[lbo-talk] 'Grey Vampirism'

[James Heartfield]

I thought Shag was being a bit po-faced. It just sounded rather funny to me. I can hear what you say when you say it is an ad hominem argument. But lots of argument tests the boundaries of proper debate. It is a caricature of a certain kind of rhetorical posture, to call them a 'troll', or a 'grey vampire'. Caricatures tend to work, though, because they have a resonance. I can see that the characterisation of some points of view as being 'beyond the pale' might be a conservative way of excluding dissonant voices. But that would only work if the counter-arguments are lifeless and uninteresting.

Of course it is a bit unfair - but you know what it means. Troll means something like someone who manufactures controversy for the sake of it (can't think why that would be a problem...). And 'grey vampire' means someone who pretends to disinterested scepticism. I particularly liked the part of the argument that suggested that post-structuralism was the philosophy of 'grey vampirism' - after all could their be a more perfect sceptical argument than 'scepticism towards all grand narratives'.