If all I cared about was traffic, then of course I’d write more about politics. Or religion. I wrote about religion a while back, and – yeah, I got lots of traffic. And I also had to spend about two weeks fielding e-mail from people, explaining my position again and again, taking issue with people who mischaracterised my position, trying to remain at all times relatively cool headed, relatively reasonable. I wish I could say that I succeeded all fo the time.
Of course if all I cared about was traffic, then I wouldn’t have bothered. I would have let my rhetoric fly free and wild. Facts? What facts! Logic? Who cares! I’d have stripped myself of the constraints of society (Arguing fairly – pah! Accepting when you’re wrong – how retro! Looking to learn through debate rather than win through debate – ludicrous!) like I was shedding clothing, and I’d have run naked screaming through the fields of cheap attack, jingoism and name-calling! Who cares what I’m saying as long as it has the effect I desire? Who cares what tactics I use to get my point across? A win by a technicality – or a win by cheating – is still a win godammit…
If all I cared about was traffic, I’d write like James Lileks. I’d talk to people’s guts, I’d talk to their pain. I’d do whatever I could to avoid their ears and their minds. Because otherwise how would I be able to argue that being the victim of a terrorist atrocity automatically made every decision of a country – past, present and future – purer than the driven snow…? How else would I be able to argue that the only response that would be unreasonable would be atomic war…? How else would I be able to argue that anyone who even questioned this position hated humanity and was insulting the families of victims?
I’m sure James gets a lot of traffic, and I’m sure that a lot of people feel that he speaks for them and says things that they feel to be true. There are a lot of people who feel vulnerable in the world at the moment, and there are a lot of people who feel that something must be done. They’re right to feel vulnerable – we all feel vulnerable. They’re right to want to do something to make the world a better place – there’s no doubt that it could do with the help. But selling arguments on the basis of fear and bile and name-calling isn’t the way to go. If I was James I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. And I don’t think the traffic would help…
Addendum: I’d like to apologise for the tone of this post, which was written in anger and ironically suffers from some of the same rhetorical excesses that I was taking James Lileks to task for. I do – however – still stand by the content.