Morning rant

[muckefuck]

Three days of seeing the same stupid flyers on the way to work and I have got to blow off some steam. Some Congresscritter is holding an upcoming talk on "the truth about our failed Middle East policy". It's grandly titled "DARE TO SPEAK OUT!"

By all means, air your criticisms of our actions in the Middle East. It's not only your right as an American citizen, but also your duty. But, please, don't flatter yourself that doing so makes you "daring". Right now, I'm reading about Chinese dissidents, such as the Tian'anmen Square activists. Now that takes some fucking balls, telling off the Chinese Communist Party when you know they maintain a gulag system with as many as 20 million inmates. Lambasting the Republican Party? Not so much. For Chrissakes, Paul Bremer has begun publicly condemning the administration's miscalculations and misstakes in Iraq. What are his chances of 14 years' solitary confinement without chance for appeal?

Comments

Roger rants on about a rant until the point's as blunt as a cudgel -- sorry ^^;;

[aadroma.livejournal.com]

... I'm not sure that's quite what they meant, though I do see your point. From usage, it seems that one's not "daring" when they "dare", though. When the war started it would take some guts to discuss having a position that was against the war -- I know that I got a lot of flack for it with some people I work with (though in hindsight I should have expected that since I had referred to the amusement park as "Mediocre America" because of my personal negative bias on the park, and she took it as an antipatriotic slam against our country 9_9).

But even now that you have some Republican leaders going, "... wow, we kinda fucked this up" (obviously in so many words), "dare" still doesn't work. But what other word do you use? I can't think of one, but it could be because I'm half-awake, and in no way indicates the lack of a fitting verb. ^_-

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Why not just say "SPEAK OUT!"? ("GET OFF YOUR ASS AND SPEAK OUT!" probably wouldn't fly for a talk given by a professional politician.) Or why not choose an informative title instead of a blandly exhortative one?

[gopower.livejournal.com]

They no doubt think that a title that truly describes their position, like "Why we must surrender in Iraq and instead oppose Israel, the real threat to world peace" wouldn't go over well with the actual voting public.