>The pretext of a war has absolutely no bearing on the value of a soldier's service.
True. If Michael Moore were, in this context, attempting to rebut Bill O'Reilly's statement of respect towards the troops, your statement would be valid. Heck, if Michael Moore was attempting to do so, I would be the first to say he was wrong.
However, it seems readily apparent to me that Michael was, in this context, not attempting to rebut Bill's statement. The record shows he agrees with that statement, actually. In the context of the larger discussion, Michael was attempting to coax a complete answer to the question out of Bill.
The question that Bill answered was "Over 900 of our soldiers are dead. What do you say to their parents?" Out of context, his answer was fine. But in the context of the discussion leading up to the question, the answer was incomplete. The preceeding conversation centered around this statement by Bill: "Yeah, but he didn’t lie, he was misinformed."
So, if we condense the context of the preceeding discussion back into the question, you get this: 'If you were president, and you were misinformed, and you sent our soldiers to fight based on this misinformation, and as a result over 900 of our soldiers died, what would you say to their parents?'
In that context, Bill's answer was incomplete. It did not address the principle issue behind the question, which is ostensibly 'what do you say to the parents of dead soldiers, if they died due to a mistake on your part'?
Personally, I know what I would say, and I suspect most of you would say the same thing: I would admin that I had been wrong, and I would say that I was sorry.
Hmm. Let me think.
A whole bunch of people take the time to write up their scenario, perhaps as many as three different scenarios, and (as encouraged in the contest) lots of them contain details that are specific to the author's personal circumstances/surroundings.
Some of these people do so on computers on a college campus. Or shared with family members. Or at work.
Of those people, many of them have their emails scanned by their bosses, or loved ones, or fellow students, or what have you -- and when these people see the material (having no idea it's a contest), they call the authorities.
What a great idea this contest is. Not. At all.
Bah.
All types of women hook up with all types of men, and sometimes opposite sides of the bell curve hook up. The need to attach a name to it, and then rant about it being this big awful thing, is mostly just about making yourself feel like YOU are in the center of the curve, and the other person is at the extreme.
There's nothing quite like the pathological need to feel like the "normal" one when confronted by someone you neither like nor understand.
Or not. After all, who the heck am I?
posted by EmoPhillips at 06:16PM UTC on July 26
(heh)
*watches as pete_best's cardboard box explodes, right next to the larch tree*
posted by DaveJay 20 years ago
In "Oh. My. God."
Do I still need to capitalize Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net?
posted by DaveJay 20 years ago
In "The fix may be in, yet again..."
In Soviet Russia, halibut leaves YOU on the backseat of...er...wait, isn't this the window I was browsing Slashdot in?
posted by DaveJay 20 years ago
In "Bill O'Reilly Vs Michael Moore"
>The pretext of a war has absolutely no bearing on the value of a soldier's service. True. If Michael Moore were, in this context, attempting to rebut Bill O'Reilly's statement of respect towards the troops, your statement would be valid. Heck, if Michael Moore was attempting to do so, I would be the first to say he was wrong. However, it seems readily apparent to me that Michael was, in this context, not attempting to rebut Bill's statement. The record shows he agrees with that statement, actually. In the context of the larger discussion, Michael was attempting to coax a complete answer to the question out of Bill. The question that Bill answered was "Over 900 of our soldiers are dead. What do you say to their parents?" Out of context, his answer was fine. But in the context of the discussion leading up to the question, the answer was incomplete. The preceeding conversation centered around this statement by Bill: "Yeah, but he didn’t lie, he was misinformed." So, if we condense the context of the preceeding discussion back into the question, you get this: 'If you were president, and you were misinformed, and you sent our soldiers to fight based on this misinformation, and as a result over 900 of our soldiers died, what would you say to their parents?' In that context, Bill's answer was incomplete. It did not address the principle issue behind the question, which is ostensibly 'what do you say to the parents of dead soldiers, if they died due to a mistake on your part'? Personally, I know what I would say, and I suspect most of you would say the same thing: I would admin that I had been wrong, and I would say that I was sorry.
posted by DaveJay 20 years ago
In ""
Hmm. Let me think. A whole bunch of people take the time to write up their scenario, perhaps as many as three different scenarios, and (as encouraged in the contest) lots of them contain details that are specific to the author's personal circumstances/surroundings. Some of these people do so on computers on a college campus. Or shared with family members. Or at work. Of those people, many of them have their emails scanned by their bosses, or loved ones, or fellow students, or what have you -- and when these people see the material (having no idea it's a contest), they call the authorities. What a great idea this contest is. Not. At all.
posted by DaveJay 20 years ago
In "Emo boys told to "stuff it""
Bah. All types of women hook up with all types of men, and sometimes opposite sides of the bell curve hook up. The need to attach a name to it, and then rant about it being this big awful thing, is mostly just about making yourself feel like YOU are in the center of the curve, and the other person is at the extreme. There's nothing quite like the pathological need to feel like the "normal" one when confronted by someone you neither like nor understand. Or not. After all, who the heck am I? posted by EmoPhillips at 06:16PM UTC on July 26 (heh)
posted by DaveJay 20 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)