I love getting feedback on the things I write — in fact I think enabling people
to give their own opinions is the most important part of running a web site.
On the other hand, there are certain questions that people ask me over and over,
usually through e-mail, that get a bit tedious to respond to (and so I usually
don’t).
The worst of these is the “What conspiracy are you working for?” variety. I
have a lot of controversial opinions and rather than do any research or actually
attempt to demonstrate that these opinions are wrong, quite a few people instead
e-mail me asking who is funding my site. I’ve been accused of being a lackey
of everyone from the big automakers (presumably because of my somewhat skeptical
views of global warming) to pharmaceutical companies because of my disdain for
the animal rights movement.
Such accusations are such archetypal examples of the ad hominem that
usually I do not even bother to reply to them but just zap such e-mail straight
into my archives folder. Ascertaining motivation (or lack thereof) provides
absolutely no information one way or the other about the validity of
an argument. Even if I were taking money from one group or another, it wouldn’t
affect the truth value of my arguments one iota.
(P.S. if you are part of a large multinational corporation who wants to lavish
millions of dollars on a small web site creator, I am eager to
sell out provided I have a legally binding contract guaranteeing me complete
editorial freedom.)