Sy Hersh: Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, tribune of the people, perpertual government gadfly. In Montreal last week, he waxes nostalgic, remembering the good old days:
“In Vietnam, our soldiers came back and they were reviled as baby killers, in shame and humiliation,” he said. “It isn’t happening now, but I will tell you – there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq.”
Because he says so. Sy Hersh. And that should be good enough for you.
He’s the public speaker, the pundit. On the podium, Sy is willing to tell a story that’s not quite right, in order to convey a Larger Truth. “Sometimes I change events, dates, and places in a certain way to protect people,” Hersh told me. “I can’t fudge what I write. But I can certainly fudge what I say.”
Ah, the Larger Truth. I see.
I guess all of these atrocities that Hersh talks about – but which never quite make it into print, fact-checking can be such a hassle – are because the soldiers are stuck there, or something. The poor dumb bastards. If only they’d worked harder, did their homework, gotten smarter.
Meanwhile I was thinking about people who contributed to all of that shame and humiliation way back in the day, and for no reason at all this guy popped into my head again. I just get lost in all the negatives:
“I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended,” he added.
He was in trouble there for a moment when the “misinterpretations” “wrongly implied” something – an interpretation may wrongly imply, and a misinterpretation may imply, but what a misinterpretation wrongly implies I leave to the reader.
All’s well though, because I think that last “anything negative” got him back on solid ground again. Sort of a triple negative.
So: Yeah. I did have more than just that “one last thing.”
Sue me.
Halp me Sy, I jus kaint rid yur Poolitzer prise -winnin buuks.
Will hafta dough nate to a mo wuthy Kauze.
Like Valour-IT…
One time a professor of English was giving a lecture in which he said that there were many instances in the English laguage in which double negatives had a positive meaning, and could be confusing to your original intent. So don’t use them.
Then he said there was not one single case in which a double positive could impart a negative meaning, so those were, of course, adequate for use.
To which a young Marine in the back of the class sarcastically said,
“Yeah. Right!”
Subsunk out.
Web Reconnaissance for 11/03/2004…
A short recon of what?
Web Reconnaissance for 11/03/2004…
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention….
I wish that it was true that our Armed Forces were the most “Violent and Murderous”. Then they could be kicking the snot out of the Non-Violent and Non-Murderous Islamofascists, in a respectable way. Without worrying about collateral damage.
We know that Al Quaeda worries about collateral damage.
Michael Yon has pictures of Violent, Murderous Soldiers, violently comforting little kids, viciously sharing their MRE’s and chocolates.
I would think the tax payers would want a tough Military.
Maybe we should draft Dr Phil and Oprah.
I did not write anything about you last Kerry post becuase you said it was the last post on Kerry and you deserved the last word, but, since it wasn’t. . . .
At your cocktail party you were accused of being a right winger. Since in San Diego the lefties are law and order conservatives, that must have been some accusation. The notion of right and left wing come from England. In Pepys time the English had a type of computer they used to make political choices. Communities would select people to represent them and these people would go to a place they called Parliament. Parliament had two rooms one for the Patrician?
I did not write anything about you last Kerry post becuase you said it was the last post on Kerry and you deserved the last word, but, since it wasn’t. . . .
At your cocktail party you were accused of being a right winger. Since in San Diego the lefties are law and order conservatives, that must have been some accusation. The notion of right and left wing come from England. In Pepys time the English had a type of computer they used to make political choices. Communities would select people to represent them and these people would go to a place they called Parliament. Parliament had two rooms one for the Patrician’s representatives, the other for the Plebs’s representatives. The rooms had benches along each wall and a small place in the center for a few leaders to huddle. Behind the huddle, were two doors, one on each side of the room.
When questions came up, the group would debate and then decide by having a division; the room would empty out and the guys, called Members, would indicated their choice by which door they passed out of. They’d then huddle around in the lobby until the room was emptied then they would go back in the door they came out of and sit on that side of the room. The king lovers sat on the right side of the room, the freedom lovers on the left side.
This is where the phrase right wing and left wing come from. The right wingers sit on the right side, the left wingers on the opposite. You got to pick a seat, and you dear lex, are a right winger. Thus, the Kerry bashing.
That’s it then? King or freedom? At least my Meyers-Briggs test gives me one of sixteen personality types to compete for, but no: I am reduced to this. It’s either step on the side with the angels (over on the left) or with the devil (anything not left). Such a nuanced point of view, such incredible discernment. You must win many arguments.
At least it comes with advantages, your laser-like perspicacity – you have to count yourself lucky for that: It’s so much easier to disagree with the devil, so reassuring to be able to count oneself among the sainted. Now you occupy the moral high ground, placing me as you have in your little 16th century royalist bin.
Or did you have a substantive point? Because usually you do better than this, I mean. Your offerings are often tendentious, even pedagogical, but usually it’s a bit less personally reductive. Not always, but usually.
After all we’ve been through together, Ima. Sometimes I almost despair of you.
Ima, as the Chinese headsman said to the disgruntled customer, “Please nod.”
Ima, I think you’ve gone and hurt Lex’s feelings.
Your rendition of Paliament might actually work a little more effectively than our House of Commons (Parliament) does – perhaps we should try it that way, in and out little doors to cast your vote.
Since I have been visiting Lex’s blog, I have become much more in tune with American politics, largely from reading a lot of what isn’t reported in the Canadian media. I really can’t wait for your current elections to be over, I am hoping (praying) people will settle down a little bit afterwards. Its almost impossible to find an interactive web site where you aren’t bombarded by the devils v. the angels (and each side of course considers themselves on the side of the angels). It appears that a lot of Americans (oh oh, now I here I go generalizing) think the Internet is simply America at large, to be divided into camps, Pubs v. Dems (evil v. good, in whatever particular order) and therefore everyone else should be honoured to listen to their shrill never-ending debates.
Ironically enough, I was actually accused of being an uber Patriot last night (HUH??!!) simply because I dared to disagree with someone’s comment, when discussing a scene involving anti-war demonstrators on a TV show, that 99% of the anit-war crowd would say that although America shouldn’t be in Iraq, troops should be deployed to Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Korea instead. I dared to state that I didn’t think that 99% of anti-war demonstrators wanted troops in those other countries either. And suddenly the war was one!
Been enough to put a girl in a bit of a bad mood lately, if I want to discuss politics I will go to a political forum (or come to Lex’s blog) but when I go some elsewhere, I really don’t need to be subjected to it.
But more to the point of Lex’s post, I see Lex as further to the right than I am (although incidentally Lex’s views on gay relationships are to the left of mine; I don’t care who you sleep with but I do have a thing about keeping the term “marriage” only for straight couples) but more to centre than probably the majority of his readership (those that post regularly anyway); although I do find myself gettting a little more conservative as I get older, I have basicaly been mostly left wing all my life. Must acknowledge though that the extremes of left and right wing here seem less extreme than in the US. Still it seems that (at least in the US) there is no room for anyone to be in the centre anymore. At least you had a tiny aisle in the centre in your rendition of Parliament. Apparently that gap has now been filled. Perhaps with deadly fire-breathing dragons so that no soul will dare attempt to cross from one side to the other.
Why does a person have to be one or the other? Why can’t a person have what some might call left wing views on some issues and right wing views on others? Or perhaps more accurately, why can’t we acknowledge that that is the reality for some people?
I know my views (on some topics)have changed a little bit since I started reading here. Indeed, some might say they have moved a little to the right; others might say that I have been a little better educated in some areas and have incorportated that new knowledge with what and who I already am.
Its’s actually occurred to me that everyone should be “forced” to expose themselves on a daily basis to a blog or forum, whatever, a little to the right or a little to the left of where they already are. Not too far, or they will drive themselves crazy. Just far enough away from their current philosophy to make themselves stretch a bit. Would be good for their soul. As long as not done for the purposes of trolling of course.. there is little more pathetic in the internet world than the troll.
Although I must admit that I probably lucked out landing at Lex’s blog, something about the style of it works much better for me than other blogs I have looked at.
So … I agree with a lot of what has been said about Kerry here. And no, I don’t get my only information about Kerry from this blog. And I was familiar with him long before he started his current little fire strom. Does that make me right wing?
I would stay in Iraq to finish what was started (or as I sometimes say, now that you’ve done what you’ve done, you have to “fix” it – whatever the heck that means)but I really question the “correctness” of invading in the first place; I am glad Canada has troops in Afghanistan but just as happy that we don’t have any in Iraq; I will happily promote programs such as Valour IT, http://www.anysoldier.com or any other program to assist Cdn or American troops in the field; I supoprt the UN (or at least I use to, I am questioning that more and more lately)…..well, I could go on and on but I am already starting to bore myself.
So, what am I Ima? You’ve read my comments in other threads. Sometimes we even agree – you and I against the others. Am I left-wing? Right-wing? Does it matter? Can you tell? Is there any room in the middle?
Well said Michelle. Glad you’re here to give a sense and sensibility perspective. Please post more.
Ima, we ought to start billing you by the hour for the virtual therapy you get here. Really. You need to chill out and reflect more on the loneliness you must generate with the smoking Klieg light of your intellect. I mean, when you speak do all your friends get flash burns? CAPT Lex is the soul of patient forbearance and it would behoove you to show some appreciation and respect.
I must confess that this whole topic of left, right or center [centre, for Michelle] just disgusts me now. When people around me start these kind of arguments I lose my temper, and ask them what their blood type is. What, come again?, they ask. Your blood type fools: A, B, AB or O–positive or negative? Because that’s the only kind of label that’s going to matter. A political opinion is not a blood volume expander. If you or someone you love is bleeding out from blast effects do you really care if the only available suitable donors are donks or pubs? Multiple, simultaneous attacks on our infrastructure, collapsing our ability to respond for a critical period are a very real, clear and present danger. Just because we’ve dodged a bullet so far doesn’t mean our luck will last forever. If this doesn’t happen to you, so what–its just a distraction from the endless debate about Me. If it does, God help you. Because you’ll find out just exactly how unimportant Me is. Truly folks, all we’ve got is US.
I apologize if this sounds harsh. But if you sat through some of the briefings I’ve been in recently, it wouldn’t be harsh enough.
Isaac Newton had a theory that the universe is composed of Monads; particles which carried a charge, positive or negative. I think there is as much evidence supporting Isaac as anybody who came after him. The universe may be binary, thus, all the duality is just a part of nature. I didn?
Isaac Newton had a theory that the universe is composed of Monads; particles which carried a charge, positive or negative. I think there is as much evidence supporting Isaac as anybody who came after him. The universe may be binary, thus, all the duality is just a part of nature. I didn’t intend to insult, there is much to admire about the right wing, caution and prudence, for example are virtues. Sometimes, the king’s side of a dispute is the right one to be on. Mostly it’s not, but that’s just my liberal opinion.
But, it is election season, and we are dividing. When the man calls for us all to file out, you are clearly walking out the right hand door. Are electrons bad for being pulled to one terminal or the other? No.
I’d take a gratuitous swipe at Michelle and mention how her country’s lack of a written constitution prevented it from keeping the essential elements of a free society, but, our handing the Great Writ back to King John pulled that arrow from my quiver. She should know that my story is pretty much how thing were done, at least until the 1950s.
When Parliament divided, more times than not, the division was accomplished without rancor, guys would stand around and chat; often laughing and poking good natured fun at each other, waiting to be called into the chamber for the next big discussion. (Mention my devastating perspicacity again, and I’ll tell the longer story about the room they filed out into and what really went on.) After a division, the member would go and sit on the side he’d just voted with. One could switch sides, sit on one bench or the other, but there was no sitting in the middle.
As for Kerry, what I keep thinking is; in a nation as big as this one, is he the best we could do? I resign myself to thinking that at least the leftwing Navy guys are doing better than the righties. Randy “Duke” Cunningham.
BT
I hate to get all literal-like, here, and have to explain things to people, most ‘specially seeing that I think *I’m* the one with the most autistic traits, but;
There *is* an hoary old joke about painless execution, to which I referred. Lex handed Ima’s head to him in such a consummate, complete, compendious, and comprehensive manner that Ima didn’t feel a thing.
That’s good; it’s a perfect clean cut. Now sew it back on, Ima, and come back and talk to to us.
“I?
“I’d take a gratuitous swipe at Michelle and mention how her country’s lack of a written constitution prevented it from keeping the essential elements of a free society, but, our handing the Great Writ back to King John pulled that arrow from my quiver. She should know that my story is pretty much how thing were done, at least until the 1950s.”
Sorry, Ima, guess I’m just not edeecated enough, but I have not a clue as to what you are talking about here. I do know that we do indeed have a Constitution and a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with includes the protection of freedom of religion; something I have been unable to get a clear answer from my American friends about; as in “Doesn’t your Constitution protect freedom of religion??” she asks incredulously. Perhaps you could elighten…
I honestly don’t know why you feel the urge to take a gratuitous swipe at me anyway. What, you didn’t like my question or something? Feel compelled to take a swipe at anyone who disagrees with you on a particular point? Kind of like “Get behind me Satan!” or something like that?
Why do you think I would actually consider a comment on the pros or cons of my country’s Constitution as a swipe at me anyway? My country has done and continues to do things I am not proud of; it also has done and continues to do things I am very proud of. Sorry if this disappoints you, but as much as I love my country, I just can’t take a swipe at it as a personal swipe at me. I have always figured that I am only accountable for my own actions, thank God!
I would like you to answer my question though. It was an honest question; yeah, I can be a bit of a smarta** at times (can’t we all) but the question was legit. And in the short time I’ve been around here, its looked to me that for the most part you never avoid a direct question.
Or am I hearing you say that because no one could sit in the centre of the first Parliament, no one can hold political views in the centre today? The telling part of your little story is how THEY at least were allowed to change sides as per their position on the current issue being debated. Apparently we (and by “we” I mean everybody, anybody, whoever might wish to fit under the umbrella) can’t. And if we can’t, what DO you do with people like me (and maybe even Lex) who insist on doing so anyway?
I really don’t want to get too persnickety with you but I have to say, if this is what you think then I am glad its just your point of view and you and others who think the same don’t rule the world….. yet.
Sy Hersh…
IMHO, anyone “caught” talking to him, on/off the record, or not for attribution should be flogged around the Fleet. I get to be acting Bosun.
Hersh sells himself as being for the troops..There he goes, proving it again.
You know where the most irony lies in this and other recent buffoonish events’s? Both Hersh and that stupid (how can that be- all those degrees?) U of Penn president will get their heads cut off first in the priority of things if the Islamo-facists take over….
Ima- you are an attorney arer you not. Criminal or civil? Just want to know please. You know how us us left-handed, right wingers love to box and label things!
B2