I spent much of last week duking it out in cyberspace with one very staunch supporter of Bush and American foreign policy. He goes by the name of Rock. He is a religious man; a patriot; leans well to the right; and he’s not keen on questioning the motives and activities of his government. To him, in a world where it’s “good vs. evil” and “us against them” the U.S. is beyond reproach.
Rock has a blog where he writes about political issues and where he has taken on the noble quest of enlightening the ignorant masses. Anyway, for reasons that will soon become clear, he did not publish my last comment, and so, at the risk of turning this into a political blog (maybe I need to start a new blog?) I’ve posted it here for you to see. WARNING: Rock tended to bring out the worst in me and, consequently, I spent a great deal of time in the saddle of my high horse.
November 23rd 2006
Well Rock this will be my last comment for you. As saddened as you must be at hearing this, I think you’ll agree that it’s for the best, as our positions seem to be most irreconcilable.
So, to begin, I’d like to commend you on your choice of name; I think it sums you up nicely. Indeed, your intelligence and ability to make logical arguments seem to be on par with your geological counterpart. What other conclusion can I reach when your typically dismissive response to people who disagree with you is to tell them that they’re reading the wrong stuff and that you have heard the arguments before; apparently this frees you from the burden of responding in any sensible way. When you do attempt to construct an argument they are often both infuriating and laughable all at once. Permit me to demonstrate with some of my favourite comments of yours:
“Islam has had no greater friend than George Bush.” -- a response to Phil. I’d love to see that printed on a t-shirt.
“Here, you'll find good and bad things said about Bush. This is one sign that the site is seeking truth.” – very admirable.
“I think the only stupid thing he ever does is pander to the left. Until recently, he had proven himself to be an astute politician.”– You demonstrating your commitment to the abovementioned pledge. I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority of people who don’t like Bush would have complaints of a very different nature.
“He is not a great conservative, and he has been miserable on immigration, but the man is close to a saint in Iraq and with Israel.” Another example of said pledge.
“I will remain open to what I read. Still, attempting to tell the truth on politics is tricky.” -- This last one says it all; it is clear that you see your role as teacher of the truth, as opposed to a seeker of the truth, and therefore, though you claim otherwise you are not open to what people who disagree with you have to say. That’s why every conversation with you seems to go endlessly round in circles. Much like the violence and the fighting in the world today.
I’d like to finish on a sentimental note by saying that although I don’t like you, Rock, I will most assuredly never forget you and I will look back on our little exchanges with fondness. As I said at the top, this is my last comment, and so I leave the last word to you, which I very much look forward to. Go on, give it to me.
Eyechan
Though Rock found this final comment to be quite unpublishable, he did respond, eventually, which I thought was a bit cheeky, though his response had none of the fire and brimstone that I had been anticipating; I guess he wanted to show me that he was above making personal attacks against emotional lefty scumbags. If you want to read Rock’s brand of truth and see what compelled me to write the above comment then visit his blog at http://truthrock.blogspot.com/. My first comment appears under a post entitled, O.J. and Pelosi, November 17th; his belated response to my final comment appears under a post entitled, Muslim Ingratitude, November 21st.
Till my next post--which I promise will be about my adventures in Japan, and not political--take care!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
I've Been Censored!
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15 comments:
eyechan, you are partially right in your post. I do not want to descend to the level displayed in your comments. One rule of any blog of note is that personal attacks are not allowed and not published. Any personal attack against me or anyone else is not helpful for communication. Just stick to the issues.
If you can't make your arguments with facts and logic, then how strong are they?
You're right, I do not have much respect for liberalism at this time in history. There aren't many FDRs, Trumans or JFKs out there. Instead, you have Teddy Kennedy's, John Kerry's and Nancy Pelosi's. Still, if anyone liberal makes a good point, or reveals a reality, I will acknowledge it gladly--as I am most interested in truth.
Rock
Speak of the devil! Rock, welcome to the dark side!
