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March 29, 2004

Reasonable Disagreement

Hmmmm. I have had a couple of comments disagreeing with my support of Young Republicans and others to exercise their freedom of speech.
I think that discussion and disagreement is a good thing.
One comment, from Rank and File Democrat (with an email address, naturally of fuck@you.com) goes thusly:

Get ready for a lot more of it Beth.

When vets start returning from Iraq and realize that little pussy boys like Matt Margolis didn't have the balls to enlist themselves, there will definitely be hell to pay.

You have no idea what's going to come down on you in a few years.

Well, Mr. or Ms. Rank and File Democrat, I have to ask; how you would know about anyone in the military and how they feel about the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and the War on Terror itself? Could you please, please, please assure me that you have served in the military yourself? Or are you simply assuming that Kerry's military service is typical - where one accuses all fellow soldiers of committing war crimes after one gets out of the service early with flesh wound Purple Hearts?

I have many, many friends who are still on active duty. I have served in the Army Reserve and my husband is a Retired Army Officer. I live in a military town. None of these people would agree with you in the least. In fact, many of them are quite unhappy with the way Rank and File Democrats pretend to support the troops, while calling their Commander in Chief every name you can think of.

I would truly welcome some reasonable disagreement, but what I get from the Democrats appear to be veiled threats of my future and the future of anyone who does not agree with the Left and name calling.

Posted by Beth at March 29, 2004 5:19 AM

Comments

I'm getting sick of the offensive, childish, and unreasoning behavior from all sides of the political spectrum. For whatever reason, the left side seems to have adopted the shrill, hateful tone that the right side of the spectrum had during the Clinton presidency, but unfortunately they are adding a level of profanity that detracts even more from their actions.

Sigh...

I think we'll all grow very old waiting for reasonable disagreement, although I share your desire for it.

Posted by: Jack at March 29, 2004 7:51 AM

Well, he/she/it uses the nom-de-plume 'Rank and File Democrat'; let us parse the name. It is unlikely that, based on the comments, the phrase 'rank-and-file' should be construed in terms of its military roots. However, by examining each word, one may begin to understand it as a plea for help.
Starting with the word 'rank': this indicates that the user has realised that its training in matters of personal hygiene has been sadly deficient, and it now acknowledges a distinctive personal 'odeur'. Then 'file' would indicate that alleviating the problem requires the strenuous use of highly abrasive tools. And finally, the root cause of the 'odeur' can associated with a state of mind generally identified as 'democrat'.
Really quite revealing ...

Cheers
JMH

Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs at March 29, 2004 7:45 PM

There's nothing mutually exclusive about saying, "Gee I hope our troops come home safe and sound," and saying, "Bush is an elite, moronic asshole."

One can hold both opinions without spontaneously combusting.

This is virtually the same as knowing that Bush, by all measures of the Just War Theory, launched us into an unjust pre-emptive war in Iraq, yet I'm proud that our troops are fighting that unjust war justly (for the most part fighting fair and sparing civilian lives as much as possible, etc.).

Is the logic still to complex for you to comprehend?

OK, last try: Bush bad. Troops good.

Posted by: Alsatian at March 30, 2004 3:00 PM

The 9/11 commission legitimzes the concept of pre-emption. The mass graves legitize the choice of Iraq. The groundswell of democratic demands in the ME legitimizes Bush. Just as Lech Walensa enabled all of eastern europe to visualize democracy, all of a sudden the talk in the ME is about civil society, press freedom and reform.

Posted by: Jane at March 30, 2004 9:54 PM

Alsatian said: "Bush, by all measures of the Just War Theory..."

Funny, just checking the University of Chicago, there are professors who would disagree with you--and who have done so quite eloquently. Never mind the various serious journals of scholarship and policy that have published articles contradicting you.


Posted by: Paul Stinchfield at April 5, 2004 9:03 PM