http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/03/31/iraq.main/index.html
Just saw it on the news. They blurred the bodies as they were pulled out from the cars, beaten, torched again, dragged through the street and hung.
These people are not people. As a punishment, the USA should reinstate Saddam.
Great. Just what we need. More sloppy generalizations condemning entire cultures.
Great. Just what we need. More sloppy generalizations condemning entire cultures.[/quote]
Well, the footage showed hundreds of people participating, cheering and so on. I guess they just didn’t show the thousands who tried to stop it.
It’s hard not to jump to generalizations when a group of people behaves in such a horrible manner. However, I try to remember that similar untrue generalizations have been made about all Americans, and it makes it easier to resist the urge to generalize.
The White House condemned the “horriffic attacks” by people “trying to prevent democracy from moving forward,” spokesman Scott McClellan said.
You really have to wonder how interested we are in setting up a real democracy when significant factions of the populace are “voicing their feelings” in this kind of manner.
Great. Just what we need. More sloppy generalizations condemning entire cultures.[/quote]
I’m queasy about both sides. On the one hand, I agree, you’re talking about a few hundred assholes in a country with thousands upon thousands of people. But, for the second time today, I’m reminded of my discussions with Tim about Palestinian terrorists. You have to wonder why, if those thousands and thousands of “ordinary Iraqis” are good people, they don’t put a stop to this kind of barbarity. We have riots here in the states, but other people–usually police–work to stop them. If we had no police, I’d like to think that citizen groups would do the same thing. It really just seems like that sort of disgusting display can’t take place unless the majority of the population is either supportive or at least apathetic; and even apathy is downright awful.
Fear is a factor you’re not considering, Ry. If I saw a mob of hundreds of very emotional and armed men (a large percentage of Iraqi men carry some pretty serious firepower most of the time), I’d hide or run, not stand up to them. That’s a job for the police/national guard, not private citizens.
Gee, I wonder if those soldiers were looking for WMD?
The CNN article identified them as “civilians”, but whatever.
I was referring to the five soldiers killed by the roadside bomb nearby. Should’ve been more clear.
that America, not even Anaxagoras’ irredeemably thuggish South, doesn’t have this sort of behavior. So it’s not quite the same degree of fallacious generalization.
What the fuck is wrong with these people?
Hippies want me to fell bad about the Iraqi civilians we killed. We pretty clearly didn’t kill enough, or at least not the right ones. These were innocent people.
Repeat after me: the Sunnis do not like us.
If I remember correctly (and maybe I’m mistaken) the Sunnis aren’t the majority. They were the ruling minority (like in many arab countries). Where are the other factions? Clearly they prefer to also hate the USA. Maybe Saddam wasn’t really all that bad. Or people’s memory isn’t really that great.
If I remember correctly (and maybe I’m mistaken) the Sunnis aren’t the majority. They were the ruling minority (like in many arab countries). Where are the other factions? Clearly they prefer to also hate the USA. Maybe Saddam wasn’t really all that bad. Or people’s memory isn’t really that great.[/quote]
Three major factions:
Calling the entirely population of Iraq ungrateful assholes (also done in the Weekly Standard this week) - why won’t those ingrates praise us for all we’ve done for them! - is a depressing example of an inability to actually put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Instead everyone imagines what they personally would want if you moved to Iraq, completely failing to understand the goals and motiviations of the people involved.
LA riots of 1992; public lynchings throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Wouldn’t be so sure.
It’s just the level of fallacious generalization. Just as if someone would call Sweden a nation of queers and homos after seeing pictures from a Pride parade. I don’t see anything wrong with being queer or a homo, but as generalizations go, it’s just as bad, technically.
And on the other side, Joe Dipshit has set the bar for what constitutes fallacious generalization at groups of 3 people or less, and soon you won’t even be able to say anything about an individual without saying “that particular day” immediately afterwards. Will appendages be responsible for the workings of the individual mind that controls them? Not for long!
STRAWMAN STRAWMAN STRAWMAN
I wouldn’t mind if generalisations were kept to the scientific community, where they serve a purpose and people know how to use them.
By the way, I reread my post and wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t calling you Joe Dipshit, Anders. It was worded poorly.
Following up, I agree with this analysis:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/iraqd?pid=1518
Whatever the hell we think we’re doing in the Sunni triangle, it sure isn’t working.