well you obviously didn't come to this forum to learn from your elders or to intelligently enter into a discussion either.
I'm not really caring that those who are around you pay your intelligence no mind, forcing you by want for attention to seek out others who are for all intents and purposes a captive audience. I'm just asking that either you find another captive audience to harass with your irrational insights, or you quietly observe what others have to say and then slowly and methodically compile a rational and reasonable responce with which to enter the conversation with. this spouting off at the mouth in every thread in an argumentative and contradictory fashion just to provoke the adults, because in your mind you believe yourself to be of superior intelligence to all us old fools, is actually getting to be just plain annoying.
Occam's razor says otherwise. It's more likely that I disagree with most people here on most things than that I go out and try to figure out what really gets you all going while secretly agreeing with you. What's most likely is that I will debate if I disagree and feel confident in my idea, then I continue until the other poster and I come to an agreement. Obnoxious though it seems, consider the alternatives:
Leave the BBS (I've been here for years, so it's not like I'm pulling a prank)
Come here and lurk (For what other reason do we come here than to speak?)
Come here and voice my opinions until someone says "be quiet, child" and then give up like I'm Swiper from Dora the Explora.
Hang up my keyboard and stick to the joke threads (amusing, but not fulfilling)
Would
you want to come here and do that? I do my best to stay within the rules and what I've come to call the
code duello of discussion and debate with regard to tone and thesis statements. My discussions with mthrockor on economics are proof that I can respectfully disagree while maintaining my point and listening to the other person. Dissent is the fabric of discussion, and though I may jump the gun I genuinely like hearing what you guys have to say. Debating is like football, it's a contact sport, but you're not out for blood when you step on the field. Even then, I try to keep it no more aggressive than a properly played game of soccer.
Again... you associate "war" with an automatic "dark pall" enigma, stop being so absolute. There are many things within a war that can be positive. Stop being so grandeur in your statements, you're not impressing anyone. Your knee jerking is getting the best of you.
People like Mr. Freeman are all that is right with this country. God Bless him and may he be resting in peace.
I thought I made it clear that he was a brave man who acted with courage in the face of adversity, and that this contrasted to the overall dark nature of war. The very first thing that I said was an (albeit poor) attempt to copy the local joke that underscores bravery by illustrating how the large cojones of the person in question make otherwise mundane tasks difficult. While not all of war is napalm covered orphans, nothing good happens often, either, and even that little bit is so small that it must be neglected as random noise in order in order to evaluate the period without allowing our more current, refined ideas to color our evaluation of the past.
That's what I was trying to say since the beginning. I should have been more clear.
-Penguin
