[lit-ideas] Re: Alternatives to one-upmanship

  • From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "lit-ideas" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2006 08:33:39 -0400

Not to mention that nature abounds in colors.  Black and white is an
unnatural condition in nature, except perhaps for the vision of cats and
dogs, but even there it involves shades of gray.  The NR allows only pure
black and only pure white.  No wonder NR readers can't see what's going on
in the world.



> [Original Message]
> From: Helen Wishart <hwishart@xxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 8/12/2006 8:18:36 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Alternatives to one-upmanship
>
> 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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