Open Letter to Bill Quick

The following is a letter to Mr. Bill Quick. This letter isn't very becoming of me, however I felt it was good manners not to continue this mudslinging (which I clearly started), at a friend's site.

I wrote the following on The Colossus's site in reference to this post from yesterday:

Ok, time to rant.

Bill Quick has descended into Andrew Sullivan territory. Here is another example with his fallacious appeals to authority. So, he says, all religion is delusional (fact), and implicit in his fallacy is that if you disagree, you are delusional. In the realm of logic, there is no way that you can debate him on this issue without having to prove how you aren't delusional.

Your retort above was absolutely perfect. George Washington, if you've actually read anything that he's written, stated many times that his belief in Providence was what kept him resolute as he held together a rag-tag bunch of misfits together to fight one of the best armies in the world. Well, Bill, even if it was a delusion, things sure as hell worked out for us.

I have no problem at all with atheists. Reading Steven Green and Steven den Beste, they are very firm in their beliefs and why the believe them, however they don't put broad sweeping, sophmoric thoughts on their posts hoping everyone high fives his "slam" on 'dem delusional religous folk. Conversely, I would never put a broad sweeping statement about my Christian faith on my site without backing it up with a proper argument.

Full disclosure--Bill Quick hits my nerve for personal reasons. He made a ridiculous quote like this about a year ago, I said in his comments that he was having a meltdown, and he threatened to ban me from his site. I haven't been back since, but I read, via links, stupid crap like this from him all the time. Why on God's green earth does Glenn link to this bonehead anymore?

Bill responded to my comment:

Why on God's green earth does Glenn link to this bonehead anymore?Well, we go back a long way together, and while he's tried (to no avail, I'm afraid) to get me to tone down my tendencies toward outrageousness, he still likes my stuff pretty well - well enough to link it pretty regularly, at least.

To be truthful, it's not the instalanches I appreciate as much as I do his respect and friendship.

What was your name again?

An open letter to Mr. Quick:

Dear Bill:

I hope you don't mind that I address your comment here, as I felt it wrong to continue slinging mud at you from the website of a friend (especially one who made a perfectly decent counter-argument against your original post), and I couldn't find your email address in the midst of all the ads on your site.

I cannot speak to the intracacies of your relationship with Instapundit (that would be fallacy), but if your writing is indicative of your nature, then I'm very confused. At some point in the game, you decided that you hated the way the country was being run, and anyone who argued against you became the center of heated, ad hominem attacks. If I recall, Steven den Beste, a man whom whether you agree with him or not, is completely reasonable, tried to calm you down.

However, with the manners of a Wolverine, you managed to chase him away by launching back at him like a little kid who dragged mud onto your white carpet. For no good reason, I stepped in, and you easily targeted me during your tantrum, since I'm a nobody, and threatened to ban me from your site.

Charming.

You see Bill, blogging is actually a hobby for me. That's the reason that you won't see any ads on this site (well, that and the fact that I get less traffic than a Chick fil-A on a Sunday). I've met some good friends on this site, and I usually don't go off on a bi-polar rage any time they say something I disagree with (However, there once was a time that I pissed off a whiskey distributor at a Whiskey tasting, but I don't feel too bad about that because the whiskey really was crap).

So, "what was my name, again," you ask?

Must be one of those pecking order things. I get to play the role of the waiter at a five-star restaurant who brought you, the rich and infamous, a dirty glass, and you can shit on me in front of your friends because it makes you feel big and strong. Bill, if you want to take your frustrations out on me, I'll gladly take them anytime you want to deliver.

Such a shame man. You've actually shown flashes of humanity here and there, and I'm sure this is why many have lingered at your site. Hell, that's why I started reading you (that and the fact that you live in the same city as me). But, now you are just a cranky, old bastard who thinks his traffic meter is an accurate measure of his genitalia.

I'm always going to be a misanthrope in this fun little place you fabulously, and with the phonetical ring of Shakespeare sonnet, dubbed the blogosphere. I'm very comfortable with that and hopefully we can run into each other in San Francisco some day, and we can have a Good Will Hunting moment. My shoulder is awaits you big guy.

Posted by 10 fingers 6 strings at May 22, 2006 10:12 PM