James Taranto, the WSJ rightwing nutjob whose job is the Best of the Web feature, which invariably means reposting whatever Glenn Reynolds or the halfwits at NRO write every day:
He is, of course, referring to the reports that a number of men used their bodies to shield their loved ones during the Aurora massacre. Most of us thought of this as a noble and amazing sacrifice, but to the American Taliban, these may have been slutty slut sluts who use birth control (or even worse, vote for Democrats!) and make their own decisions, so whether or not they deserved to be saved is up to wingnut judgment.
You know who got to make the decision whether their lives were worth it, Taranto? The three heroes who ate bullets saving their loved ones, not some fat scumbag neocon filth sitting comfortably with a glass of bourbon while wanking on twitter from the comfort of a wingback chair in Manhattan.
These people are sick. I thought once that Derbyshire had been shitcanned from the NRO we might make it through a national tragedy without this kind of crap, but I was wrong.
James Taranto, go fuck yourself.
lol chikinburd
Can the human being be imagined who would die to save James Taranto?
PurpleGirl
That is an awful thought, absolutely awful.
Ron Beasley
Just another example that right threaded wing nuts are all sociopaths or psychopaths.
Ash Can
Thanks for FPing this, John. This kind of evil needs to be called out.
The prophet Nostradumbass
They’re not even women, they’re “girls”, according to the asshole.
El Cid
__
I think he’s going to have to.
Alison
I hope those girls (some of whom I’m sure are actually WOMEN, you infantilizing asshole) someday get the chance to show Taranto in person how worthy they were, by stomping on his fucking balls.
What a fucking bastard, good lord.
Ash Can
And BTW, the silver lining to this is that it calls more attention to the heroism shown by the people in that theater that dreadful night. May they be an inspiration to everyone, everywhere.
jnfr
I try to understand what kind of person even thinks such a thing in private, much less in public, but I can’t. Cold heart, no love in him.
PZ
On a more positive note, Christian Bale is an amazing guy-
http://gawker.com/5928754/heres-christian-bale-visiting-a-victim-of-the-aurora-shooting
I’m sure James Taranto is going to use his Twitter to link to a fund for the Aurora victims. Just wait. One sec. Bueller. Bueller…
El Cid
Besides, don’t we need to know the race, career, income, wealth, and religion of the men dying in this manner in order to know whether or not anything desirable was lost?
The Dangerman
Aren’t those roughly the same words as used at the end of Saving Private Ryan? I’m not sure the intent is as you describe (though using the past tense verb would tend to indicate as such, but I’m not as sure as you)…
The prophet Nostradumbass
And, another tweet, where he tries to make most of his detractors look like they’re the idiots.
A “challenging tweet”?
What a colossal asshole.
NotMax
Disgusting, degenerate, repulsive, loathsome, contemptuous, spiteful and insulting.
Cannot even begin to contemplate what vile spew he might have puked up had any of the couples reported on been same sex.
TG Chicago
Good god, I’m trying to imagine the combination of utter inhumanity it takes to think of such a think along with the utter stupidity it takes to actually make such a horrible thought public.
When I read that Romney advisor’s “Anglo-Saxon” thing, I figured that would be the shittiest thing said by a wingnut for at least a full day. I mean, that was really, really shitty. But this is even more shocking.
DougJ
I see that tweet and I raise you this retweet.
scav
To repeat myself, in his mind the sacrifice of any woman’s life to another is not worthy of mention or being requring any lived-up-to-ness. Women’s lives are wastepaper in his lofty view.
freelancer
Is there nothing left with wingnuts but infantile projection?
They used to whine about people going on Oprah, wah wah wah, suck it up, be a man, etc, and turned that into “every minority group and gender is oppressing my rights!”.
They had a gigantic backlash against tolerance by saying “I’m not politically correct. I’m not gonna give in to the delicate sensitivities of a bunch of wimpy, whining pansies”, when it turns out the rest of the world moved on and realized that being an adult in the world is complex and we should be simple and decent, they retreat in the most ultimate sensitivity by making being “politically incorrect” their own hill to die on. “If I can’t say Ni-Clang and faggot, then the PC crowd has won!”
No, it’s you. You can’t move on. You’re the sensitive one. If it wasn’t such a big deal to you, you‘d adjust and move on like everyone else. But you’re the one reacting this way. The rest of the world has decided that this is what being an asshole looks like now and they’ve decided to change. You have decided that being an asshole is more important than anything else. You have decided that what is now considered bigotry is a matter of principle for you. Good luck with that.
p.a.
I second a previous comment- can’t imagine anyone throwing themselves on a grenade for jimbo.
Alison
@The Dangerman: Please explain what you think the intent is, if not something repugnant and callous, as it comes across to basically everyone else.
Eric
In truth u hope the survivors dont get overwhelmed by the guilt. Massive asshole
Jay in Oregon
@DougJ:
I don’t even understand what that means.
It’s not a sacrifice if you give your life to save a loved one because it’s in your best interest if they live? I would think your “best interest” would be that you yourself survive, if you want to engage in that particular moral calculus.
NotMax
Bull.
Randian ‘philosophy’ is rooted in pure egoism. The concepts of ethical sacrifice and altruism do not exist in that lexicon.
The Dangerman
@Alison:
I thought I was clear; I’m not sure what the intent is.
I’ll ask again; aren’t these almost the exact words used at the end of Private Ryan?
El Cid
This is just a clear reminder that since you never really know what’s going to happen, you need to have done in advance your precise calculations of exactly which amount of effort and personal risk each ‘loved’ one in your life is worth, given your varieties of likely payoffs.
You can then explain in advance to each of these people the degree to which you would or would not expose yourself to risk on their behalf, perhaps even with specified conditions: if you are verifiably pregnant with my spawn, I may consider a higher level of self-sacrifice risk in order to propagate my genetic material.
Not everyone would be as upfront about these things to the people in their lives, but then, I’ve always been sort of a romantic. I struggle against that, but I am, it’s true.
freelancer
Todd Glass on bigots and their bluster over “sensitivity”.
pseudonymous in nc
Taranto has been a creepy sociopathic and specifically misogynistic bastard on the internets for a decade now. I’m sure that Dr Mrs Ole Perfesser Helen will back him up by saying that the menfolk should have been packing heat and using their woman-possessions as human body armour.
El Cid
@The Dangerman:
Sounds like it, though I’m not sure how many American boys were recruited to be sent long distances to extract those girls from the theater, so some people could be forgiven for missing the chain of logic, other than the words being similar.
JGabriel
The rare Triple Redundancy.
I mean, linguistically rare. Obviously, it’s not rare at WSJ.
.
Richard
Oh god, that Ayn Rand shit.
No doubt, if he had been in the audience, Taranto would have grabbed a nearby child to hold in front of him as a human shield to save his fat John Galt ass.
dead existentialist
@p.a.: I’d think most people would consider using him as a shield. And that nobody would find fault with that.
El Cid
Taranto in those circumstances would have quickly dedicated himself to forming a protective shield of brown, foul-smelling matter in his pants to hide behind.
Spatula
You people, including Cole, need to stay off fucking worthless Twitter.
Christ, you’re just feeding this moron’s ego and view count, which is exactly what he wants.
Good job.
Ash Can
@JGabriel: I mean, really? This is the sort of person the WSJ has writing for them now?
How far the WSJ has fallen.
Alison
@The Dangerman: You said you weren’t sure the intent was as JC described. Not the same as saying you don’t know what it is.
In any case, I don’t remember that damn movie so it would be nice if you could actually use some words to flesh out your point. But if it’s something about troops sacrificing for the country, well fucking hell. We’re talking about two ENTIRELY DIFFERENT situations, and also, the country includes everyone, whereas this shitbag specifically only whinged about “girls” being worthy of their “boyfriends” sacrifices. Maybe someone also shielded a man, but Taranto doesn’t seem concerned about that man’s worthiness.
Don’t try to be charitable to this piece of scum. He meant what everyone here knows he meant – which is BITCHES AMIRITE GUYS CANT LIVE WITH THEM CANT LET THEM GET GUNNED DOWN BY MASS MURDERERS IN A MOVIE THEATER. Fuck him all to hell.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Spatula: Thank you for your concern. It will be given the proper consideration.
PeakVT
Republican base, how low can you go?
This one will be hard to beat, but I have faith.
CW in LA
@lol chikinburd: I would with my dying breath tell the gun-wielding maniac, “May sure you get the asswipe cowering behind that chair there, too.”
dead existentialist
@El Cid: It worked for that hero-tough-guy Ted Nugent!
The Dangerman
@El Cid:
Don’t see what distance has to do with it; they are the same words (roughly) and the same philosophical sentiment – “sacrifice” and “lived/living up to that sacrifice”. My doubt is in the tense being past or future (as noted).
Chris
@NotMax:
I remember reading a story by Ayn Rand that she tried to make friends with a girl in her early school years that she thought was as interesting as she was, asked her what the most important thing in her life was, and upon hearing “my mother” as an answer, recoiled in horror because it showed how shallow and common the girl was.
The idea that Ayn Rand had any more concern for her “loved ones” (if indeed she was even capable of the emotion) than a total stranger is pretty hysterical.
El Cid
Another dumbass.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
i’ve been watching the anaheim protest coverage. i did see where some blogger said some caustic things, its odd trying to reconcile the relative importance of each.
trollhattan
Ugh. He may f#ck himself, but only after he eats a bag of salted dicks.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Marcellus Shale, Public Dick: The Anaheim PD’s behaviour is absolutely disgusting.
Ruckus
@Alison:
Wearing jackboots or preferably stiletto heels
The Dangerman
@Alison:
If you don’t recall the end of the movie, that’s your problem, and perhaps you can find the clip on youtube before calling me an idiot. The words, and the presumed premise of sacrifice, are basically identical.
El Cid
@The Dangerman: No, the movie ending makes no sense whatsoever if not in the context of soldiers drafted and sent across the world to save one kid.
Yes, there is always a truth to think about and to on proper occasion express about being worth the sacrifice someone made for you.
Yes, in some context, maybe a eulogy, someone — maybe even one of those girls herself — might say something about living up to the value of that sacrifice.
I’m telling you that’s not at all what that sounds like, and it isn’t what most people will think it sounds like, and not least of which precisely because it’s in an inane media form which disallows context.
Picture this:
HEADLINE: Costly Experimental Leukemia Treatment Saves Life of 12 Year Old
ME, Tweeting: I hope that kid was worth all that money.
Ash Can
@Chris: What did she expect, or want, the answer to be? (Serious question; I don’t know the answer and I’m curious.)
pseudonymous in nc
@Ash Can:
In the opinion section? They’ve been employing shits and hacks since forever. That’s the bit of the WSJ you get for free, because its value is in spreading propaganda like manure: the actual reporting costs cash money, and you’d hope that the WSJ of all places would have a take on setting an appropriate price for its content.
Anne Laurie
@The Dangerman:
Well, that would certainly fit the Glibertarian template — not just cruel, thoughtless misogny intended to punish the survivors a little more, but also second-hand thoughtlessness “borrowed” without attribution from a tough-guy fantasy by a man whose greatest display of physical courage is probably shorting his waitpersons’ tips.
NotMax
@Chris
Yup, and yup again. Some select Rand quotes:
“To say ‘I love you’ one must first be able to say the ‘I.’ ”
“It only stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.”
“I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
“Evil requires the sanction of the victim.”
John Cole
@Spatula: Concern troll is concerned. Duly noted.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
and predictable. i am getting to this story late but it seems like a cop killer was sentenced to lwop and the police have been on a retaliation binge. imagine if he was acquitted?
El Cid
@Chris: She really admired that child murderer and ransom artist William Edward Hickman who dismembered his victims, and showed no regret about it in public.
Note that to Ayn Rand, some sort of petty imperfections including non-selfishness were “worse sins and crimes” than this guy who kidnapped, murdered, and dismembered a 12 year old.
Yes this guy shot up a theater full of innocent people, killing a dozen — but have I not several times chosen to give up an extremely lucrative business opportunity? How am I not worse than this shooter, then?
JGabriel
@The Dangerman:
No. Wow. That’s amazingly sociopath-like.
First, Pvt. Ryan was a fictional character. Second, setting that aside, his question was, IIRC, “Am I good man?” The fictional character Ryan wanted to be reassured by loved ones, after the fact, that his life had been worth the sacrifice of other lives to bring him home after all his biological brothers had been killed.
Taranto, on the other hand, is implying that the female victims who survived, via the protection of others, were, a priori, not worth saving.
.
Ash Can
@pseudonymous in nc: I don’t recall the opinion section of the WSJ being this bad 30 years ago/pre-Murdoch.
Roger Moore
@PeakVT:
I think they’re trying to dig their way to China. When they get there, they’ll have a nice tunnel for Mitt to use exporting American jobs there.
Smiling Mortician
@The Dangerman:
OK. I’ll play, since I don’t remember the end of the movie either. According to IMDB, these are the final lines of the film:
Old James Ryan: Tell me I have led a good life.
Ryan’s Wife: What?
Old James Ryan: Tell me I’m a good man.
Ryan’s Wife: You *are*.
The difference? This is Ryan himself — the guy who was saved by others who sacrificed their lives for him. He‘s asking whether he was “worth it.” It’s not some other asshole who doesn’t even know him looking at him and saying “I hope you were worth it,” which is what Taranto did.
Not the same thing at all. And seriously? Would it have killed you to provide the context after you were asked, like, three times?
EDIT: JGabriel beat me to it.
Chris
@Ash Can:
No idea – story doesn’t say. I read it here http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/60120/index1.html (third paragraph) amidst other charming anecdotes about her childhood that support the theory that, as the article says, she had a personality disorder of some kind. That was one seriously deranged human being.
El Cid
@NotMax:
Cogito ergo sum proved the existence of selfishness?
danielx
He’s got a lot of wingnut competition for that asshole of the century title…
pragmatism
Why isnt the first amendment protecting Jimmy Taranto from criticism? This pocket iokiyar constitution obtained from a rally says it does.
El Cid
@danielx: And the century’s young…
pseudonymous in nc
@Ash Can: 30 years ago? Can’t comment. But the WSJ’s op-ed section, with Bartley and Fund, was as much a part of the Hunting of the Clenis™ as any part of the press, and Taranto’s been on their payroll since 1996. It’s a shit-sheet.
El Cid
@pragmatism: What’s this “First” Amendment whooey? My copy of the Constushun’s is the real version which has the 2nd and 10th Amendments, which are the only two actual real legitimate parts of the Constushun.
The Dangerman
@Smiling Mortician:
Actually, it was twice, and, since you missed a key line from the movie, I was mostly referring to Tom Hanks’ character’s line of “earn this” (paraphrased).
As for war or not war or fiction or nonfiction, all I can say is, whatever.
As for me being a sociopath or sociopath-like, fuck you. Twice.
Alison
@The Dangerman: I didn’t call you an idiot. I asked you to actually explain what you meant because sorry, no, I don’t recall the specific words to the end of a movie that came out 14 years ago. Yes, I am aware YouTube exists, but I am also aware that people can like, type their own words. Whatever, in any case, I would think the sentiment expressed in that context would also be fucked up. Who decides who is “worthy” of someone else’s sacrifice? There are plenty of assholes in this country, but it’s not like troops can pick and choose who they “fight for”. I mean…gah, I don’t even know how to get into that discussion, really…
But it’s not even germane. Taranto was not waxing poetic about war heroes and the yellow-ribbon-sporting folk back on the homestead, who are only being sacrificed for in a metaphorical sense. He was talking about an actual person physically shielding another actual person in the face of a fucking rampage killer and a shower of bullets, and he’s blabbering about the OH NOES possibility that some of those “girls” may have been dumb bitches who probably should have died instead. I don’t care about empty platitudes about worth and whatnot, what he said was disgusting, and if it’s really the same as the sentiment expressed in the movie, then that’s disgusting too. We should not be so quick to rate each other’s worthiness of life on a subjective scale.
Xenos
How can you even question whether a woman’s life is worthy of her lover’s self-sacrifice? What possibly could be more worthy? No self interest here, just love resulting in an instinctive act of self-sacrifice. A beautiful, if terrible thing, that gives one hope for the human race.
Wapiti
My pet peeve is people who hang their American flag over a railing like it was a beach towel. Or tie it over the hood of their truck (which, if there is a dead US servicemember under the hood might be appropriate, but usually this isn’t the case.) Or any number of disrespectful things people do to their flags, not in protest, but out of jingoistic ignorance.
Mnemosyne
Anyone else suspect that this is also Taranto’s lashing out at the story Obama told of Stephanie Davies saving her best friend’s life despite being a lowly guuuuurl?
(Edited to correct Taranto’s name so I don’t accidentally slander unrelated famous people.)
scav
The tweeting-fucker knows in his very soul that nobody, not nohow, not even his sainted mother would save him from so much as a mosquito bite and is jealous as all get out. I’m not sure that even modern science with its Higgs boson measuring ability could accurately measure the shallowness of his or A. Rand’s soul.
Mnemosyne
@The Dangerman:
Dude, what the fuck is going on with you? First you decide that Sandusky was an innocent man who was railroaded, and now you’re defending Taranto?
Xenos
@Ash Can:
It was worse. Back then this was the only establishment venue for the John Birch/Ayn Rand fusion if ideas that has since completely poisoned the country.
Spatula
@John Cole:
Boy, that’s original.
Let’s try this instead: Gullible TWitter addict is addicted, and seeking to go trending on Twitter himself. Duly noted.
Alison
@Mnemosyne: Oh gross. I didn’t see those comments. WTF.
Smiling Mortician
@The Dangerman: I said nothing about fiction vs. nonfiction, nor did I call you a sociopath, so you can keep your “fuck you.” Actually, go ahead and keep both of them.
Thank you, though, for finally providing a snippet of a paraphrase of what you expected everyone else to know.
But the “earn this” line is also not comparable to what Taranto did. Hanks’ character is actually in a position where he and his comrades are laying down their lives for the survival of another. He’s telling Ryan directly that he is willing to make that sacrifice, and he wants Ryan to understand the sacrifice — which is light years from being a completely disconnected spectator after the fact telling the public that he hopes the survivor was worth someone else’s sacrifice.
If you can’t see that, then I guess that’s your problem.
Roger Moore
@Wapiti:
I’ve seen flag paper napkins. I guess nothing shows your love for the flag like using it to wipe something off your mouth and then throwing it in the trash.
Mister Harvest
@Xenos:
Don’t forget Investors Business Daily. Back in the day, it made the WSJ look like the Revolutionary Worker.
JGabriel
__
__
danielx:
… And the century is still young.
.
freelancer
@The Dangerman:
GxB
Oooh, someones pouring on the coal to grab this week’s “Georgie” – of course named in honor of George Tierney Jr. of Greenville, South Carolina.
Since this tool apparently writes for a living it’ll probably only increase his readership.
JGabriel
Mister Harvest:
And now they look pretty much identical, as far as the editorial slant goes.
.
MattR
@Smiling Mortician: Right before that quote, an old Private Ryan says:
In general, I have a hard time getting too upset over Tweets. It is often kinda hard to tell exactly what the author means when there are only 140 characters to go off of. If we take the tweet literally, Taranto comes off as quite a dick. But it is also possible that it was a clumsy attempt to make a point similar to the one at the end of Private Ryan. (It would not be that hard to rephrase it using the future tense to make that point) Unfortunately for Taranto, his past actions have lost him the benefit of the doubt.
The Dangerman
@Mnemosyne:
I’ll give you a check for $10,000,000 if you can find where I ever said such a thing. OK, it would bounce, but that’s beside the point.
Folks, I live in the reality based community (to borrow from KOS); from that tweet, I don’t know what he meant. Generally, I try to refrain from jumping to conclusions, whether it be Paterno (not Sandusky) or this Dude from 140 characters (or less). This isn’t really rocket science.
Odie Hugh Manatee
What. The. Fuck?! This is just disgusting, fucking disgusting. What an abject piece of shit this sorry piece of shit is. My son and I were talking about these heroes earlier and both of us hope that if we were in the same position that we would do the very same thing these men did. They sacrificed themselves for someone that meant the world to them and this empty scrotum has the gall to question their sacrifice?
A slow, lingering, excruciatingly painful death would be too swift and merciful for this festering sore on the ass of humanity.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Spatula:
The truth isn’t always “original”.
John O
Wow.
I’m sure everyone pretty much reacted by instinct in that situation. That this nutjob can stand in judgment of that is…sort of wondrous, if by “wondrous” you mean incredibly asshole-ish and amazing that anyone would post something so despicable to the public.
It’s guys like this that make me hope there is a God.
What. A. Dick.
Spatula
@Wapiti:
Get over it…it’s a piece of colored fabric.
Spatula
@The Dangerman:
Your admirable restraint, acknowledged in educated circles as a positive trait, is generally unwelcome here at BJ. Most prominent commenters express self righteous rage first, gather facts later.
Ash Can
@Chris: I’ve always considered her to be damaged goods. So much the worse that there have been so many lesser sociopaths who were damaged in much the same way and could see nothing more than her intellectual defense of their own messed-up-edness. We’re all living with, and paying for, the consequences.
@pseudonymous in nc: I recall the WSJ editorialist hacks being godawful during the Clinton years, but I also do not recall the WSJ being distinctly political at all in the 70s. Maybe their board
fell for all the bullshithopped aboard Reagan’s nominally pro-business bandwagon of the 1980s and never looked back (especially after Murdoch took over).freelancer
Jesus, that picture in the update.
I hope the Ales that died to force @jamestaranto to drill yet another hole in his last belt were worthy of the sacrifice.
Mister Harvest
@The Dangerman:
Dude, apparently you think this is a new trope on the Internet. The pattern is:
1. “I am a man of reasonable temperament and sharp intellect. I do not believe the case you wish to make has been proven.”
2. [ the entire internet provides arguments ]
3. “No, I am a skeptic and a man with a firm belief in the power of reason, and you have not lived up to my lofty standards of proof. Please, though, do try again; your dancing amuses me.”
4. [ the entire internet provides more arguments ]
5. “Ah, I see you are not intellectually capable of providing a sufficient argument! Now, I must be off. I have prepared a victory party for myself; I sprung for pizza.”
You best be off. The pizza is getting cold.
Really, your position is, “Well, I don’t know what it meant but it sounds like the last lines (except not the last lines) in a movie so it must mean… um, well, I’m still not sure what it means or why I even brought those up since I’m not offering an alternative explanation, but it must mean… well, something or other”? Please, don’t overcommit on the interpretation.
Smiling Mortician
@MattR:
No shit.
The prophet Nostradumbass
For those who may not have recognized him, Spatula == Clime Acts, and various other disgusting previous personas.
Spatula
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
Congratulations. Your comment is an almost perfect, and beautifully illustrative, example of a classic RAGE-GASM.
Mop on aisle four.
scav
What’s more, he’s essentially substituting his own evaluation over the people’s actions. They clearly thought the sacrifice worth it: he’s not so sure, so presumably they loved potentially worthless sluts et cetera. What a shallow substitution of theory over experience. The more I think of it, the worse he appears. It hurts my brain to think of his moral being.
Mnemosyne
@The Dangerman:
Did I mix you up with someone else who said that he himself had been falsely accused of sexual harassment by a co-worker so he was skeptical that any of the accusations against Sandusky were true even after the conviction came down?
If I have mixed you up with that other person, then I do apologize and withdraw any accusations of defending Sandusky. You’re on your own when it comes to the Paterno defenses, though.
Spatula
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
Say what?
dead existentialist
@Mister Harvest: Ha ha! Sums this twaffle up perfectly. So does “stop digging.”
PZ
I just read this column he wrote a couple of weeks ago-
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304373804577524962080252838.html?KEYWORDS=JAMES+TARANTO
What he wrote about Paul Krugman-
Not as bad as the quoted tweet but he definitely is a total Randoid…
Mister Harvest
@Spatula:
After all, both sides do it, right?
Mnemosyne
@PZ:
I have to snicker at a guy who uses the word “ressentiment” in a sentence accusing other people of being “eggheads.”
NancyDarling
I went to Taranto’s wiki page as I know little about him. They had a list of some of his running gags from his column. Boy, is he NOT funny.
There is no such thing as conservative humor. They all have a mean streak. Someone name me one conservative comedian.
Spatula
@Mister Harvest:
Have RAGE-GASMS?
Who said anything about politics?
dead existentialist
@The prophet Nostradumbass: No. Timmeh had a totally different timbre. Spatula is a cupcake compared to him. Politer too.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Spatula: You can play dumb all you want, but you’re obvious.
Mnemosyne
@Alison:
I may potentially have confused The Dangerman with someone else who was saying after the verdict came down that he thought that Sandusky was probably innocent because he himself had been falsely accused of sexual harassment at work so therefore all accusations of sexual misconduct were by definition false.
Still waiting for confirmation, though.
Spatula
@PZ:
Kind of hard to argue with that question, especially in the case of Dim Mitt, the world’s dumbest robot. This guy is a dumbass.
Mnemosyne
@dead existentialist:
Nope, it’s him. His pal eemom always spots him when he comes back, and she called it a week ago.
He spends a few weeks trying to pretend to be someone else, but the old Timmeh strain always comes out and he starts randomly abusing people again. He just can’t help himself.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@p.a.:
I think it’s more likely that if he were in a situation where he would act to save his sweetie that he would have to throw himself on his right hand.
Ash Can
@MattR:
The thing is, it’s obvious from the context that he’s not one to judge,and if he had any fucking modicum of human decency he’d know this and act accordingly. He needs to STFU regarding his personal (and egregiously disrespectful) judgements of the victims; it’s that simple and that obvious.
Spatula
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
Wait a minute. You really use some of your energy attempting to identify top secret, rogue commenters on an Internet blog?
Spatula
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
LOL
freelancer
@Spatula:
There are worse things. Like being a surreptitious, asshole commenter on an internet blog. But hey, different strokes.
Spaghetti Lee
If James Taranto wants to judge other people’s “worthiness” from on high, maybe he should try being worth more than a festering bag of shit.
dead existentialist
@Odie Hugh Manatee: He’d have to pull it out of his pants first.
Yutsano
@dead existentialist: Nope, it’s Special Timmeh. Right down to the ersatz contrarianism.
@Ash Can: I LIKE PIE!!
Spatula
@freelancer:
So why do you continue to behave in such a way?
Ash Can
And BTW, folks, pies and spatulas do go together. Just sayin’.
::thank you, cleek:: :)
Spatula
@Yutsano:
Is there really a difference between FALSE contrarianism and REAL contrarianism, or did you just want to use what you perceive as a big word?
Yutsano
@Spatula: You tell me Timmeh. You’re the special holder of DA TROOF!!
PS you realize you blew your cover. But I can always get a rise out of you.
sb
@Spatula: Well, Yutsano wrote ‘ersatz’ contrarianism. I’m not sure that’s worth a condescending reply but the word ‘ersatz’ means typically inferior quality. Real or false ain’t got much to do with it.
dead existentialist
@Spatula: Ha ha. To all who made a point of correcting me: It’s back! Hi Timmeh!
It fooled me with it’s restraint, everybody. Let’s see if it can keep that up, or if it will wander down the paths of memory and recall how, as a teenager, it was “seduced” by an adult, thus equating the buggery of children with some sort of Spartan-like code of manliness much like the recent PSU scandal.
Spatula
@Yutsano:
Seems to work both ways now, doesn’t it?
The truth could set you free. You should try looking for it once in a while.
NotMax
@NancyDarling
Leaving Dennis Miller out of it, as he has gone from comedy to some strange tunnel vision dimension powered by vitriol, bile and self-aggrandizement.
Jeff Foxworthy?
Granted, the term comedian is extremely elastic.
Spatula
@sb:
er·satz [er-zahts, -sahts, er-zahts, -sahts] Show IPA
adjective
1.
serving as a substitute; synthetic; artificial: an ersatz coffee made from grain.
Did you know that many words in the English language have more than one specific meaning?
dumbass
Citizen Alan
@The Dangerman:
Of for fuck’s sake! The Tom Hanks character was drafted to go to war and then ordered into what was possibly a suicide mission with the understanding that if he succeeded in extracting Matt Damon, he’d get to go home. He finds Damon but then was unable to extract him because Damon insists on staying to defend a bridge against probably hopeless odds. Reluctantly, Tom Hanks and his men stay to help and most of them die. Eventually, the bridge is blown up by an American plane and American reinforcements arrive to completely rout the Germans, meaning that Hanks and his men arguably died for no reason. Hanks’s words to Damon were an insistence that Damon use his life to make the other soldiers’ sacrifices meaningful.
None of those women did anything to help bring about the shootings. None of them AFAIK hid behind their dates or did anything to endanger their dates’ lives. None of them AFAIK have anything to be ashamed about or any reason to devote the rest of their lives to “earning” the right to live in place of the men died to save them, especially not to satisfy the insane notions of a fucking pig like Taranto. Fuck him! Fuck that miserable degenerate piece of shit with a rusty chainsaw bent sideways.
Spatula
@dead existentialist:
You need to see a psychiatrist.
sb
On topic, I can’t imagine Taranto’s intent is anything other than “gee, I hope those girls were worth it” which is sexist, condescending and… well, assholery of the first order. Someone upthread said it echoed the same sentiment as Saving Private Ryan and with all due respect, Taranto’s tweet and SPR are not at all equivalent.
Taranto should get called out for being an asshole and he’ll deserve it.
Yutsano
@Spatula: You can neither hurt nor help me Timmeh. Once I leave here tonight, I shall not spare you another thought, as you very mildly amuse me and nothing more.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Spatula:
This is a wanker free zone you NAMBLA Lobbyist. Go visit Sandusky you piece of shit.
cthulhu
@sb: Besides, at this point, if Taranto were aware of and specifically referencing the SPR theme, he has now had plenty of time to clarify that.
Spatula
Spatula haters need to accept that this commenter will always comment here. I have never been banned for any reason conforming to the rules of Cole’s own banning policy, and I have NEVER been banned by Cole himself.
As John is a man of integrity, unlike many of you, he always rights the wrong after one of the more sensitive front pagers who dish it out but are too delicate to take it piss their panties and ban me.
Upon my return I usually don a new moniker and lie low just for fun until one of the usual suspects gets a tingle down their leg and outs me.
This is fun!
Why don’t you morons use your alleged, precious pie filter? I submit that it does not exist.
sb
@Spatula: Well, I was going by the popular use here on campus meaning inferior in quality, be it true or false.
As for calling me a dumbass? Fuck you. Shall we part ways now or do you have other shit to spew?
Spatula
@Yutsano:
Good. That is as it should be.
CW in LA
@NotMax: Well, that statement is certainly as witty as anything I’ve ever seen from Foxworthless.
Spatula
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
LOL
Isn’t it time for you to use the pie filter on me? Please do.
Spatula
@sb:
And what campus would that be?
sb
@cthulhu: I just scanned his twitter account. He’s getting called out on it pretty thoroughly. His latest defense is that he would like to change the tense–he hopes they “will be” worth it, rather than he hopes they “were” worth it.
Odie Hugh Manatee
John should have known that a thread titled “Asshole of the Century” would draw Timmeh in like a magnet.
Like flies to shit.
Spatula
@sb:
seriously…wtf? Aren’t you just feeding this guy’s livelihood? And him? And his family? And his bank account?
sb
@Spatula: I’m tutoring at UCLA and I’m a high school English teacher. The word, coincidentally, came up in one of the AP classes toward the end of the year and we had a thoughtful discussion about the meaning of the word (among other words).
As opposed to, you know, the conversation we’re having.
JoyfulA
@Wapiti: Whenever I see a disrespectful use of the flag, such as sitting on a flag beach chair, I whisper audibly about how terrible those people are, treating my flag that way. One of these days, I’m going to get myself beat up, but I remember the sixties, when the same type of people now sitting on flags screamed about young people wearing a jacket with a flag on the back.
SectarianSofa
@Mister Harvest:
Exceptionally well put.
sb
@Spatula: Am I feeding his livelihood by checking his twitter account? I had no idea.
Spatula
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
ODM, since you are one of the ones whose blood pressure spikes when I comment, why don’t you install and use the alleged Pie Filter?
Are you a masochist?
Also too, you need to stop using what you seem to think is my first name. You need to call me Spatula. Cole bans people who do not follow this common Internet tradition, strictly enforced here at BJ. I kid you not, it has already happened once and I won’t hesitate to call his attention to your little game.
Yutsano
@sb:
Yes because verb tense make that sooo much better.
@Spatula: Whatever. Pedo.
Spatula
@sb:
Every time you check his account it is recorded as a hit or look or whatever. The more the better…for him of course. And his masters.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Spatula:
Pie filters don’t work on child (and goat) molesters like you.
sb
@Yutsano:
For Taranto, I guess that beats apologizing. God, what a jerk he is. I’d ask who would say such a thing but I have my answer–James Taranto.
freelancer
@Spatula:
Submit in one hand. Shit in the other.
Yutsano
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Special Timmeh is Mickey Kaus?? Hoocodanode??
@sb: Randroids never apologize. To do so would be to admit error. And they and their philosophy are perfect in all things. So sayeth the great Saint Ayn.
Spatula
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
You love every minute of my presence here. It excites you. You enjoy it; the bogus outrage makes you feel alive.
Spatula
@Yutsano:
Also too, you need to stop using what you seem to think is my first name. You need to call me Spatula. Cole bans people who do not follow this common Internet tradition, strictly enforced here at BJ. I kid you not, it has already happened once and I won’t hesitate to call his attention to your little game.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Yutsano:
No, he’s aspiring to be like Kaus but he can’t leave the real kids alone.
Kaus just likes the furry little kids.
@
SpatulaTimmeh:I’m laughing at the ass that you are so if that’s rage then I’ll live with it.
sb
@Spatula: Swear to jeebus, I didn’t even think of that though I feel like an idiot for not assuming as much. I’ll happily say that’s my last look at Taranto’s twitter.
(pause)
Okay, I just re-read my last sentence and that just doesn’t sound right.
Spatula
@Yutsano:
Well, your argument style hasn’t improved in my brief absence.
Yutsano
@Spatula: Send him an e-mail. Be sure to tell him how extra-mean I was to you. He LIVES for that shit!!
cthulhu
@sb: Okaay. Not much of a defense as he still puts himself in a place of judgement despite being an extremely personal business between the hero and the person they saved. I don’t see how he salvages this one.
Yutsano
@cthulhu: Randroids do not salvage. They double down. In fact that’s already occurring.
dead existentialist
@NAMBLA:
Pull yer pants up, freaky, this here is an adult site.
Spatula
@Yutsano:
Address me by a name other than my nym again and I will happily do so, as I have done numerous times in the past when I have been banned for reasons not in accord with his very clear, specific, and written banning policy. He has promptly restored my access each time.
We’ve had a number of quite sensible, lengthy email exchanges as a matter of fact.
I’m pretty sure hysterical bots like you email him constantly anyway. One more from little old me won’t be a problem.
I don’t care how mean you think you’re being, Yutsy, I just want you to follow the rules like I do.
sb
@cthulhu: I’m with you there.
Yutsano
@Spatula:
I submit that this has never happened.
Spatula
@dead existentialist:
Admit it: You’re more stimulated right now than you’ve been in weeks on this blog. You love the pervy sex angle. You just can’t stop talking about it.
Telling.
David Koch
He wears the worst toupee
Yutsano
@David Koch: Not quite Trumpian proportions, but yes, quite tacky. Even worse if that’s natural.
Spatula
@Yutsano:
Believe what makes you feel best. You always do.
Or you could send Cole an email and ask him yourself.
Spatula
@David Koch:
No. Really? That’s not real? ;D
cthulhu
@Yutsano: Hey, I get that the Randians can’t fathom altruism, even if it might be the split-second, perhaps done without much thought, kind. So why bother commenting on it?
dead existentialist
@Spatula: You’re right, sweetie. I hear that high dudgeon queen voice of yours, and I’m reminded of the supposed local pedophile of my youth, who happened to be an acclaimed local actor. He was rumored to be a bugger-of-boys because he was gay because gays would bugger anything, amirite?
He provided us with hilarious answers to prank phone calls about having cold grapes thrown at his ass and such nonsense that asshole teenagers thought were part of his lifestyle. Turned out that a local theater was named after him and that none of the allegations of pedophilia (NAMBLA) BS was ever even considered. IOW, it was a very localized “that house is haunted/inhabited by a witch” sort of nonsense that happened back in the 60’s and 70’s.
While I may need to see a psychiatrist, I’d venture to say that you need to see a priest. But you’re probably past their “use by date.”
And yes, we all skee whenever you appear. You’re that awesome.
TenguPhule
I submit that the modern Republicans are not people, but a plague inflicted on us by a cruel and loathsome demon-god that despises humanity. And should be treated accordingly.
dead existentialist
By the way, the dick has the flag hanging backwards.
karen marie
@The Dangerman: Context matters, but also just because someone else got there first does that make it any more a philosophy decent people should live by or promote?
Spatula
@JoyfulA:
It’s a piece of fabric. They can do whatever they want with it. If YOU buy a flag, then YOU can do whatever YOU want with it.
TenguPhule
And the bible is just a piece of paper stuck in two covers.
Yet you don’t see any of us just burning it.
JGabriel
__
__
Speaking of assholes, this may have been covered earlier, but I just saw it.
Texan Shoot Self In Ass, Wounds Woman and Child:
(via TPM)
Spatula
@dead existentialist:
You are deeply and sadly messed up. All kinds of homophobic slurs and name calling going on in your comment. I won’t even try to figure out what you meant by going into that twisted little trip down memory lane.
And now I’ve turned this post and your nym over to Cole.
Let’s see what happens.
dobrojutro
There was an old SCTV bit where John Candy played a Greenpeace volunteer trying to save baby seals from slaughter. He jumped on one to protect it from being clubbed and smushed it.
Spatula
@TenguPhule:
Oooooookay then…
Q.Q. Moar
Oooh, scary! What are you, twelve years old?
NotMax
In homage to the late G. Marx (“One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How it got in my pajamas, I’ll never know.”), one is tempted to ask what a woman and a child were doing in his ass, and who or what else might have remained there, unwounded.
Seriously, saw that story a while back; just indulging in a bit of interpretive whimsy.
dead existentialist
@Spatula: OUCH! I’ve told teacher on you. Moar playground taunts, pleeze.
ETA: You add to the page hits like DougJ.
MattR
@JGabriel: @NotMax: I don’t know if I am supposed to point out that the woman was obviously not worthy of anyone’s sacrifice or that this would not have happened if she had been armed as well.
Joey Maloney
@El Cid:
JOHN DERBYSHIRE, Tweeting: Is she hot?
dead existentialist
@Spatula: Cole will ban me for communicating with a pedophile? He’s a WVU man for fucks sake. Do you not understand conference affiliation, YA FUCKIN DEMENTED PERV?*
*Ad homoninon attacks aside.
karen marie
@MattR: What is the “similar point” Taranto could even remotely have been making? People keep saying that but no one yet has identified what that “similar point” might be.
Dennis SGMM
Those words, spoken long ago by Joseph N. Welch, seem to this Old Guy to be applicable.
Mark S.
Taranto really needs to be fired for this. That might be the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen a MSM person say or write.
Fort Geek
@lol chikinburd: Think I’d have to hide behind Taranto. He’s shown that he’s worthy.
The Tragically Flip
When does the countertop inspection strike team declare h-hour and rappel in to determine if these “girls” were worth saving? That is what the clod is aking for.
Omnes Omnibus
@The Dangerman: They were the words of of the person for whom the sacrifice was made. The character was hoping that he, himself, was had lived a life since that sacrifice that justified the sacrifice being made. In my view, this is vastly different (and fictional) than some asshole miles away from what happened saying, “I hope that chick wasn’t a money-hungry hose beast. Boy, would you feel foolish, huh?”
VividBlueDotty
@Spatula: You clearly don’t know how teh Twitter works. People don’t get brownie points or anything else from your Twitter feed “page views.” He can get Klout from Retweets, but none of us are retweeting his post. He’s getting no new followers out of this and I seriously doubt the WSJ is getting new subscribers over it. OTOH, people tweeting their outrage to the WSJ over this may have some negative impact on his career. Which is what a number of people are doing. So yeah, nice concern, but …..FAIL.
VividBlueDotty
@dead existentialist: One of the reply tweets notes that at least 3 people could use him as a shield. I generally prefer a higher-minded takedown, but that one works for me.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Fort Geek:
Yeah, he looks like he could absorb a tank round without a problem.
brantl
@Spatula:
Let’s just blow it out your ass.
Ronzoni Rigatoni
@Wapiti: Wapiti? LOL
Consider the Wapiti;
Hippity Hoppity.
—-Ogden Nash
Who sez Americans can’t write poetry?
TR
@Spatula:
That is the saddest cry for attention I’ve ever seen.
Do you cut yourself too, princess? Jesus.
AxelFoley
@Spatula:
“You people”? What do you mean “you people”?
Odie Hugh Manatee
@TR:
Yeah, I’m sure that Timmeh’s never been banned here. He just likes coming back under different nyms for the variety.
That and everyone knows that he’s an unabashed Sandusky apologist. And goat fucker also.
Too.
Bruce S
“The three heroes who ate bullets saving their loved ones, not some fat scumbag neocon filth sitting comfortably with a glass of bourbon while wanking on twitter from the comfort of a wingback chair in Manhattan”
Please don’t sully the good reputation of bourbon by associating it with a piece of fat scumbag neocon crap.
LAC
@The Dangerman: @The Dangerman: Hey, welcome to this episode of “who the fuck cares, Rex Reed?” Does this make him profound all of sudden?
rb
@JGabriel: ROFL. Winner.
Bighorn Ordovican Dolomite
I just want to add my voice to the choir telling James Taranto to fuck off–hard.
someofparts
He’s just jealous because no girlfriend would be big enough to shield a target as large as him.
The Moar You Know
@dead existentialist: I know who you are.
maya
@Mark S.: You forget who owns the WSJ. He’ll get a raise.
Patricia Kayden
Yet, most White women vote Repub. I don’t get it.
Has Taranto been asked to semi/half apologize yet for this outrageous statement?
JenJen
@El Cid: Hold up… there are Rand scholars??
anonymous
Well, gun fetishists, I just hope your ‘right’ to your own personal arsenal, totally un-regulated by any militia, was worth the sacrifice of all those innocent people who died in Aurora.
MoonBatman
To true feminists like me and Amanda Marcotte, it is proof that the patriarchy still oppresses womyn with chivalry.
Brian R.
@JenJen:
Scholars who’ve written about Rand. The Burns bio is pretty good.
Shinobi
I decided my original comment was too mean. There is nothing I can say within the bounds of civility that accurately expresses my distaste for this mockery of a human being.
Betty Cracker
What an odious prick.
Cassidy
@Spatula: Are you aware of all internet traditions as well?
Haydnseek
@Ash Can: Well, it was happy hour, so he had to fill in for Peggy Noonan.
Dorothy
@DougJ: @NotMax:
I think he’s confusing Rand with…what’s his name…some Jewish guy….Oh, yeah: Jesus. You know, all that “who is my neighbor” and “love your enemies, because anyone can love their friends and family” stuff that has been sucessfully expunged from right-wing Chrisitanity.
Also Aristotle’s Nicomachian Ethics has a similar theme, that most of the “altruism” in the world was disguised self-interest, like the person is saving someone he cares about or giving to the poor because it makes him feel good. (The particular quote he’s thinking sure sounds like Aristotle.)
Didn’t Rand basically said that “sacrifice” (and altruism) is just stupidity and a social imposition used to enslave the really great people? I don’t recall Rand ever admitting that you should love someone, much less subordinate your own self-interest to them.
Joel
He looks like an even douchier Chris Hitchens in that picture.
Joel
He looks like an even douchier Chris Hitchens in that picture.
Howlin Wolfe
What. A. Puke.
Howlin Wolfe
@El Cid: You’re so right, El Cid. For all this colossal dick knows, the boyfriends could have been voters for the wrong candidates, according to the sociopath’s lights.
r€nato
Speaking of those cowards in Aurora who panicked instead of heroically fighting back against the shooter, meet the biggest coward of all, Joe Zamudio.
At the Giffords shooting last year in Tucson, he was actually *armed*… and refused to exercise his 2nd Amendment right to shoot back!
This wimp ought to be executed for treason!
El Cid
@JenJen:
I wanted to make a joke about it, but it was just too sad sounding.
Spatula
@dead existentialist:
Well, that’s true. You weirdos love the drama.
I’ve wondered if that’s part of why Cole always restores my posting privileges; page hits are valuable. Maybe he should pay me.
Spatula
@VividBlueDotty:
Sorry, but you’re wrong and uninformed.
Spatula
@AxelFoley:
Ummm…you people.
Spatula
@AxelFoley:
Ummm…you people.
Christ.
donquijoterocket
@lol chikinburd:
Better yet can you imagine any human Taranto would die to save.
El Cid
I just wanted to make another post in order to have a better chance at having the last word.
Spatula
Word.
AxelFoley
@Spatula:
Ok. Well, fuck you then, asshole.
