Please Comment Before Reading
I thought I’d do an experiment today. I’ve noticed that the comment section of almost any blog in the blogosphere quickly becomes an argument about something that has nothing to do with the original post. With this in mind, it might be easier to just start with comments first and then write a blog based on everybody’s reactions. So feel free to post your random comments below about anything within reason (no personal attacks please), and I’ll try to write a blog that incorporates as many of your comment topics as possible. I’ll most likely do this on Sunday or Monday. . . . This should be a terrible idea. . . . but someone was already set to tell me that in the section below
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I wonder if the people in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Alabama still think global warming is a hoax. The insurance companies don’t.
Not long ago, Netflix split their service into two separate divisions. After considerable public outrage from their customers, they relented, and dropped the bad idea like a live grenade.
A short while ago, the Congress was debating legislation that would dramatically affect the way content works on the internet. It was looking like a sure thing until a wave of public outrage welled up and the legislation was tabled.
As we speak, certain elements within our own government and that of our best friend in the Middle East are conspiring to drag us into a shooting war with Iran over their alleged nuclear weapons program. Plans are being drawn up, allies are being softened up, and the consequences are being dutifully downplayed by some media outlets, just as they were in the run up to our long misadventure in Iraq.
Will there be enough outrage in the public to stop Gulf War 3?
@cjjack
Since 70% of the US population wants us out of Afghanistan yesterday and we are still there probably not.
I think you’re on to something here Doug. You should trademark “Please Comment Before Reading” with the byline “Open Thread” as it’s bound to catch on.
The most dramatic example of “Commenting Before Reading” can be found in the comment section for Matt Taibbi’s latest column – Andrew Breitbart: Death of a Douche. NOTE: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC LANGUAGE… NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART (or any of our grandkids either!)
Though the title is provocative anyone who actually read the column can see that it is indeed a legitimate obit which in Taibbi’s update he writes, “The really crazy thing is that I was sort of trying to be nice to Breitbart – the obit was at least half an homage” but this hasn’t stopped the death threats, and vile and nasty comments from Breitbart fans. Decide for yourself but please “Comment After Reading”… The entire article.
@Ron and @cjjack
Heard today while taking my 3 mile walk that the Obama administration is considering placing the special ops teams like the Army Rangers and Seal teams under the control of the CIA. (CBS radio news @3:00 est.)
The idea being they can continue to operate in Afghanistan after “we end all military operations” as well as Yemen, Somalia and other middle eastern countries.
Want to bet there are no blogs on this site concerning this decision? And how long would it take if the Republicans made that same proposal for it to hit the left wing news?
@SteveK
In a sense it is an “open thread” but the difference is Doug is going to do a follow up post. Certainly a new thing.
Good start, keep em coming. This could turn into a comment collage. Feel free to expand comments into any arena, including Dancing with the Stars, Canadian Pop Culture, and hearsay from Uncle Carl.
@RP,
The “left wing news,” huh?
Now that you mention it, one of the things that sticks in my craw is the application of the term “left wing” to anything more politically liberal than Fox News.
By the same token, throwing out the term “fascist” in regards to the right is also a little absurd.
If we were to graph out relative political positions, with Karl Marx being a “1,” and say, Ayn Rand being a “10,” the fact is that most American politics and politicians would hover around the middle. Hugo Chavez might be a 2 or 3, but there’s nobody in the mainstream of American political life that even rates an 3. Not even Bernie Sanders.
The same applies to the right. Ron and Rand Paul may talk a good game, but Rand (Ayn) would have laughed them out of her inner circle in a heartbeat.
This isn’t a country that is struggling between the choices of “leftist” and “fascist.” We’re fighting over the middle ground by any stretch of the imagination.
Let’s slash Medicare, Social Security, and Education. Give lots of tax breaks to the already wealthy. Bomb Iran. Then call ourselves Tea Party Patriots.
Oh and I called my girlfriend a slut because she is running up a birth control tab on our joint ATM account. She replied, she’ll love me forever.
Rush Limbaugh has “apologized”. Will anyone outside of his core audience believe him? I know that I don’t.
I want a world where my daughters and granddaughters are free to voice their opinions without threats and derogatory remarks.
