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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (257369)	5/21/2002 4:41:58 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Nothing wrong with 'having a little fun', as you say. If by that, you mean hurling insults at people rather than disputing their arguments... I suppose that can provide some limited amusement. The joy is a little more trenchant though, when the characterizations are spot-on. I can admire the heckler's skills more that way. Unfortunately, on many of this thread's posts, people hurl insults without actually knowing anything about their target. ...They appear to be shadow-boxing with phantoms in their own minds, rather than seeing their bete noires clearly. That leads many to call Conservatives Liberals, call Liberals Nazis, mistake Libertarians for both Liberals and Conservatives, and - when in doubt as they mostly are - call Free Marketers Communists. It takes so much of the fun out of heckling when so little skill is evidenced, and makes it hard to enjoy... but, as they say, comedy is hard. To raise the skill level of our Soap Box Comedy, I'm proposing a new rule... which henceforth I will attempt to follow. Call it "Buddy's rule #1 of rhetorical equivalence". When someone chooses to hurl an insult at me - which is wildly inaccurate in characterizing my political, social, economic, sexual, etc., views - I reserve the right to respond in kind, with an equally inaccurate, demeaning, (but hopefully funny), label for my insulter. Someone (say, a Traditional Conservative) calls me a Liberal (when in fact, I'm a Libertarian); I get to call them a Communist. A 'small government' State's Rights Conservative gets called "a Welfare-State Liberal" by Right-to-Lifer... have fun by calling them an Atheist. Fun can be had by all! A Monarchist calls you a name, and labels you inaccurately, turn the tables and accuse them of secretly supporting the Plebeians. Someone calls you a "scum-sucking Democrat" (when in fact you are a Republican who only occasionally sucks scum), call them a "fecal matter connoisseur among Democrats". Yep, "Rhetorical Equivalence Rule #1" assures amusement all around.