Sometimes I do stuff that I know is just stupid. Today, I responded to a post by Tony Woodlief about his time working the Abortion Clinic detail for his local god-bothering collective. This was inordinately stupid for a couple of reasons:

1. Nobody is ever convinced of anything by a short argument presented once
2. There's no way to respond to his other commenters in an essay short enough that they'd be willing to read the whole thing
3. There isn't anybody who hasn't already had their opinion on abortion solidified by now
4. See item #1 repeatedly

Every now and then I forget my commitment not to try to educate anybody who isn't paying me for an education. People who don't want to learn new stuff generally don't. The only reliable way I've found to identify people who are open for instruction is that they'll offer cash money in trade.

I'll probably be able to resist responding to this kind of stuff for another six months at least, so I guess it wasn't a complete waste.