Letters to the Editor
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Hey LBS!
Good to see you again...so to speak.
Thanks for the compliment.
The thing is that I don't really have any desire to "do better" than Ms. Paglia.
The great thing about the internet is that I can be my own parental control: if I wanted to protect myself from her, I would.
There's plenty of writing on Salon & elsewhere that articulates positions I already agree with, and they're often very helpful to me when polishing my own presentation of my ideas.
Yes, I think denying global warming is grade-A wing-nuttery.
(PS- I was born & raised in upstate New York. 716, represent! Happy Belated Dyngus Day!)
The reason I don't blow a gasket about the mere internet existence of Paglia's specific wing-nuttery is that she's not stupid, and she invites such a huge volume of well-informed blowback that we're not in danger of her opinions becoming the basis for public policy.
I think Paglia DOES display power, guts and actual thought.
I just think she's dead solid wrong about 50% of the time.
But again, if this is truly a "salon" then there's no rule that all the participants have to be right all the time about everything. And if she provokes with nonsense, so be it.
What she provokes is intelligent discourse around a vast array of issues, and more often than not, she presents things in a way that is fresh & different.
She makes me think...AND she provokes gorgeously poetic, fierce, kick-ass commentary from the asembled populace.
Those are the only 2 things I really come to Salon for.