I read a lot of columns and blogs and other bloviating on the Web in a typical day, so I’m used to the frequent glitches and oversights one encounters, even on websites of respected dead-tree publications.

But Tony Blankley’s gaffe in yesterday’s Washington Times column was a real jaw-dropper nonetheless.

In Europe, citizens can be — and have been — criminally prosecuted for calling elements of Islam violence-prone. The great crusading journalist Camille Paglia was forced to live out her last cancer-ridden days in exile to avoid paying the penal price for her honest (and accurate) expressions on that topic.

(Emphasis added.)

Ouch.

I can almost imagine conflating the late Oriana Fallaci with some other European anti-Islamist crusader…but with the author of Sexual Personae (who is, of course, very much alive)? How do those two become interchangeable in one’s mind?

I also don’t understand how neither Mr. Blankley nor any of his editors didn’t pause to double-check the reference. I myself tend to be incredibly fussy over what I publish, even if it only ever reaches a half-dozen readers. You’d think that someone would at least have taken fifteen seconds to Google or Wikipedia the spelling…and that even a cursory glance at the results of the search would have set off alarm bells.

Those who earn a living from writing and opining on the issues of the day, and see those writings and opinings disseminated to millions weekly, have a privileged and enviable position. Is it too much to ask that they write and edit and proofread with great care?

I can’t stand sloppy, not in areas like this.