Who Says Philosophers Aren't Useful?

In the midst of a lengthy discussion about the nuts and bolts publishing in philosophical journals, John Holbo at Crooked Timber gets parenthetical (and gives some great advice in the process) on how to deal with the nuttiness espoused by folks like Horowitz(and I would say Coulter, et al):

(Hey, did you read that nutty stuff over at Powerline today? And every day? Here's my advice. When you find yourself reading something by Hindrocket, some rant about how irrational and traitorous the left is, or the MSM; just sort of pretend you are reading a Spider-Man comic, and Hindrocket is J. Jonah Jameson yelling at Betty Brant, or Robbie. Or Peter. About Spider-Man. Because why does he hate on Spidey so? Spidey is so obviously not a menace. He's good. It's too bad we all know who Atrios is now. Otherwise we could imagine: what if Atrios is really, like, Hindrocket's secretary? I realize it is really a quite serious matter than the right-wingers have gone around the bend and apparently aren't coming back. Still, you've got to find a way to read their stuff with a sunny heart.)

That is just so right-on. I always told my parents that collecting and obsessively reading Spider-Man would pay dividends. Now I know I was right.