“In discourse these days, whether about politics, religion, philosophy, or any of the other topics that seem so effectively to get everybody’s knickers in a twist, we will all have observed by now that some people have what is known as a ‘short fuse’. I’ve been noticing more and more that quite a few folks go one better, and operate on what might be thought of, if we are willing to test the metaphor’s tensile strength, as a ‘proximity’ fuse: they detonate at the expression of any thought that so much as reminds them of whatever it is that they are crusading against.
.....Such minds are like eels lurking in the coral, snapping at whatever shiny object paddles by. I suppose other eels find them attractive, but to swimmers they are merely a nuisance.”
.....Such minds are like eels lurking in the coral, snapping at whatever shiny object paddles by. I suppose other eels find them attractive, but to swimmers they are merely a nuisance.”
Malcolm Pollack, “That’s a Moray”, Waka Waka Waka (Weblog), 9th January 2007.
1 comment:
Good point. You can see this in the increased number of adjectives which seem to pepper debate these days. "The evil, lying, bastard Blair", for instance - sentiments I agree with, but not always conducive to discussion. As a rule I find debates on religion most prone to this.
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