SO MUCH CRAP - HOW CAN THIS BE?
I can't believe how much absolute drivel there is in the blogging world. My previous tirade against inanity still stands, but I can't help randomly selecting blogs and reading them in the same way you can't help picking the scab off a sore and then wonder why you keep bleeding.

Here's a classic example of pseudo-philosophical, pretentious slurry that the writer clearly thinks is profound. How far off the mark can he/she be?

http://skeptikos.blogspot.com/

If you don't want to click - and I wouldn't blame you for giving it a miss - here's an example of meaningless rambling of the highest order:

"essence - what makes 'x' - x and not y - can be tracked down
within limitations - we can give 'increasingly approximate'
descriptions of x such that x is x and -y -

but all this will finally come down to making certain
philosophical /methodological decisions about how
to regard x and its descriptions

all finally (in terms of 'essence') arbitrary but - nevertheless
not without point or significance

individuation therefore is finally a decision - and the journey
to definition which is never complete - prompted originally
by veridical perception - another fact of the world - and
one that does not bear too much scrutiny"

Dear God, will it never end? What the fuck is he/she talking about? For some strange reason, there are folks out there who think that this sort of loquacious diarrhea is "intellectual," whereas in truth, it is flaccid verbal masturbation of the highest order. Spare me the "Well, maybe it's too complex for you to understand" response. No, it's hard to understand because it is devoid of content!

Am I being unfair to Skeptikos? Hell no. You put yourself up on the web in a public forum and you shouldn't be surprised if someone takes a pot shot with a wet sponge or a dead fish. Along with the "look how exciting my life is because I've traveled everywhere but still remain a regular person" blog, the "read how erudite and learned I am, and marvel at my depth of knowledge" blogs are guaranteed to make me gag - and I'd like to think that this vomiting reflex is just as likely to be elicited in other readers of such blogs.

So tell me, Bystander, how do you really feel?