Posted on 02/25/2005 3:37:17 PM PST by pissant
http://antiwar.com/past/20050221.html
Spending his time getting indoctrinated at Antiwar.com.
Well said.
The author uses 2 main argument to support his stance:
1) "....I subscribe to the notion that the disenfranchised would sooner invest $87 billion in their ailing communities than engage in a wild goose hunt in Iraq. "
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Answer: What you are really saying is that you subscribe to the notion that humanity is essentially a sad selfish lot who would rather take money from their fellow taxpayers to prop up their own failures and laziness than become a self sufficient, selfless individual who gives to save his fellow man who cannot save themselves.
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2) "...That brings me to my second, equally misinterpreted point — one that permeates socio-economic standing and cuts directly to morality. To be blunt, I am wholly opposed to America’s current war in Iraq, and I refuse to see that as an unpatriotic stance. Is not a true American patriot he who relentlessly questions the actions of his leaders? Don’t take my word for it, though — take Benjamin Franklin’s: “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.”
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Answer) This is an interesting self-serving plucking of a quote for amximum impact. No one is saying that questioning is wrong. Questioning is quite good if your goal is to improve the system. The author however offers no alternatives nor does he offer any solution for this supposed "problem".
We can all play the game of plucking quotes, how about trying Socrates on for size. When asked why he would not flee to save himself from the sentence of death he knew faced him, he used his unassailable logic to point out that he had worked within the framework of his society and flourished his entire life. He questioned what gave him the right to turn against that same system when it wasn't working in his favor. His argument used the example of a soldier and the draft. I wonder if Stanford teaches the classics? (Sorry, but he actual text with Socrates argument as relayed by Plato is way too much for me to type in this forum)
This person is still scum. More than willing to let someoneelse defend his freedoms for him.
"So here I am sitting in front of what turns out to be a dismally small 12-inch PowerBook screen, trying my best to figure out what makes me the authority on anything. I've been sitting here for hours. And then, as often happens when the what-the-hell-did-I-get-myself-into-this-time feeling enters my head, my oral fixation rears its ugly head."
Enough said. Makes you wonder where they get them.
In his first argument, the author points to percieved inequalities (either real or imagined) in the current system as a reason for rejecting it completely.
How many parents have had to tell their children that life itself is not fair, period?
Our system rewards those who work hard to succeed. We have the ability in our society to maximize our inherent traits and use them to allow us to make of ourselves anything we have the ability and stamina to achieve.
In our society, people have a chance to be rewarded for achievement. This is not true in most countries around the world. One exemption of the draft exemplifies this by allowing students in college who are achieving to continue to pursue their education. This exemption is applied regardless of the individuals economic roots, yet is often the very same exemption cited by those who claim that privileged people have an advantage. This sounds like an excuse by under achievers to me.
nothing
Funny.
He says he "questions everything", but he is obviously steamed about the fact that people are questioning him.
What a pretentious little hypocrit. Suck it up.
It's a seasonal, pagan thing. Everybody meets on campus at Stanford during autumnal equinox to mack down, cuz it's hip. Cuz it's OK, dig? Yeah, I've copped a good feel there....
But you know what? You can get an STD from a rich chick, too.
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