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orklad ([info]orklad) wrote,
@ 2009-09-11 13:39:00


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Liar Liar, Pants on Fire...
Was what Rep. Wilson said during President Obama's Healthcare Address to a joint session of Congress?

People that know me might be surprised by a bit more of a nuanced answer than they were expecting.

Rep. Wilson simply contributed to a further coarsening of the dialogue at a time when it's not necessary. Enough with firebrands. Enough with childish name calling. Let's try something novel and have our elected officials act like grownups. They can start by stopping this silly call for censure.

What Wilson did wasn't un-American like some people want to say it is...it was quintessentially American...he expressed his opinion. The problem is that he did it in a boorish way and in the wrong forum. How can we expect more from our children in THEIR behavior than we do from Congressmen?

Only a blind person would say that our country doesn't have problems. It'd be nice if the people that were charged with fixing them didn't strongly resemble my daughter's 3rd grade class while out on the recess yard. Here's a good rule of thumb: if you would put your kid in timeout for doing something, you shouldn't accept that behavior from a public figure.


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[info]derth
2009-09-12 03:35 pm UTC (link)
Andrew Sullivan (someone pointed me to this) has an interesting comparison of the British standards. They've long since crossed this bridge in the House of Commons and come up with rules about the sorts of things elected leaders are allowed to say to each other.

Quote: "Without an assumption of good faith or a factual rebuttal, just calling someone a liar abolishes the integrity of the debating process."

In other words, it's the equivalent of calling someone a Nazi on an online forum. If you cross that line, you've immediately lost the argument. You've proven to everyone that you're incapable of engaging intelligently in the debate any further.

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[info]missing_halo
2009-09-13 07:59 pm UTC (link)
Is this in the whole Robert's Rule of Order?

Because I've been accused of knowing it (because of a standard email response I use) and Ork...well...I think Ork loves it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]derth
2009-09-14 08:14 pm UTC (link)
I myself am largely unaware of RRoO. Soooooo... maybe. Although these could also be just internal rules for the House of Commons.

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[info]derth
2009-09-14 08:23 pm UTC (link)
Loves it? Does he want to marry it? Ooooh! Too late! Unless he's going to take RRoO on as a paper mistress :: grimaces ::

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