Fisking

Fisking, or "to Fisk", refers to the act of deconstructing, often in minute detail, an article, essay, argument, etc. with the intent of challenging its conclusion or theses by highlighting supposed logical fallacies, incorrect facts, etc. The practice was named in honor of British journalist Robert Fisk after he issued a dispatch from Pakistan describing his savage beating at the hands of Afghani refugees and expressing his opinion that, if he were in their position, he would have treated any Westerner the same. The term first appeared on either of the web logs http://www.instapundit.com or http://www.andrewsullivan.com and has to an extent retained its original ideological associations in that "Fiskings" are usually performed by conservatives on their Left-wing opponents, especially those with strong Third worldist sentiments.

External Resources

• Robert Fisk: "My beating by refugees is a symbol of the hatred and fury of this filthy war" (http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=109257)