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« Sun Lawsuits, Inc. | Main | Happy Holidays » December 24, 2002The Danger of NexisWe all change our positions over time, or at least some of them. But today, thanks to Google, Nexis, and other search engines, our words are far more apt to come back and bite us at some later date. Such is the fate of Michael Walzer, who argued in favor of unilateralism four years ago, but who today argues against it, largely because Walzer is a liberal who was supporting a Democratic (happy, Gary? ;)) President, and who is now trying to oppose a Republican one. Robert Kagan has the details. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the original articles yet, so I can't say with certainty that Kagan's interpretation is fair. It is quite interesting, however. UPDATE (12/25/02): To clarify, it is not my intent to suggest Walzer is necessarily wrong in his current views simply because he has changed them. As Jonathan Gewirtz correctly notes, Walzer's arguments should be addressed on the merits. But thanks to Nexis and other search engines, Walzer cannot easily slip his earlier arguments in favor of war with Iraq under the rug. Posted at December 24, 2002 10:04 PM
Comment policyI apologize for only allowing authenticated commenters, but comment spam overwhelms the site if I don't use those measures to prevent it. I reserve the right to delete any comment, although generally comments will only be deleted due to use of profanity or personal attacks on people. I have no objection to vigorous argument, but when name-calling begins, I'm putting a stop to it. In the immortal words of Eugene Levy, "People, people, let's stop this before somebody says something untrue!" If you want to call people names, I recommend you get your own blog. Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsEcstatic. Merry Christmas to you! Posted by: Gary Farber at December 24, 2002 10:57 PM And I agree with Kagan, by the way. Posted by: Gary Farber at December 24, 2002 10:59 PM It is for exactly that reason why NEXIS and any other search engine out there is a great research tool. So we the masses can do a "gotta ya" when need be. There is nothing worse in politics than pandering politicans. I may not like your view but I'll respect them if you maintain. Of course, I do recognize that one can have a change of heart. But either way, NEXIS is a great tool! In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I use to work for Nexis. :) Posted by: Ursula at December 25, 2002 11:48 AM Let's not be too hard on Walzer. He recently wrote the essay "Can there be a decent anti-war left?" (That title might not be verbatim.) He's one of the few lefties to acknowledge his side has a real image problem. Plus a nasty habit of kissing dictators' rings. For that, I'll overlook a lot. Posted by: Anna at December 25, 2002 06:36 PM Gary, thanks for stopping by. My last comment on that, I promise. Ursula, I concur. I wish I could afford to use NEXIS myself. But it's certainly something to remember, now that I've put so many of my own opinions out on the net. ;) Anna, my intent was not to attack Walzer. As I said, we all change over time. I just find it amusing how quickly one's words can come back to bite you in the ass. Until I've read both articles, I can't really condemn Walzer's switch, though I'll bet it's based on pretty flimsy logical grounds. Nonetheless, anyone who writes articles noting there are problems with one's own ideological compatriots does deserve credit. Posted by: Andrew Olmsted at December 25, 2002 08:05 PM I haven't read Kagan's piece, but I read Walzer's "Decent Left" essay and that's good enough for me. Walzer's arguments are clear enough and should stand or fall on their merits, even if Walzer has taken inconsistent positions in the past. Posted by: Jonathan Gewirtz at December 25, 2002 08:57 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out) (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |
