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Ehhh, the policy divide between the DOD, SOCOM, and the State Department is not bridged by "no true Scotsman". If you're going to criticize something, knowing w
by kodah 5y ago
Ehhh, the policy divide between the DOD, SOCOM, and the State Department is not bridged by "no true Scotsman". If you're going to criticize something, knowing who and what you're criticizing is a good first step.
The State Department using drones to bomb weddings and the policy that allows it is not congruent to the policy that allows a Marine in the ground to declare "troops in contact" and perform a 9-line. They're informed by very different things.
The key differentiator in my mind is one policy that works and one policy that clearly doesn't because I keep reading about it in the news. If you want a policy changed so bad, why is pointing out who the policy rests with - and an example of a similar policy that works - so problematic to you?
- alphabettsy 5y agoI take your point, but I don’t think innocent foreigners care about the distinction between US departments when their family is killed as collateral.
- kodah 5y agoIf I was speaking to an Afghani whose family had been devestated by a loved one dying due to combat I absolutely wouldn't be quick to correct the semantics of their language or argument. I'd speak to them with same reverance and scope that I'd speak to a Gold Star family. KennyBlanken, who I replied to, mixed the facts of several incidents into one and presented them as a singular coherent idea. I think I'm allowed to dissect an argument on a public forum, if I so see fit, at that point.
- throwanem 5y agoIf I'm going to try to argue that my country shouldn't in the first instance start wars in which innocent people get killed, better I should have some idea of the details of what I'm talking about so people are more likely to take me seriously, don't you think? I'd rather give myself a chance to maybe change three people's minds than shout pointlessly at three thousand. If you really feel your time better spent on the latter, though, far be it from me to persist in arguing otherwise.