Base Closings Hidden Problems

[mrsx]

No ideas, No leadership, No class. Damn, it's true.

Did you want to exchange ideas about the proper role of government in American society or just play childish name games?

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Did you want to exchange ideas about the proper role of government in American society or just play childish name games?

Yes. You go first. You're the one with the elite blue state ideas. Let us the see the wonder of your complete vision.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

I explained my asking why you thought I was Wayne or Wade or whoever your imaginary friend is. I regret adding to your already profound confusion. I'm not going to go on denyng your strange and to my eyes unfounded obsession with this former acquaintance. It ain't me.

I did watch Sean Hannity tonight and it caused me to think that the reason for our protracted dialogue of the deaf is sadder and more profound than just a different perspective on current events. We are citizens of different countries. I belong to the United States of Canada and you are a proud member of Jesusland. The national unity that was so strong at the end of WWII is tearing apart in a way that it hasn't since the Civil War. But unlike that long-ago division, we are in each other's faces and on each other's TV screens day in and day out. We think we are one family, that we understand each other. But we don't.

I say without condescension that we are today's quebecquois looking at rural French speakers in Maine or a citizen from Eire meeting his long-lost cousin from Boston. We recognize you - we used to have a common value system and a common frame of reference. But a gulf has opened between us. You live in one America, we in another. We have moved on. You still believe in a Divine Saviour who rose from the dead, the log cabin, the pioneer spirit, an America where any poor kid can rise to be president, an America whose spirit and liberty and standard of living are the envy of the world and a model for the less fortunate nations. Ronald Reagan and Frank Capra, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle -- it's a world of certainties, of traditional values and social roles. I'm old enough to remember when the mailman came twice a day and cream rose to the top of milk bottles. I think I know where you are coming from.

But once we have left that world, we can't go back again. We accept evolution, relativity in science, relativity in ethics. We believe that some form of the modern welfare state is a necessary social condition for human dignity in a world of globalized technology. We revere our past but we acknowlege our faults. Whatever God there may or may not be, He isn't pulling the strings of providential design for America, His own very special land. We're just another world citizen, and a rather provincial and self-righteous one at that.

If we all recongnized that Red America and Blue America are different from each other the way Australia and Britain are different from each other, we'd respect each other more and we'd argue less. It's because we unconsciously assume that we are one people still that we are so hurt and so bitter as we judge each other. We expect more from family than neighbors. But we aren't family any more. We Blues are like the kids who come home from college and find Ma and Pa still living a life that is sweet and sincere but outmoded and cannot work for us now that we've seen something of the wide world. And it pissess us off to be treated like kids by people who we now see clearly don't get it.

My guess is that you will see the hurt in the responses to this post. There will be an immediate reaction of "Gotcha!" some name calling, a little childish twisting of what I have written in a way that you can tell seems unbeatably clever to the one who made it up. Then I'll be dismissed as crazy, as proof that citizens who disagree with you are inferior to you in wit and vision. You'll think you've solved the problem, burned the witch. It has to be that way, I'd guess; but then, if I had to explain it to you, you wouldn't understand.

Look at the unbridalled arrogance of this jerkstain.

 

[mrsx]

Yes. You go first. You're the one with the elite blue state ideas. Let us the see the wonder of your complete vision.

Since the gentleman with the imaginary friend is fulminating that I have "hijacked his thread" (msg. #71) I suggest that we discuss the matter in a new thread.

In deference to the problems of attention deficit disorder referenced in your msg #78 I would like you to suggest a maximum length (number of words) per post to which we will agree to adhere. What is good for you?

I asked if you wanted to discuss the role of government in American society or continue with childish name calling. Your answer "yes" is ambiguous at best, suggesting you do not see a distinction between discussion and name calling. Using language like "elite blue state ideas" and "the wonder of your complete vision" is incompatibile with the mutual respect an adult discussion of the issue requires. Are you willing to forego the sarcasm and name calling if I agree to do the same?

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Since the gentleman with the imaginary friend is fulminating that I have "hijacked his thread" (msg. #71) I suggest that we discuss the matter in a new thread.

Yes. I can understand your desire to wipe the slate clean, considering the trouncing you've receive here.

In deference to the problems of attention deficit disorder referenced in your msg #78 I would like you to suggest a maximum length (number of words) per post to which we will agree to adhere. What is good for you?

You misunderstand. My critiscism related the ratio of post length to actual content. A post that length is fine if it contains lots of good, impactful, conscise thought. You're full of fluff. You're sound and fury, signifying... very little. Get concise and stay on topic.

I asked if you wanted to discuss the role of government in American society or continue with childish name calling. Your answer "yes" is ambiguous at best, suggesting you do not see a distinction between discussion and name calling. Using language like "elite blue state ideas" and "the wonder of your complete vision" is incompatibile with the mutual respect an adult discussion of the issue requires. Are you willing to forego the sarcasm and name calling if I agree to do the same?

