I Know I Shouldn't Indulge Myself, But...

By Mitchell Hadley

Mike Potemra at NRO offers the following commentary on a "blogger" which is simply too good to pass up.

After noting the blogger's jeremiad (which is what people of our age used to call what people today refer to as screeds) against "frenzies" about the president's bow to the Japanese emperor, Potemra goes on to say this:

The blogger who wrote this is himself, actually, among those especially highly prone to frenzies. (Look at the tone of the rest of his post — not the substance, some of which I agree with and some of which I don’t — but the tone. You’ll see what I mean.) I point this out not to “gotcha” him with a hypocrisy charge, but to praise him for upholding the principle. It’s well known that we dislike most in others the faults we ourselves share, and this fault — the cultivation of rage in our hearts — is one I’m sure most of us know, only too well. He deserves as much slack on this as any of the rest of us.

And to that, I can only say "ditto, ditto."

Oh, and the blogger to which Potemra refers? That would be none other than the man formerly known here as the "Blogger Who Shall Remain Unnamed," the number two man on my Enemies List, Mark Shea.

Potemra's remarks underline the main gripe I've had with Shea for years, i.e. his tone, which I find incredibly off-putting, not to say malicious. Shea may make excellent points from time to time - in fact, I know he does - but he's so annoying, so condesending, so snarky the rest of the time, it makes me want to disagree with him just on principle. I'm just glad I converted to Catholicism before I started reading him; otherwise, I might still be a Protestant today. I've finally acknowledged that on some issues, I find myself agreeing with him in spite of what he says, rather than because of what he says.

Often Shea conducts his discussions as if he were a child on a playground. And I'd expect more from an adult - wouldn't you?