is, thankfully, one in a million but he’s good for a chuckle every now and again.
2 On August 2, 2006 at 13:45, EWI wrote:
His threats of legal action against myself (and presumably others, too) are particularly cowardly and despicable, I must say.
3 On August 2, 2006 at 19:34, Keith wrote:
For the record, I haven’t received anything in the way of email from him despite my request.
@Donal: The pain will end when Richard finally gets some sense and realises that standing in the corner with his fingers in his ears, going “Na! Na! Na! Na! I can’t here you! Na! Na! Na! Na!” is not a constructive stance and that he’s better off engaging with others with opinions that differ from his own and ignoring the genuine trolls. Who knows: he might even learn a thing or too!