Re: [PEN-L] gold and malaise

[Sandwichman]

Dear everyone on pen-l but CS,

Every once in while an exchange occurs in which at least one of the participants insists on arguing against what he or she supposes the other participant was saying. To do so, it is sometimes necessary to "extrapolate" from what that other person has written in order to "discover" a wrong conclusion or a wrong assumption. Another name for this mode of discovery is invention. Once the extrapolation occurs there appears to be no going back. The straw man makes a much better adversary than the actual person, who may not even be an adversary.

That's fine. Some people need to invent ways to assert themselves. I am happy to have been of service. Even if it wasn't actually "me" who was performing the service. And thank you, CS, for really meaning it when you wrote, "I'll stop here." It would have been unseemly had you followed that prudent declaration of intent with two whole paragraphs of gratuitous insults and self-justifcation.

Sandwichman