[lit-ideas] Re: Alternatives to one-upmanship
- From: "Helen Wishart" <hwishart@xxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2006 08:18:34 -0400
But Ansel Adams' "Mount McKinley" would be a cartoon without the grays.
http://www.anseladams.com/
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Eric Yost
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 12:42 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Alternatives to one-upmanship
John wrote: "I've been staying out of the Omar vs Phil, Eric, Lawrence
debate largely because it has long since fallen into the "dance of anger"
pattern familiar to marriage counselors, in which both sides frame the
debate in black and white terms that admit of no compromise."
Earlier, I missed this introduction to John's post. Now I'm writing to
register mild dismay and amusement.
Despite the deep-structure power-grab motive (John as the marriage
counselor, the rest of us as the aggrieved parties) the idea that John
abhors framing a debate "in black and white terms that admit of no
compromise" is a bit odd coming from such an active partisan Democrat.
C'mon John, to be partisan is to love framing in black and white. You like
Ansel Adams don't you?* Admit it.
In "Connecticut? This is London Calling: Al Qaeda reminds us to hang on to
our patriots," conservative partisan Andrew C.
McCarthy offers a few of the black-and-whites:
-----
The antiwar Left has a conveniently flexible moral compass.
Consequently, the Clinton era Echelon program was fine, but Bush's NSA
Terrorist Surveillance Program is an impeachable offense.
Mishandling classified information by a Clinton CIA director was worthy of a
pardon, and destroying classified information (and lying to investigators
about it) by a former Clinton national-security adviser was worthy of a
pass, but leaking the unremarkable fact that Valerie Plame worked for the
CIA is the crime of the century.
Bombing Kosovo without U.N. approval was a moral imperative; invading Iraq
after over a dozen U.N. resolutions is a violation of international law.
Renditions conducted between 1994 and 2000 were just good national-security
sense; renditions conducted between 2001 and 2006 are war crimes.
Indicting Osama bin Laden in 1998 and then doing nothing to capture him
while he bombed two American embassies and an American naval destroyer,
killing hundreds, was aggressive yet intelligently modulated
counterterrorism; allowing Osama bin Laden to evade capture in Tora Bora
while killing and capturing hundreds of his operatives and decimating his
hierarchy is irresponsibly incompetent.
Wet fingers firmly in the wind, the Left looks you in the eye and tells you
that what is depends on what the definition of "is" is, then votes for it
before voting against it. The object of the game is power, and they are
willing to gamble, even with our lives, to get it or keep it.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTlmZDYxZDJhZDJlMTQ2NGVmZmI0OTFmMGMzOGR
jZmQ=
___________
*
"Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska, 1947" is a
spectacular photo. Makes one want to risk the bears.
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