Over for the last week I have been mulling whether I want to continue doing Friday Rants, and I have come to the conclusion that I think I going to end the whole business. It is not that they aren't really amusing to write and -- I hope -- to read. It is just that I have become concerned that they are a distraction from other more important goals I have for this blog.
I am going to end the Friday Rants for two main reasons:
First, you may find this difficult to believe, but there are only so many things that inflame my indignation. I have actually had trouble of late figuring out things to rant about. (Although today I might consider commenting about how the slightest snowfall puts the entire NY area into full idiot mode. Learn to drive in snow, people!)
Second, and more importantly, I think there is a temptation in blogging to serve up snark at the expense of substance. It is easy to build traffic by being a bigger jerk than the next guy, but it is much more difficult to earn a reputation for fairmindedness. I have been very critical -- usually in private -- of science bloggers (and others) who diverge from their educational purpose into long rants about their personal views, so it is a tad hypocritical for me to have an entire day devoted to just that subject.
My purpose in writing this blog has been to advertise and explain what I consider good science, and I have come to view rants a distraction from that goal. So I hope that you will all will continue to join us here at Pure Pedantry sans acrimony.
(OK, maybe just a little, but not too often :)
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Congratulations for recognizing what seems pretty obvious to this reader. Over the past year, my respect for (and readership of) several ScienceBloggers has gone down as they charge further down the path you've decided to try to avoid.
I celebrate your desire to "advertise and explain what I consider good science" and "earn a reputation for fair-mindedness" but humans aren't only rational and fair-minded.
One of the weaknesses of science and scientists is the reflexive need to temporize, to be moderate and equivocate. The religious right, creationists and woo addicts are free to 'swing for the fences' with hyperbole and passion. They may entirely miss engaging the rational mind but they make headway through the emotional and visceral side of the mind.
Eliminating the ability to use the emotional and near-irrational sides of the human mind drains away the passion that motivates and the feel-good aspects that could aid and reinforce the purely rational side.
Humans are not purely rational beings. Fair minded rationality to the exclusion of passion and feeling can become a rut. One that denies the full potential of a logical and rational argument swung with the full enthusiasm and passion of the human heart that is, in part, irrational.
Also you have a talent for ranting. It would be a shame to fail to give full reign to your manifold potential and make the best possible arguments, mixing evenhandedness with passion, simply because your uncomfortable and feel more in control, and reputation less at risk, sticking to bland rationality.
Sack the fuck up, Dude.
Though some of the points in your rants are unappealing, the overall effect is usually entertaining. Maybe you could have "Light Topic Fridays" with multiple areas/topics - just one of which would be rants.