Meet your new thread, same as the old thread.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
K-Lo

Did you catch the line in her piece about cutting her guy slack because Arabs are liars? If Foer said something like that, you would call him a racist, and you would probably be right.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
That would be true, but I didn't think anyone in Khartoum was dead yet as a result of the Big Bad Teddy Bear Naming Incident.

I thought it was also a more general reference to the Sudanese's record of respect for the sanctity of human life. My bad. Here, have a decapitated teddy bear. His name is W.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
They won't get very exercized because they aren't liberals, Ty. The Natl Review will write some ludicrous claptrap, filled with evasive wordplay, defending itself. It will then conclude the defense with a pile of vague, snotty shots at the Left.

You realize if the left wing took a page from Natl Review, it would get a lot further, don't you? Natl Review gets respect because they're arrogant assholes who write very funny stuff. I love the magazine just because its funny. I don't agree with half of its politics but have bought it for years just to read those five pages at the beginning where it savages self-righteous liberals.

When DailyKos and MoveOn learn to pick up a poison pen with the same sort of reckless, comedic approach the Review takes in its best moments, the Right will be in trouble. But as long as the Left allows itself to be defined by the shrill and wonky and unapproachable and unfunny, its never going to compete.

The Left needs to stop telling everyone how much it knows and how evil the GOP is and started using satire and comedy. It's much more effective. Why do you think the Right hates Michael Moore so much? It isn't because his movies pull heartstrings or dredge up touchy issues. Everyone knows he's a full of shit advocate. But for about a half hour in Farenheit 9/11 he was a really fucking funny advocate. There were parts of that movie that were damn funny, and they also happened to be the most spot on, and strongest criticisms in it.

Yes, I realize this is an aside, but it popped into my head, so I said it.

Fuck you, assclam.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
It turns out they had been warned about him six weeks ago, so the "immediately" thing isn't looking so good.

Per K-lo, he emailed the author, not NRO. So she did - as he claimed - get a warning 6 weeks ago.

I will leave it to anyone who can stomach Malkin and her peers to decide whether she struck a consistent tone.

Good lord, spare your moral judgments and stick with the facts - you asked for the response from the right-side of the blogosphere and I listed several leading sources that all disproved your assertion.

Exactly.

Yes, I'm exactly right.

Foer's piece today ("Fog Of War") about what they knew and did stands up pretty well. Have you read it? How did Foer lie?

Are you at all serious? Where do you want to start?

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by taxwonk
Fuck you, assclam.

Jesus, how little bait does it take?

ETA: Because you'll like it, search for the Clapton/Winwood bits from the Crossroads guitar festival on Youtube. "Clapton Winwood Crossorads" works.

I am correct that you are the person who was a big Traffic fan, right?

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Aren't we all still waiting for someone to get as incensed about the "secret" ballot in a public election in Virginia as they are about union elections?

For the record, I don't care about either.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
Did you catch the line in her piece about cutting her guy slack because Arabs are liars? If Foer said something like that, you would call him a racist, and you would probably be right.

Except that it has proven in Iraq that Iraqi/Arab/Palestinian stringers have repeatedly lied and gotten the likes of Reuters, AP and AFP all in trouble.

So I ask you this - should a statement, even if somehow "racist" on its face, be criticized as such if accurate?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
So I ask you this - should a statement, even if somehow "racist" on its face, be criticized as such if accurate?

Fantastic.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
Fantastic.

I take this mean you instead prefer to whitewash straight facts to some PC agenda.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Fantastic.

Actually, your smugness, if that's what "fantastic" is meant to convey, may be misplaced there. There have been many discussions in the press for decades about how Arabs are misperceived as being liars in the West. It could be that the suggestion Arabs mislead news organizations derives from a cultural disconnect between Western reporting and Arab expression. This touches on the issue:

http://news-service.stanford.edu/pr/...15Arc3061.html

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Per K-lo, he emailed the author, not NRO. So she did - as he claimed - get a warning 6 weeks ago.

Per K-Lo, it took her weeks to do anything. That's not "immediately."

Good lord, spare your moral judgments and stick with the facts - you asked for the response from the right-side of the blogosphere and I listed several leading sources that all disproved your assertion.

No, I asked whether they were getting as "exercised." Clearly, they are less upset that the guy made up a 5,000-man Hezbollah invasion than they are that Beauchamp mocked a way at a base in Kuwait, not Iraq.

Are you at all serious? Where do you want to start?

Anywhere you like. Take his latest. Where are the lies?

I'm not a Foer fan. He fired Spencer Ackerman. His book on soccer was a disappointment. I can't be bothered to read his brother's novel. Just so we're clear.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
I take this mean you instead prefer to whitewash straight facts to some PC agenda.

By "straight facts," you mean the assertion that Arabs are liars? At least you acknowledge that it's racism.

What's especially fantastic is that this comes up in the context -- and as the defense for -- massive lying by a conservative reporter. But Arabs are liars. Keep your eyes on the ball.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
There have been many discussions in the press for decades about how Arabs are misperceived as being liars in the West.

How about conservatives being perceived as liars? Bush has known about that NIE for a year, and has been beating the drum about Iran's nuclear program all this time anyway? It's enough to make you think of Iraqi's nuclear program, say.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
So I ask you this - should a statement, even if somehow "racist" on its face, be criticized as such if accurate?

Yes. I'd criticize it as racist. But I'd also have to acknowledge that it is accurate to a degree. Those are two different issues. It could be said that the statement "There tend to be a disproportionate amount of drinking problems in Irish and Russian culture" is racist or ethnically insensitive. But unless the empirical and anecdotal evidence I've seen is woefully inaccurate, its also a true statement.

This is the big problem for PC types. They get stuck having to stifle accurate information when what they should be saying is "So what? That doesn't mean all Irish or Russians are drunks. You should view people on a person by person basis." Instead, for reasons I don't understand, they choose to freak out and harrumph from their high horse as soon as the statement is made. And this winds up hurting them because it makes their positions look like they're trying to avoid dealing openly with information.

An honest true PC fundamentalist would admit that their mindset is one where they actively seek to suppress certain information, even if its true.

Maybe that's a good thing in the long run, but no one can admit that out loud in a country with so much reverance for freedom of speech.

For the record, I am part of my anecdotal evidence.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
How about conservatives being perceived as liars? Bush has known about that NIE for a year, and has been beating the drum about Iran's nuclear program all this time anyway? It's enough to make you think of Iraqi's nuclear program, say.

Well, regarding Bush, there's no perception issue. He is a liar in regard to many things, including just about everything having to do with Iraq.