Get over yourself. You're just mad that I'm so fly.
:soul:

 

[mrsx]

When you consider that there has been an average of 160,000 troops in theater in Iraq during the last 22 months that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000. The rate in DC is 80.6 per 100,000. That means that you are more likely to be shot and killed in our Nation's Capital, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, than you are in Iraq.

Conclusion: We should immediately pull out of Washington, D.C

 

[mrsx]

Yes. I can understand your desire to wipe the slate clean, considering the trouncing you've receive here.

You misunderstand. My critiscism related the ratio of post length to actual content. A post that length is fine if it contains lots of good, impactful, conscise thought. You're full of fluff. You're sound and fury, signifying... very little. Get concise and stay on topic.


Get over yourself. You're just mad that I'm so fly.
:soul:

Transparent, childish tricks. Chicken to get down to facts. Ha! Ha! "When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled."

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Transparent, childish tricks. Chicken to get down to facts. Ha! Ha! "When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled."

Go ahead. You go first. Extoll the virtues of your nanny statism.

 

[mrsx]

Go ahead. You go first. Extoll the virtues of your nanny statism.

You haven't agreed to stop the name calling so save your breath -- you'll need it to blow up your date.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

You haven't agreed to stop the name calling so save your breath -- you'll need it to blow up your date.

Lame.

 

[mrsx]

Lame.

Why don't you just open your mind and shut your mouth, both are empty anyway.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Why don't you just open your mind and shut your mouth, both are empty anyway.

I've examined the socialist utopia you envision. It's just another name for enslavement.

Government should do what is specified in the constitution and little more.

You've become quite nasty in the last couple days. What's wrong, puddin'?

 

[mrsx]

I've examined the socialist utopia you envision. It's just another name for enslavement.

Government should do what is specified in the constitution and little more.

You've become quite nasty in the last couple days. What's wrong, puddin'?

I dunno haven't felt this way since I used to get the monthlies 20 years ago. I'm going to try some sulphur and molasses and see if it helps. Meanwhile, I agree with you that "Government should do what is specified in the constitution and little more." The question is how little more. As I recall, before I entered this altered state of consciousness, you and I had agreed that the interstate highway system was OK. Got a problem with public schools?

 

[manu1959]

a neg 303 ...you r my hero

 

[mrsx]

a neg 303 ...you r my hero

Thank you for your support. I will wear it proudly although it is a little small for me. I haven't been able to find out much about this number rating system in the FAQ. Perhaps you could direct me to an information source? It seems to be some sort of popularity contest...

 

[dmp]

It seems to be some sort of popularity contest...

It more leans to credibility. You have little credibility due to your off-the-wall and extremist views (when compared to the majority of the members of this board).

thus, we ppl don't approve of your rantings, they click on the scales, hit 'I disapprove' and enter a reason - if they desire.

 

[manu1959]

Thank you for your support. I will wear it proudly although it is a little small for me. I haven't been able to find out much about this number rating system in the FAQ. Perhaps you could direct me to an information source? It seems to be some sort of popularity contest...

it appears that it is used by the posters here to rate you posts

 

[mrsx]

it appears that it is used by the posters here to rate you posts

What a fascinating idea! Sort of a "conformity index." No wonder I'm heading for the cellar. I've never been one to suffer fools gladly, so it doesn't bother me; at the same time, if it gives the kids a sense of belonging and importance, why not? I see you are spectacularly popular with the Peanut Gallery. What's your secret?

 

[mrsx]

It more leans to credibility. You have little credibility due to your off-the-wall and extremist views (when compared to the majority of the members of this board).

thus, we ppl don't approve of your rantings, they click on the scales, hit 'I disapprove' and enter a reason - if they desire.

Oh, I see. Well, that makes it more of an honor than I thought. Perhaps you could guide me to the light. I think of "ranting" as speaking or declaiming in a violent, loud, or vehement manner. Is that what you mean too? Could you show me where I ranted and how you would have expressed the idea in a way that would have been approved of by the ppl. I'm all for power to the ppl!

 

[dmp]

What a fascinating idea! Sort of a "conformity index." No wonder I'm heading for the cellar. I've never been one to suffer fools gladly, so it doesn't bother me; at the same time, if it gives the kids a sense of belonging and importance, why not? I see you are spectacularly popular with the Peanut Gallery. What's your secret?

No, you are not heading for the cellar, you are IN the cellar. Those who don't agree with the popular opinions of this board can do one of two things:

#1 Articulate their differences with insight and respect and data to back up their claims....

or

#2 Get their proverbial panties wadded, and name call - because their ego is too fragile to allow them to concede.

You chose option 2. Thus, the users of this board, of their own compulsion have decided your posts don't meet with 'approval'. They view your rants and whining as childlike, or insane, or ideas grown out of ignorance to 'reality' and/or common sense.

(shrug).

You LOVE Playing the vicitm, don't ya dude?