If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
 

You may not have understood the way I said it, but your response makes it clear that you completely understood exactly what I was saying.

One stone, two birds
 

Sweet.

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
 

Fake but accurate?

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
 

No. The phrase represents a lame attempt to marginalize the fact that the killer is taking em's own life in addition to the lives of others. It's rather pathetic that those who use the phrase act as though they believe that their linguistic change will serve to erase the fact that the suicide bomber is (a) also a victim of the explosion and (b) that em's willingness to die for em's cause is actually the greater danger.

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
 

Your comments went way over my head - I don't know who the "structuralists" are and I do not know what the "Iraq construct" is. So I guess I just got lucky.

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
 

I agree that "homicide bomber" is stupid, but I think an additional element in the argument is that, by calling it a "suicide" but not "homicide" bombing, it demphasizes the significance of the innocent life taken in favor of the bomber's. Sort of a half-baked "victims rights" thing - if anyone's "victim" status is to be linguistically marginalized, it should by rights be the bomber's, not the actual victims'.

That said - yeah, lame. You'd think that anti-bombers would want to emphasize the suicide element, since most religions hold that suicide is a mortal sin (or whatever the applicable description is that means "you are absolutely barred from heaven for it").

eta: though I would go so far as to refer to the suicide bomber as a "casualty" of the explosion, not a "victim."

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
 

Well, I was really only kidding with the "fake but accurate" response, but I will add here that the "homicide bomber" thingie wasn't so much an attempt to marginalize the suicide aspect of it, but to re-remind of the more important presence of the victims of such acts. To control the language is to control the thought, right? Yeah, they're suicide bombers, but that seems to equate it with a straight suicide - a burning bonze making a statement - whereas these suicides tend to also involve ten or fifty or one hundred twenty-four rather involuntary participants. It's without much substance, of course, but since when does that disqualify political effort?

(ETA - or, I could just wait for BRC to post.)

Just when I thought I was starting to figure it out.
 

I didn't mean "centrist" as in geography (????) and I didn't say we represented the spectrum. I mean we don't have anyone at either end. I think those leaning toward the left think some on the right are to the right of Rush and the crazy people who have stockpiled various weapons in their compounds, and those leaning toward the right think some on the left are redder than Marx, but really, no one here seems really out there (except trolls).

Just when I thought I was starting to figure it out.
 

So, we're basically a varied collection of extreme centrists?

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
 

To me the fact that they are called a bomber implies that people are going to be killed. I have not heard of many suicide bombers just going after things instead of people. As far as the victims being innocent, homicide does not clear that up. I empathize with the fact that these suicide bombers are going after innocent people instead of military targets. This is an important point in showing how heinous the crimes are, but the term homicide does not clear that up. A homicide bomber could go after innocent or military targets.

Just when I thought I was starting to figure it out.
 

WTF, did you work all weekend and you think it's Friday? Did I say extreme centrists? Jesus fucking christ on a stick, I was just saying that it isn't just that we don't have anyone extremely right wing on here -- we also don't have anyone extremely left wing.

CHRIST. If only I had that secret service guy's pop-out baton, I'd sodomize you with it and then shove it down your throat, in hopes that the unpleasant experience of spewing real crap would keep you from spewing that kind of crap.

:mad:

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
 

As if there was ever any doubt.

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will
 

Linguistist fuck.

Just when I thought I was starting to figure it out.
 

Hang on baby -- Friday's coming.

Just when I thought I was starting to figure it out.
 

We seem to have folks who probably are core constituency dems, but not core constituency reps (at least current GOP). But maybe it's just perception.