There's an old metaphysical question along the lines of: "If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one around to hear it, does it make a noise?" The idea is that something has to be witnessed in order for it to have an impact.

I've gotten a couple thousand hits over the past couple days as a result of a plug by Ramesh Ponnuru over at National Review Online and the Junkyard Blog linking to a three week old post.

Something roughly similar happened in January when the inestimable Professor Bainbridge was looking for some reaction from the chattering classes over then Democrat presidential front-runner Howard Dean's Good Samaritan gaffe. I had posted an item on it almost immediately, but Bainbridge hadn't heard or seen much about it a week later.

I'm sure this happens to every blogger from time to time, but it raises the question: "If a blogger posts an opinion, and Instapundit doesn't link to it, does it truly exist?"