So, I opined on Twitter that the neo-Nazi Le Pen cannot win in the next round of the French residential elections. It’s a widely-held view; the odds are decidedly against the Trump-favoured fascists in the next round.
That single tweet elicited this response from an Ottawa actor (who, tellingly, is a New Democrat):
So, I found that rather irritating, because it fell into one of the categories of Twitter things that are rather irritating to me:
- People who ask me to do their research, instead of doing their own damn research. Also, rhetorical tweets.
- Passive-aggressive tweets.
- People who tweet hate, naturally.
- Humourless, pious people who are online hall monitors, perpetually tsk-tsking everyone else, and acting like God made them the arbiter of all that is morally/ethically/politically correct.
- People who (like Sean, above) who cling to the (now popular) view that nothing is knowable.
In politics, you hear from the Not Knowable People all the time. They’re like the Pharisees of the modern age. To wit: you guys all said Kathleen Wynne wouldn’t win in 2014, but she did! You guys all said Donald Trump wouldn’t win in 2016, but he did! Ha!
[Pithy responses, respectively: The Ontario Libs didn’t win so much as the Ontario PCs lost. There’s a difference, idiot. And: Trump didn’t win. He cheated in the electoral college, with the help of Russia and thousands of hackers, and Hillary got three million more votes than he did, which should count for something in a sane universe.]
This crew – this “nothing is knowable anymore” crew – drive me bananas. Like the Pharisees, mediocrity is their medium. Beige is their colour, and tapioca is their manna. They never take any risks, they never venture a strong opinion, and they are therefore never shown to be wrong about anything. Like J. Alfred Prufrock, they doubt everything and know nothing.
As you might have gleaned over the past 15 years or so, the author of this web site is not shy about offering an opinion every so often. He – and I know him quite well, so trust me – likes people who are colourful and creative and who take risks. He despises Prufrock-like bureaucrats. Dare I eat a peach?
I do, I do. I dare. I’m going to keep daring to eat peaches, bushels of ’em, until I am booted off this mortal coil. As my journalism prof Roger Bird said to me in response to a post a few days ago: “You were a part of the continuing reward of teaching in the School of Journalism. It took a very short time for me to recognize stars soon after they walked through the door. You were among them of course. Beyond that, you were a shit disturber. My inner rule for such was, don’t get in their way. Clearly I followed the rule and you went on to do much good in the world.”
I will keep Roger’s note around until I croak. It is a wonderful and needed shield against the Know-Nothings on Twitter. Meanwhile, you Twitter people who are lazy – or who hate, or who are too clever by half, or who are pious, or who say nothing is knowable?
You irritate us, but you won’t ever beat us.
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