Sheep in the Road

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Intellectual
Candifloss
or, footnotes (and abbreviations)
– the farts (and belches) on a page
While a very small number of footnotes are useful in
unobtrusively directing a reader to the source of a quote,
generally they are the reclusive domain of the intellectual,
or those looking for intellectual status, trying to prove a
point by referencing another, as if by mentioning another
source for their information adds some sort of weighty
authority or gives credence to their flatulent point. A fart on
a page indeed! Are we then to believe that the source of an
unexplained point is correct just because it was published
elsewhere? This is nonsense, a literary nepotism based on
what? This kind of posturing, this elitist ‘ibid.’ nonsense
masquerading as researched writing, attempting to bolster
the importance of a text littered with superscripted numbers
and give it an air of intellect where it is absent, is just in
reality lazy writing.
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