The Twerp-man Cometh
Iraq, with Hindsight
My latest column for the Daily Caller considers President Bush's decision to invade Iraq. How do the arguments look now, as the tenth anniversary of the invasion nears?
Iraq, With Hindsight
Iraq, With Hindsight
The Columnist's Responsibility
Over the weekend, I found out that a column I'd written a
while back had upset a reader. But in this case, it was a reader whom I knew
personally, and whom I held in high esteem. The debate that followed was lively
and affectionate, and we parted with our friendship still intact--the specifics
are not critical. But the incident got me thinking, in a more general way, about
what a columnist does, and what his responsibilities are.
There seems to me a growing sense that if a columnist hurts
people's feelings, he's failed at his task. You hear this notion implied most
often when columnists are interviewed by hostile cable news hosts. First, the
host will read aloud the offending snippet, then follow up with, "How do
you think [whoever the columnist is criticizing] will feel reading those
words?"
The correct answer (again, it seems to me) is: That's none
of my business.
I've never written a column with the intention of hurting my
readers' feelings, but I have, on many occasions, written columns knowing that
readers' feelings would likely be hurt. The way I see it, my primary job in
column-writing is to know what I'm talking about: I research a topic, derive a
thesis, present an argument in as cutting and memorable a way as possible, and
then I'm done. Whatever happens afterwards is the reader's affair, not mine. He
always has the option not to read what I write in the future.
I quote no less a sage than Ice-T in this regard: "I
can't put any cut on the product."
The Folly of Courting the Black Vote
My latest column, for the religion portal Patheos.com, on the repetition of the charge of racism leveled against Republicans in the last election cycle:
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