Letters to the Editor
-
Re: Been There, Done That
To build on something Paul Dirks said, the Been-There-Done-That line is so common at this point as to be an actual tactic for suppressing/ignoring inconvenient (read: correct, accurate, or prescient) opinions.
It's a brilliant tactic, actually, which turns the accuracy of a critic's predictions against him. Critic says, "Bad-thing-X will happen if you do Stupid-thing-Y." The Wizened Wise-men of Conventional Wisdom say, "Nonsense! Wonderful-magical-thing-Z will happen, and you better get down on your knees, kiss my toe, and apologize forever when it does - and I'll quit my job, eat my hat, and get me to a nunnery if it doesn't!"
When X happens, the Critic says, "See! Iraq is a cluster-f*ck!" or "The government is spying on us!" or "We're torturing people!" or "We making terrorism worse!" To which the Wizened Wise-men say, "You're still on about that? Old news! Now let's talk about Iran..."
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.