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Dec. 13, 2005 I'm no stranger to controversy at UK, so let me dive right and lower my popularity in the eyes of some even further. Why not? Honesty is the best policy, right? If not, we should quit telling that little rule to our children. Thomas Keyes correctly listed me among those that sent him an email around the time the last bout of voting was taking place. I expressed my opinion on various writers, Siluk being one of them. I have nothing against Siluk personally – how can I? I don't know the man. But here's what I do know. He's either a lousy writer or a lazy writer. Many of us fudge words now and then, or get some grammar wrong and so forth, but Siluk does this consistently. Now, compared to Pain and Keyes in this regard alone, he's clearly the lesser writer. I realize he has books published, and can only imagine that his publishing company edits his works extensively. Or, perhaps he's a lazy writer? I'm guilty of this at times, not checking a fact or not re-reading it one last time before I hit “Send”. Now, some reading this are likely thinking, “What does it matter?”. Well, in some sense I can sympathize with that view, but not in light of the current issue that UK faces, namely, that Google News dropped us as a source. We don't know for sure why, though I have seen some critics of useless-knowledge.com out there on the web, and Siluk's articles were listed in a negative light. This doesn't mean that Siluk is singlehandedly at fault, I don't mean that at all, still, it does leave a bad taste in my mouth that he was chosen as the top writer for the site; it leads me to make conclusions which may admittedly be inaccurate but I have them nonetheless. Now, as to whether or not Siluk's writing is something people identify with, well, I can't say. He's a conservative Christian, so certainly he identifies with more people than a liberal atheist such as myself. All I can say is that for me personally, he seems like a traveling red-neck. I always hope and assume that the conservative view of so many folks that live around me is what it is because they lack a certain worldly-ness, being the type that only read the local section of the paper, and watch only local news, for example. Siluk seems to disprove that notion. Again, he may be a nice man in person, I don't know, but if writing can evoke responses, they can surely evoke negative responses, and this is what much of his writing evokes in my own mind. Contrast this with Ron Lewis, the author that I voted for. I voted in part to make a statement about a process that I felt was less than kosher – the “lets vote someone off” contest. But I didn't waste my vote. I probably disagree with Ron as much as Siluk, but Ron sounds like a reasonable conservative, someone that at least has the ability to think deeply on a subject, even if this does often lead to the wrong conclusions in my view. I don't pride myself for much at all, but I do pride myself on being able to hold two different thoughts in my head at the same time. For example, while I disagree with the death penalty as policy, I often wish death for criminals, and don't weep as they get zapped into permanent non-existence. Likewise, I can appreciate the skill and wit in an article, even if that article is negative, even if that article goes against a belief that I champion. Ron might well have been on my short list in a “vote for the author that you disagree with the most” contest, but that wasn't the contest. Siluk gets the short end of the stick on all of these accounts in my book. I hate for this to sound like an attack article, but I think for public record, it's important for folks to express both their positive and negative feelings for this guy that now represents the “best” of what UK has to offer. Besides, he certainly isn't shy about expressing his own negative feelings. I realize my position isn't a very political one to hold; it certainly won't win me the most praise. Taking a side is putting your head on the chopping block, after all, and I'm not running for any office, nor trying to sell anything, and when I say that I dislike political correctness, I mean it. When the finalists where narrowed down, I was surprised that Siluk was among them. Very ironically, I liked all of the other authors, and had planned to vote for them one at a time, alternating each day, going on down the list. But I'm using Linux and the Firefox browser, and something in that combination is not in agreement with the voting system, so I was only allowed to vote once in the that round, and Stan Grimes was the lucky recipient of my vote. So, let me end by saying, congrats, Dennis! I don't feel that you deserved to be in the top 20 of a “best writer” contest any more than I should have been, let alone win, but congratulations anyway. If this win helps improve your Christmas, then I really am happy for you. After all, you might be a really nice person. ------------ About the author Frederick Smith: I enjoy writing about the positive virtues of humanism - humanists are the good guys. I now have a blog that I will start to increasingly maintain and update. Here is the link: fredsuberview.blogspot.com/ This is my second foray into the UK writing discordia. This time around, I want to be a tad more raw - maybe a bit edgier (does that sound "art-see"?) Maybe I'll address even more issues that most Americans consider taboo... About my personal background and life: I was born, I got some education, worked, ate, and had some kids. It seems I like to write � something that was unknown to me until relatively recently...How's that for detail? ;) Hate mail is welcome unless you are from the Army Of God. Please! It's not that I mind seeing pictures of aborted fetuses in my inbox, but once you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all... Email: dahlek65@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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