Monday, June 12, 2006
Turn the Tables
Some of the Yale bigshots are very wary of people they think might be activist in some way. As an outspoken critic on his own time, Cole was easy to make unacceptable. People like the bigshots dread institutional reformers with credibility even more than they dread the substance of their critique. Cole's daily presence, itself, would be "disruptive". Hence the focus on trying to slime rather than rebut.
It's likely that someone who could legitimately prove Cole wrong on something would find that Cole was willing to acknowledge it. He's very much a scholar.He has some gracious thoughts on the subject, which doesn't surprise me.
To digress a little, Spartacus have you written anything on how to fight ad hominem attacks?
J. Alva Scruggs Homepage 06.12.06 - 3:56 am #
I'm not sure if I ever wrote about that, but I always advised myself and my associates to stay on topic and to not be lured into defending oneself from libel and defamation. When attacks became particularly vicious, we often simply mailed copies to moral authorities we knew we could count on to make our enemy's misbehavior the public issue rather than the slanderous allegations.
At a somewhat less intense level of conflict, I frequently found myself challenged in public by an inaccurate portrayal of either my character or motives, and used these situations to turn the tables on my opponents by calmly presenting facts they managed to obscure in private.
Having a network of supporters makes all the difference when under attack, and meeting socially to tell stories helps a lot. It also gives you a chance to remind them not to be suckered into repeating the opposition's talking points.
Spartacus Homepage 06.12.06 - 11:34 am #
[Ed. note: see the post Mobilizing Resentment (located under Right-Wing Milieu) for an example of what can happen when demonizing gets out of hand:
http://skookumgeoduck.blogspot.com/2005/08/mobilizing-resentment.html ]
It's likely that someone who could legitimately prove Cole wrong on something would find that Cole was willing to acknowledge it. He's very much a scholar.He has some gracious thoughts on the subject, which doesn't surprise me.
To digress a little, Spartacus have you written anything on how to fight ad hominem attacks?
J. Alva Scruggs Homepage 06.12.06 - 3:56 am #
I'm not sure if I ever wrote about that, but I always advised myself and my associates to stay on topic and to not be lured into defending oneself from libel and defamation. When attacks became particularly vicious, we often simply mailed copies to moral authorities we knew we could count on to make our enemy's misbehavior the public issue rather than the slanderous allegations.
At a somewhat less intense level of conflict, I frequently found myself challenged in public by an inaccurate portrayal of either my character or motives, and used these situations to turn the tables on my opponents by calmly presenting facts they managed to obscure in private.
Having a network of supporters makes all the difference when under attack, and meeting socially to tell stories helps a lot. It also gives you a chance to remind them not to be suckered into repeating the opposition's talking points.
Spartacus Homepage 06.12.06 - 11:34 am #
[Ed. note: see the post Mobilizing Resentment (located under Right-Wing Milieu) for an example of what can happen when demonizing gets out of hand:
http://skookumgeoduck.blogspot.com/2005/08/mobilizing-resentment.html ]
