3 ms·

I remember where I was when the towers fell (working at home that day in s.f.). I remember where I was when Reagan was shot (playing mini golf in junior high).

I remember where I was when the towers fell (working at home that day in s.f.). I remember where I was when Reagan was shot (playing mini golf in junior high). I don't remember where I was when Osama bin laden was killed. It just felt like such an inevitability and correction to history that it should have happened already. Remembering what I was doing was pointless. Also, everything before was such a waste. We wasted so many lives in Iraq when the real enemies were the Pakistani intelligence service and Saudi Arabia. I just wanted to forget it all.

angersock 11y ago
There arguably weren't any real enemies to the Republic, other than the folks who saw an opportunity to use fear to repeal our rights.
- afarrell 11y ago
  Defining an "enemy of the Republic" really is just a rhetorical technique to assert what the goals and values of the Republic are. Sometimes it is one that the residents of the republic broadly agree with because they share those values and goals either explicitly ("I want myself and my kin to avoid getting killed in a building collapse") or implicitly ("I'm totally fine with a credit-based economy, though I wish it worked out better for my group.") Occasionally it is a rhetorical technique with powder and steel behind it.
  - angersock 11y ago
    Perhaps I was a little too flowery. :) Anyways, the point intended was that, while there are transient enemies of The American Dream (however one may wish to define it within reason, but including the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and general zeitgeist of 20th century America), they tend to go up in flames with their victims. The true enemies, though, see that by either exploiting or altering the processes of government and manipulating popular opinion, and they tend to integrate themselves with the host and extract as much value as they can. They are also more likely to stay around, having become part of the system. It's unfortunate.
selimthegrim 11y ago
I remember where I was when bin Laden died; watching idiots prancing down D.P. and Pardall Road in Isla Vista waving American flags and honking horns, with my jaw dropped stood on the sidewalk.
josephpmay 11y ago
I remember where I was. I read a Tweet about it on my Palm Pre while lying in bed.

angersock 11y ago

There arguably weren't any real enemies to the Republic, other than the folks who saw an opportunity to use fear to repeal our rights.

afarrell 11y ago
Defining an "enemy of the Republic" really is just a rhetorical technique to assert what the goals and values of the Republic are. Sometimes it is one that the residents of the republic broadly agree with because they share those values and goals either explicitly ("I want myself and my kin to avoid getting killed in a building collapse") or implicitly ("I'm totally fine with a credit-based economy, though I wish it worked out better for my group.") Occasionally it is a rhetorical technique with powder and steel behind it.
- angersock 11y ago
  Perhaps I was a little too flowery. :) Anyways, the point intended was that, while there are transient enemies of The American Dream (however one may wish to define it within reason, but including the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and general zeitgeist of 20th century America), they tend to go up in flames with their victims. The true enemies, though, see that by either exploiting or altering the processes of government and manipulating popular opinion, and they tend to integrate themselves with the host and extract as much value as they can. They are also more likely to stay around, having become part of the system. It's unfortunate.

selimthegrim 11y ago

I remember where I was when bin Laden died; watching idiots prancing down D.P. and Pardall Road in Isla Vista waving American flags and honking horns, with my jaw dropped stood on the sidewalk.

josephpmay 11y ago

I remember where I was. I read a Tweet about it on my Palm Pre while lying in bed.