"Striking a nerve"...the easy put-down against someone who dares to stand up for themselves


Shouldn't everyone care to have their record set straight?

Recently I had a minor dust-up online. If you care you can get the skinny here. (Follow the links.)

Basically I saw a regular reader of one of my blogs say a couple things about it on someone else's blog that I didn't think were fair.

First he made a snide aside about HealthyConcerns being a sponsored blog (complete with swipe at my sponsor) and that he didn't know what that meant. Of course the kind of blog it is wasn't relevant to his comments, which he acknowledged...he just wanted to throw it in there.

Then he proceeded to talk about the naivete and "dumbfoundedness" of me and the people I interview for HealthyConcerns.

So, I commented right back on this poor other person's blog. I said that a) if he wanted to know what the sponsorship thing was about, perhaps he ought to go read the posts entitled "What is the sponsorship thing about anyway?"

I was particularly pissed because this guy comments on most HealthyConcerns posts, and I have always been a polite, respectful host...even though we clearly disagree with one another from a political angle, and even though it's also clear that he's a health insurance broker who's probably mostly commenting there to troll for customers. Nothing wrong with it...he makes genuine, lengthy comments...whether I agree or not.

And I said, that the entire point of HealthyConcerns is that I'm a layperson telling you what laypeople think. And health care is fucking confusing. Even to those of us who consider ourselves smart, well-educated and generally well-informed. And that being patronizing really wasn't going to grow his business.

He replied, again via comment, and offered an apology saying that he obviously "struck a nerve." People use that phrase when they want to get in their final blow. It's sort of the apologetic equivalent of a back-handed compliment.

It implies that you have something to be embarrassed about and are reacting out of hand or proportion.

And these days people use it any time someone has the temerity to set the record straight, to expose inaccuracy or speciousness without apology.

You didn't strike a nerve, dude...you were trying (unfairly) to be derogatory and dismissive...and I called you on it.

Posted: Sun - June 12, 2005 at 01:32 PM       EmailFeedback

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