Don't say I didn't warn you

An amusing encounter is going on over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. A couple of days ago, Ed Brayton posted a piece called The Absurdity of Vox Day, in which he administered a rather nice smackdown to a blogger who goes under the name of Vox Day and also happens to be a columnist at WorldNetDaily. Although Vox bills himself as a "Christian Libertarian commentator" and likes to point out that he is a member of Mensa, Austin Cline probably put it best when he labeled Vox's politics as "one part authoritarianism, one part religious fascism, and one part sheer nuttiness." The particular column that drew Ed's ire was yet more of Vox's usual blather, an article entitled Why Women's Rights are Wrong, in which Vox complains about women's rights, calling them a "disease that should be eradicated." (By the way, he also doesn't believe evolution is valid either.)

Helpful guy that I am, I felt duty-bound as a fellow blogger to warn Ed what he was getting into if he wanted to tangle with Vox. Not that Vox's arguments are usually all that difficult to refute, given his love of confusing correlation with causation an dubious historical analogies, but Vox seems to have attracted a posse of sycophants, toadies, and lackies (apologies to Curtis Sliwa) who descend upon other blogs that criticize Vox whenever he mentions articles critical of him. To that end, in the comments of Ed's post, I pointed out my encounter with Vox a few months ago, when I lambasted him for a post he made in which he said that "too many women are fascists at heart," using this as a justification for arguing that they should not have the right to vote. He then went on to blame the women's franchise for the "West's continental drift towards socialism." (But how can that be, Vox? I thought you said women were "fascists at heart.") Back then, my hit count was considerably lower than it is now, which is why I was somewhat surprised when Vox actually noticed my little comment and took a bit of umbrage at it. Soon after, Vox's posse descended upon my blog and loaded it with mostly inane defenses of Vox's misogyny.

Ed's now getting a taste of what I got, as Vox has noticed him too. The good news is, Ed is more than capable of holding his own, which is why I suggest you check out the coments in his original post and his followup, where there are many more comments. And Ed is right about one thing:

I'm sure this will bring even more of them over here to make juvenile comments about horse manure, but hey, it's kinda fun watching them make asses of themselves. It's even more amusing to watch them gather around him [Vox Day] and assure him that despite what that mean man said, he really is cool (and also "hot", according to one commenter).

Yes, it is rather fun for a while, but my experience four months ago showed me that it rapidly becomes tiresome to wade through their comments as the e-mails alert you to them. That's the main reason I never bothered to mention Vox again after our initial encounter. (On the other hand, having a posse like that to harass bloggers who criticize you would be a most effective means of discouraging them from criticizing you, as, I'm sure, Vox is well aware.) In any case, even the amusement of watching Vox's "fans" fall all over themselves to defend him and the added traffic a Vox Day mention brings are just not worth the aggravation.

But it is rather fun to watch it happening at Ed's blog, particularly since he's wading into the thick of things. And, yes, I realize that mentioning Vox again in an unfavorable way could bring the horde over here. It's worth the risk, though, to lend a little tactical air support to Ed.