Mmmmm, Groupthink...

The NYT letters to the editor are at it again (well, 2 of them are, at least). Check it out:

Re "Four Deaths in Falluja" (editorial, April 2):

Continuing events in Iraq appear to demonstrate what many of us suspected when the war began — that occupying a country of 25 million people with several distinct cultures is bound to become a quagmire.

Strike one! You said "quagmire!" There should be some subset of Godwin's Law that prevents people from doing things like this. On another note, uh...WHAT COUNTRY DOESN'T HAVE "DISTINCT CULTURES?" These people have seen The Matrix too many times.

Your editorial's suggestion for a United Nations-administered Iraq seems to me the best hope, too.

What a great idea. Let's solve the problem of cultural conflict by sending people from even more countries that don't even want us to succeed. There's a great way to get the job done when you only have one stone to throw.

If only there were a pill that could neutralize the administration's pride until such a transition can take place.

Yeah, it's all about pride. President Cowboy doesn't want to admit that he was wrong. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that the UN sucks at winning wars.

The psychology of the Bush administration now reminds me of that of the Johnson administration in Vietnam.

Strike two! You compared the war to Vietnam. These letters are priceless. By which I mean that I wouldn't pay one peso for them.

Because of pride alone, the United States war machine lacks a reverse gear.

Strike three! You think that we can magically make Iraq a Happy Placeâ„¢ by leaving them with all the terrorists who are attacking our soldiers. Brilliant.

Letter number two:

Your April 2 editorial suggests that the United States should not withdraw from Iraq. That prescription is as wrong today as it was during the Vietnam War.

Wow, it's a really good day for really terrible arguments. I thought the "this generation's Vietnam" thing died out after we occupied Baghdad.

For starters, we will end up withdrawing from Iraq, as we did from Vietnam, so the sooner we do it, the more American lives we will save.

Yeah, it'll save a lot of American lives if we RUN AWAY. After all, look how much terrorism was prevented after Mogadishu. Oh, and do you not care about Iraqi lives? I'm pretty sure they'd be screwed if we left now. @sshat.

Nation-building is a myth fed by hubris.

There's the "pride" thing, just like in the first letter. I'm starting to think they just have a monkey in the basement throwing crap at a dartboard to decide what "the readers" think that day.

"It landed on 'hubris' and 'Vietnam!' Get to work, my letter-writing minions!"

No country's people want America to invade their land and do "nation-building."

So, would you be willing to talk to people in every country to verify this, or are you so blinded by your "everybody hates America" ideology that you can't see the benefits of FRIGGIN' DEMOCRACY?!

Try to imagine how Americans would react if we had been invaded by Arabs bent on nation-building.

How many times do I have to stress the need for high school classes on critical thinking and logic? Let's analyze the reasoning in this argument:

"As Americans, we would not like it if Arabs tried to impose their way of life on us. Therefore, Arabs do not want us to impose our way of life on them."

Sounds good if you don't look at any facts. He forgets the important point that Iraqis were living in a DICTATORSHIP, while America has a DEMOCRACY. If we were living in a dictatorship, and Arabs had a democracy, then yeah, I would want them to come in and do some "nation-building." Human nature knows no geographical bounds.

Even if nation-building were possible, it costs too many lives.

"I agree with the result, but the process would be too mean and costly, so let's not even try."

Gotta love that determination.

Why should a single American die for the cause of better government in a country that hates us?

I don't know. When we invade a country that hates us, as opposed to a country whose FRIGGIN' MURDEROUS RAPIST DICTATOR hates us, I'll try to look into that.

I thought we learned our lesson in Vietnam. I guess I was wrong.

No, the lessons from Vietnam are:

- If you go to war, take it seriously, and
-Don't just leave once you've started making progress, because a bunch of civilians are going to get slaughtered.

Oh, but they're not Americans, so we don't have to be concerned. After all, their "distinct culture" tells them to hate us, right, Letter Number One?

Morons.

[NOTE: CD would like to apologize for the disorganized and generally strange nature of this fisking. He has had a very long week, and his brain is not working properly. The fact that he is writing in the 3rd person should be proof of this. Thank you.]

Posted by CD on April 3, 2004 01:22 AM
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