US Military Dead during Iraq War 1035

CBFalconer

Screw you...

I said plenty of times that I'm fully capable of writing short postings (I've posted many a SINGLE WORD reply here and there)...but that the length of my posting is related to the CONTENT...if a topic requires a lot to be said, then I say a lot...if it requires little, then I say little...if it requires nothing, I say nothing (yes, I'm delibrately leaving some of those other replies elsewhere go: To respond would only generate another round of "flame war", so it's better that I simply let it go...as, contrary to popular myth, this is entirely counter to what I Hope to achieve in having a reasonable conversation about things...oh, I'm human so I'll take a joke, I'll take a digression, a small "fight" (as they are sometimes amusing in the right context)...I'll even enjoy it...but this is not the "aim": Just simple, basic "debate and discussion" of the boring old traditional kind, sorry to disappoint)...

But the problem is that you (that's the "y'all" you - and will be for the rest of the post - not solely Mr.Falconer alone: Indeed, less Mr.Falconer than many others (such as bah), to be entirely fair to him) don't know me...you don't know what my motivations actually are...you have not a fracking clue what you're talking about, basically, when make a personal attack (not that this ever stopped anyone in the history of USENET from the "ad hominem")...

You are responding to "black propoganda", not to me or what I've written...

In your case, I dared to challenge you elsewhere...and this is part of simple and quite understandable "revenge" on that earlier point...to which I will not begrudge you your "pound of flesh"...again, take that "revenge" because that's a better result than some pointless "battle" about nothing that goes on forever and a day to no good purpose...

But, anyway, my policy here is simple: I write as much as is required by the point(s) being made...this is sometimes long...this is sometimes short...CONTENT alone determines this...

I sympathise and give my condolences for the increasingly inability to function mentally beyond "soundbites" and 30 second commercials that society has bred into everyone...the "attention span of gnats", I think is the common phrasiology...

It's a cruel libel, in fact: I am "MTV generation" but it's NOT a generational thing, really, it's a "how controlled do you let your brain become by commercials and magazine TV shows and other things that buttume you have a 10 second attention span and, thus, never show you anything that requires an attention span more than 10 seconds"...and, well, the brain requires "exercise" and "practice", just like the other parts of the body...watch too much of this poo for too long and your brain increasingly forgets how functioning beyond a series of short "10 second windows" actually works...

But there are clear objective facts involved: "How long is a piece of string?"...as long as it needs to be to do the task required of it...if the string must wrap a Christmas present, then its length must be sufficient to go all the way around, in order to do that task required of it...if it isn't, then the string cannot be used to wrap the Christmas present...so, the length of a piece of string is, at a minimum, the length required by the task required of it...

That is the true objective answer here...a post must be as long as it is required to be to make the point or points that it is being posted for...this is what I hold to...it's a fully logical and reasoned rationale...it's an objectively measurable criterium...too much "excess" is, indeed, not beneficial...but it MUST reach that "minimum standard" - that sufficient length to go right around the Christmas present - in order to satisfy the task required of it...

I realise that I'm a major offence to many because, wow, someone who actually has something to say that isn't a repeated, parroted "soundbite" from Fox News or a Nazi newsletter...oh, indeed, how "dangerous" to their ego, to their comfortable status quo, to their "black and white" universe that makes me...I realise this offends but, truth is, people of such mentality NEED to be offended:

"Words ought to be a little wild for they are the buttaults of thought on the unthinking." John Maynard Keynes

A little too much might be a slight "annoyance"...but too little FAILS to do the task...too little often makes the response pointless...too little is rude and abrupt...too little is simply the defence of egotist who wants to be the centre of attention but doesn't have any actually useful to say (so, simply, keep everyone else from saying anything useful and then the fact that they lack all original thought, have nothing productive to say, do not earn their "centre of attention" status for their contributions and so forth, doesn't look so bad on them)...

Between "annoyance" and "a pointless failure to say anything of any worth whatsoever", I'll choose to be "slightly annoying" each and every time...sorry about that...

Note: When criticised, I've provided a LGOICAL CASE as to why what I do makes sense...no-one in response has provided a single OBJECTIVE reason for this "buttume everyone is an idiot with no attention span" policy they advocate...I do not buttume you are idiots and I have no reason to think you cannot read...instead of questioning me, start REALLY thinking about questioning why you have all learnt to adhere to a "treat everyone like an idiot" mentality?

People complain that youngsters have "attention spans of gnats"...well, when they are fed on nothing but "soundbites", told that writing more than 10 words is a "sin" (punishable by the verbal equivalent of being stoned to rest) and made to watch nothing but 30 second commercials and those dreadful "magazine programmes" on TV, which insist on telling "what's coming up" for 10 mintues of a 30 minute show, repeating themselves ad absurdum whenever they return from "commercial messages", convinced the "idiot goldfish" watching can't even remember their own name, if not repeated every 15 seconds...

And then people complain that the standard of English is in decline (and it's not just a complaint, it is also a statistical fact)...but then, again, complain if anyone tries to read or write anything that's not a tiny, useless "string of soundbites" that "postures" very well but does not actually contain any real and meaningful information...when everyone uses increasingly abbreviated language and then abbreviate their very throughts and then abbreviate their very capacity to think for more than 10 seconds...

The brain requires EXERCISE just like any other part of the body...in this constant "neglect" of adherence to illogical and unfounded "myths" about "abruptness being next to godliness", everyone's brains really ARE seizing up from lack of use...

No-one is making the basic "connection" - the simple, logical "causality" - between telling everyone ad infinitum to "write 10 words only", "shorten everything", "do not pay attention to that which is 'too long'" until the brain really and literally - no exaggeration whatsoever - ceases to be even CAPABLE of dealing with it...

Then, with such deep irony, the next comment complains about: "no-one reads books" (well, of course not, they are all "too long" and require too much use of one's brain to get to the end), "the art of conversation is dead" (well, of course, because no-one attempts conversation, the skill of being able to engage it in simply rots from non-use), "kids have the attention spans of gnats" (well, of course, have you seen the TV that is spoon-fed to them? If you've never had to use your brain for a period longer than 10 seconds, then you really won't even have the capability of doing so...the brain is like a "muscle" and needs to be used or it WILL decay, however damn "smart" you might have been to begin with), "the standard of English is in decline" (well, of course, no-one's allowed to write more than 10 words a month...and can't read anything that would require more than 10 seconds of their time to read...with such abysmal lack of practice, how can you expect anyone to be any good at English? Heck, such increasing non-use should really be re-clbuttified as being "second language" English use), "no-one knows history anymore" (well, of course, as the events of the past don't always neatly fit onto a single sheet of A4 - at least, not without doing some serious "injustice" to the tales somewhere along the line by editing out 90% of what the whole point was in the first place - so it all seems "too big" and the "knee-jerk response" programmed into everyone is to refuse, reject and run away from anything beyond 10 words, requiring more than 10 seconds of brain power)...

"With great power comes great responsibility" Spiderman's Uncle Ben

It also works the other way around...if you don't take responsibility for keeping your brain functioning, it WILL rot and it WILL decay...if you don't read anything "too long", then you WILL lose the ability to even cope with longer texts (stop and think about your actual experiences and you already know there is some truth to that, yes?)...if you don't write anything, then, sorry, it's THAT which makes you a poor writer, NOTHING ELSE...just like playing a musical instrument, you can have every bit of "theory" that exists but you'll still be utter poo at playing the instrument unless you "practice, practice, practice"...there is no "shortcut"...no amount of "theory" can ever replace that...and we ain't just talking language or musical instruments here, it's a UNIVERSAL principle with UNIVERSAL applicability...

Stop believing the 30 second commercials...they are lying to you...there is no "magic wand diet": To get your weight down, requires EXERCISE and sensible eating of the correct, balanced things...there is no "supermodel attracting shampoo": To attract women, give women something to be attracted to...

It's all "quick fix", superficial "band aid" shallowness...a "myth" of some wonderous life at the other end of a million "shortcuts"...but all shortcuts do is STEAL away the journey...you reach the destination but with no real idea what's going on...

It is the modern "living lie" and I will NOT, NOT, NOT give it any credence or even the time of day...don't be peeed off at me for simply highlighting the degree to which they've corrupted you into an empty, meaningless "myth"...perpertuated simply because, while everyone believes it, there's a million "miracle cures" and "courses with certificates" and "yo-yo diets" for them to sell to everyone for billions upon billions...

Every "miracle" comes from a PERSON...never once did it come from a "product"...

If you want the prize, then you MUST work for it...there are no "shortcuts"...none at all...

And I would advise you stop getting peeed off at me for pointing this TRUTH out to you - I realise it's uncomfortable but truth often is - and start getting peeed off at those who've turned this world into crap, just to push some "product" that nobody truly wants and nobody ever actually needed...

"You must BE the change you want to see in the world" Gandhi

"Post office clerks put up signs saying 'position closed' And secretaries turn off typewriters and put on their coats Janitors padlock the gates For security guards to patrol And bachelors phone up their friends for a drink While the married ones turn on a chat show

And theyâll all be lonely tonight...and lonely tomorrow...

'Gentlemen time please, you know we canât serve anymore' Now the traffic lights change to stop, when thereâs nothing to go And by five oâclock everythingâs dead And every third car is a cab And ignorant people sleep in their beds Like the doped white mice in the college lab

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all The needle returns to the start of the song And we all sing along like before

And weâll all be lonely tonight...and lonely tomorrow...

Telephone exchanges click while thereâs nobody there The martians could land in the carpark and no-one would care Close-circuit cameras in department stores shoot the same video every day And the stars of these films neither die nor get end Just survive constant action replay

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all The needle returns to the start of the song And we all sing along like before

And weâll all be lonely tonight...and lonely tomorrow...

Bill hoardings advertise products that nobody needs While 'Angry from Manchester' writes to complain about All the repeats on TV And computer terminals report some gains On the values of copper and tin While American businessmen snap up Van Goghs For the price of a hospital wing

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all The needle returns to the start of the song And we all sing along like before

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all Theyâll burn down the synagogues at six oâclock And weâll all go along like before...

And weâll all be lonely tonight...and lonely tomorrow..."

"Nothing Ever Happens", Del Amitri

Beth :)