NationStates Jolt Archive

We spend so much time on-line bashing Bush and bashing Kerry, we bash executives from huge corporations and we bash social commentaters, we bash religions and we bash other countries, we pretty much bash everything. Don't deny it, you know you've done it. I have, too. But, have we ever stopped to wonder how the people we're bashing feel?

In all likelihood we'll never meet President Bush in person and the owner of a huge Software Mega-Store isn't going to just show up at your front door, but they're still people. They're still people who we are insulting and condeming mercilessly. People with hundreds of faceless internet posters yelling about how they're stupid and dumb and evil and the Anti-Christ. How would you feel?

Do you ever wonder how your victims feel?

For the most part, they don't care :p Well that's the impression I get.

Maybe they are hurt by it secretly, but most of the people who get bashed all have a way of ignoring it.

Bush - President. Has its problems, has its perks!
Religious - Their religion.
Social Commentators - They get paid for what we do. We = Pwned.
Countries - Borders, different culture etc etc etc

See? :)

Don't care, don't care, don't care. If you can't take the bashing, then you oughtn't open your big mouth.

I don't think they would have lasted very long as public figures if they couldn't deal with tons of people they will never meet Bashing them :P

Do you think Bush ever stops to wonder about the feelings of the friends and families of the 1,200+ American men and women for whose deaths he is responsible?

To be perfectly honest, I don't think he's thought about the dead soldiers for one second of his life.

Nope. You'll have to try just a leetle bit harder to penetrate the barriers of my bleeding heart.

We spend so much time on-line bashing Bush and bashing Kerry, we bash executives from huge corporations and we bash social commentaters, we bash religions and we bash other countries, we pretty much bash everything. Don't deny it, you know you've done it. I have, too. But, have we ever stopped to wonder how the people we're bashing feel?

In all likelihood we'll never meet President Bush in person and the owner of a huge Software Mega-Store isn't going to just show up at your front door, but they're still people. They're still people who we are insulting and condeming mercilessly. People with hundreds of faceless internet posters yelling about how they're stupid and dumb and evil and the Anti-Christ. How would you feel?

Do you ever wonder how your victims feel?
Most of the people, especially the very powerful ones, don't give a damn. But, the ordinary people who are bashed unfairly just for their beliefs or country/region of origin usually consider the source of the bashing and feel better about it; plus most of the Internet is lousy with websites full of people that usually aren't to be taken seriously or who don't even have informed opinions, just 'talkers'. Always consider the source of the bashing and hateful comments and then it usually doesn't matter. It applies to this forum most of the time too. ;)

To paraphrase from 'Come In, Number 51, Your Time Is Up'...

'Nice Nags, Ace!

Yeah, they make damn good targets of themselves...

Let 'em have it!'

Well, to be fair, they give opportunities for bashing. If I didn't have problems with the people, I wouldn't bash them. One of the beauties of the First Amendment is the opportunity to do that.

Here's a thought. How about we dedicate one thread per day to bashing the sagacious pundits here? I will volunteer to be first if Incertonia will be second.

You have touched on an interesting point that bears wider application, though. Has modern society lost it's empathy? Do we no longer have the ability to feel others' discomfort or pleasure? It is starting to look that way to me.

I don't mind bashing people or being bashed. For a football analogy, the quarterback is always the hero when the team wins and always the problem when the team loses.

When someone or something is bashed, it means it is important in some way. Even Michael Moore must exist to show us an example of such obese stupidity.

Well, public figures tend to bring it on themselves. Bush, Kerry, Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh, etc., didn't enter the public eye because they wanted to be universally loved. In fact, at least with the latter two, I suspect that they enjoy being polarizing. They probably get enjoyment out of the fact that so many people loathe them. If they don't, they're certainly doing nothing to stop the bashing.

As for anonymous people in larger classes, like owners of corporations, I don't think that they mind being bashed either. Maybe they feel unfairly treated sometimes, but if they're wealthy enough, I'm sure they can get over it. If someone said, "all people who hang out in internet forums are morons," would you really lose sleep over it? When you're not being attacked personally, you feel less insulted, especially if there's some benefit to what you're doing (being rich, wielding power, enjoying witty repartee with fellow NationStaters, etc.)

I do feel sorry for people who didn't choose to be in the public eye, but become famous for some reason. They might take the bashing to heart. But maybe they learn to get over it quickly enough.

If somone slaughters a family in cold blood, I do not care how they feel in prison. Honestly.

I dont "bash" people unless I believe they genuinely deserve it. Which implies I'm not empathetic if they feel 'offended.'

We spend so much time on-line bashing Bush and bashing Kerry, we bash executives from huge corporations and we bash social commentaters, we bash religions and we bash other countries, we pretty much bash everything. Don't deny it, you know you've done it. I have, too. But, have we ever stopped to wonder how the people we're bashing feel?

