Yes. It occurs to me that one of Shakespeare's characters did a nice
> two-line condensation of over half of lbo traffic (quoted from memory):
> Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings.
>
> :-)
>
> But part of the angst comes from the absurd notion that we should ignore
> everyone who might be affected by our speech or action and concentrate
> on answering and/or persuading people who won't be on our side
> regardless. Hence, for example, the dreary obsessions with Fox and with
> public opinion surveys.
Well put. And, IMO the same goes for C. Hitchens, the Democratic presidential nominees, centre-left politicians worldwide, bourgeois nationalists in developing countries, etc.