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If you accept the article as accurate, then it seems odd to consider my statement hyperbole.

jessedhillon 13y ago
Given the text of the article, which entails only a single incident of a legitimate transaction being stopped based on automatic keyword filtering, we should conclude that it is entirely reasonable to state that the whole US government -- every single branch and agency -- is incapable of carrying out any action competently, at every level all the way to the very top? Yes, that's a hyperbolic statement.
- jasonlingx 13y ago
  Ah, so this is the first time you've read about something like this...
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- coldtea 13y ago
  >Given the text of the article, which entails only a single incident of a legitimate transaction being stopped If you're gonna have a say on the issue, then at least not base it just on the singular information of the article. This is a common occurence. Here's another example, posted just a few weeks before: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7240777 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7240777 And there are many, many more. >we should conclude that it is entirely reasonable to state that the whole US government -- every single branch and agency -- is incapable of carrying out any action competently, at every level all the way to the very top? No, who is retorting to hyberbole? Did he say anything about them being incapable to carry out any action competently? IIRC, he wrote: "did you expect anything else" from them, which could be read as related to this particular handling of the situation. Which, as we saw, is not uncommon at all. See also TSA, et al.
  - d23 13y ago
    > No, who is retorting to hyberbole? Did he say anything about them being incapable to carry out any action competently? Yes. > Would you expect anything else from the US gov't? You're being obtuse to continue this line of pseudo-intellectual reasoning. His statement is quite obviously implying that the government can't do anything right (aww shucks!), and he's using this article as his "evidence."
    - alexeisadeski3 13y ago
      Must be easy to always argue against the least charitable interpretation of your opponents positions.

Given the text of the article, which entails only a single incident of a legitimate transaction being stopped based on automatic keyword filtering, we should conclude that it is entirely reasonable to state that the whole US government -- every single branch and agency -- is incapable of carrying out any action competently, at every level all the way to the very top? Yes, that's a hyperbolic statement.

jasonlingx 13y ago
Ah, so this is the first time you've read about something like this...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
coldtea 13y ago
>Given the text of the article, which entails only a single incident of a legitimate transaction being stopped If you're gonna have a say on the issue, then at least not base it just on the singular information of the article. This is a common occurence. Here's another example, posted just a few weeks before: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7240777 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7240777 And there are many, many more. >we should conclude that it is entirely reasonable to state that the whole US government -- every single branch and agency -- is incapable of carrying out any action competently, at every level all the way to the very top? No, who is retorting to hyberbole? Did he say anything about them being incapable to carry out any action competently? IIRC, he wrote: "did you expect anything else" from them, which could be read as related to this particular handling of the situation. Which, as we saw, is not uncommon at all. See also TSA, et al.
- d23 13y ago
  > No, who is retorting to hyberbole? Did he say anything about them being incapable to carry out any action competently? Yes. > Would you expect anything else from the US gov't? You're being obtuse to continue this line of pseudo-intellectual reasoning. His statement is quite obviously implying that the government can't do anything right (aww shucks!), and he's using this article as his "evidence."
  - alexeisadeski3 13y ago
    Must be easy to always argue against the least charitable interpretation of your opponents positions.