{"id":11754,"date":"2019-04-02T15:23:22","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T22:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=11754"},"modified":"2021-07-26T09:07:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T16:07:16","slug":"angry-reader-04-02-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-04-02-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Angry Reader 04-02-2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From An Angry Reader:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Mr. Hanson,\nthough your academic accreditations appear substantial, your view of history\nseems almost deliberately moronic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I generally don\u2019t like\nto wade into a debate with an ad hominem; but defending George Bush and his disastrous\nmilitary policies??<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only rational\nexplanations are intentional distortion or willful ignorance\u2026 Sadly, neither\nliar or moron are nouns that can be softened with a smile. It might explain the\nodd empathy you have for the narcissist orangutan who currently occupies the\noval office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allow me to go out on\na limb here to suggest that your personal record of military service doesn\u2019t\nexceed Dubya\u2019s, defending the skies of Texas against the threat of Oklahoma;\nand was more akin with a pussy grabbing coward who shall remain unnamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you care to give\nyour blustering opinions of military history some authentic depth; you might\ndirect your attention to the works of Major Danny Sjursen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the current\nnattering neocon nabobs, that would have left Agnew hugging a toilet bowl;\nSjuren actually risked his life serving his country\u2019s misguided agendas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not asking you to\nput yourself in harms way the way Dan did; after all, that\u2019s the job of the\n\u201cwarrior class\u201d that you spineless neocons created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, run one of\nhis thoughtful narratives alongside one of the steaming turds that you consider\nedifying prose, to illustrate the stark contrast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh\u2026 and feel free to\ninclude this in your \u201cangry letters\u201d section; though in truth, I feel less\nanger for you than stunned embarrassment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

___________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Angry Reader M. Deuel,<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You certainly do your best to score well on\nthe Angry Reader scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One trademark of these furious letters has\nbeen the resort to the ancient tropes of praeteritio <\/em>and apophasis<\/em>, in which the angry reader declares,\n\u201cI don\u2019t like to\u2026\u201d but then does mostly what he just warned against, as if it\nis thereby excused. You sadly win still more angry reader points by the stereotypical\ncoarse vocabulary, the usual ad hominem smears, the lack of any solid evidence\nto support your contentions, the incoherent grammar and syntax, the three-dot\npauses, and all those quirks now so familiar to readers of the Angry Reader\ncolumns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think that readers would mind\ncriticisms and objections, if one just listed them rationally, offered some\nevidence, and avoided attacking the messenger in lieu of an inability to\ncritique the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, a stereotyped characteristic of\nthe angry reader is that the greater the inability to refute an idea\ndispassionately, the greater the tendency to stoop to the sort of childish\ninvective and schoolyard dirty talk that you display. In 40 years, I have never\nwritten a single letter, column, or essay with any of the unfortunate\nvocabulary or the complete lack of substance that you display here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you really believe that after eschewing the\narts of ad hominem invective, you excuse debasing yourself by labeling me a\n\u201cmoron\u201d and \u201cliar,\u201d while critiquing the president as a \u201cnarcissistic\norangutan\u201d\u2014in lieu of making an argument that his economic record, judicial\nappointments, energy expansion, foreign policy or efforts to bring the Bill of\nRights back to campus are somehow flawed. You might have made a legitimate\nargument that the staggering deficits cannot go on, or that there is no\nstrategic resolution in Afghanistan or that Trump\u2019s tweets can become\n\u201cunpresidential.\u201d Instead you wrote the above and thus to no point at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From An Angry Reader: Dear Mr. Hanson, though your academic accreditations appear substantial, your view of history seems almost deliberately moronic. I generally don\u2019t like to wade into a debate with an ad hominem; but defending George Bush and his disastrous military policies?? The only rational explanations are intentional distortion or willful ignorance\u2026 Sadly, neither […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-33A","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12593,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-08-30-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":11754,"position":0},"title":"Angry Reader 08-30-2020","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Hello Professor Hanson, First let me say, I am a regular reader and viewer of yours. I relish your take on the important issues. This evening on Tucker Carlson Tonight with Brian Kilmeade 7\/16\/2020 you used some imprecise language that caused both me and my bride\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12534,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-07-31-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":11754,"position":1},"title":"Angry Reader 07-31-2020","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello Professor Hanson, First let me say, I am a regular reader and viewer of yours. I relish your take on the important issues. This evening on Tucker Carlson Tonight with Brian Kilmeade 7\/16\/2020 you used some imprecise language that caused both me and my bride of many years great\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11925,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-7-30-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":11754,"position":2},"title":"Angry Reader 7-30-2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Dont worry , no silly greetings for you. Ha ha ha , reading your opinion in Albuquerque Journal made me laugh out loud. Fortunately, I rarely read such Bull Shit. Such crap is beyond belief. Thanks for the Laugh , Darrell Little \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 Dear Angry Reader\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":368,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11754,"position":3},"title":"Angry Reader #2","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Private Papers Angry Reader #2\u00a0writes: Typical crank piece by the professor, full of crap that people who don\u2019t know California (but loathe it anyway) will eat up. Fact: \u201cLiberals\u201d did not let illegal aliens flood California. The federal government did, by not policing the border. Rich\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10137,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":11754,"position":4},"title":"Angry Reader","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"From an Angry Reader: Mr. Hanson, \u00a0 Did you volunteer or were you drafted (like so many of us) to fight in Vietnam? Did you know \u201cwe\u201d lost that war to those so called \u201ccommies\u201d and now those \u201ccommies\u201d make Trump brand shirts and ties? \u00a0 Also, are you willing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10968,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/02-12-18-angry-reader\/","url_meta":{"origin":11754,"position":5},"title":"02\/12\/18 Angry Reader","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: I was surprised this morning. Usually when I read your column I want to throw up. But today\u2019s column was absolutely brilliant Nice job Mike Benbrook Oakhurst CA \u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013 Dear Reforming Angry Reader Mike Benbrook, Vomiting is not healthy. If I were to do so each\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11754"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11755,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11754\/revisions\/11755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}