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 Off-Topic / Debate / 19671
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Subject: 
Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Fri, 21 Mar 2003 20:47:01 GMT
Viewed: 
623 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal writes:

Ever play "King of the Hill" with a *really* big guy (an adult)?  The adult
*stays* king and all of the little guys have fun trying to topple him. He
may feign that he is almost fallen, but that, too, is part of the game.
The end result is that he is there to ensure that the kids have a good
time.  The adult is in full control of the game.  *That* is the best way to
play it.

For the adult, perhaps.  But in that case, the adult is behaving like a
jackass.

Really?  In what way?

Oh, let me count the ways:

1.  The adult can obviously overpower the children, so any overpowering
action taken by the adult must be greatly tempered by thoughtful restraint
2.  If the adult has any kind of maturity, he wouldn't simply squash and
exploit the children, all the while laughing from atop his mountain
3.  The adult, in his hubris, can certainly be undone by a coordinated
effort of children, especially if those children are more patient and
thoughtful than the adult
4.  The adult has no authority to impose his will over the children, even
though he's king of the mountain.  Might does not make right
5.  The adult is just a barely-grown-up child himself, and he should
remember this at all times
6.  Even if the adult is stronger than the children in the aggregate, he
still has no right to force his culture, economics, religion, values,
government, corporations, or morality down the throats of the children
7.  The adult makes huge mistakes and often acts unjustly, even according to
the standards supposedly set by his mythic alpha-male-primate-in-the-sky
8.  The adult begins to feel that he is unaccountable for his actions,
regardless of how atrocious they are or how many children object to them or
how good the reasons for those objections are
9.  The adult foolishly thinks that he will live forever, or at least that
he will never be vulnerable to the aggregation of children
10. The adult isn't content to stay on his hill, and he abuses, exploits,
and usurps any part of the world that he feels like annexing
11. The adult flatters himself to think that he is king of the hill by
Divine Right or by Manifest Destiny
12. The adult further flatters himself to think that he is somehow uniquely
blessed by the aforementioned mythic alpha-male-primate-in-the-sky
13. The very notion that the US is somehow analogous to an adult, while the
countries that don't kiss our butt are children, is disgustingly arrogant
and narcissitic

How's that for starters?  I can come up with several dozen more, if you'd like.

     Dave!



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
 
(...) But of course; it's a game. (...) But of course! (...) Now that's when it *really* gets fun for the kids! And they are actually learning something about cooperation and teamwork! (...) Never said that. It's a game. (...) But of course. It (...) (21 years ago, 21-Mar-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
 
(...) Really? In what way? JOHN (21 years ago, 21-Mar-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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