The whole “I’m not even going to link to/quote from/respond to X thing that somebody wrote….” deal.
1. Not linking to, quoting from, or responding to that thing does not mean it does not exist.
2. If you’re writing those words, you already are responding to it.
Well, what’s the more constructive way to do that then?
Point #2 suggests, just don’t talk about. That’s fine.
The argument against linking seems distinct from quoting, namely linking does empower the piece you are linking to, albeit to a minor extent.
Do you like the approach of just linking to a demolishment? There’s typically already an existing one and that does finesse the linking problem.
I just think people should make up their minds: either you feel moved to respond to something, or you don’t. You can’t simultaneously maintain that something is beneath your attention while feeling the need to rebut it.
Got it, thanks for the reply.
I thought it was purely about web traffic/ad revenue?
I get the “I’m not going to link because I don’t want them to get clicks” strategy, although I find it pretty weaselly– it seems like a way to prevent people from getting context and a full sense of what the other side has to say. But there’s sometimes when people literally are like “I won’t bother talking about this,” and then they talk about it, and even if they just say “this stupid thing exists,” that’s talking about it. That’s a response.
Nearly as annoying is not linking to any examples of what you’re criticizing because, gosh, it’s all over the Internet, and everyone must know that. You did this when you failed to cite any liberal “crowing” about the female Thor or the black Captain America in your July 17 “cultural liberalism reaches peak self-parody.” I still don’t know what you were on about.
lol
FYI the technical term is apophasis (or paralipsis):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophasis
A bit late to the party, but this was one of Cicero’s favorite rhetorical flourishes – I believe in the Second Philippic he begins partly by saying “and I won’t even mention [Mark Antony’s] finest deed,” which, of course, he then proceeds to not only discuss but make the main point of his speech.
When you read his speeches and notice how often he does that, you stop wondering why he got his head and hands cut off.
For what it’s worth, this website supposedly allows you to link to someone’s site without boosting their Google ratings: http://www.donotlink.com/dnl/faq
No idea of whether it actually works or not.