Lord Haw-Haw Would Be Proud!

Oh, the jeering and sarcasm! As if jeering and sarcasm were unmistakable tokens of superior knowledge and insight -- as if. Gosh, what if the knee-jerk preemptive resort to ad hominem was instead understood for what it really is? A nullity wrapped in an illusion inside an insecurity:

1. "Think(?)tank advocates shorter working hours as cure for unemployment."

2. "The flaws of slashing working hours in half are so numerous that it would be an insult to the reader's intelligence to point them out, but in case any pre-schoolers with advanced reading abilities and an internet connection have found this site, I will list a few..."

3. "Why nef stands for no economics foundation"

We are dealing here with a really important, fundamental sociological phenomenon but I'm afraid that intelligent, polite folks don't really want to be sullied by it. They would rather come up with intellectually persuasive reports and pay no attention to the beast behind the curtain.

In their posts, Ralph Musgrave (1), Chris Snowdon (2) and Tim Worstall (3) instinctively comprehend something that academics had better tune into: bullying works, especially in situations shrouded in uncertainty and anxiety. The bully must be confronted and taken down or the bully will prevail.

Ralph Musgrave is a case in point. He is not a bully. But he is imprisoned in the labyrinth of the bully-logic. He sees Tim Worstall as "sarcastic, abusive and witty" (i.e., a bully) but concludes that "he does understand economics" so he follows Tim's blog with a mind to "knicking his ideas and presenting them as my own."

Tim does indeed understand economics -- at least well enough to be quite facile at twisting whatever evidence or anecdote he can cherry-pick to suit his ideological ends. That is, he understands economics in a manipulative, strategic way. This is not to say that Tim is a bad guy. He has found a niche and it works for him.

What if the Ralph Musgraves were on to the Tim Worstalls? Bullies thrive on attention. Take away their admiring audience and they have to find something else to do. Maybe even something useful.