I used the term “fisking” in my last post, and was taken to task by Webloggin’. Now, his objection may have been a reflexive rhetorical swipe (”You call that a knife? THIS is a KNIFE!”) But he may have been pointing out an incorrect use of the neologism “to fisk”. I haven’t found a very satisfactory answer, so I will request clarification from youze guys.
I always thought it meant a form of bloggy argument in which you reproduce someone’s text, and address it line by line, or paragraph by paragraph, or whatever. I don’t particularly like it: it’s like assessing the viability of a tree by scrutiniing each leaf. But it’s the only viable response to a Tapioca Shotgun, where there is no single, well developed argument - no whole, just a sum of parts.
However, my cursory research suggests that conservatives feel the term is theirs alone, which is a shame - it seems like a good verb for a new form of argument. Putting aside our partisan hats for the moment, do you think that the verb “to fisk” should be stripped of its left/right bias, and simply used to describe a technique?
Putting aside our partisan hats for the moment, do you think that the verb “to fisk†should be stripped of its left/right bias, and simply used to describe a technique?
For most people, the term “fisking” is non-partisan, and useful in exactly the way you describe. However, people who present commentary that demands to be fisked will also engage in fisking that is as bewildering as anything else they say. They’ll separate an utterance into constituents right at the level where context disappears and then mischaracterise meaning at that point. So, to take an example from your post:
“I always thought…”
You thought? You meant you weren’t exactly sure?
“…it meant a form of bloggy argument…”
The use of “bloggy” here is confusing or non-standard. I have doubts as to whether this is meaningful at all.
“…in which you reproduce someone’s text…”
Likely because you cannot read for comprehension, and resort to simple reproduction.
“and address it line by line, or paragraph by paragraph, or whatever.”
Or…”whatever?” That could mean any number of things.
So, in the end…people who need fisking should probably be ignored. They’re usually quite insane.