Wednesday, August 31, 2005
EVERYBODY PILE ON:
A sudden hush fell on the crowd as Mr. Summers cleared his throat and looked at the list. "All ready?" he called. "Now, I'll read the names -- heads of families first -- and the men come up and take a paper out of the box. Keep the paper folded in your hand without looking at it until everyone has had a turn. Everything clear?" ...A growing number of righteous blogs are turning on their master and pointedly de-linking from the Blogfather himself, the Instapundit, because he proved to be downright mushy about those Activists of Evil at the "ay-cee-ell-you" in this recent post. They've even begun an “I’m Not Linked To Glenn Reynolds List" for those joining their boycott, which seems to be very inclusive, since "If you have never linked to Glenn for whatever reason, we will add you to the list as well." How could one pass up such a chance to help expose the feet of clay of the mighty? Count me in, because Insty is even worse than they think.
Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box. Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. "Come on," she said. "Hurry up." ...Notice that in his post about those litigious enablers of depravity, he says he has worked with them in the past, and offers an article he wrote supporting their opposition to new federal laws against rave paraphernalia (an innovative idea heavily backed by possible Democratic Presidential sacrifice fly Joe Biden). Therein Glenn says:
Will the drug war serve as a model for the war on terrorism? Some within the federal bureaucracy seem to think it should, and it's easy to understand why: The drug war may have been a disaster for America, but it has been a three-decade gravy train for bureaucrats. ...There you have it; the (perhaps soon formerly) most-linked blogger on the "right" is objectively pro-terrorist. Remember, when glow sticks are outlawed, our best inquisitors will have to intimidate captured prisoners by finding some new tool which they can threaten to convert into suppositories. Never link to Insty again, I say!
Not being a bureaucrat, I think the drug war is a terrible model.
Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn't fair," she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. ...
"It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.
--Shirley Jackson, "The Lottery", 1948
