Are we spoiled?

I see. You find it so offensive you are willing to say it to others as a joke. Rolling Eyes

My question still stands unanswered.

Does that mean you knew your original accusation was wrong when you made it or have you now changed your mind about the appropriateness of shaming others? I'm just curious how you justify it now.

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parados wrote:

I see. You find it so offensive you are willing to say it to others as a joke.

My question still stands unanswered.

Does that mean you knew your original accusation was wrong when you made it or have you now changed your mind about the appropriateness of shaming others? I'm just curious how you justify it now.

Ever heard of false dichotomy? Argument by Rhetorical Question?

There is nothing for me to justify. Laughing

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Quote:

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just aren't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I starting thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?''

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?

Quote:

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president.

Unhappy about the direction of the country, and the president

Quote:

In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just aren't happy and want a change

Ie. They are unhappy about the direction of the country, and the president. They want those two things to change

Quote:

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I starting thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?''

They are unhappy about the direction of the country, and the president

Quote:

Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?

No, this is not what they are unhappy about - they are unhappy about the direction of the country, and the president

The post keeps gong from thereso you see what I mean? The entire OP is based on an erroneous argument .

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parados wrote:

Shame on the person that wrote this email for failing to care about anyone but themselves and shame on you Baddog for repeating it as if it has some merit.

Shame on you for assuming either the author or Baddog cares about no one but themselves. This has neither been substantiated, nor can it be. You shouldn't look down your nose while constructing Jolly Green Giant size Straw Men.

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Nice to see you jumping in here to defend an even bigger strawman Bill while building your own strawman.

(I notice you didn't include the rest of my post.) :wink:

I never claimed Baddog didn't care about anyone but himself. That would be your strawman. I said Baddog posted it as if it had some merit.
Baddog admitted he posted it because he thought it had merit. But don't let that prevent you from claiming it can never be substantiated.

Perhaps you should have used large green letters for your entire post Bill. :wink:

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........."I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled brats safe from further terrorist attacks? The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?........"

This paragraph had me snorting my coffee, I'm afraid.

1. Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11?
Yes, the very same guy who decided to go after Iraq, whilst totally ignoring the hotbed breeding grounds of AQ that were actually in Yemen and thereabouts. Good leadership, that.

2. The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession?
Yes, the very same President who has overseen the biggest (by far) monetary deficit the USA has ever amassed. How many US dollar bonds are now held by China? Japan? Etc?

3. Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled brats safe from further terrorist attacks?
Yes, the very same guy who has made sure that 3000+ young Americans have now been killed many miles away from home, in order to keep the "spoiled brats", as the email calls them, safe on their home turf.
Still, he'll have made sure that the USA is going to be safe from terrorist attacks for a very long time, judging by the way he's smashed AQ, caught Bin Laden and managed to win the hearts and minds of young middle eastern male muslims, thereby dissuading them from joining any future fighting, or terrorist activity.

4. The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?........"
Those "all volunteer" army boys seem not to be volunteering so readily nowadays, no?
And as far as them "defending you and me", I am pretty sure they've got their hands full defending themselves at the moment.
....and if the title "Commander-in-chief" actually meant putting on battledress and leading the odd raid here and there, do you think for ONE minute that Georgie boy would be the valiant and inspirational leader that this email is making him out to be?

Yea, right......

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parados wrote:

Nice to see you jumping in here to defend an even bigger strawman Bill while building your own strawman.

(I notice you didn't include the rest of my post.) :wink:

I never claimed Baddog didn't care about anyone but himself. That would be your strawman. I said Baddog posted it as if it had some merit.
Baddog admitted he posted it because he thought it had merit. But don't let that prevent you from claiming it can never be substantiated...

Everyone who posts anything on here does so because it has at least some merit! What is your point to the statement above?

As I am the most aware of my intentions regarding this post - you are definitely the strawman in this matter - and that is no assumption! :wink:

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parados wrote:

Nice to see you jumping in here to defend an even bigger strawman Bill while building your own strawman.

(I notice you didn't include the rest of my post.) :wink:

I never claimed Baddog didn't care about anyone but himself. That would be your strawman. I said Baddog posted it as if it had some merit.
Baddog admitted he posted it because he thought it had merit. But don't let that prevent you from claiming it can never be substantiated.

Perhaps you should have used large green letters for your entire post Bill. :wink:

Gee, not the "I know you are but what am I? strategy from Parados... big shock. Go ahead and substantiate that the author or Baddog fail to "care about anyone but themselves"... or admit your straw man. The conclusion you jumped to is as unsupported as it will remain unsupportable... which is of course completely. The balance of your post wasn't required to demonstrate this.

parados wrote:

Shame on the person that wrote this email for failing to care about anyone but themselves and shame on you Baddog for repeating it as if it has some merit.

You'll notice my post neither exaggerates your position nor lessens the strength of your argument in any way.
(Author Selfish = reasonable conclusion)

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/7442/notequalce3.jpg

(Author cares about "no one but himself" = unsupportable conclusion) = Straw Man

Please familiarize yourself with the definition of Straw Man before attempting the "I know you are but what am I strategy" again. :wink: When you falsely assumed that the person that wrote this email was "failing to care about anyone but themselves" by doing so, and then broadened your charge with "and shame on you Baddog for repeating it as if it has some merit.", your implication was quite clear. I neither altered nor exaggerated your argument (clearly, there was no need for either :wink:); I merely highlighted the absurdity of it. This

Straw Man.

Ps. If anyone else has been frustrated by trying to make this symbol: "

", but only get "≠" or "≠" for your trouble; copy this picture of it. (What a pain.)

I had to laugh out loud when baddog1 wrote:

As I am the most aware of my intentions regarding this post - you are definitely the strawman in this matter - and that is no assumption! :wink:

Psssst... Baddog click here and look up Straw Man :wink:

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parados wrote:

Nice to see you jumping in here to defend an even bigger strawman Bill while building your own strawman.

(I notice you didn't include the rest of my post.) :wink:

I never claimed Baddog didn't care about anyone but himself. That would be your strawman. I said Baddog posted it as if it had some merit.
Baddog admitted he posted it because he thought it had merit. But don't let that prevent you from claiming it can never be substantiated.

Perhaps you should have used large green letters for your entire post Bill. :wink:

Gee, not the "I know you are but what am I? strategy from Parados... big shock. Go ahead and substantiate that the author or Baddog fail to "care about anyone but themselves"... or admit your straw man. The conclusion you jumped to is as unsupported as it will remain unsupportable... which is of course completely. The balance of your post wasn't required to demonstrate this.

parados wrote:

Shame on the person that wrote this email for failing to care about anyone but themselves and shame on you Baddog for repeating it as if it has some merit.

You'll notice my post neither exaggerates your position nor lessens the strength of your argument in any way.
(Author Selfish = reasonable conclusion)

(Author cares about "no one but himself" = unsupportable conclusion) = Straw Man

Please familiarize yourself with the definition of Straw Man before attempting the "I know you are but what am I strategy" again. :wink: When you falsely assumed that the person that wrote this email was "failing to care about anyone but themselves" by doing so, and then broadened your charge with "and shame on you Baddog for repeating it as if it has some merit.", your implication was quite clear. I neither altered nor exaggerated your argument (clearly, there was no need for either :wink:); I merely highlighted the absurdity of it. This

Straw Man.

Ps. If anyone else has been frustrated by trying to make this symbol: "

", but only get "≠" or "≠" for your trouble; copy this picture of it. (What a pain.)

I had to laugh out loud when baddog1 wrote:

As I am the most aware of my intentions regarding this post - you are definitely the strawman in this matter - and that is no assumption! :wink:

Psssst... Baddog click here and look up Straw Man :wink:

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Quote:

Psssst... Baddog click here and look up Straw Man

Thanks for the link. I thought I knew the definition of 'strawman' and after seeing the def on the link you provided - was correct. Perhaps I'm missing something else OB - please explain further.

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Bill....

My statement..

Quote:

...shame on you Baddog for repeating it as if it has some merit.

Your statements.

Quote:

Shame on you for assuming either the author or Baddog cares about no one but themselves

Quote:

Go ahead and substantiate that the author or Baddog fail to "care about anyone but themselves"... or admit your straw man. [/B]

Quote:

You'll notice my post neither exaggerates your position nor lessens the strength of your argument in any way.

I see plenty of straw in your argument Bill. Nowhere have I said that Baddog fails to care about anyone but himself. I have no way of knowing if Baddog agrees or disagrees. I merely pointed out that his posting it means he thinks it has merit, a statement that Baddog agreed with.

By the way Bill, I have never said that my statement about the author of the piece wasn't hyperbole. A single statement of hyperbole does NOT a strawman make. (You might want to check your definition of straw man. I don't use my hyperbole as a basis to argue the issue.) You, however, have completely misrepresented my statement and continue to argue against "your" misrepresention. That DOES make a strawman.

baddog.
A strawman argument requires that you misprepresent the position and then argue against that misrepresentation as if it was the actual argument. Basically you create a weak position, the strawman, that you can easily knock the stuffing out of rather than attack the actual position. Hyperbole is an exaggeration. My statement about the author not caring about anyone is hyperbole. But I don't use it as the basis to make an argument so it doesn't rise to the level of a strawman. My hyperbolic statement is to stress the point that the person writing the piece seems willfully ignorant of the problems of others, especially the Iraqis.

As for the original piece you posted bad. Most if it would be considered a red herring. Electricity has nothing to do with Bush or his policies.

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Are we spoiled?

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