Brachiator
@PZ:
Yes, a sweet moment of decency that offsets the enormity of Taranto’s vile remark.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@Spatula:
That’s very clever.
You should tweet it.
blahman
Get this tub of sheeet fired!
Alan Murray
Executive Editor, WSJ Digital Network
[email protected]
Raju Narisetti
Managing Editor, WSJ Digital Network
[email protected]
Almar Latour
Editor in Chief, Asia
[email protected]
Tracy Corrigan
Editor in Chief, Europe
[email protected]
Aaron Baker
For a brutal, but thoroughly merited, demolition of James Taranto (regarding an obnoxious & patronizing editorial he wrote on Cindy Sheehan), please see this comment by Brian Leiter:
http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2005/08/the_rights_resp_1.html
Catsy
@Spatula: Because I am a kind and helpful Catsy who cares for his fellow commenters, allow me to offer you my services as a linguist and provide a Trollish-English translation for those of you who may not have picked up on the subtext here.
Translation: “I have no intent of ceasing my efforts to troll this blog.”
Translation: “I am a better-than-average troll who has honed the fine art of dancing right up to the line on this particular blog.”
Translation: “My behavior would get me sitelocked pretty much anywhere else, but take advantage of the fact that the blog-owner here has an unusually high bar for what constitutes misbehavior in order to troll as hard as I can get away with.”
Translation: “Whenever I do end up crossing the line and making one of my pseudonyms radioactive, I just change my name and start the cycle of trolling over again.”
Translation: “Just in case there were any doubt, let me make it absolutely clear that I am a troll whose sole purpose in posting here is to disruptively troll the comments for lulz.”
Translation: “Allow me to make a comment that ostensibly demonstrates a complete inability to use Google or follow one of the many links to the pie filter that have been provided over the years, but which is in actuality nothing but an empty taunt intended to provoke a reaction from anyone who would by definition not be using the pie filter if they could read it.”
Feel free to link to this helpful translation if in the future anyone is ever tempted to make the mistake of giving this troll the benefit of the doubt by assuming that they might have some good faith interest in actually participating here.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’d pay good money to kick this wanker’s ass.
El Cid
I just thought I would let everyone know that I in my awesome majesty remain undefeated and unbarred.
Gravenstone
Given the topic, I wasn’t surprised to find a 200+ post thread. However, learning that ca. 20% of the posts were just inbred timmeh wanking off does somewhat sully the value of the joint.
Spatula
@Catsy:
Hey Catsy Pants:
You sure do like to pay attention to me.
If you weren’t such a moron I would feel honored.
So…why DON’T you Pie Filter me then? I hear it’s very easy to do.
Do you enjoy something about my presence here and your reaction to it? Tell us.
Spatula
@El Cid:
If there’s one thing the Cole doesn’t do, it is act with haste on much of anything. Time will tell.
Why? You nervous?
Spatula
Hey, just for a moment all mutual loathing aside, what you guys do is this:
I show up and comment in a thread.
Regardless of what I’ve said or the thread topic, you guys go insane and spend the next half of the comments insulting and deriding me.
You feed and perpetuate the drama, then bitch about the drama.
Then you complain to Cole that I disrupted the thread.
YOU folks disrupt the thread. Your childish inability to ignore my allegedly useless, childish, contemptible comments is your own responsibility and you refuse to deal.
Thoughts?
LAC
@Spatula: Seriously, do you need funding for an escort service or a blow up doll? Because I am worried that the best part of your day is spent on what is the internet equivalent of flashing your junk at strangers and getting a slap on the wrist by authorities. You need an outlet. Just a thought…
Spatula
@LAC:
I am touched that you worry.
tsam
@lol chikinburd: @lol chikinburd:
I can imagine him using an 8 year old kid as a human shield. Is that what you’re asking?
VikingRN
Robert A Heinlein consistently commented about greater love than to lay your life down for another human being in the face of danger. “This is how a man lives.”
VikingRN
@VikingRN: Spelled out in simple Anglo-Saxon words “Patriotism” reads “Women and children first!”http://www.jerrypournelle.com/archives2/archives2mail/mail212.html#RAH
VikingRN
In my home town sixty years ago when I was a child, my mother and father used to take me and my brothers and sisters out to Swope Park on Sunday afternoons. It was a wonderful place for kids, with picnic grounds and lakes and a zoo. But a railroad line cut straight through it.
One Sunday afternoon a young married couple were crossing these tracks. She apparently did not watch her step, for she managed to catch her foot in the frog of a switch to a siding and could not pull it free. Her husband stopped to help her.
But try as they might they could not get her foot loose. While they were working at it, a tramp showed up, walking the ties. He joined the husband in trying to pull the young woman’s foot loose. No luck —
Out of sight around the curve a train whistled. Perhaps there would have been time to run and flag it down, perhaps not. In any case both men went right ahead trying to pull her free. . .and the train hit them.
The wife was killed, the husband was mortally injured and did later, the tramp was killed — and testimony showed that neither man made the slightest effort to save himself.
The husband’s behavior was heroic. . .but what we expect of a husband toward his wife: his right, and his proud privilege, to die for his woman. But what of this nameless stranger? Up to the very last second he could have jumped clear. He did not. He was still trying to save this woman he had never seen before in his life, right up to the very instant the train killed him. And that’s all we’ll ever know about him.
THIS is how a man dies.
This is how a MAN. . .lives!
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/archives2/archives2mail/mail212.html#RAH
Stuff it taranto
Steeplejack
@VikingRN:
What a steaming load. Bad Heinlein is really bad.
Howlin Wolfe
@El Cid: This. It’s not up to James Fucking Tantantrum to decide whether someone is “worthy” a loved one’s sacrifice, and tweeting that in the immediate aftermath isn’t somehow thought-provoking and deep because it’s like the ending of a fucking movie. There’s something to be said about the fact that 1) Saving Private Ryan is a goddam movie, and 2) it’s 60 year later, so the philosophizing has some distance, temporally and spatially, and 3) the movie part doesn’t have any overtones of rank sexism the Bloatantro’s idiotic tweet twat has.
VividBlueDotty
@Spatula: You are right and I am wrong because you say so. Everyone who uses Twitter knows what is wrong with your assumption that our discussion of this material is putting money in Taranto’s pocket. I’m just the only one who was foolish enough to try to explain it to you. Nevertheless, I concede this round to you; not just the battle, but the war as I see no need to engage you ever again. On the other hand, I still have all of my various Twitter accounts and social media clients to console me. And if Taranto gets fired, I expect an apology.
Spatula
@VividBlueDotty:
YAY
Cameron
James Taranto? Glenn Beck? Rush Limbaugh?