Originally posted by Gunthr:
Miko, you are way, way out in left field, man. I will consider your point of view if you would just be straight-out with it. Leave out the sarcasm, and don't resort to the ridiculous. Who knows, you might persuade me to see it your way ...
How can I refuse such a rational and civil request?
Here is what I dislike about the "well-meaning" anti-Times posts here.
I got momentarily puzzled reading Gunthr's post about Time considering OBL for "Man of the year" but thirty seconds of further reading cured my ignorance of what the title stands for.
Yes, the name is a bit misleading but it is a 70(?) year tradition and there are many more confusing traditions in our society - british queen, non-metric system, etc.
So I would not think any better of OBL if he does appear on Time cover. Neither will anyone who has posted here who opposes such nomination for the reason that "it could be perceived by some people that we are honoring OBL". Even if someone has doubts, I am sure that an article in the Times behind the cover will take care of the explanation.
I take serious exception with people who think that they themselves are in no danger of misinterpretation, but impicitely assume that other people are too stupid to figure out what is going on, so better be kept in the dark and fed politically-correct non-controversial BS.
Don't rush to quote my previous posts here - I still believe that most people (~90%) are too stupid to participate in running our democracy (and most of the remaining 10% are too ignorant) - because it takes a lot of specialised knowlege and intelligence for economic and political decisions.
But I am pretty sure that on moral issues (such as slaughter of innocents) we can safely rely on our fellow-people or care about them enough to explain a thing or two - especially to our children.
Otherwise how do we differ from Stalin or Hitler or OBL who believed that general public should be protected from "evil influences" and complicated decisions?
Year 2001 will not be remembered in History as "Year of Bush Jr." or "Year of Rudy Juliani" or "Year of Brave Firefighters" or "Year of Lax Airport Security" - as deplorable as it may be. It will always be "Year when OBL blew up the Twin Towers".
I would suggest that their cover show the crumbling towers on fire and a small picture of OBL (preferably dead one) in a corner, but it's their decision. I will be more concerned what will be said in the article.
miko
