Part of the Bloggers Credo
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, January 1, 2011
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4 comments
“But hey, I just write this blog; for some reason you’re here reading it”–Robert Farley of LGM bemoaning his 2010 prediction record.
I must confess, that basic thought has often run through my head when commenters get angry what I gave written/get and because they think I should have written something else or about some other topic.
(Understand: I am not griping about disagreement, argument, or correction. There are simply some people whose motivations for reading are unclear, shall we say).
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Myself, I think those readers’ motivations are pretty clear. You just have to identify the secondary payoffs they’re getting.
I notice that Mr. Farley is not self-examining enough to wonder why his predictions were so bad. It’s not as though his predictions were that out there, e.g. predicting an attack of flesh-eating zombies. Is it possible that his judgment is poor?
Clever prophets use the obscurity dodge. John of Patmos, Mother Shipton, Malachy O’Morgair, Nostradamus: a really successful prophet is one so vague or so impenetrable that he can never be held to account.
In that spirit let me just say that:
Take that to the bank. That and the zombie apocalypse.
Michael, you are much too transparent. I say: In that same year the adamant nine of the 52 fourteen thousand steps up shall grasp the hem of the sacred oriflamme.