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A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
About Me :
I'm a grownup nerd living in the Boston burbs. I write computer programs for a living and plays for fun.
I'm married to a wonderful woman, and we share a nice little house with our daughter and our cats.
I'm a humanist, a technologist, an artist, and an idealist. I believe in reason, freedom, love, equality,
and democracy. (Did I mention that I'm
an idealist? I did, OK.)
I'm also a pragmatist and an empiricist. I reject ideology and dogma, especially when they conflict with
practical facts (i.e., pretty much always). I particularly hate willful ignorance, which tends to go hand-in-hand
with ideology and dogma.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Unpatriotic
An open letter to various wingnuts I have been hearing from lately.
I am so sick of people telling me that because I don't support the war in Iraq, I am unpatriotic. What this really tells me is that the people who want a war in Iraq are incapable of defending it on its merits, i.e. they can't build a good rational case for why we need to be there. I am ready, willing, and able to partake in a real debate, but the supporters of the war, knowing they can't win a fair debate, resort to calling me Unpatriotic.
I love our country enough to not want our blood and treasure squandered in useless wars which don't enhance our security.
I love our freedom and security enough that I want our leaders to be accountable to us and to deal with real security threats. How about North Korea? How about Saudi Arabia?
I support our troops enough that I don't want their lives wasted solely for the political benefit of one man and his party.
I respect our servicemen and -women, who sacrifice to go where they're told and do the job they're ordered to do. That doesn't mean I have to believe that they weren't sent there on the basis of lies and deception.
Our founding fathers weren't just soldiers, they were citizens, and they believed in fair, free, honest, and open debate. They believed that real
debate was the cornerstone of democracy. I'm ready to pick up that mantle. Are you? Or do you just want to call me unpatriotic?
An open letter to various wingnuts I have been hearing from lately.
I am so sick of people telling me that because I don't support the war in Iraq, I am unpatriotic. What this really tells me is that the people who want a war in Iraq are incapable of defending it on its merits, i.e. they can't build a good rational case for why we need to be there. I am ready, willing, and able to partake in a real debate, but the supporters of the war, knowing they can't win a fair debate, resort to calling me Unpatriotic.
I love our country enough to not want our blood and treasure squandered in useless wars which don't enhance our security.
I love our freedom and security enough that I want our leaders to be accountable to us and to deal with real security threats. How about North Korea? How about Saudi Arabia?
I support our troops enough that I don't want their lives wasted solely for the political benefit of one man and his party.
I respect our servicemen and -women, who sacrifice to go where they're told and do the job they're ordered to do. That doesn't mean I have to believe that they weren't sent there on the basis of lies and deception.
Our founding fathers weren't just soldiers, they were citizens, and they believed in fair, free, honest, and open debate. They believed that real
debate was the cornerstone of democracy. I'm ready to pick up that mantle. Are you? Or do you just want to call me unpatriotic?