In all likelihood we'll never meet President Bush in person and the owner of a huge Software Mega-Store isn't going to just show up at your front door, but they're still people. They're still people who we are insulting and condeming mercilessly. People with hundreds of faceless internet posters yelling about how they're stupid and dumb and evil and the Anti-Christ. How would you feel?

Do you ever wonder how your victims feel?

If i was george bush i'd have killed myself long ago, so i wouldn't be able to feel anything about this so called 'bashing'

Bash me!

BECAUSE it is from nameless faceless people makes it easy to ignore. If my own family or friends would, I wouldn't like it very much

Heck if I care. We're entitled to our views.

I doubt any person with power has ever NOT been bashed. It's just part of the job description. Besides, if Bush can't handle some animosity from nameless, faceless forumers, then he doesn't have the guts to be president.

LOL I know exactly how they feel... as a conservative in Los Angeles, I'd say I have a pretty good idea. Every political conversation before the election started with "So guys, how do we make sure the Chimp gets kicked out" and amid the chorus of "Yea" I would be the only guy who would say "Umm, I think our president is doing the right thing" and then everyone would look at me as though I was from another planet (but still a few people would walk up to me later and tell me privately they agree).

One thing though... I am always ready to speak my mind and defend my opinions, and I am open to listening to logical and factual arguments, but some people just get pretty hysterical if confronted with a disagreeing view... I've had to stop talking politics with some acquaintances just so we can stay on good terms.

I've been bashed for owning a gun, for killing Iraqis, and a host of other things.

But I'm not ashamed of what I do, or have done, so I could care less if someone wants to bash me. It comes off as petulant, impotent whining from someone who doesn't have the balls to survive what I've survived.

If they had been in my shoes, they would have been dead for some time now.

Do you think Bush ever stops to wonder about the feelings of the friends and families of the 1,200+ American men and women for whose deaths he is responsible?yes... i think he does... and he also feels thr pain of all those who lost someone through terrorist acts. I think he feels the WTC victims every night.

D th bahd ns cr hw th rst f s fl?

Do you think Bush ever stops to wonder about the feelings of the friends and families of the 1,200+ American men and women for whose deaths he is responsible?

How about the tens of thousands of innocent Muslims he has killed?

Here's a thought. How about we dedicate one thread per day to bashing the sagacious pundits here? I will volunteer to be first if Incertonia will be second.

You have touched on an interesting point that bears wider application, though. Has modern society lost it's empathy? Do we no longer have the ability to feel others' discomfort or pleasure? It is starting to look that way to me.
No thanks--I get bashed enough in the regular threads without having one dedicated specifically to me. As to empathy, I think individuals are as good as they've always been on a one-to-one basis. But here in the US, we've made a entire entertainment niche out of cruelty to one another, so it's no surprise to me that the level of discourse has fallen in the last twenty years or so. It's not a particularly phenomenon--it's just one that has become increasingly pervasive.

To hell with the Muslims he killed. I am quite certain that the majority of Muslims killed to date are either:
a. members of the Taliban, or the Iraqi armed forces, or actual insurgents (depending on which country we bombed)
b. people who happened to be standing too close to a valid target that was hit by a smart bomb
c. supporters of the Taliban, Iraqi armed forces, or actual insurgents

As for the Iraqis that may have starved during the embargo on Iraq, let's ask Kofi Annan and his cronies who made billions off the Oil For Food Program why they put the money in their own pockets instead of spending the billions on medicine and food for Iraqi civilians.

It's a sure bet that Saddam alone has killed more innocent civilians than the two Bushes put together.

To hell with the Muslims he killed. I am quite certain that the majority of Muslims killed to date are either:
a. members of the Taliban, or the Iraqi armed forces, or actual insurgents (depending on which country we bombed)
b. people who happened to be standing too close to a valid target that was hit by a smart bomb
c. supporters of the Taliban, Iraqi armed forces, or actual insurgents

As for the Iraqis that may have starved during the embargo on Iraq, let's ask Kofi Annan and his cronies who made billions off the Oil For Food Program why they put the money in their own pockets instead of spending the billions on medicine and food for Iraqi civilians.

It's a sure bet that Saddam alone has killed more innocent civilians than the two Bushes put together.
Just for a moment, why don't you try to have a little empathy for the people in those countries who--as you so delicately put it--"happened to be standing too close to a valid target."

And for the record, there has been no proof--other than that which has come from the now discredited Iraqi National Congress headed by Ahmed Chalabi--that either Annan or his cronies made billions off the Oil for Food program. There is an independent investigation being done by Paul Volcker, and he's not made even a preliminary statement yet. It's possible Annan is guilty--it is equally possible that he is innocent and is being slandered. Let's hold off on passing judgment on that one just yet, shall we?

The information about who received what money and oil vouchers now comes from documents found in Iraq by US troops.

