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Comments On: Outrage
I agree. This kind of dissent is truly incomprehensible but that is why folks like you, myself and many others serve(d) in the military. So this kind of protest can happen. The sad thing is that too many folks of a conservative bent will hold this up as what the majority of the loyal opposition believes and supports. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not everyone who works and/or wants a November defeat for George W. Bush despises their government. You must always keep in mind the maxim of Voltaire who strongly influenced the Founding Fathers: It may be disagreeable but it is a part of the First Amendment that you and I swore an oath to defend. Posted by Randy at March 22, 2004 01:33 AMStrangely, I have a quote from Ghostbusters II going through my head right now: "Being miserable and treating each other like dirt is every New Yorker's God given right!" I understand the emotions evoked by these pictures , David, and I would suggest that your depth of feeling makes you very similar to the people marching in San Fran. These people are frustrated, angry and often hateful because they feel betrayed, let down because they've had their ideals abused. Notice, please, that I'm not excusing their behavior; I just understand part of its source. Ultimately though, I think Randy is right. Freedom is an all or nothing proposition. We may abhore what some people have to say (one wonders how often we're actually repulsed more by how they say it). But what would be anti-American is to claim that some have a right to say whatever, and others don't ... for whatever reason. It may just be my opinion, but I actually think that that's what some of these protesters are really getting at ... is that the problem lies with those who would change America in an effort to shut them up.(Just for the record, I find most protests of the kind in San Fran to be silly, unproductive, and devisive. If their effort is to shock and affront my beliefs, I choose not to give them the satisfaction. Asshats!) Posted by Wulfgar at March 22, 2004 09:40 AM"I understand the emotions evoked by these pictures , David, and I would suggest that your depth of feeling makes you very similar to the people marching in San Fran." I cannot disagree more. Please point to an incident where David deliberately tried to shock and disgust people who've had to deal with a tragedy. Please point to a single incident where David showed such callousness. Heck, I don'y even see him calling them asshats! There are limits to acceptable behavior. The protesters might very well be indulging in something fully protected under the law, but they're not moral people. I'm having trouble seeing them as civilized. James Posted by James R. Rummel at March 22, 2004 10:46 AMJames, you are confusing feelings with actions, quite willfully, I would point out. And I'm having trouble seeing what "limits to acceptable behavior", has to do with whether or not they are "moral people". That's a pretty horrific non-sequiter value judgement you've just laid there. You think maybe its sloppy thinking such as that that has those folks all ticked off? Posted by Wulfgar at March 22, 2004 12:45 PMI was really flummoxed by that sign. At first I thought it had to be Photoshopped. All I can think now is that the kind of furious anger the message inspired is exactly what the sign-bearer intended the rest of us to feel, to make us so angry that we can't think straight. Personally, I am against the Iraq war. 9/11 came from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. Saddam Hussein was one of the bad guys to be sure, but it isn't helpful to those of us who would like to see a little more critical thinking and cool-headed analysis of the situation that we're in for war protestors to say the absolute worst things they can think of to say. Oh, and Randy? "The sad thing is that too many folks of a conservative bent will hold this up as what the majority of the loyal opposition believes and supports. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not everyone who works and/or wants a November defeat for George W. Bush despises their government." Thank you so much for saying that. D "And I'm having trouble seeing what "limits to acceptable behavior", has to do with whether or not they are "moral people". That's a pretty horrific non-sequiter value judgement you've just laid there." It's neither a non-sequitur nor difficult to understand. To deliberately and callously cheer for the deaths of innocent people is sick. Outside the bounds of acceptable behavior. So far as morality is concerned, it's actions that count. This fellow wanted the sign and his sentiments to be veiwed by a large audience, without considering how it would make the people who lost loved ones on 9/11 feel. I think this is absurdly obvious. "You think maybe its sloppy thinking such as that that has those folks all ticked off?" Doesn't look to me like I'm the one with sloppy thinking. In fact, I'd have to say that I'm the one with a firm grasp of the obvious. James Posted by James R. Rummel at March 23, 2004 07:00 AMPost a comment
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