Opinion: Desolation Row

Perhaps it's "mindlessly partisan" to use terms like "mindlessly partisan"... just perhaps
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Nope.
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"Mindless partisanship" is an opinion
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As is everything here, correct?

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I suspect an awful lot of folks are totally unaware of that, Violet ... perhaps more than either agree or disagree with it. It is a concept widely unembraced.

I wish you'd stop thinking I'd treat you any differently. Why would you merit differentiated treatment?

I very clearly called for all the deractors to provide supporting arguments, usually a plural is not used to single anyone out. And BS is "open source" as in it falls under the GPL license as in anyone can use it and when I mentioned it I did not have you in mind.

If you do not wish to sustantiate your disparagement of the article that's absolutely no problem, others are already taking care of that and they have been very interesting. If you want to play the special treatment angle I will have you know that my world does not revolve around you.

Did I single timber out? Or max? Come on! They don't play poor me, they responded with support for their arguments. If you don't want to I have no problem, but this special treatment angle is plain silly.

Everything here is not opinion. Probably most of "it", but not all.

The concept that the phrase "ideologically driven agenda" isn't inherently negative? It's a mind-blowing concept, isn't it?

Hey, there ... down with the neck hairs, now. Ya know, I gotta think an awful lot of online friction stems from misperceptions and preconceptions. Folks who suspect or assume they will be attacked do, to my experience, frequently counterattack in the absence of real provocation, thus themselves initiating hostilities.
As far as I'm concerned, here in the discussion forums, ain't nobody "Special" one way or another. Some are blunt, some are easily upset ... but none are "Special" ... no matter whether they ride The Small Bus or not

I very clearly called for all the deractors to provide supporting arguments, usually a plural is not used to single anyone out. And BS is "open source" as in it falls under the GPL license as in anyone can use it and when I mentioned it I did not have you in mind.
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BS







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No, Violet. Not mind-blowing. It just means different things to different people...

Timber, I know what you meant now... had to go back & read again.

I meant most people would probably agree if the concept was presented to them.

Apparently so, Sofia. To some people it's a description of an honest process, to other's it's a facile & meaningless negative judgement.

That's the thing about labels ... most of them are only availabe in "One Size Fits Poorly".

if I may get back to the antiquities for a moment - I DO consider the records and artifacts of the dawn and flowering of human civilization important.

It seems that the leaders of the occupying force were aware of the whereabouts of the collection, they had been apprised of fears for its safety and seem to have indicated an awareness of its value and a willingness to protect it.

It seems likely that it could have been protected - I doubt with the ease that the article reports, but I would suspect that it could have been done without endangering lives elsewhere.

I don't care who stole and destroyed the artifacts - that this has occurred is a tragedy, in my view, for all of us and for the future - and especially for Iraq.

I think the people in charge of this war bear a major responsibility for not protecting these treasures - whether from random looters, or from Hussein's hench-people, or from organized antiquities black-marketeers.

dlowan, I couldn't agree more... I believe this war is a tragedy of errors.

a lot of finger pointing especially by Rumsfeld but the bottom line is that it was our responsibility.

I agree completely with dlowen's statement.
It irked me that some critics made the protection seem relatively easy. If there was to be responsibility, I agree it was ours. I just think it was more difficult logistically than some had imagined.

And, I place more value on the 'lost' items than I may have stated previously.

I do hope most were stolen, rather than destroyed, and can be recovered.