Say that somebody orchestrates a great ‘taking offense offensive,’ and that somebody else answers them with wit and fire. If a bassoon player in the orchestra of offense shows up in the comments section of their blog and expresses a sentiment along the lines of ‘way to miss the redemptive moment, bitch,’ one may begin to suspect that redemptive moments weren’t actually their central interest. The lesson we can take away from Mark 5 is that people who ooze compassion one moment and erupt with unbridled scorn the next are on somebody’s payroll.
Douglas Wilson