Replies

Forcing your readers to draw their own conclusions will illicit mixed results [...]

I think that that ought to read "elicit."

Dear wizkid:

I am quite willing to draw my own conclusions, thank you - once I have been presented with the plain, unadorned facts.

In the case of the article you posted, your very brief excerpt contained absolutely no "meat," nothing substantive, nothing on the basis of which any conclusion could possibly have been drawn.

So please don't claim that your readers here at Free Republic were being lazy because they were able to see only two very cryptic, virtually meaningless - but admittedly enticing - sentences, and thus had no choice but to either swallow the bait, or ignore your article.

We here at Free Republic expect by no means to be "spoon fed," as you insinuate. But we do demand intellectual honesty and straightforwardness. The excerpt you posted was totally inadequate as a basis for discussion. It was even inadequate to know what the heck you were talking about. It was adequate only as a "teaser." The word I've heard for posters like that is "blog pimp." An ugly word, I admit, but sometimes apt.

Regards,

If your "post" (blog) has no ads and does not take donations, then there's no reason you can't post your entire work here - or are you afraid that you might sue yourself for infringement?

As for what you call a "literary device" we are not children that have to be cajoled or conned into deciding what we want to read. And we have our own name for your "device."

We call it pimping.

Maybe you missed it, but the owner of this site has already weighed in on this subject:

"I have no complaint if a good conservative blogger posts his own material to FR, not as an excerpt to drive hits and discussion back to his blog, but rather to impart useful information to OUR readers and to promote and join in on the discussion and conservative activism HERE on FR." - Jim Robinson

Yes, the word is elicit. Since it came from a direct quote that I put in italics from another author, I left it alone. With today's spell checkers, words often get switched.

We should probably just agree to respectfully disagree but you have put several words in my mouth, most likely unintentionally, that require clarification.

Nowhere in my reply did I make the claim that my readers here at Free Republic are lazy (If they were my readers, they would not be lazy.). What I said was:

Attempting to provoke thought (by using some non-linear techniques) is not an easy task. With many readers, this style will fall flat. Some people do not like it and they are perfectly free not to. There are also some that do.

By your own words, you prefer plain, unadorned facts. Most people do and there is nothing wrong with that either. My preference is for a complex, non-linear style which can easily fall flat with the just the facts crowd. In my opinion, our disagreement is more about style than substance.

I also did not accuse every Freeper or even you of expecting to be spoon fed. I just made a simple statement of fact that many people do. In any large group of people, human nature dictates that a fairly large number do not want to have to think too deeply. This is obviously not my target audience either..

The vast majority of posters at Free Republic excerpt only the topic paragraph and that is exactly what I did. By definition, the topic paragraph should be a teaser. Further, it would be a stretch to assume that any excerpt should provide an adequate basis for any real discussion.

What you seem to be proposing is the posting of entire sections of articles in the excerpt section, which I believe is a violation of copyright laws (for most items) and is against Free Republic policy.

When taken as a whole (the title, excerpt, initial comment, and keywords), one would be hard pressed to claim that they were inadequate to forewarn the reader about what the post would be about:

Title: Poverty Inc.: The Sack of Huntsville

Poverty Inc. - It is common to put “Inc.” after a word to indicate that something has been turned into a big business (i.e. the poverty business) (e.g. government welfare agencies, community organizers, non-profits, legal foundations).

Sack – Even though I thought sack was a pretty common word, apparently high school world history classes no longer teach about the sack of Jerusalem, Rome and/or Constantinople anymore because that is where I learned about many of these topics.

Huntsville – I would assume that the majority of adults know that Huntsville is a city somewhere in the South.

When put together, the title tells one that the article will be about poverty advocacy groups somehow destroying a southern city. On top of this, one of the key words is “Fair Housing,” which should be a familiar term for anyone that casually reads the new. This is the a tip off that the it will be about housing advocacy groups in particular.

Excerpt:

“In the Spring of 1968 at the Bing Nursery School in Palo Alto California, America came to an end. Within its walls, the elites learned just how cheaply our souls could be had: All it cost was a couple of minutes and one marshmallow per soul on average.”

In 1997, the author, Daniel Goleman published the book, Emotional Intelligence, in response the the controversial book, the Bell Curve. EI was a smash world-wide hit. With the author appearing on numerous radio and tv shows. I was living in Tokyo at the time and the Japanese translation was a hit even over there and a hot topic of conversation in the media there too. The book is still in print and has spawned many knock offs and follow up versions. Check Amazon and you will clearly see that is has spawned a whole emotional intelligence publishing industry that continues to this day.

In any case, the book popularized the Bing Nursery School Marshmallow experiment. Goleman used to fascinate tv and radio audiences with tales of it so it is part of popular culture. Also anyone with even a passing interest in psychology, particularly behavioral psychology, is certainly aware of it.

You should also note that the article was posted as a Science topic. I often see scientific article posted at Freeper that contain complex scientific terms without explanations let alone ones that are part of popular culture and have yet to see any complaints about them.

America came to an end – This clearly indicates that America has sold its soul.

How Cheaply Our Souls Could Be Had – While this does presume some biblical knowledge, I feel pretty safe that this is not an issue at Free Republic. Most people should know that souls are sold to the devil for some temptation. In this case our souls are being sold cheaply.

When one puts the title together with the excerpt, you get:

A Southern City is being destroyed by fair housing poverty advocates. This involves involves a change in the American character that will destroy our whole country.

If one is familiar with the Marshmallow Experiment, you would understand that this change is the loss of self control, which is the most important determinant to success.

Comment Section Quotes:

I have posted quotes for one of the most famous episodes in the new testament and one of the most important works of Western literature. Since most children are taught the bible and the tale of Odysseus and the sirens is also featured in many cartoons and family oriented movies, they should be familiar to most people even those without a high level of education. Both of these quotes involve resisting temptation via self control.

Since both Jesus and Odysseus resist temptation, they are meant to serve as a hopeful bookend to the grim excerpt. There is hope for America and that hope is self control.

When one puts everything together you would get this:

An American city in the South is being destroyed by fair housing poverty advocates. This involves a change in American character related to the loss of the most important determinant to success, self control, that will destroy us all. There is hope if we resist temptations for cheap riches and maintain self discipline.

Blog Pimp

If my post consisted of just my excerpt and a few scraps, I would agree with the Blog Pimp characterization but that is not the case. In fact, its scope and references would more likely overwhelm most readers who typically expect to tackle much more modest articles.

It is funny that you mention me baiting users who appear almost hopeless to resist my temptations because it oddly parallels the marshmallow test scenario. If JQ is up there with marshmallows, America must truly be doomed.