herfacechair
Posts: 1046
Joined: 8/29/2004
Status: offline
|
"And that's about as much attention as you are worth." -LaTigresse
You can't even get straight what YOU'D do, so what makes you think that a critical thinker would take what you say seriously? In addition to proving yourself wrong, you proved me right about you. See bolded red comment in your quoted post.
quote:
ORIGINAL: LaTigresse
Thompson outed me, re: the sadist in me anyway.
The thing I was pondering when I was discussing this thread with the guy sleeping in the room kind of behind me.........one of the people I know for a fact did spend time in Iraq. Why does the OP care what a bunch of strangers on the net think about him, his experience...whatever the hell it is, and his tweaked opinions? I don't care if ANYone on here believes, or even gives a damn, about my family's military 'experience'. What they saw, experienced, believe about their experiences....have no real affect on anyone here. It is stuff WE, the family and friends circles, deal with. I am the one with the memory of talking to GD on the phone when there was a sudden round of big booms and an "oh shit Lee......just a sec" followed by the clink of the phone and more booms. Several heart pounding moments later I finally heard the voice I was anxious to hear, and the conversation was continued. Then I went to work... SO MANY American families have stories like that, and far FAR TOO MANY have much worse stories. Empty chairs around their dinner tables.
Regardless of political beliefs, war sucks. I was against the US going to Iraq even when it was very uncool in my little circle. I am still against it. And the part the OP doesn't get, that doesn't make me a far left liberal. It makes me human.
I know it is human nature for someone like the OP to think his experience, whatever that is, is somehow more valid than anyone else. Especially anyone that could possibly be sitting in front of a computer screen typing about it. The irony is, he expects us to take HIS word for it and validate his experience, while he refuses to believe anyone else's words and types frenetically, madly, seeking to invalidate anyone that dares to discuss. It is an amusing study in human nature and he is too easy a puppet. Yet I have to thank him as he did give me food for thought. Not about Iraq or politics but in my ongoing study in human nature. The sad part is his profile says he is 40, too old to be so insecure and unstable. It is that instability that concerns me, for the wellbeing of those around him, family, and if indeed he is in the military, the people that are serving along side him. The boy is wound just a bit too tight. Perhaps some post tramatic stress......who knows.
Your actions on this thread make you more of a masochist than it does of a sadist. You've advanced weak arguments against me. After I confront your screed with a blistering fact check, you run off, but not before calling me a "windbag" and a "putz." Then you insinuate that I'm "not worth" any more time.
Well guess you proved yourself wrong, didn't you? You did it with a post that would've caused your battles to accuse you of being a blowhard and a windbag; had you ben on my side of the argument. You're lucky that the people that like to throw that term around are fighting on your side of the argument. You liberals tend to give each other a pass when it comes to doing things like that.
You lament about what I care about what people on this board think, regarding my time in Iraq, my experience, etc. Did you miss the parts of this thread where people attacked me in those areas? I came on here offering to answer questions using my first hand accounts. When I made the "mistake" of saying something that your side of the argument disagreed with, they attacked me.
It's my defending myself, arguing against those opinions, that you're mistaking my "Caring about what others say." The last time I checked, I have every right to defend myself on this message board. Pardon me if you people's vitriol doesn't chase me away from the forum.
Don't mistake facts, and a reasoned argument, as "tweaked opinions." Especially since you, and everybody else on your side of the argument, have miserably failed to prove me "wrong."
If you don't care what anyone on here thinks about you, you wouldn't be on here spouting your bias on this board.
You attempted to bring their military service into the discussion, in an attempt to devalue my experiences, and what I'm saying here. The moment you did that, I had every right to call them, and you, into question. Your observations as to what they allegedly do/say contradicted with what I've came across when dealing with both active duty and veteran personnel.
Oh, and the classic "On the phone and I heard booms." No wait, let me quote that here:
"I am the one with the memory of talking to GD on the phone when there was a sudden round of big booms and an 'oh shit Lee......just a sec' followed by the clink of the phone and more booms."
How the FUCK could you hear more booms after the click of the phone? Unless you're implying that he put the phone down, and "joined the fight."
Let me clue you into something. We have MWR rooms in the outposts, and we have MWR facilities in the major bases. The ones in the major bases are surrounded by Alaska Barriers (T Walls). Their height is such that any attempt to mortar them would lead to the mortar hitting the T walls.
So, if you heard booms, he wouldn't call you Lee, or try to get Lee's attention as if he's calling you from their workspace. A more natural reaction to that would've been, "Hold on, I've got to go," or, "I'll call you later, be right back," or something like that. Well, unless you're at "Mortarittaville," and you'd just continue talking on the phone. 
Since you have a 30 minute time limit at the MWR, if you had to leave the room, YOU HUNG UP!
