Talk Politics

Comment

Comment by STEVE B on August 29, 2012 at 10:48pm

Yeah, I was hoping it was plain old lawn mowing beer.

I'm gonna call Jack Flash     J. Half Sack.

And you know those bags of money would be GONE.

Comment by JDad on August 29, 2012 at 10:20pm

It's a good thing it was cheap beer. . . .I HATE to express expensive beer through my nose, although (honestly) it does smell better.

Comment by STEVE B on August 29, 2012 at 10:02pm

Speaking of anal freaks: Come on, Jack. I made beer come out Slide's nose. Throw me a bone.

 

Comment by JDad on August 29, 2012 at 6:27pm

No horses were harmed during the previous post. . . .

Comment by JDad on August 29, 2012 at 6:23pm

Mike’s comment about Ms Barkin’s attempt at humor while “tweeting” about the Republican convention and a hurricane made me think a little about the whole business of “tweeting.” 

To begin, I don’t “tweet” and I don’t read first-hand “tweets” by anyone, so I’m thinking about this without knowing much about it as a technological medium for “communication.” 

What seems obvious from the Limbaugh/Barkin case is that “tweeting” allows almost no room for context; what is “tweeted” is all the reader has to work with.  That can mean a couple of things:  a “tweet” is direct, pithy, gets right to the point, and that’s it.  A “tweet” by its very nature is more or less context free—its character restriction doesn’t leave a lot of room for establishing context or, for that matter, deep meaning.  It’s just a “tweet.”  Maybe it’s not supposed to have much meaning (which raises the question, “Why bother?”, but that’s another horse to flog).   

If this is indeed the case, Mike’s point that Ms Barkin’s “tweet” was likely just “joking” isn’t supported, out of necessity, by any corresponding context, because there isn’t any context at all; I take the “tweet” to mean what it says because there’s nothing in it that leads me to believe she was being sarcastic or ironic or facetious.  It seems to be a straight-forward statement. 

Limbaugh’s statement has at least some additional context that leaves some room for interpretation or for discerning something other than what he literally said.  And you don’t have to be a Rush Limbaugh fan to know that much of what comes out of his mouth is tinged with what might generously be called “humor,” or his attempt at ironic humor or sarcasm.  Maybe his regular listeners “get” this kind of veiled humor, which can be further communicated by voice inflection, cadence of speech, etc.; on paper, as in a transcript, there’s a little less of that even if one does get more context to draw upon, but it’s still possible to make some inferences because of the additional context.

I guess I’m making the point that it is hard to assess the two statements by the same standard because the two media are different.  Maybe it’s a case of apples and aardvarks or, if you prefer, oranges and orangutans.

Or, maybe I’m willing to give Limbaugh the benefit of the doubt and not willing to do that for Ms Barkin; I’ll admit to a lack of objectivity about this sort of thing.

Maybe I’m spending too damned much time thinking about something that hardly matters; I should be watching the U.S. Open instead.  So, it’s back to the tennis for me.  Hooyah, y’all. . . . 

Comment by JDad on August 29, 2012 at 1:38pm

Democrat?  You'll like this. . .

Republican?  You'll like this. . . .

Libertarian?  You'll like this. . .

Other?  You'll like this. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aax-38C9LnY

Anarcho-syndicalist?  You'll like this. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOTKA0aGI0

Comment by Mike Stark on August 29, 2012 at 12:04pm

that's a small boat, Joseph! I've been through an old diesel boat in Baltimore and my sister and I toured New Hampshire with my nephew. It is way roomier, but still the enlisted have 18 bunks crammed into 200 to 300 square feet. They don't hot bunk anymore, although until you get your dolphins you sleep in the torpedo room. Could be worse, on boomers you sleep among the nuclear tipped missiles, which would creep me out!

And of course Limbaugh was joking at some level - but so was Barkin. The point is to assess the two by the same standard.

Comment by Jack Flash on August 29, 2012 at 10:29am

Thanks for the context Joseph... Always good to include context. And in the interest of fairness, the anagram doesn't work. At best (worst) you could get anal frekn. Jis sayin.

I mentioned the soon to be released Navy SEAL book in the Book Nook group written by one from the Team who conducted the raid on Osama Bin Laden. The book is called No Easy Day and it should be out next week. What's interesting is that it contradicts the Administration's (Hollywood) account of what happened that night.

Comment by JDad on August 29, 2012 at 10:04am

And here's a link so that you can take a virtual tour of the Aussie sub, the Onslow:  http://www.anmm.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1370

Hooyah, y'all. . . .

Comment by JDad on August 29, 2012 at 9:58am

To follow up briefly:  Was Limbaugh's statement, facetious or not, in poor taste, thoughtless, even stupid?  Yes, perhaps all three.  Was it a serious statement?  Perhaps not. . . .

On a less political note Mike, Hooyah out to your nephew on the New Hampshire; can't imagine being in a submarine for more than a few minutes.  Some years ago we (my wife and stepson, now USN) spent about an hour touring a decommissioned Australian diesel sub in Sydney harbor (part of their maritime museum) and even though it was safely tied to the dock, it was a little weird being inside that thing.  Too creepy for me--it takes a special breed, no question about it. . . .

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• …
• 113
• Next ›
• Page