Firstly, with regards to your sentiments on personal attacks, perhaps you should take your own advice. You know, people in glass houses . . .. Actually, you’re pretty crafty when it comes to insulting people. First you pigeon-hole them, and then you let rip with a host of sweeping generalisations. For instance, here is your assessment of me in one of your comments: eyechan, I've heard these arguments too often before, and you now have revealed yourelf too as a liberal. I'll respond later, when I'm at home. For now, I'll just say this is one problem I believe liberals have--they don't see good and evil. They see the humanity in Hitler and terrorist bombers; they see the evil in good people. This moral blindness is deadly.
Essentially, what you’ve said here, Rock, correct me if I’m wrong, is that I’m a Hitler/terrorist loving liberal. You’ll have to excuse me for not taking this critique on board with more grace.
Now, as far as your desire to stick to facts is concerned, I think it’s a wonderful notion. But the problem here is, of course, that no-one seems to be able to agree on just what the facts are. Let’s take the “facts” that were promoted as the reasons why we needed to go to Iraq: (1) they most definitely have WMD’s, lots of them; (2) which could be deployed within minutes; (3) they are, without a shadow of doubt, an imminent threat to American, nay, global security. Now, I’m going to go out on a limb here, Rock, but I think I’d be correct in assuming that you would have been among those extolling the veracity of these facts and the wisdom of the Bush administration’s decision to go to Iraq (actually, I think you still are); never mind that the weapons inspectors weren’t finding anything. Meanwhile, the less trigger-happy among us were saying things like, “Shouldn’t we let the weapons inspectors finish their job?” The answer was, of course, “No, don’t be stupid, you stupid left-wing naïf”. So off we went, having first forced the Iraqis to disarm, and bravely conquered a country on its knees.
Rock, no matter how often you say it, you will never convince me that we went to Iraq out of a sincere concern for the Iraqi people. After the first gulf war we sat back and watched as Saddam went about punishing all those who had supported the Americans. Now, we are again contemplating pulling out, because, well, we’ve had enough. The only difference in outcomes this time will be that instead of a dictator ruthlessly trying to re-establish order and stability, there will be all out civil war (if that isn’t all ready the case). The absurd thing is that some of us (Rock, I’m looking at you) are blaming the Iraqis, saying things along the lines of “they don’t deserve peace” because “they’ve resorted to violence and tribalism”. Well, what did you expect to happen once we had created a power vacuum, and then attempted to establish peace and security with insufficient troop numbers? It all leads the cynic in me to think that maybe things are going to plan after all--I mean, as long as they are fighting amongst each other they won’t be attacking us; at least not in the short-term. I guess it’s like you once said, Rock, “The war in Iraq is justified, and even ingenious”.
Come on eyechan, why can't you just accept rock's love for America? In the marketplace of ideas, where we let all ideas out there and allow the truth to emerge, real Americans like me and rock realize we have no choice by to censor out the west-coast, liberal elite some times. Otherwise, their dangerous, terror-coddling ways will get out there and hurt us. Never mind that pesky NIE report that said we're creating more terrorists because of our presence in Iraq; my gut tells me the War on Terror is right, no matter what the evidence says.
Like rock said, no personal attacks are allowed on a blog of note, only substantive issues. Just like this masterful paragraph from his blog: "The New Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean are wild-eyed radicals, literally, with Pelosi’s Runaway Bride eyes and Dean's "Yee-haah!" Pelosi brings her “San Francisco values.” I don’t intend any negative reference to pro-gay by this—rather, I mean ultra-leftist positions like hating the military. Dean is just a hateful guy, ready to blow his temper in a moment, always disrespectful of the President and of half the country."
I mean, there's no personal attacks there, right, just truth? Just generally stating they hate the military, and discussing Pelosi's "Runaway Bride eyes" & "Dean is just a hateful guy," that's nothing but substance. No personal attacks there!
eyechan, realize that freedom is on the march! All aboard the democracy express! Our divinely-inspired President is steamin' down the tracks!
