MOVING TO FRONT BECAUSE OF FUNNY UPDATE, BELOW

Speaking of Blogopaths…this right-wing blogger (according to his bio: Pepperdine Law grad, “licensed to practice in the State of Illinois”) claims to have been having an e-mail debate with Noam Chomsky, but Noam made him promise not to publish it, so all he can do is tell us what a bad debater Chomsky is and how much more clever he is than Noam.

This led a commenter on the site to post the funniest rejoinder in memory:

“I beat Chomsky in an email debate once too. He asked me not to make it public as well, so I can’t show it either.

“Gotta go, my girlfriend from Canada is calling me – she misses my 14 inch trouser snake…

“Posted by sum ting wong at December 13, 2003 06:59 AM “

(Thanks to an anonymous grad student for the pointer.)

UPDATE: A reader from New Jersey writes with an equally amusing denouement to the preceding:

“You may not realize it, but fairly soon after you posted this item, the Blogopath in question posted an “update” to his original post, in which he unintentionally confirmed your diagnosis. “Significance” according to this blogopath is measured by the number of blogs that link to you. Being a serious “intellectual” (as opposed to a poseur) is a function of what you write on your blog. Apparently publications in scholarly journals and real-world intellectual accomplishments don’t count. I posted a comment offering the friendly advice that his Update may have done more harm than good, but he deleted my generous counsel. Maybe it’s because I also suggested that his overheated rhetoric makes him sound like a basket case. Anyway, just thought you’d like to know that blogopathology is real, and you’ve found a real case.”

FURTHER UPDATE: The same reader writes again:

“I was struck by the fact that this blogopath keeps emphasizing his connections to the University of Chicago, even though he went to an undistinguished law school and seems to be such an ignorant blowhard. How did this guy ever get in to Chicago even for undergrad? I think I found the answer: his father is a medical school professor there. I guess that doesn’t have much effect on professional school admissions, however.”