A person's experience, whether that's something that, *laughs*, involves a mortar attempt on the phone, or sitting at the kitchen table with an empty seat, doesn't put you on the same footing as the deployed soldier when it comes to talking about what's going on in Iraq, Afghanistan, or in any other combat zone.
Here's a point that you consistently miss with your attempts to put us on equal footing.
I'm bringing my first hand experience back here from Iraq, this is RECENT first hand experience. What does the opposing side of the argument bring to the table? We have people bringing their biases, based on 2nd and 3rd hand information sources arguing against me. We have people like you, who claim to know someone that's in the military, alleging what their loved ones say or believe, etc. We have others that refuse to see online videos for what they're actually showing, and so on.
Whether you like it or not, my first hand accounts gives me more validity in this thread than any of you arguing with me, who based their opinions on this war from second hand accounts. It's as Major Connable stated in his OP during the first year of Iraqi Freedom:
Marine sees what defeatists don't
"The Arab world was about to ignite into a fireball of rage, and the Middle East was on the verge of collapse. If I had read those stories on March 30, I would have had a tough time either restraining my laughter or, conversely, falling into a funk. I was concerned about the bizarre kaleidoscope image of Iraq presented to the American people by writers viewing the world through a soda straw." -Ben Connable
Your opinions, based on a journalist's view of Iraq through the end of a soda straw, versus my first hand accounts... 360 panoramic view of Iraq, doesn't put us on equal footing. It simply gives me more authority on the subject than you, and the people that I'm arguing against.
This isn't human nature, this is simply me telling it like it is. An easy way to explain this is that you know more about what goes on at your favorite restaurant. Someone here that has never been to your restaurant doesn't. You've been at your restaurant, they haven't. In an argument between the two of you, disagreeing about how things take place in that restaurant, you'd be correct to say this: "My experiences in that restaurant make me right in this discussion!"
Human nature? NO. That's how arrogance would interpret it. In reality, it's common sense.
THAT's one of the points that I'm getting across to you.
See the bolded red comment? Look in your post, I have it bolded in red. That's you proving me right about you. If the screeds that you've posted here were your dissertation, that bolded red statement would be your thesis. That's the REAL reason you're arguing against me on this thread, and are attempting to devalue my service and statements. That's the real reason you're on this thread.
It all boils down to you not handling the fact that someone with first hand accounts is saying something that contradicts with your hard core beliefs.
No matter how you try to spin, slice, mix, or toss this around, I see you as being a liberal. Every person that I've debated with, who argued against the Iraq War, were liberals. None of the conservatives that I've talked to online, or face to face, disagreed with the Iraq War. They had criticisms of the way it was handled, but their criticisms were world about than those from the liberals. They also believe that war is ugly, but necessary at times. Something that's not communicated in your post.
First hand accounts, or an assessment based on first hand accounts, trumps an opinion based on bias filtered 2nd or 3rd hand information.
For someone that talks about insecurities, you're devoting allot of space dealing with yours. Your stories of your relation, and your interactions, with "service members" tend to change. I call you out the first time, and you indignantly refuse to accept a challenge. How dare I suggest something that'll destroy your stories, stories you need to prop your claims... and you... up in this debate. That reeks of someone with insecurities. Your ignoring my first hand account reeks of your insecurities. If you were sure of your self, and had no insecurities, you wouldn't have problems recognizing my first hand account, and first hand account based assessments, as having more validity than those I'm debating with.
You sure as hell aren't "wise" for someone in the "elders are wise" age group. Your posts are equivalent to that of a 6 year old pulling tantrums because someone won't believe them. You consistently prove Ann Coulter right about you, and the rest of the liberals that I debate against.
If you're a student of human nature, then you're cruising to failing the class.
The fact that you'd complain about me being "wound just a bit too tight" speaks volumes against your claims that you know people that are in the military. That's a common characteristic that we have in the military. You've got to given the nature of our job.
Don't mistake my willingness to keep proving you guys wrong as my being "unstable" and "insecure." The effort, drive and stamina I'm displaying on this thread, and the extent that I'm doing it, is based on a drive that's needed in my profession... the drive to keep pushing on against heavy opposition if necessary... to reach and clear the objective. You should be congratulating me for sticking in the fight against an opposition that outnumbers me.
Though, your attempt to dismiss me as such proves Ann Coulter right about you:
"This is how six-year-olds argue: They call everything 'stupid.' The left's primary argument is the angry reaction of a helpless child deprived of the ability to mount logical counterarguments." - Ann Coulter
"It's like arguing with someone with Attention Deficit Disorder" - Ann Coulter
You're not the first liberal, unable to mount a logical debate, that threw the "unstable, traumatic stress, etc" charge at me. If you people's aim were anything like your assessments of me, I'd hate to be the guy standing behind you as you're trying to shoot targets in front of you.
|
RE: Back from Iraq for a short time, ready to answer yo... - 
Profile
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread