Everything new is “old” again

Say MB4, did you tell everyone in here that I caught you red-handed last night posting as your sock-puppet HalJordan?

Here it is again.

The parallels between Senator James Inhofe’s [where he asked Gore to take a pledge to use no more energy than most Americans do] criticism of Gore and the “chicken hawk” argument made by opponents of the Iraq war are striking. Consider the hypothetical case of an Iraq war supporter who we’ll call “Jonah.” Jonah posts lots of things on the Internet in which he argues that the Iraq war is the central front in the war on terror, and that the war on terror is a fight for America’s survival.

When critics point out that our military has had to lower admission standards in order to meet recruiting quotas, and that Jonah himself is a healthy man of military age, Jonah replies that he’s contributing to the global war on terror in his own fashion, by posting pro-war arguments on the Internet, attaching a yellow ribbon magnet to his car, and so forth.

This response is just as lame as Gore’s, and in exactly the same way. If you claim we’re facing a huge crisis that requires great personal sacrifice on everyone’s part, but refuse to make any real sacrifice yourself, then your attempts to obscure the latter fact through empty symbolic gestures deserve to be mocked.

It’s obvious what Al and Jonah should each do, given their respective beliefs: Al should radically simplify his lifestyle, and Jonah should join the military.

Yet each of them could also do something that would, in its own way, be almost as impressive: simply confess his hypocrisy and weakness, and implore others to behave differently.

Imagine if Gore were to say, “Yes, I live in a deeply self-indulgent, utterly wasteful fashion. People like me are a very big part of the problem. I’d like to change, but I’m weak. For the sake of our planet, you need to be a stronger person than I’ve been.”

Imagine if Jonah were to say, “Yes, I’m a hypocritical coward, who values his own skin more than America’s survival. And our nation won’t survive if it’s made up of people like me. For everyone’s sake, you need to be more courageous than I’ve been.”

Now those would be inconvenient truths.
- Paul Campos
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 2:36 PM

MB4 on August 8, 2008 at 10:46 AM

NOW LET’S COMPARE

Paul Campos: The parallels between Senator James Inhofe’s [where he asked Gore to take a pledge to use no more energy than most Americans do] criticism of Gore and the “chicken hawk” argument made by opponents of the Iraq war are striking. Consider the hypothetical case of an Iraq war supporter who we’ll call “Jonah.” Jonah posts lots of things on the Internet in which he argues that the Iraq war is the central front in the war on terror, and that the war on terror is a fight for America’s survival.

When critics point out that our military has had to lower admission standards in order to meet recruiting quotas, and that Jonah himself is a healthy man of military age, Jonah replies that he’s contributing to the global war on terror in his own fashion, by posting pro-war arguments on the Internet, attaching a yellow ribbon magnet to his car, and so forth.

This response is just as lame as Gore’s, and in exactly the same way. If you claim we’re facing a huge crisis that requires great personal sacrifice on everyone’s part, but refuse to make any real sacrifice yourself, then your attempts to obscure the latter fact through empty symbolic gestures deserve to be mocked.

It’s obvious what Al and Jonah should each do, given their respective beliefs: Al should radically simplify his lifestyle, and Jonah should join the military.

Yet each of them could also do something that would, in its own way, be almost as impressive: simply confess his hypocrisy and weakness, and implore others to behave differently.

Imagine if Gore were to say, “Yes, I live in a deeply self-indulgent, utterly wasteful fashion. People like me are a very big part of the problem. I’d like to change, but I’m weak. For the sake of our planet, you need to be a stronger person than I’ve been.”

Imagine if Jonah were to say, “Yes, I’m a hypocritical coward, who values his own skin more than America’s survival. And our nation won’t survive if it’s made up of people like me. For everyone’s sake, you need to be more courageous than I’ve been.”

Now those would be inconvenient truths.

HalJordan on September 14, 2008 at 11:34 PM

BEHOLD! THE SOCK-PUPPET TROLL!

FiveWays on September 15, 2008 at 3:40 PM

FiveWays, I don’t like trolls any more than you do, but any two (or more) people can quote the same article — it doesn’t prove that they’re the same person. All of the quoted text is by Paul Campos, and I doubt he posts here. ;-)

Mary in LA on September 15, 2008 at 4:00 PM

Nice rationale Mary- I ain’t buying it. Compare the two threads and you’ll see a similar pattern of debate with MB4 and HalJordan.

FiveWays on September 15, 2008 at 4:34 PM

Yes. So what? Nice pointy head you have FW.

trailboss on September 15, 2008 at 5:11 PM

What’s it to you?

FiveWays on September 15, 2008 at 5:24 PM