Re: OFF TOPIC: Two Very Powerful Videos

fattuchus@xxxxxxxxx wrote in
news:1146393820.236750.212420@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

... I presume it embodies the opinion of other "liberal"
posters here ...

I wouldn't presume anything of the sort! "Liberal" opinion is
as varied as "Conservative" opinion.

Now, I guess I could be called "liberal" (I've voted for the
Liberal Party a few times - although most of my adult life I've
tended to vote for left-wing parties instead), so let me address
this. First, what a terrible thread this is. It started with a
sad excuse for a pair of political videos (can I be the only
person who thought those videos referenced by Marcus are
terrible examples of attempting to substitute cheap appeals to
the emotions for sound rational political discourse?), followed
by some pretty horrific images of what happens when people fall
to the ground from a great height (again, no new information,
but cheap sensual assault substituting for intelligent
discourse), and all this accompanied by the usual "your side
stinks, mine is all virtue" verbiage that passes for political
discussion in these too polarized days.

After 9-11 I predicted we'd need at least a decade before we'd
truly see the consequences of the actions taken by the various
parties to this situation. I stand by that - yesterday's wisdom
all too frequently is overtaken by today's events. But one other
thing I said then, viz that the actions proposed by the Bush
administration had the seriously likely potential of making our
security more precarious, does seem likely to be justified by
the passing years. My objections to the Iraq war were then, and
are now, that the wrong target was chosen, the war was
insufficiently pressed, and the indecision and incompetance seem
likely to make the situation worse (as far as "western
security" goes). This has nothing to do with protesting - or
failing to protest - Iraqi actions and intentions towards Israel
(don't try to guess my opinions on the Israeli situation -
you'll probably get it wrong!), or any of the other dead horses
you bring out regularly to flog repeatedly. And I am not alone
- your parody of "liberal" ideas is about as reliable as
Marcus's account of "conservative" positions (some of which are
intellectually respectable - I only wish Bush had some such
advisors among the few people he seems to listen to).

-= rags =-

--
-= rags =-

<rags AT math . mcgill . ca>
<http://www.math.mcgill.ca/rags>

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