PhotoDude.com

Fri. Dec 09, 2005

Qualifying Quotes

Once again, I’ve succeeded in generating confusion. Life is good.

I have now been asked both in person and via e-mail (paraphrasing), “what’s the deal with the quotes you post? Do you only put up quotes that you agree with, or what?” The polite implication is that they can’t figure out why I would put some quote here that they find clearly obnoxious, and are trying to find out if I agree with it. And since I post quotes from both the right and the left (and even the middle, when it can be found), I guess some might find this politically confusing.

If you look back at the recently retired version of “QuoteLog,” at the top of the page it says “random voices heard over the white noise of life.” And that’s a damn literal description of how quotes end up on this site.

Today, we are subjected to, or rather, we allow ourselves to be subjected to a ceaseless torrent of human noise, from inane chatter at the grocery store checkout to the blatherings of some TV talking head. It becomes like the proverbial “white noise,” an ongoing chattering sound.

And sometimes, something will stand out.

It may be because it is a concise assessment of a problem I’ve noticed. It may stand out because I’m amazed anyone would say that out loud, in public, on the record. It may simply be a particularly well crafted expression of frustration I share. It could jump out to my ear for a host of reasons. And not all of them are “good.”

It’s harder for me to link to it in an obvious way ala the Old QuoteLog, but when I pair some mouth-foaming from Bill O’Reilly with the quote “Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right” ... you can be pretty sure it isn’t a coincidence.

I’ve been known to do it quite a bit.

And, yeah, every now and then I’ll go on a tear of linking quotes from “Someone Who Sacrificed His Soul On The Altar Of Politics” like I did in September. Or more recently, Bill O’Reilly’s War on Christmas. But mostly it’s just things that jump out, words that stick, sometimes with maybe a little cryptic twist from me.

Basically, when people say really smart things, it deserves attention. And when people say really stupid things, well, that deserves attention, too.

It is up to you, Dear Reader, to judge which is which.