Yep, yep. So true.

Here’s what fanfic authors/fans need to remember when anyone gives them shit: the idea that originality is somehow a good thing, an innately preferable thing, is a completely modern notion. Until about three hundred years ago, a good writer, by and large, was someone who could take a tried-and-true story and make it even more awesome. (If you want to sound fancy, the technical term is imitatio.)

Most art historically speaking is fanfiction.

I suspect we disdain that form now because much of it is produced by minorities and women. If our distaste equaled its prevalence, 95% of Western art would have to be thrown in the trash.

Obamacare defenders make me cry with laughter.

What is this? I like Kevin Drum, but is he living in reality? It’s odd how people will twist themselves into rhetorical knots to justify a mediocre to terrible system.

And anyway, this is mostly due to the fact that the structure of American health care is historically dependent on private insurance, and it’s just not possible to completely overhaul that overnight. In this case, Democrats caved in to special interests as much because they had to as because they wanted to.

Oh, the Democrats “had to” sell out. Sure. Absolutely no choice in the matter. Couldn’t have been any other way than to roll over with nary a fight to the insurance industry.

Had to. Nothing coulda been done.

This is something I’ve written about before, about how human reasoning is incredibly, powerfully susceptible to false dichotomies.

Such as, TARP or the economy crashes.

Or, invade Iraq or WMDs will kill us all.

Such a huge cognitive flaw that is also easy to exploit (I’m deft at using at it in work environments to get my way as it short-circuits 99% of humans easily).

The false dichotomy is so powerful that I deliberately ignore and avoid paying attention to other types of reasoning failures to make sure I don’t fall prey to that one.