The Lone Dissenter is stuck at a school where, as the song says, "all the children are insane." Example:
Then at break, I'm standing around the lockers, and we're discussing the war. My friend Alex was complaining about the necessity of war.
Alex: I mean, I just don't want anyone to die, you know?
Me: People are dying. Saddam is feeding them into plastic shredders and laughing.
Alex: That's not true. You're making that up.
(I pull the Ann Clwyd article out of my pocket)
Me: Am not. Look.
Alex: Whatever. It's just one of your stupid conservative writers, I don't trust them either.
Me: Clwyd is a Labour MP from Wales. It's in the London Times.
Alex: Well then, she had bad sources.
Me: She went there and got the testimony directly from people who'd seen it.
Alex: Well, she misunderstood them, then!
Urghhh....
Shanti Bradford linked to me so I linked to her him and to her his Popdex news aggregate site. Check it out.
In the New Republic, a Shiite woman wrote about the uprising in Karbala in '91: "As I wandered around the jail, some of the liberated prisoners gave us a tour. I saw huge meat grinders that fed into a septic tank and rooms I believe were used for sexual abuse. Instruction manuals on how to use torture devices were posted on the wall. A terrible smell was everywhere. Here before me was the dark secret of Saddam's Iraq. I felt sick but free. Now, I thought, these rooms will never be used again."
When I first read this, I thought the giant meat grinders were for disposing of dead bodies. Now I realize they may have been used to execute prisoners.
I have a hard time believing that this war is immoral.
Posted by: Joanne Jacobs at March 22, 2003 at 03:53 AMIt's become impossible to believe that such as "Alex" are interested in facts in even the slightest degree. They've put their agenda above any possibility of refutation, simply by ruling out any inconveniences of evidence or logic that might threaten it.
One of the hallmarks of the honest man is his willingness to admit that, however confident he might be, he could still be wrong.
Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at March 22, 2003 at 10:15 AMAndrea,
I'm actually a guy ;)
That pic was taken @ 7am, so I was just barely awake =)
Posted by: Shanti at March 24, 2003 at 12:55 AMWhoops! Since Shanti of Dances With Dogs is female, I automatically assumed you were too. I forget things like the way "Andrea" is a male name in Italy....
Posted by: Andrea Harris at March 24, 2003 at 01:01 AM