self-flagellation

Colleague Coyne explains where I went astray.

My other column from this week’s blockbuster two-Wells-column issue is about Afghanistan, and my dawning doubts about whether the West’s military intervention there is worth the bother. Though I didn’t write it for cheap nihilist kicks, I suspect nobody will like this column, because assorted rebuttals are so ready at hand, including (a) Coward! Why give up now?; (b) Slow learner! What took you so long?; and (c) Herd animal! You’re just catching up to Will and Friedman! (Option (c) is, in fact, not true; I read Will’s column after I filed my own, and Friedman’s hadn’t been published yet. But obviously there’s something in the air, and I’m breathing it.)