I am an authority on one topic. I have a great many opinions about a great many other topics, about which I'd be more than happy to enlighten your readers, and perhaps some would enjoy reading them. And perhaps not. Either way, I would trust that the decision-making process on your editorial board about whether to run these opinions would have far more to do with my credibility than whether I could inflate my prose to blowhard levels.

Camille Paglia may be an authority on something--frankly, it's hard to tell. Real authorities on subjects I'm familiar with tend to quote other authorities far more often than they quote themselves--it's desperate tenure-track wannabes who inflate their own discoveries in hopes that somebody important will notice them. When real authorities make new discoveries, as Isaac Newton noted, they're seeing so far because they stand on the shoulders of giants. Ms. Paglia is far too busy shouting "Look at me! Look at me! I wrote a 700-page book! I know more than everybody!" to notice even the biggest giants.

Many times over the years I've thought that her complex prose masks an underlying ignorance of her subjects. This time, because I do have expertise in one major corner of this subject, I know it. In my narrow field of expertise, there is a genuine and wide consensus about global warming. In her usual self-aggrandizing way, Ms. Paglia exposes her ignorance and lack of authority for all to see. She's jumped the shark.

It's sad and frustrating that with Salon's limited budget they provide a forum for such an eminently quotable ignoramus.

Here's an inconvenient truth for you. Did you know that Al Gore did not write or produce "An Inconvenient Truth"? This documentary has 9 producers listed in IMDB, none being Al Gore or any of his family members. The movie was directed by Davis Guggenheim and edited by Jay Cassidy and Dan Swietlik. The film was originally inspired when one of the producers, Laurie Lennard, saw Al Gore's PowerPoint presentation about Global Warming and she pressed her husband and friends to make a documentary about Al Gore and his work. By all accounts, Al Gore did not want the movie to be about him--he wanted to focus entirely on the subject he's devoted so much of his life to for so many decades. It was the moviemakers' decision to frame the movie as they did. But make no mistake: Al Gore's work is the SUBJECT of the documentary, he is not the documentary maker. Calling "An Inconvenient Truth" "Al Gore's movie" is like calling "Gone with the Wind" "Scarlett O'Hara's movie."

If Ms. Paglia can't separate the subject of a movie from its creator, perhaps she has as little expertise in film as she does in science.

A couple of people refuted this article quite thoroughly, one producing a line by line refutation, with substance and clarity. So far the editors who select the "Editor's Choice" letters are ignoring these letters. What does that say about Salon's commitment to honest discussion of controversial issues?

Wow--I would LOVE to have a Paglia-free Premium subscription. Also free of Broadsheet. Then I could feel like my money was supporting the best of Salon, not the worst of it. And then you could find out what your readers REALLY want and don't want.

Here are three examples of large groups of people jumping on a bandwagon. In which case(s) were they led by verifiable facts supported by science, and in which not? Would Ms. Paglia and her right-wing cohorts dismiss them all as "groupthink"? Or are there times when facts and science merge so powerfully that large numbers of informed people can't escape reality and suddenly work together to effect worthwhile change?

* Millions of people rushing to get their children vaccinated against polio in the 1960s.

* Millions of people clamoring to get the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act enacted by the Nixon Administration after eagles, osprey, and peregrine falcons were brought to the edge of extinction, smog was hurting more and more people, especially those with asthma and other breathing disorders, and the Cuyohoga River and other polluted bodies of water were literally catching fire and burning.

* Millions of people supporting a preemptive war against Iraq because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was working in concert with Al Qaida.

This little tribute had more heart and insight than anything I've ever read about Vonnegut. Thanks!

cate_r's suggested way of handling it sounds perfect to me.

So the war of trying to get bullying thugs off the airwaves is far from over. But guess what--we just won a battle. Arguably not as important a battle as getting some other bullying thugs off the airwaves. But we did win one clear and decisive victory. And perhaps at least a few bullying thugs who otherwise have worthwhile things to say will take notice and think, "huh--maybe I should clean up my act a little so I can keep my public forum and huge income?"

And why should the team have taken any notice of this, since most likely not one of the team or their coach even heard the program in question? King, did YOU call any team members to congratulate them on making the finals and ask them about the season? Except for this whole mess, would any reporters have talked to them after the game was over? So suddenly they go from losing a college game that not all that many people were interested in to suddenly, completely out of their hands, being in the national spotlight, surrounded by reporters and cameras. These young women, half less than a year out of high school, handled themselves beautifully. I don't think they could have done any better.