Montana Jones

Frank Miele is a chowderhead

I have to give Daily Interlake managing editor Frank Miele some credit. He wrote two weeks worth of editorials that I had no objections too. This week however he has written another one of his train wrecks. If you are capable of looking away from accident scenes you can probably skip today's post. I can't help myself, I feel compelled to go poking through the wreckage with a stick.

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2006/11/06/columns/columns01.txt

Obscure
Self-absorbed
twitchy
loud-mouthed
chimpanzee

That is what Frank Miele thinks Keith Olbermann is. I think that Frank Milele is a chowderhead for engaging in a personal attack.

Frank concedes that Keith might be witty and entertaining if you are the type of person who enjoys watching a 5-year-old rip the legs off of spiders. Well, I think reading Frank is like watching a train wreck.

Frank is also amused by Olbermann advocates. He claims they are bobblehead-puppy equivalents to yes-men. Well, Frank is well liked by some bobbleheaded Montana bloggers so he must be wrong.

Frank also believes that Olbermann is an Edgar R. Murrow wannabe. Going so far as to adopt Murrow's sign off in homage and imitating Murrow's ambition to attack large political targets. Well this would be all straightforward reporting except for that one word "delusion" making it sound like this is a bad thing. Well I think that Frank is under the delusion that he is a decent writer and editor.

Frank goes on to explain, with examples, how Olberman's editorializing is bad. And with only the examples to go from I might just have to side with Frank. Olberman does do his fair share of appealing to emotion and other propaganda techniques. But Frank thinks that the editorials are bad for a different reason. He says they are bad because Olberman is targeting President Bush. Well, I think Frank is wrong because he tends to editorialize in favor of those right wingers.

Frank then goes on to mock Olberman's mannerisms and compare him to the fictional Max Headroom for the jocular conclusion to his essay.

So did you keep score too? Here is how I counted it:
Twelve total logical fallacies including five Ad Hominem's (personal attacks).

Play the home game and see if you can score higher than me. I'm sure I missed one or two fallacies in there somewhere.

I guess Frank Miele wont mind then if I just call him a big chowderhead and not try to back that up or anything.

Since I don't watch teevee and have only a passing knowledge of who Keith Olbermann is, convincing me that a television editorialist is bad or wrong ought to be as easy as convincing me that chocolate chip cookies make tasty treats. Let me try to help out here. A good counter argument for an editorial or opinion piece goes something like this:

The editorialist stated his opinion was [X] because of [reasons]. I disagree with him because his reasoning is faulty due to [fact A], [fact B] and [fact C].

For example:
Frank Miele has a poor opinon of the editorializing of Keith Olbermann. But I do not find Mr. Miele's arguments convincing because they consist almost entirely of personal attacks, faulty logic and the flawed premise that the President of the United States is somehow exempt from scrutiny.

Try to do better next time please.
Thanks
Montana Jones

P.S. Props to the index of Logical Fallacies.
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/

Posted by: Montana Jones / 7:28 PM