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March 06, 2003
D squared and Den Beste
I am told that back in the day, the Ancient Greeks would sponsor a huge play competition. Rich men would pay good money to have comedies—and tragedies, written. Sometimes, often, the plays would attack the very patrons themselves. This was considered a fair thing to do; if the patron could not stand to be in the public eye, he shouldn't have been born Greek...
The plays were performed competitively; the winners received accolades, their names inscribed in the very stone of the theatre. We still, to this day, know the names of the winners, even after their plays have been consigned to the fires...
My first set of values was learned by reading Homer. Before even the Christian bible was taught to me, I was a fan of Zeus. Indeed, Ancient Greek is my useless high school language (not that I can speak more than a word of it today). My blade, the one I still prize above most everything else that I own, is named Nemesis. Its name was to remind me that the Gods punish Hubris. Public sport of the well known is the way to ensure that hubris never develops...
A while back, I posted regarding the nasty ruckus brewing between Mr. Den Beste and Mr. Davies. Today Mr. Den Beste posts a rather spirited attack on Mr. Davies, one with which I don't know that I disagree...
When I first read Mr. Davies' posts, I thought they were funny. I still do. They fulfilled well (I thought) their function of poking at Mr. Den Beste; taking his worst attribute and gently mocking it, and doing the same for his best ones. When Mr. Den Beste went over the line, there was a ready made forum to comment on it, call him on it, and ask him to either explain further or cede that he was wrong. Granted, the people calling for such a thing were/are a pack of sophomoric children, but the idea had merit. I stand by my original post on the subject...
What I don't like at all is that Mr. Davies has run. A debate between him and Mr. Den Beste would be a fascinating one to watch. Mr. Den Beste using Mr. Davies as a Roman slave constantly reminding the General that he too is moral would be useful. Instead Mr. Davies has revealed himself to be as intellectually useful as a fart sound. Fine. Whatever. I'll continue to permalink to him, but I will always remember how he reacted under pressure...
Posted by Andrew at March 6, 2003 01:09 AM