Terrorist-coddling liberals, why do you hate America?
-Theodore Trumblebunks, I, Esq.
Theodore! Great to hear from you!
Yes, I now realise I've been a bit harsh on old Rock, and for that I'm very sorry. Rock, are you listening? I’m sorry. OK?
Theodore, you are by far my favourite conservative, and it is my hope that with your patient tutelage I will shrug off my current wimpy and misguided worldviews and learn to love America.
eyechan, like the old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." I will lead you to the truth and guide you in how to love America. It's up to you to drink all of that in and shed any tendencies characteristic of the west-coast, liberal elite. But you're well on your way already!
rock and soon-to-be eyechan, thank you for loving America!
Thedore and Eyechan, I don't shy from attacking liberals like Pelosi. Hyperbole is an honored tradition in American politics, from the time of Washington to Lincoln to present times. Your side can call Bush a terrorist and our side can't say Pelosi is a wild-eyed liberal?
Plus, I will attack any commenter's stances and beliefs. Those are fair game. It's not okay, though, to start calling your commenters names, or vice versa.
One problem of Republicans is they are too nice. Your side has Howard Dean; our side has Rush and Saveage, but the rest of the Repubs feel they have to fight with the Marquis of Queensebury rules.
Theodore, you need to pull in your ego a tad--a big tad. Is that a personal attack?
God bless.
Rock
Yikes, quite a lot of America lovers here. All well and good but frankly, I just don't know how we will recover for all the sins the country has committed in the name of "good". The carnage is quite extaordinary, our reputation has fallen to all time lows, and certain Americans living overseas are forced to call themselves Canadian so as to avoid the exhaustion that sets in when one is endlessly answering the question "how could you have elected that man?" Painful is an understatement.
Rock: Yes, absolutely, Republicans are much too nice. (What the??)
Maryam: Thanks for visiting my blog! I'm just sorry you found yourself in the middle of all this unpleasantness. It's my own doing of course so I can't really complain. Anyway, hopefully, with my next post, I can get this blog back on a more positive track. By the way, did I mention that I love your stories and your writing style? Reminds me of Arundhati Roy.
rock,
I'm not sure where your insinuations come from, but we're on the same side here. I'm no terrorist-coddling liberal Democrat. Please refrain from such accusations in the future.
You're making us America-lovers look bad with your hypocrisy, as you didn't say Pelosi was a wide-eyed liberal, you said she's a wide-eyed radical with "Runaway Bride" eyes. What's the substance/issue there? Nothing. That's a personal attack. If it wasn't, there'd be no use for the analogy of physical features, such as her eyes. Your metaphor is, essentially: the runaway bride was crazy & Pelosi's eyes look like hers; therefore, she's a crazy radical. Stick to the issues.
Your heart is in the right place. But your way of attacking the liberals shows a double standard. Once you can fix this, then you can smite down liberals left and right!
-Theodore Trumblebunks, I, Esq.
Arundhati Roy?! *blush, blush*. How very lovely. Thank you!
And eyechan, you had better post a new blog entry quickly before there is a declaration of all out war here. I predict lunging and eye pokes (of the Runaway and other variety) any moment...
I know, I know. I'm working on a new, and much less divisive, post right now. Unfortunately, I'm not the speediest of typers, but God willing, it'll be up by tomorrow (or the next day, or the day after that).
Maryam, would you mind if I link your blog to mine?
My apologies, eyechan and my marrakech. I didn't intend to cause discord. I'll limit myself on these comments out of respect for others :)
-Theodore Trumblebunks, I, Esq.
Theodore, don't be silly. I love getting comments from you. In any case, I'll be starting a new blog soon which will be focussed primarily on political issues, and where we will be able to discuss things like, 'Which country needs to be "fixed" next?' and 'Where's the love?'.
Thanks, eyechan. I'll keep commenting and teaching others how to love America and spread freedom and democracy!
-Theodore Trumblebunks, I, Esq.
Where are the adventures in Japan? Inquiring minds want to know;-)
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