Balby asks an intriguing question: "Who Are The Bloggers You Trust?" I suppose that depends on how you define "trust," as in, being fairly confident that said blogger isn't going to bullshit you by selectively and dishonestly altering text and misrepresenting shit. You know ... like this pathologically dishonest douchebag (following snippet reproduced verbatim):
I'm just a little surprised...
One of the locals didn't try to cut his head off...
A US marine in Iraq has been removed from duty following claims that he handed out coins inscribed with biblical verses in Arabic.
A report from McClatchy News Service carried a photo of a silver coin it said had been distributed in the Iraqi city.
Written in Arabic script on one side of the coin were the words: "Where will you spend eternity?"
On the other side, the news service said there was a Bible verse referring to Jesus: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."
Yeah... fighting words.
Now, you have to admit, if you look at it that way, it sure seems like a bit of an over-reaction, doesn't it? But wait!! What ho!! If we follow that link to the actual BBC article, what do we find? Heh heh (Neo's carefully excised text re-inserted and emphasized):
A US marine in Iraq has been removed from duty following claims that he handed out coins inscribed with biblical verses in Arabic.
Residents in Falluja had complained that the coins were being distributed at a checkpoint, the US military said.
US troops are forbidden from proselytising any religion.
The case comes a week after US President George Bush made a personal apology over a US soldier in Iraq shot holes into a version of the Koran.
In the Falluja incident, a military statement said a service member had been discharged "amid concerns from Falluja's citizens regarding reports of inappropriate conduct".
A report from McClatchy News Service carried a photo of a silver coin it said had been distributed in the Iraqi city...
Yeahhhhhh, that kind of puts a whole 'nother spin on it, doesn't it? Especially this part:
US troops are forbidden from proselytising any religion.
And this additional juicy bit further down:
The military said coalition forces were prohibited from "proselytising any religion, faith or practices, and our troops are trained on those guidelines before they deploy".
Of course, you'd never have realized that said soldier was blatantly disobeying a direct order if you'd worked just off of Neo's piece-of-crap post, which conveniently didn't identify that it omitted a fairly relevant block of explanatory text with those neat-o things known as "ellipses." You know -- the things you're supposed to use to let your reader know that something's been hacked out that might change the entire complexion of the story.
And coming full circle, I'm guessing this might, in some way, address Balby's question of trust -- the idea that, when you read someone's blog post, regardless of whether you agree with it or not, you can still feel confident that you haven't been suckered and misled by a chronic liar and douche like Neo.
Is that about what you were getting at, Balby?
AFTERSNARK: It's particularly amusing to see the delightful moral selectivity of hypocritical, right-wing gasbags like Neo who normally have nothing but contempt for military personnel who violate their orders. Of course, that was different.
It always is, isn't it?
2 comments:
Interesting discussion until SUZANNE stunk it up with her list.
She tainted the decent blogs she listed.
Oh come on, Ti-Guy, you know the socons on SUZANNE's list can always be trusted...
...to post the most unspeakably dishonest, disingenuous, idiotic tripe imaginable.
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