[lit-ideas] Re: Some of you may remember ... ueber-gaffe

  • From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:34:08 -0700

Yeah, I guess, Robert. Any US citizen who doesn't remember where they were that day is probably an asshole. A major asshole.

Maybe, Eric, it depends on the referent of 'where.' 'in Cincinnati,' 'in Joe's Pub, in Cincinnati,' 'in a pub somewhere—it was either in Cincinnati or Columbus, or possibly Indianapolis...' 'on the road in Ohio or Indiana, 'heard it on my CB, not quite sure exactly where,' 'in my living room,' 'in bed (somebody woke me up and told me),' 'napping on the couch,' 'in class,' 'in my psych class,' and so on.

On 9/11, my wife had taken our two dogs outside so that they could use the lawn. Our next door neighbor, Lois,' came up to her and asked if we'd been watching television. No, said my wife. Then you'd better turn your TV on, said Lois. My wife came back in, turned on CNN, and saw the images of the burning towers and of the chaos in the adjacent streets. Now, where was I when I first learned of the attack. Well, I was in the house at 13050 Fielding Road, Lake Oswego, Oregon—but was I in bed (did my wife wake me up), or was I already downstairs but not watching TV. I simply cannot remember, and neither can she. The case for my being in bed is slightly stronger: I sleep late and had I been awake and downstairs I would probably been watching CNN already, and my wife's response to Lois' question would have been different; I usually watched TV for a while as I had my first cup of coffee, and of course, my wife would likely have been watching with me, although that's not certain. In the strict sense, I do not remember exactly where I was or what I was doing. I'm, not haggling here, or nit-picking. I'm just trying to suggest that it's entirely possible that people could be unsure of where they were without its reflecting on either their morality or their intelligence.

I thought the attack ad was great.

Robert Paul


------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts: