It becomes an exercise in futility. (Like talking to VB)
Fact is - some will always believe the contrary.
In the meantime - unless things change or serious evidence is brought to light - OBL is dead and Obama had the guts to call for them to go in and get 'em. (I didn't think he had it in him)
Until this, the only thing the guy had done that was good was the CARD act and letting people visit their loved ones in the hospital even if they were gay.
See, you and I can agree on what we can agree on and disagree on other points. I think the President has done quite a bit that's good -- commendable, even. (You didn't mention health care reform in your post, but I have to tell you that Joe Biden and I agree: what the Administration accomplished is a "big fucking deal".) The CARD Act, removing DADT, the
Lilly Ledbetter Act, averting the almost certain meltdown of the financial services industry were all --
in my opinion -- good things.
But, I quoted your post to call out the slight on
VinylBoy. I don't think that's fair and I'll tell you why: he and I have disagreed on things in the past, but he has always backed up why he feels or thinks a particular way. None of us can equate someone's defense of their talking points by citing references, quotes, and outlining their logic with someone stonewalling and refusing to debate. The former is expected; the latter is "futility".
Case in point in this Thread:
balsary has never once backed up any of his arguments or even attempted to find one publicly quotable source to prove there is someone besides
balsary who thinks a particular way. Rather, he leaves us to infer what his interest is in seeing bloodied photos of OBL's corpse. When I pointed that out, he claims that isn't something he's going to debate and withdraws from the argument. That is "futility".
Maxcok twice pointed out a list of arguments against releasing photos and twice cited articles relevant to the points at hand to
balsary. In both instances,
balsary ignored the posts and carried on. Either
balsary read what
maxcok posted and chose to ignore it or he didn't bother to read it at all and just continued along with his sole argument (I'm paraphrasing here): that
he felt more evidence should be produced to satisfy
his interests. He did claim they were also the interests of many Americans, but how he arrived at that is also unknown.
It's reminds me of trying to debate how many cookies constituted dessert years ago with my then 4-year old daughter. Reasoning was not an option and would not work. My opposition was only interested in getting more cookies and would only fold her arms, pout, and then resort to crying when she didn't get her way. It wasn't an isolated incident and it pretty much became a recognizable
modus operandi until the day when her mother and I agreed: there is no debating about cookies with this one.
It is futile. Forget it. Similarly,
balsary has become -- through repeated posts -- the same. Now, we do know
balsary doesn't like being equated with a child, but if the shoe fits...
VinylBoy is not guilty of that type of approach and while you may find persuading him to see your viewpoint difficult, it is not impossible. It is far from "futile" unless your own view or the view you're supporting is not solidly grounded in fact or reason or supported by a wide audience of respected voices.
In your defense,
conntom, I suspect your comment wasn't really intended to indict
VinylBoy as much as it was an attempt to try and make light of your previous back and forth with him. I think you were hoping to garner a quick snicker from those of us who do take the time to read and consider each post. Not every post is successful at communicating our actual intentions and, I suspect, yours was an example of that.