Bauen

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

A "debate" in our inane press corps

It's like Krugman's a biologist and Okrent can't understand why he won't concede ID is an arguable alternative.

The thing that pisses PK off about the Bushies is that they're not confining themselves to the debatable issues in economics, of which there are (doubtless?) many. Instead, they're denying that 2 + 2 = 4. Okrent can't understand why PK has such strong views on this "addition" thing & won't allow for opposed strong views.

Posted by: Anderson | May 31, 2005 01:25 PM

From the comments at Brad Delong's page here: Delong's Blog

That pretty much sums up my opinion in the "debate" between Krugman and Okrent. Krugman is a PhD. Okrent is a malevolent idiot.

EDIT: Another good comment

This really is a case of differing norms. In opinion journalism, saying that someone selectively uses statistics without any corroborating evidence counts as making a substantive criticism as long as other people have also made the same charge. In that case, it’s a reference to emerging conventional wisdom, not a controversial claim that needs to be backed up. Similarly, in such circles, it is considered appropriate to defend the original charge by accusing that person of being defensive. Again, what’s at issue are different norms. In Krugman’s world, you can’t call into question someone’s intellectual integrity and expect it to end there. But in Okrent’s, where everything is just combat, it’s expected that everyone is a little bit intellectually corrupt and such accusations are par the course.

Posted by: pjs | May 31, 2005 02:11 PM

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