I am with Oliver. How anyone can make fun of or question that poor Korean man is just beyond me.
Shame on you, Laurence.
Reader Interactions
19Comments
Comments are closed.
Trackbacks
-
Like Velcro to Stupid
I hope that Ralph Gizzip doesn’t mind my quoting him for a moment. In a comment on Balloon Juice, he says: I find all the bile spewed at Laurence Simon to be the truly shameful act. You need to read…
-
Fear and Evil
There’s quite a lot of linking to a few sites discussing the South Korean man being held hostage by Al Qaeda in Iraq. He has a few hours before they will, more than likely, behead him. I watched the whole
-
Now That’s Dumb
Laurence Simon makes it clear that he’s a member of the 101st Keyboard Brigade by denigrating the South Korean hostage for not having enough cajones. On one hand, you’ve got a man being held hostage by psychotic murderers who have…
-
Some days, it just doesn’t pay to chew through the straps…
The Word for the Day is: “Dickumentary” Interesting: Daz3D has purchased Bryce 5 from Corel. “DAZ considers Bryce to contain an important set of tools and is strongly dedicated to its future development. When correctly combined, DAZ|Studio, DAZ|Bryce, …
Chris P
I wonder how Laurence Simon would handle himself if he were in the shoes of that South Korean, knowing full well that his decapitation was, more than likely, a mere 24 hours away. To mock this man for begging for his life is pathetic, insensitive, and downright mean-spirited. If humiliating others at their most vulnerable is Simon’s idea of humor, then he must be one of the saddest individuals on the planet. Truly shameful.
Ralph Gizzip
I find all the bile spewed at Laurance Simon to be the truly shameful act. You need to read his post again, John. Here, let me save you the trouble of finding it:
“Is it unfair to compare this man to this man?”
Simon neigher made a statement nor took a position on the comparison. He asked a simple question. It’s up to the reader to state their position and make their case. I can see Oliver getting his panties in a wad because he’s like VELCRO to stupid but I thought you had a better grasp of the English language.
If you want someone to take a position, I’ll do it for you. If I ever found myself in a position like that, God forbid, I hope I’d have the “stones” to react like Mr Frattini did and not piss all over myself like Kim Sun-il.
Chris P
Ralph,
I have to disagree. The title of Simon’s post was “Now I’ll show you how a South Korean dies.” He never made a statement or took a position in his post because he didn’t need to. The title said it all. There was nothing ambiguous about it; he was clearly mocking the South Korean for begging for his life.
As for your position, everyone “hopes” (nice qualifier, by the way) they would act as bravely as Mr. Frattini, but the truth is you’ll never know how you’ll react until you find yourself in a similar situation. To assume you’ll go down like a tough guy instead of pissing yourself in fear is just that – an assumption.
In answer to the original question:
“Is it unfair to compare this man (Kim Sun-il) to this man (Frattini)?”
Yes, it is.
Gregory Litchfield
Chris P:
Let’s not forget that Frattini was, IIRC, a carabineri, which roughly translates to “mlitary police” in our own culture. The man had a specific mindset and training that allowed him to meet his own death the way he did. From what reports I’ve read, the Korean is a civilian, and to expect extrodinary valor from him when his horrifying death is imminent is asking too much.
I don’t know how I’d act if I were in their positions. I can’t condemn the Korean prisioner for begging for his life. I don’t know how I would act if in the same situation. Presented with the imminent possibility, nay, certainty, of being crudely beheaded, I probably would act in ways that would not make my parents proud.
As far as Laurence Simon goes; I like him, I like his blog, and I understand his sense of humor. He has a very dark, cynical take on life, or so I assume from reading his blog. I suspect he never meant for his words to be taken this way, but, well…they were. In fact, he really should have seen this coming. I’ll chalk this up to a lapse in taste and judgment, but what he said was depraved, and I do condemn him for that.
Chris P
Greg,
The fact that Frattini was carabineri and Kim Sun-il is civilian gives me even more reason to believe that it’s unfair to compare the two men’s reactions to their fates.
I’m not trying to bash you here. You seem to corroborate my beliefs by your admission that you “probably would act in ways that would not make my parents proud” and that you condemn Simon’s “lapse in taste and judgment.”
I appreciate a dark sense of humor myself, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere. Simon’s been trying to weasel out of this one by saying his statement was ambiguous and misconstrued by others. That’s a cop out. HE needs to read the title of his post again and put it into context. Exactly how did he think it would be construed?
Blackfive
Folks – the Italian’s name was Fabrizio Quattrocchi. And he was an Italian Commando (like the FBI’s HRT).
Frattini is the Italian Foreign Minister.
I only point this out because you should remember Johnson, Quattrocchi, and Sun-Il…
David R. Block
How would Laurence handle himeslf? Well, as a Jewish guy, he’s probably smart enough not to go over there.
Seeing how much they loved Nick Berg and Danny Pearl, you understand. Or maybe not.
Chris P
Thanks for the correction Blackfive. I thought Frattini sounded wrong but, admittedly, I was too lazy to go back to Simon’s post and verify it for myself. My bad. Substitute Quattrocchi for Frattini though and my point still stands.
Gregory Litchfield
Chris P: You need to bone up on the reading comprehension, son. I was agreeing with you, dumbass.
Chris P
Settle down, Greg. I know you were agreeing with me, that’s why I wrote:
“I’m not trying to bash you here. You seem to corroborate my beliefs by your admission that you “probably would act in ways that would not make my parents proud” and that you condemn Simon’s “lapse in taste and judgment.”
You could do with a little reading comprehension lesson there yourself…son. Take it easy before you blow a gasket.
Gregory Litchfield
Chris P: Using terms such as “seem to corroborate” and “admission” tend to suggest that you had interpreted my post as a critique of yours.
If you don’t want to be misinterpreted, chose your words more carefully.
Chris P
I’ll choose my words more carefully if you agree to refrain from using condescending terms like “son” and hurling insults like “dumb-ass.” Fair enough?
Gregory Litchfield
If you twist my words to the point where you are trying to assert the complete and utter opposite of what I just wrote, I’m going to get pissed at you.
Comprende?
Chris P
All right…look…I’ve got better things to do with my time than get into a pissing contest with you, Greg. I wasn’t twisting your words and I wasn’t trying to assert anything. If you took it that way, I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention.
But I’m not going to sit back and let you trash me with condescension and insults. I’ve already said that I wasn’t trying to bash you and that I knew you agreed with me. Maybe I should’ve used different phrasing, but I didn’t. Get over it.
If you want to respond with more insults and condescension, be my guest. As far as I’m concerned I’m through beating this dead horse.
RoguePlanet
How would Laurence handle himeslf? Well, as a Jewish guy,
Is he Jewish? I wonder how he would feel if the hostage in question had been Jewish, and someone posted the same thing under the header “Now I’ll show you how a Jewish guy dies.”
And then when the well-deserved barbs started flying, claimed, “Gee, I was just posting that to see what the response to my ambiguous stimuli would reveal about the readers . . .”