An amusing little public exchange.

[A_Non_Ymous]

http://www.counterpunch.org/oreilly09232005.html

This entertaining little public exchange gave me a small laugh, in a gallow's humor sort of way.

LSN

[lemec]

That was pretty good. That illustrates how people can be unfair in their debates. I'll listen to a person that does not share my views and have a reasonable discussion. It sems like more people today, take a side and suddenly close their minds to everything else and all they do is repeat what they say and say it louder or scream instead of finding a new point to make. That does not feed progress. That is why everything is so divided. Nobody is really listening to their oppising sides. One side of an issue there will people will who create a standard list of ideas or complaints and they repeat them like it is a religion,then they get everyone in their group to repeat the same thing. Then the opposing group comes along with all their yes men and they have their own list of terms,phrases and complaints to shout back at the other side. The is no compromise, no real debate. It almost comes down to violence sometimes. If everyone would just sit down rationaly and really think about each issue and show emphathy toward their opponents maybe they would resolve some important issues. Also, they just look at thing from a Idealic aspect rather than a Pragmatic aspect so we never know what is going on at various levels of the problem at hand. People like that might as well not even talk to each other, well on tv they can try to get their point off to someone, but even then they seem to have a top ten list of things to say, it's like ok, you say number 5 on your list, then I will reply with my number 7 on my list, then you say your 6th choice, then I say my 10th, then when that doesn't work, I will turn around and just repeat my number 7 from my list a few hundred times while my opponet just shouts at me while repeating the same thing he was saying in the last thirty minutes. It is just crazy. I hope this makes sense. hahah don't take this too seriously.


Anyway, I have a suggestion, we could get a Devil's Advocate thread going and have someone pick a topic and no matter what it is I or someone else will could take the opposite view and come up with some logical reasons why someone would be against the topic. A little pro and con debate, that might flush out some new ideas. :)


Thanks for posting that link, I watch O'reilly sometimes, and I can just imagine him acting that way, he get's hot headed sometimes. To be fair, some of the guests get carried away as well.

[A_Non_Ymous]

O'Reilly is an interesting character. I've caught his act a number of times, but I grew weary of it more often than not. He certainly uses a lot of tricks on the air.

Among them are shutting off the microphone of his opponent if he doesn't want them to be heard. Shouting and blustering to intimidate his opponent are his standard trucs du mأ©tier. He also likes to cite "facts" and "statistics" that are frankly nothing of the sort. His selective and artistic memory functions appear awfully good.

Such maneuvers are not precisely according to the rules of polite debate. It's more than a little dishonest. It turns the so-called "debate" into something else entirely. A little frustated anger from his "guests" is hardly a surprise or uncalled for. He ought to be ashamed, but I suspect he's too pleased with himself.

O'Reilly, within the bounds of his idealogical biases, is fairly intelligent. However, he's not interested in logical debate. On the evidence, his primary interest appears to be grandstanding. Whether he has been bought and paid for, or whether he does this because he's in the grip of his personal demons, I have no idea. I don't really need to know.

I have very little respect for the man. More than people like, say, Coulter or Hannity or some other boob-commentator, because occasionally, O'Reilly will, in fact, think a bit outside the walls of his box. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen all that often.

LSN

[lemec]

Very true, I did not know he was that rotten though. That is pretty sneaky. Corruption is so bad, I feel we are all subject to mind control or at least victims of evil propaganda.

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Donahue: ...

The number of dead American troops in Iraq has doubled and you know what else doubled, Billy? The price of Halliburton stock.

...

Reading the transcript reminded me of that bit, in the original 1933 movie, where King Kong squares off to the Tyrannosaurus. O'Reilly being the T Rex.

[Mikey_C]

Saddam - Saddam was a bastard, but he was our bastard!!

Now funny I've heard the self-same phrase used in the trade unions about New Labour!

[mordenkainen]

Anyway, I have a suggestion, we could get a Devil's Advocate thread going and have someone pick a topic and no matter what it is I or someone else will could take the opposite view and come up with some logical reasons why someone would be against the topic.

I debate against my own side all the time - much more than against anyone else.


Doesn't do much to make me more popular...

[A_Non_Ymous]

Some of you may have gathered I like to take occasional potshots at the Senate Majority Leader, Dr. Bill Frist. He represents the home state of my wife, and she dislikes him possibly more than I do.

This recent story provides ample opportunity to pile on, as it were.

LSN

http://www.counterpunch.org/leopold09272005.html

[Doc]

Dr. Bill Frist, the same physician who can magically diagnose people from thousands of miles away, provided they represent political opportunity. Why would you dislike him?

[A_Non_Ymous]

I don't know. I have an irrational prejudice against slimeballs, I suppose.

LSN

[PsychicWarVeteran]

I have a suggestion, we could get a Devil's Advocate thread going and have someone pick a topic and no matter what it is I or someone else will could take the opposite view and come up with some logical reasons why someone would be against the topic. A little pro and con debate, that might flush out some new ideas.

We used to have a few posters here who didn't need to "play" devil's advocate because they truly believed in the other side. Sadly, their arguments could not withstand the scrutiny and they all picked up their marbles and went home. Nowadays, they pop in once in a while to stir a pot or two then leave again for long periods, conveniently avoiding opposing opinions.

But hey, if you want to defend Bill Frist or someone like him just for grins give it a shot. My guess is you'll have a tough time coming up with a logical argument to support Frist. Or DeLay.

Or any of these slimeballs, far that matter.

Some of you may have gathered I like to take occasional potshots at the Senate Majority Leader, Dr. Bill Frist. He represents the home state of my wife, and she dislikes him possibly more than I do.

This recent story provides ample opportunity to pile on, as it were.

I'll just add this link to the pot: http://www.beyonddelay.org/beyond_de...ill_frist_r_tn

The fact that the $1.44 million loan was disclosed only by one authorized committee, Bill Frist for Senate, Inc., and not also by Frist 200, Inc., even though the two committees jointly took out the loan, suggests that Frist 2000, Inc. committed a knowing and willful violation of the reporting requirements of 2 U.S.C. آ§434(b). Moreover, Sen. Frist’s financial activities are of concern not only because they indicate illegality, but also because they suggest that the Senator went to great lengths to protect his own fortune, while squandering that of his contributors.

[A_Non_Ymous]

Here's an article with a lot of topical humor.

http://www.counterpunch.org/tripp10012005.html

Like the best of such blagues, it hurts a little, too.

LSN

[A_Non_Ymous]

There was an amusing headline that I saw earlier today:

"Bush considers military in bird flu fight"

Remembering the so-called "war on terrorism," will he call out the military and the national guard to take the fight to the homeland of those (birds) who are harboring this dread disease . . . ?

:lol:

The media appears to have become infected with Bush's penchant for malapropism.

LSN