The dumbing down of America
Some yo-yo goes all over the Internet and posts phony terror threats, putting people in an uproar. He gets caught, and it turns out to have been a terribly misguided joke.
Some wingnut goes on TV and claims that this foolishness, a goofy 20-year-old’s dumb joke, is nothing less than “the perfect example” of “how vital” the Military Commissions Act (i.e. the torture bill) and the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program are. How does he figure? See if you can follow this reasoning:
[H]ad these threats proven to be credible, I would suggest to you that it would have been probably using these tools and others. So it just doesn’t get any more clear of how perfect an example those programs are.
So, had the threats been real, we would have been OK, because the government would have been able to get intelligence quickly (rather than bothering with those tedious FISA warrants), and then they could have captured the guilty party or parties, held them incommunicado, and tortured them until they spilled the beans. It would have been just like Jack Bauer on TV or something! There would have been, like, a ticking time bomb and everything! Torture would have saved American lives, and this 20-year-old dude from Wisconsin proved it by posting phony threats on the Internet and getting caught by the FBI. His threats turned out to be, you know, a hoax, a dumb joke, but this still proves that our government needs to be able to torture people, hold American citizens incommunicado without bringing charges against them, and spy on them without any kind of judicial oversight. “It just doesn’t get any more clear,” readers.
Only in George W. Bush’s America could public discourse have sunk this low. We are approaching our absolute nadir.
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October 20th, 2006 @ 22:30
Ah, my friend, still the Romantic. What’s to be done afterall save the spiraling, circular living-in-the-moment ceremonial noticing of such idiocy–”born astride the grave” as we are? Etcetera.
So it goes.
Glad your posting once again. I’ve faithfully checked.
We’ve had another girl down here by the way. That’s four “gene replication machines” (Dawkins’ insightful coinage) now to my credit!
And you didn’t visit this summer either. Open invitation.
Peace.
RP
October 21st, 2006 @ 07:38
Another AWARD wiener…
Fox News guest Simmons claimed stadium terror hoax is “the perfect example” of “how vital” the detainee bill and warrantless domestic spying program are The dumbing down of America AWARD wiener #461: Wayne Simmons I woul…
October 31st, 2006 @ 19:05
Take a chill-pill Dump. Your precious terrorists are safe and secure - with more rights than an American taxpayer in front of the IRS.
No underwear on their heads. Of course their prisoners don’t get to keep their heads, but let’s not worry about that.
So it took concern for murderous fascist terrorists for you to start blogging again? Interesting, but not suprising.
November 1st, 2006 @ 00:14
Hank Dagny proves once again that his claim to be a defender of the Constitution is a sham and a joke. The idea of raising the minimum wage makes him turn pale with shock (and then red with fury), but he sees nothing wrong with the Military Commissions Act, because he trusts the federal government with his freedoms (except when he doesn’t).
Hey, Dagny: Wake the fuck up, fool. Your Constitution is in danger. I’m not talking about “murderous fascist terrorists,” I’m talking about you and me. U.S. citizens.
November 1st, 2006 @ 00:24
Ron Peters: Congratulations. You da man.
November 1st, 2006 @ 23:47
I know what you are talking about. And you are lying. Your concern is not the Constitution. Where is your rage over Waco?
Nobody is listening to your phone calls about cat food and Jim Nabors records - unless you are calling Sean Penn over in Syria, Iran or Afghanistan.
Maybe you helped set up CNN getting video of our enemies killing our soldiers while they show nothing of the tremendous good our soldiers are doing over there. I could see why you might worry. The government could leak your address to the soldier’s family.
If you are calling people you should not during a time of war - I hope someone is listening. If you are not - don’t worry. No one cares about useful idiots on the left. We already know liberals are the domestic enemy.
November 9th, 2006 @ 19:19
RP congrats on the baby. Aren’t you getting too old for that kind of stuff.
rjg