reede, mai 14, 2004
Crazy Troll Logic
Mickey Kaus (you may need to scroll down a bit) is upset with Andrew Sullivan because he didn't give enough credence to the theory that porn is responsible for the torture at Abu Ghraib. All of this apparently starts with a crazy man on WorldNetDaily arguing that the abuse is the result of women being in the military, porn, and, don't ask how, gay marriage.
Kaus thinks this Robert Knight has a point:
Doesn't Mr. Knight have a point? I was thinking some of the same things myself--in particular that the public tolerance for porn contributed to the Abu Ghraib scandal (certainly to the willingness of soldiers to preserve the images on CDs).
Um...not sure how that connects. What with these images not being porn and not being tolerated by the public and all. Of course, Mickey thinks his point is proven by the fact that the soldiers also filmed themselves having sex. This is another one of those consensual vs. nonconsensual deals that keep tripping up the right wingers. The scandal isn't about pictures of sex. It's about pictures of torture and abuse that sometimes, but not always, became sexual. They kept pictures because they thought torturing Iraqis was cool, and a lot of conservatives appear to agree. How you leap from that to porn, I have no idea.
And the story of Private Lynndie England is not exactly a triumph for the new sex-integrated military (or for the broader argument that you can introduce new sexual dynamics into a long-standing institutional environment without any ill effects).
Well, no. But the story of Mickey Kaus isn't exactly a ringing endorsement for the idea that people have brains either. Should all misceginated couples break up because OJ Simpson killed his wife? Are the stories of the male soldiers involved in the abuse a sign that men shouldn't be allowed in the military?
I haven't quoted Knight's criticism of gay marriage, which is probably a big part of what got Andrew's goat.
I haven't quoted it because it might make Knight look crazy and that would invalidate my criticism of Andy Sullivan. Can't have that.
Still, he ridicules the whole thing, the way people do when they subconsciously realize their opponents have a powerful new argument and want them to just go away
Hey Mickey! You know what other kinds of arguments people ridicule?
The kind they find ridiculous.
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Mickey Kaus (you may need to scroll down a bit) is upset with Andrew Sullivan because he didn't give enough credence to the theory that porn is responsible for the torture at Abu Ghraib. All of this apparently starts with a crazy man on WorldNetDaily arguing that the abuse is the result of women being in the military, porn, and, don't ask how, gay marriage.
Kaus thinks this Robert Knight has a point:
Doesn't Mr. Knight have a point? I was thinking some of the same things myself--in particular that the public tolerance for porn contributed to the Abu Ghraib scandal (certainly to the willingness of soldiers to preserve the images on CDs).
Um...not sure how that connects. What with these images not being porn and not being tolerated by the public and all. Of course, Mickey thinks his point is proven by the fact that the soldiers also filmed themselves having sex. This is another one of those consensual vs. nonconsensual deals that keep tripping up the right wingers. The scandal isn't about pictures of sex. It's about pictures of torture and abuse that sometimes, but not always, became sexual. They kept pictures because they thought torturing Iraqis was cool, and a lot of conservatives appear to agree. How you leap from that to porn, I have no idea.
And the story of Private Lynndie England is not exactly a triumph for the new sex-integrated military (or for the broader argument that you can introduce new sexual dynamics into a long-standing institutional environment without any ill effects).
Well, no. But the story of Mickey Kaus isn't exactly a ringing endorsement for the idea that people have brains either. Should all misceginated couples break up because OJ Simpson killed his wife? Are the stories of the male soldiers involved in the abuse a sign that men shouldn't be allowed in the military?
I haven't quoted Knight's criticism of gay marriage, which is probably a big part of what got Andrew's goat.
I haven't quoted it because it might make Knight look crazy and that would invalidate my criticism of Andy Sullivan. Can't have that.
Still, he ridicules the whole thing, the way people do when they subconsciously realize their opponents have a powerful new argument and want them to just go away
Hey Mickey! You know what other kinds of arguments people ridicule?
The kind they find ridiculous.
