Posted 12:49 PM by Robert

DeLong and DeShort of It

UPDATE:

I placed this post as a comment on Professor DeLong's site, too. And, wouldn't you know it, he deleted this one, too. There's a surprise.

Now he suggests that the deletion has something to do with this Basic Blogger site not having a "Comment" section. But he could link to this site with a response. And haven't I shown by posting his e-mail that I'm willing to post anything he writes to me on this blog? Well, if that's not already clear, I will say so now!

Of course, the Man Without Qualities is not "polite" by Professor DeLong's standards. Here, we just don't know when the finer rules of etiquette require one to call a United States Supreme Court Justice one of the "theocratic intellectual zombies, strange creatures from the ranks of the undead, creatures etc...."

We just weren't brought up right like Professor DeLong, to whom these things are second nature.

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The post appearing immediately below is a comment on Professor DeLong's post that, among other things, asserts that Justice Scalia is "a theocratic intellectual zombie, a strange creature from the ranks of the undead, a creature that belongs at the benighted court of the medieval imperial Pope."

I placed the post below as a "Comment" to Professor DeLong's. But he has deleted it and sent me the following e-mail of explantion:

"The DeLong hatchet job is worth reading as evidence of the ongoing academic degradation and dishonesty in American universities...

"You will be polite in my space, or you will not play in it. Capiche?

Brad DeLong"

I'm so sorry, Professor DeLong.

Perhaps I should have written:

"The DeLong piece is worth reading as evidence that American universities are peopled with theocratic intellectual zombies, strange creatures from the ranks of the undead, creatures that belong at the benighted court of the medieval imperial Pope.

That would have up to your standards of politeness.

And I love the witty "Capiche?" at the end, Brad. You sound just like Mussolinni when you say that while you pull the plug on nearby dissent, you old cutie. I’ll bet the girls love it, too!