There is nothing like a 1,535 word argument railing for people to chill out and not get worked up about the MVP vote. Maybe Geoff hasn’t been around too long. Arguments about the MVP didn’t start when the Internet was created. It’s baseball, not life and death. And most people, as heated as they may seem, know the difference.
They say the youth is wasted on the young. Along those lines, I’m starting to think the internet is wasted on the…um, the intelligence-challenged. I mean, we have this great tool at our disposal, a treasure trove of information sharing at our fingertips, and we use it to become dumber, not smarter.
Exchanging ideas? No, let’s be honest. We use the internet to take our own ideas, seek out anyone who agrees with them, then dismiss out-of-hand those who don’t. We use it to insult the other side and never consider what they’re trying to say.
Somebody brings up a valid point worth considering? Hey, just switch web sites (or news channels) and go to one that tells you exactly what you want them to. It’s a great way to grow one’s mind.
It’s landed our country in fantastic shape, as evidenced by the last half-decade of economic turmoil, not to mention a really fun election campaign in which serious issues were properly vetted and considered.
And that same line of thinking, on a much lesser scale, has led to a marvellous discussion over the merits of Miguel Cabrera versus Mike Trout in the AL MVP debate. In case you hadn’t heard, Tigers slugger Cabrera won it tonight with 22 of 28 first-place votes.
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1. The Tarp That Ate Vince Coleman Posted: November 15, 2012 at 09:37 PM (#4303851)Hold on ... people ranting on the internet and watching Fox News created (and crashed) the housing bubble, credit default swaps, etc? Seems a wee bit of a stretch to me.
I'd almost rather read Chass, because at least he isn't even pretending to be weighing the stathead argument.
(Almost.)
You can't tell people to chill out when the whole premise of your article is that there IS NO DEFINITION OF VALUABLE AND SO PEOPLE DEBATE IT.
Your argument is that MVP being ill-defined provokes controversy. You can't get mad when people respond to your position with a position of their own. If this is true: "I like surprises. I like diversity. I like differences of opinion," then you can't get annoyed when people express different opinions!!
Somebody brings up a valid point worth considering? Hey, just switch web sites (or news channels) and go to one that tells you exactly what you want them to. It’s a great way to grow one’s mind.
This is actually a point that I agree with entirely.
What the hell is wrong with you?
Have you ever noticed that those threads are really just about 10-15 people (out of hundreds of frequent posters) repeating themselves over and over again?
I realize that it creates an echo chamber effect, and as a result can dominate the Hot Topics, but if you pay attention, I'm fairly certain at least 90% of the regular contributors to this site ignore them.
...at the same time, though, I think there's something to be said for being able to have strongly differing opinions than someone else without allowing that to affect your view of them as a human being.
This sounds like he's aware that Trout had a higher fWAR than Cabrera in both August and September/October--maybe even that Trout led the AL in fWAR in August and was 2nd to Cano (by 0.1) in Sept/Oct. But if we can break up the season into different piles, then we never have to consider defense or baserunning!
Having an intelligent argument with someone who disagrees with me is awesome.
Sadly, most arguments don't go that way. The vast majority of people I've encountered who want to argue, say, politics aren't interested in actual discourse; they want to just shout their position at me until my mind changes. That is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike fun. I prefer to enter debates where both parties (including myself) are open-minded enough to actually listen to the points the other is making.
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