December 23, 2006

"I think it means: I'm a genius, but I don't know. Who am I to say?"

Bloggingheads has a new diavlog up with Bob Wright and -- new to Bloggingheads -- Andrew Sullivan. That quote is Bob paraphrasing Andrew.

You may be wondering whatever happened to that Bloggingheads episode I recorded with Jonah Goldberg (especially after the first one I did with him, a couple weeks ago, died from technical problems). We had technical problems again, but it sounds as though this patient will live. It's a pretty cool diavlog I think. For example, we talk about sex with robots.

20 comments:

Paco Wové said...

There you go, triggering the p0rn filters again.

Gahrie said...

I think Bob got it completely wrong.

1)It's quite clear that Sullivan is quite convinced that he is a genius.

2) Sullivan also believes he's in a position to make judgements about anyone and anything.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Diavolical teaser there.

Ann Althouse said...

Gahrie: I take it you didn't actually listen to Bob say it!

Anonymous said...

How appropriate that Sullivan found refuge within the portals of TIME. "YOU" may be person of the year, but high-span reader Sullivan know it's really all about him (as in "Me! Me! Me! Pay attention to ME!") Sorry to see Wright play along and lob softballs.

Gahrie said...

Ann:

No, but I assumed he was being sarcastic. I was being deliberately obtuse to make a point.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Up next: A diavlog [or, perhaps a "divalog"] with Althouse and Sullivan mending fences?

Ann Althouse said...

Ruth Anne: What fun would that be? He's all about scolding and his own earnest spirituality.

James Wigderson said...

Geez, can he get closer to the camera?

Ann Althouse said...

James: Yeah, I know. The fisheye effect is not good.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

...his own earnest spirituality.


Wherein he is the God of his own universe?

Titus said...

Ann, I am curious what your opinion is of Andrew both personally and professionally?

In the past you have linked to his site and I wasn't sure your true feelings regarding Andrew?

I have known of him over the past 20 years, even back from his days at Harvard.

I will admit initially I didn't care for his writing and when he was younger I thought he had much more of an attitude and did come across as thinking he was brillant.
I would see him out at times and he really did think he was all that. He was much hotter when he was younger-but weren't we all?

I have a place in Ptown which I visit on the weekends and I have gotten to know him just a bit by seeing him at some social functions.

I actually like him much more now than earlier in his career. I am sure this had to do with the fact that I am a social libertarian and do appreciate some of his writing regarding gay marriage from a conservative perspective. I do believe he is a conservative. I realize that many conservative's question his credentials now that he has been attacking the Bush administration. I also believe he is incredibly smart.

But what do you think of him?

Titus said...

Also, I would love to see a bloggingheads piece with both Andrew and Ann.

Although, from watching this last clip, Bob Wright seems pretty cool

Simon said...

"For example, we talk about sex with robots."

Technically, doesn't the Ipodb vibe count as a robot? It is, after all, "an electro-mechanical ... device ... that can perform autonomous or preprogrammed tasks." So you know, we're already there in some ways. Presumably, though, S&M with robots is probably no fun, per the First Law of Robotics.

rcocean said...

I had originally thought an Althouse/Sullivan smackdown on BH would be intelligent entertainment.

I was wrong. Sullivan is simply too dogmatic, egotistical, and just plain loopy, to debate anyone in a serious manner. Like some Gay Stalin or Hitler, he can only issue pronouncements.

And I'm glad that Sullivan and God (no doubt the junior partner) have teamed up to tell us the TRUTH about Jesus and religion. Like others for the last 2,000 years, I've been struggling with religion, but now I can stop stop thinking and just follow the Gospel of St. Andrew.

Sanjay said...

You talked about sex with robots? What the hell would the robots have had to say about it? As a professor of all things, you should appreciate the distinction between "talked with" and "informed about"...

Andrew Shimmin said...

This is maybe my favorite BH so far. It reminds me why I used to like Sullivan so much. I don't even care about G-d, but very much enjoyed listening to the two of them talk about Him, etc. It seems inescapable, now, to conclude that Sullivan just can't tolerate disagreement. What's the Amis line about interpreting all disagreement as opposition? So long as he's being prompted, not debated, he's reasonable and a little charming. I'll be skipping part two, though, I think.

Better than nothing, I guess.

LoafingOaf said...

boston70: How sincere a person do you judge Sullivan to be? I ask because sometimes I wonder if he looked at his friend Hitchens pulling an Orwell on the Left and decided he wanted to pull an Orwell himself to get attention.

I'm able to follow Hitchens' Orwell move. I do find it sad to read very recent pre-9/11 stuff by Hitchens where he's kissing the ass of Noam Chomsky (as recently as his 2001 book Letters to a Young Contrarian), but I can clearly see the turning point for him where he had had enough of the Far Left. For Sullivan, I have trouble understanding his switches. Unless it's all really about Sullivan getting attention for himself, like, he had to have an Orwell moment. I find it hard to accept that someone could've been as completely gung-ho about invading Iraq as Sullivan was, and then suddenly wanna ditch the whole thing right in the middle of it. There's very little on Sullivan's blog anymore about the Iraqi people and their fate. In fact, his position today appears to be that we should pull out and let Iraq have an all-out civil war.

Gerald Hibbs said...

I can't watch it. Sit back!! Andrew is blurry, but the books way behind him are perfectly in focus. He's rack focused himself out of watchability.

Anonymous said...

What the hell is a "high-span"?