Rabble-rousers, poets, misfits and visionaries should all be rounded up and re-educated. I know that sounds extreme but we live in extreme times no? Besides, you can’t be a good political junkie if you don’t have solid opinions about who the extremists are. OK, now that that’s settled I’d like to go on to the next topic, but first I want to use a semi-colon; the topic can wait because someone else is going to bring it up anyway. OK, my dog Jackie and I are going to go for a walk now before it gets all the way dark, because we all know what happens when it gets dark right? Do I have to spell it out? OK, back to your work…
Btw Doug, if you google your phrase, please comment before reading, your picture and article are at the very top!
According to Dictionary.com
Moderate:
1. kept or keeping within reasonable or proper limits; not extreme, excessive, or intense: a moderate price.
2. of medium quantity, extent, or amount: a moderate income.
3. mediocre or fair: moderate talent.
4. calm or mild, as of the weather.
5. of or pertaining to moderates, as in politics or religion.
noun
6. a person who is moderate in opinion or opposed to extreme views and actions, especially in politics or religion.
7. ( usually initial capital letter ) a member of a political party advocating moderate reform.
Of these, the first definition probably give the closest description to what we are looking at. A moderate would be someone who is generally not at one extreme or the other. If that is the case, then I am NOT a moderate. I have some very extreme views. I just happen to believe that those views are right.
The Dark Knight Rises vs Avengers.
Discuss.
Dark Knight Rises.
Avengers seems to be a movie based on the idea that a franchise is more important than a story.
The Dark Knight series seems to be something else altogether.
cjjack: Don’t kid yourself. Nolan’s Batman series is fine–but vastly overrated. I’ll see TDKR. And it will almost certainly be worth the cost of admission. But it’s the AVENGERS that has me as excited as a little kid. I’ve already got a group of college girls who are going to go with me on opening night.
We’re all Whedon fangirls, as you can gather from my moniker.
go vera! Im with you.
Oops. I read it. Couldn’t help myself, I’m afraid.
I read all the comments too, and think that that of “desert moderate” is worthy of further exploration.
To me his comment distills down to: “It seems to me that a moderate is anyone who is less than wholeheartedly big-endian, which is a sign of weakness, especially since it is evidence of having been conned into accepting a little-endian worldview, which obviously weak-minded. *Real* moderates ought to be more objective.”
…and if I have a point to make, it would be this: If based on the totality of someone’s opinions on the whole spectrum of issues, you’re not able to pigeonhole that person in your particular bipolar political spectrum, that person probably likes to be thought of as a moderate.
The irony is, of course, that nobody _does_ think of him as a moderate, because less objective observers look at his reasoned positions on one issue or another, and view them as evidence of being traitors to the big or little-endian philosophy.
I find it hard to find the balance between what is best for the future and what is good for me right now.
I feel like it is a consistent game of recalcuation that hinders my total investment in right now.
No one likes having one foot of the door, but maybe that one foot is what is keeping you sane?
one foot out of the door
So…what about those Redsox? I mean, I was really sad to see Francona go, but now Jason Varitek as well.
[Sobs uncontrollably]
The onset of social, political and spiritual decline can be coordinated – to the day – with the imposition of the designated hitter rule.
American Politics is not in the middle, the middle would be between 4 and 6. American Politics is being fought between 7 and 9 and the Republicans with their propaganda machine have been working very hard to move us closer to the 10 for the last 30 years…
Hey thanks for the heads up Vera! Another big Joss Whedon fan here so I’ll be looking forward to the Avengers!
DB, the suspense is killing more than wondering which designer dresses would be at the Oscars.
F****** lost, EDIT function.
dduck, stop posting comments and I can get this thing done. How was I suppose to know that people would actually read this one and post away. My blog response is turning into a novel about how the Avengers fit into President Obama’s foreign policy. One thing I know to be true. . . . be prepared for a let down. . . . which is very similar to the Oscars. Maybe I’ll follow “The Artists” lead and make a silent post.
Ooopps….., sorry Marcel.
Putin is a dictator. Solar panels will be his downfall.
Alright, comments closed. I just posted my response in “My Response to Please Comment Before Reading”