A Serious Hobby

I think most people who write a weblog will tell you that it is a fairly serious hobby. At first it might be part ranting and raving, part journal and a good measure of stream of consciousness.

Then something happens. People actually read it. Other people.

When I realized that, I began to take this hobby much more seriously. After that, I lost my anonymity, and I took it more seriously still.

I lay it out there, day after day, as do all the other 3 billion bloggers in the world (or however many there are out there). I try to be right and I try to be fair. It's important to me. This impacts relationships that I have, so I need to be accurate. I take this seriously.

When someone criticizes my posts, I pay attention. If someone accuses me of being full of sh*t, or totally biased, or unfair, that matters to me.

Which brings me to "Holy Hal." Holy Hal took a couple cracks at me specifically, and has more generally accused the online crowd of being naysayers, liars, quacks, you name it. When he went after me by name, I invited him over. "Hey," I said, "let's talk. We're reasonable people, let's see where we're at on these issues."

Not too incredibly, he never came.

It was with no small level of vindication, then, that I read this thread at the Tribune Forums. In it, our friend Holy Hal talked of City Manager John Lawton smacking down critics on the coal plant and other issues, allegedly proving them to be the charlatans that Holy Hal obviously believed them to be. The funny part of it all, though, was that Holy Hal never directly responded to any request to say exactly just how Mr. Lawton proved them wrong. He attacked, called names, blathered, but he just never really answered the question.

Why?

Because Holy Hal is full of sh*t.

Holy Hal, if you're not full of it, come on over. Tell me specifically how Mr. Lawton smacked down the critics. Give me specifics. I will prove you wrong with reference to documents and law. No innuendo. No sh*t.

And don't give me any tripe about not stooping to my level. You've stooped, friend, more often than not. I've read your posts; believe me, I am more than capable of discussing these issues at least as intelligently as you are.

If you want to debate the coal plant, or City Government, or Constitutional Law, or just about anything else, come on over.

Or back off.