posted
I'm in full support of our troops. I've got people in the military, including my brother whom I love very much. I've got a friend who has scars from shcrapnel from the first Gulf War. I've got people over in Iraq now. My high school has the dubious distinction of having the most graduates killed in Vietnam.
Maybe it's because of this last that I don't automatically assosciate supporting the troops with supporting the political leaders of this country or their agenda. In some cases, I think that supporting the troops involves opposing the irresponsible and unjustified use that the current political leadership puts them to. For me, it's not a simple matter of unreflectivedly waving the flag. Every time we go into combat, people from the same background as me die. Right now, it's only touched me through a couple of degrees of separation, but every military action increases the probability that people I know and grew up with are going to die. I don't want anyone to die, least of all my friends, but I recognize that there are cases where it is the best of possible options. However, it is exactly because I care so much about the troops that I'm always sceptical of their being put in harms way.
But, no matter what I think of the overall purpose they are being used for, I support and only wish the best of our troops. Their sacrifices or willingness to sacrifice are what makes my freedom possible.
posted
Blow the whistle. As far as I can see I don't regret a single word I dropped on this thread, with the possible exception of my very foolish-looking olive branch...
so hey, ban me and go ahead and pat yourselves on the back for being enlightened and inoffensive
And in the meantime, God Bless BrianM and hopefully get him something worthwhile to do.
posted
You TAK, scottneb and BrianM weren't the worst offenders and really didn't resort to personal attacks, while you got a bit hot under the collar at times. I'm sorry if I got a bit hot under the collar myself in yelling about the personal attacks but the sort that went on here don't even go on at Ornery any more.
People in the past have complained that the whistle blowing icon has been used without giving fair warning. I am going to wait at least a few more hours to see if the most vicious personal attack statements are self-edited. If that person doesn't realize that the statments were a vicious personal attack, then he deserves to get the whistle blown on him anyway.
posted
TAK, I recognized and appreciated your olive branch gesture. I didn't reply in kind because Rhaegar had started the rhetoric back up by the time I returned to this thread.
I think it's important to recognize that there are several people who have posted on both sides of this little debate. You seem to be, at times, saying that everyone who disagrees with your sentiments is of a like mind, and despises our troops, and a smug and arrogant jerk. You also seem to think that everybody views the three or so of you on your side the same way. For whatever it's worth, you are not the one who has most gotten my dander up. In fact, it's no individual, but rather an initial slew of threads all chastising BrianM.
You know I've always been upfront in telling you how much I respect your opinions and the thought that goes into them. You're a good person to have on one's side and a worthy adversary in a debate. I happen to disagree with your "us against them" rhetoric, in sentences like "so hey, ban me and go ahead and pat yourselves on the back for being enlightened and inoffensive," though I'm sure you're not the only one. Some of your posts have suggested cabalistic thinking and low motivations on the part of those who disagree with you, in my view. People disagree with you because they disagree with you, not because they are jerks.
Nobody wants you banned; certainly I don't. You're one of the people I think of as synonymous with Hatrack. And long after this thread fades into oblivion, I will still think of you that way.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
The correct phraseology is SOB. Like most acronyms, words like 'a,' 'the,' 'of,' and 'and' are not included.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote: The correct phraseology is SOB. Like most acronyms, words like 'a,' 'the,' 'of,' and 'and' are not included.
If 'of' is not supposed to be included, shouldn't it be "SB"?
[edit: Also, I thought an acronym was an abbreviation that could be pronounced as its own word. S.O.B., I thought, was just a regular abbreviation, unless you're calling someone a sob.]
posted
I was heartbroken to discover that phraseology is actually a word. Sounds like something someone would make up wihle playing the character of a Mayor in some backwards little town in Iowa or something.
And I thought someone was being called SOAB 'The Son of All Bombs'
Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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