I've seen some of the documents. That's how they found out Kofi's son was getting his pockets lined.

None of those documents came from Chalabi.

Keep believing that.

The information about who received what money and oil vouchers now comes from documents found in Iraq by US troops.

I've seen some of the documents. That's how they found out Kofi's son was getting his pockets lined.

None of those documents came from Chalabi.

Keep believing that.
I'll trust Volcker's word when he comes out with his report--he's got credibility in my book. Until then, I'm reserving judgment on Annan and the rest of the UN. Let me point something out--I have no doubt that Annan and others in the UN could be corrupt; I just have no real reson to believe that they are in this particular circumstance yet. That could change, and it wouldn't even surprise me. But I'm not going to be one of these hypocrites about it like some Republicans in the House of Representatives who are calling for Annan's head while simultaneously defending their Majority Leader and changing the rules to let him keep his post if and when he's indicted.

I'm not calling for Annan's head. It only verifies for me what I knew all along.

The UN is one of the most corrupt institutions in world history, and has presided over, approved of, or instigated more misery, death, and massacres than any single government in the 20th century.

Without the intervention of the US - that is, only with the intervention of other nations who were willingly providing money, troops (willing to die), and other aid:
Name one instance where the UN stepped in to stop a massacre.
Name one instance where the UN stepped in to free a people.
Name one instance where the UN stopped an Islamic terrorist.
Name one instance where the UN stopped a famine.

Klonor is right. When we bash someone for being selfish or not doing whatever it is that we would like them to do, we become the selfish vindictive ones by lowering ourselves to lame ass put downs.

Don't care, don't care, don't care. If you can't take the bashing, then you oughtn't open your big mouth.

Here's a thought. How about we dedicate one thread per day to bashing the sagacious pundits here? I will volunteer to be first if Incertonia will be second.

No thanks--I get bashed enough in the regular threads without having one dedicated specifically to me.

Wow, if you were Bush this forum would be all over you for that by now.

To hell with the Muslims he killed. I am quite certain that the majority of Muslims killed to date are either:
a. members of the Taliban, or the Iraqi armed forces, or actual insurgents (depending on which country we bombed)
b. people who happened to be standing too close to a valid target that was hit by a smart bomb
c. supporters of the Taliban, Iraqi armed forces, or actual insurgents

So if there were 9 wanted criminals and one innocent bystander in a building in Texas and the building was bombed to kill the criminals, you wouldn't feel bad for the one innocent person?

Wow, if you were Bush this forum would be all over you for that by now.

I already took ten pineapples up the ass in a thread I dedicated to me.

Getting loved or hated by anonymous strangers is part of what being a famous media personality in this country is about. If they couldn't handle it, they wouldn't have made it this far in the first place.

Just for a moment, why don't you try to have a little empathy for the people in those countries who--as you so delicately put it--"happened to be standing too close to a valid target."


How about you stop putting foreign lives above ours? What ever happened to equality? No liberal complains about the families of 9/11, but the "poor" iraqis are supposed to recieve our empathy? Bullshit.

The liberal concern is misplaced. Same thing with how they're more concerned with killing babies than convicted felons. Get your damn priorities in line.

So if there were 9 wanted criminals and one innocent bystander in a building in Texas and the building was bombed to kill the criminals, you wouldn't feel bad for the one innocent person?

It would be a necessary sacrifice. That person's death contributed to the greater good. Then again...who the hell would bomb a building in Texas to kill criminals? Thats what SWAT teams are for. They might have been able to save that person.

To hell with the Muslims he killed. I am quite certain that the majority of Muslims killed to date are either:
a. members of the Taliban, or the Iraqi armed forces, or actual insurgents (depending on which country we bombed)
b. people who happened to be standing too close to a valid target that was hit by a smart bomb
c. supporters of the Taliban, Iraqi armed forces, or actual insurgents

As for the Iraqis that may have starved during the embargo on Iraq, let's ask Kofi Annan and his cronies who made billions off the Oil For Food Program why they put the money in their own pockets instead of spending the billions on medicine and food for Iraqi civilians.

It's a sure bet that Saddam alone has killed more innocent civilians than the two Bushes put together.
I like you most of the time but do you always have to flame and bring this crap up... This was a valid thread....
I hate how as a Christian almost everyone calls me stupid or ignorant everytime I post here... I always stay civil....Always....It is only right in a civilized society....Thanx for the thread I like it....

I like you most of the time but do you always have to flame and bring this crap up... This was a valid thread....
I hate how as a Christian almost everyone calls me stupid or ignorant everytime I post here... I always stay civil....Always....It is only right in a civilized society....Thanx for the thread I like it....

Who exactly did he flame in that quote, Peardon? Saddam?

Who exactly did he flame in that quote, Peardon? Saddam?
Steel I agree with you and gun I just think there is a time and a place for this stuff and this thread is not the place....