Letters to the Editor
Presumptuous Insect
Published Letters: 162 Editor's Choice: 5
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For Pandyora and Paul R
[Read the article: McClatchy reports on shift in Iraq propaganda]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Pandyora, as I said, you need to read more carefully, and I will add, don’t make arguments from things that simply are not there. It suggests that you come here with an ax to grind and cannot find any real evidence to support the premises for your antagonism.
Glenn is unusually precise with his language. Those quotes you used in no way support your assertion that he “conflates” the Bush administration with “lying military commanders.” In each instance you quote, he is referring specifically to those military commanders who have been given the duties of communicating with the press and public. That is to say, a very tiny and specific subset of all military men. Observe: “his [that is, Bush’s] top officials,” “military commanders selected by the Bush administration to communicate,” (emphasis added) and in #3 and #4, the context is clear if you look back at the text that the military men in question are these few officials with specific communications duties, carefully selected by the administration for their willingness to repeat established talking points. And, of course, as others have pointed out, the core issue here is the media’s uncritical acceptance of those talking points, which are rife with devious linguistic turns, from all of the administration spokespeople.
You write: “There is a large portion of the American military establishment who opposes the way this war has been conducted.” Again, please read carefully. No one has suggested otherwise, because to do so would be simplistic and inaccurate. And if you look back at my first post, you will see that I agreed with you. (!)
You write: “This notion that military commanders are idiots who regurgitate the administration line is just plain wrong.” Where exactly did Glenn or anyone here use the word “idiot” or “bloodthirsty” (from your first post) or anything like it in reference to all or even any military commanders? And as for the specific individuals who feed information to the media, I can think of many many motives for them to disinform, but I would not use “idiocy” in my argument.
I think it behooves us all to strive for what Orwell called “window-pane clarity,” don’t you?
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Paul R, alas, I am afraid I cannot explain anything from Buffy, as I have never seen it, but I am not completely unfamiliar with the Whedonverse—I am a huge fan of everything in Firefly/Serenity, right down to Jayne’s fluffy orange hat. I took the name Presumptuous Insect from GB Shaw’s Pygmalion--it appears in a scene that beautifully renders issues of discourse, class, the blindness of privilege, and many other topics of interest to me!
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Buffy, berries, and stunning shamelessness
[Read the article: Standards of American justice under George W. Bush]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Morris Davis: “Reality for Guantánamo Bay is the daily professionalism of its staff, the humanity of its detention centers and the fair and transparent nature of the military commissions charged with trying war criminals.”
Shameless, shameless, shameless. It takes my breath away.
Bebop-o: “Don't get to a familiarization with darkness where one remains perpetually lost?....
The better option:
*The Mental Traveler-- Full filled with gems & gold, which he by industry had got. And these are the gems of the Human Soul, and the rubies & pearls of a lovesick eye. The countless gold of a ageing heart, and the martyrs groan and lovers sigh.
They are his meat they are his drink. He feeds the Beggar & the Poor and the wayfaring Traveler ever opens his door.”
This is beautiful and moving, Bebop-o. The hell with Bush, I want to have a beer with YOU. Thanks to you, I always have ripe summer berries on my mind….and Wednesday is farmer’s market day and I am going to take my sweet discarded hound with me to fill up on the juicy things. I hope that you keep writing here and that when the summer passes, your musings turn to the rich seasonal crops of autumn.
Paul R: “the approach is similar in terms of playing with opposites in multiple ways, with gritty, loving little details to cherish and grand abstractions slipping on banana peels”
Paul R, I cannot think of a better way to tempt me than to describe a show in this way! You have done it—I am off to add season 1 to my netflix queue.
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Yes!
[Read the article: Ann Coulter gets what she deserves]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Elizabeth Edwards does rock, Joan. This report brings a tiny bit of joy to my overburdened mind.
Score one for the side of justice!
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Wile E. Manuel
[Read the article: Cheney blinks?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Your recent threat against Cheney's executive funding was inspired and surprising and really tickled my funny bone.
Don't stop now.