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scout--it the situation really was as you describe it--everyone has an opinion, there is no possible dialogue--because each opinion is equally justified--then you would be in a quite different situation, both in terms of debate here and in terms of politics more generally.
the fact is that the premise of this thread is demonstrably false.
that kerry implied, at any level, that he would place american forces under the aegis of the un is simply false.
that the right press, over the subsequent days, in a desperate collective bid to reverse the damage bush caused his cause by his appalling performance, has moved to spin various details of the debate in various ways, seemingly aiming that spin at people with short memeories or who are having trouble for psycho-political reasons coping with what bush's performance might mean--this is also not open to dispute.
any equation you might try to make between the conservative press and something on "the left" is simply false--there are very different mechanisms for co-ordination of line in place on the right, which has constructed itself as a powerful, relatively unified block---nothing like this has happened on the "left" in america, such as it is. this too, is simply not open to dispute.
these problems just in the context of this thread...
at this juncture, maybe this post wanders into opinion, but then again maybe not--the only way you would be able to determine would be to actually engage the argument, not use a facile move over and over to try to make conversation pointless...
one function of the conservative cultural apparatus in recent years has been to shortcircuit debate---i think in particular of the generating of corporate-sponsored "science" to refute claims made by environmental groups, for example--realizing that you can prove anything as a function of what you include or exclude from the premises of experiments, you can fund and develop a whole body of pseudo-information whose function is simply to shut down debate......to produce your position----you have your opinion, i have mine, there is "data" for both sides that is protected from any meaningful scrutiny because it is either never cited or because you enter the debate assuming up front that your positions are not falsifiable.
but if you think that, then why waste your time at all in conversations about politics?
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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