There’s a lot of idiotic blogs out there. Hell, I’ve written my fair share of idiotic crap. But I think what separates us from other shitty blogs is that at the least we aren’t intellectual cowards. If there is a thing I loathe it is when you comment on someone’s blog (when they are talking specifically about us) and they cowardly delete the comments when you have them by the short and curlies. So, today I would like to award the “Intellectual Coward of the Day Award” to this positively absurd post by Michael Cummings.
I never heard of this guy before, never read his blog, and really couldn’t give a Senegali diarrhitic turd what he thinks about us, but you’d think that a guy with a CIB would have the courage of his convictions to actually address a comment without just deleting it, especially since I didn’t use any profanity. Alas no. So, since discourse at his shop isn’t working, I’ll just address it here.
Obviously with a title like “Our Politically Correct Communist Milblogs” the author was just trolling for us to link to him. It’s a great tactic, since apparently no one reads the thing anyway, and he’s achieved his goal. Bravo!
Without rehashing his entire argument, he says that Milblogs are hypocritical for bemoaning political correctness in the military, and then attacking Chris Hayes from The Nation for saying that he was uncomfortable with calling our brothers and sisters killed in combat “heroes.” If you don’t get the argument, you aren’t alone.
Here’s the crux of his argument:
In the same way that small-government libertarians drill a Nimitz-class carrier sized-hole through their own ideology to protect defense spending, conservatives critical of “liberal political correctness” completely extend “military political correctness” protection to the military and its service-members. Conservative milblogs and pundits silence any and all criticism of the military, labeling transgressors traitors or worse. Apparently, America’s toughest warriors are the most easily offended group on the planet.
[BTW, notice that we are the easily offended ones, and yet he’s the one deleting comments. Project much Sir?]
What makes this argument so idiotic is that he links to five separate blog postings, which he purports are from “conservative milblogs” that specifically address government political correctness, like this posting from TAH that talks about a gay pride event at the Pentagon. Jonn rightly pointed out that one of the key arguments about repealing DADT would be that they serve anyway, and this would allow them to just quietly go about their service without fear of being tossed. If that is the goal, quiet service, then why hold a big event? Hey, I’m a lover of the gheys as much as the straits, I really don’t care who anyone sleeps with, but as Jonn noted,
How about recognizing the service of male service members who perform cunnilingus? Don’t they deserve recognition for their service? Or female service members who perform fellatio?
Now bear in mind that I even signed a letter at one point from the same milbloggers that this jackass slimes (including Jimbo as well who he specifically calls out) saying that DADT should go the way of the DoDo. But, let’s not let facts get in the way of a good narrative.
Now, he deleted my first comment, which I am constructing here from memory.
This is the stupidest post I’ve read today, and I’ve read a lot of idiotic posts. If you can’t figure out the difference between government speech and political correctness, and engaging Chris Hayes in the marketplace of ideas for stupid statements, you guys need help.*
[* You should also note that Chris Hayes himself apologized for his comments after the fact, an uncomfortable detail that Cummings addresses in the most economical manner; he simply ignores it.]
Anyway, I know exactly what Cummings’ response was, because the comment was emailed to me.
@ TSO – Coming on our blog to call our post “stupid” doesn’t further the discourse, it lowers it. People all over America complain that politics are dirty and the two sides can’t get along. Insults like the above only make the situation worse.
[NOTE: The remainder of his comment remains, he only deleted my comments, and his response to me.]
I like how he takes the high ground here, and clarifies how his goal was to “further the discourse” and to avoid “insults” that “make the situation worse.” I hope he will excuse me from not realizing that was his goal, as my response to that point made clear.
My bad, I missed the nuance of you trying to further the public discourse when I made it all the way to your first sentence wherein you state that conservatives “hate single mothers.”
See, now I get what he was doing there. He was insulting conservative milbloggers in order to reach a deeper truth. I should have realized that my saying that his post was “stupid” was a crime of the highest order, whereas his assertion about hating single moms exposes the truth. Clearly I failed to realize that Cummings is a modern day equivalent of Joseph Conrad, teaching us that
the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.
So, sure, he appears to be maligning people, and then excoriating me for doing the same, but that’s only because you aren’t concentrating on the larger truth, that conservative milbloggers suck. Oh, and we’re communists.
Much the same as I read Veterans Today every day for the humor, I’ll be sure to start reading this numbnuts as well. Maybe someday I can find the deeper truth like he is unerringly able to do. Probably not though, since I am encumbered by logic and integrity, unlike someone who finds themselves in an indefensible argument and simply resorts to deleting the comments that got them there.
I noticed that we’re all a bunch of commies, but he has the Milbloggie “Finalist” badge in his sidebar. I think he’s just angry that no one reads his POS blog.
Whatever, you are a communist.
Hmm…. I’ve only deleted comments from my place where they were ranting along about something completely unrelated to the post in question. Oh, and spam. I’ve deleted lots of that, more than actual comments, I suspect.
But yeah……. deleting comments that bear relevance to the post in question is definitely the coward’s veto.
About being a communist, I will quote Ron White. “I did not know that about myself.”
What, I’m commenting on a communist milblog? I’m so outa here and joining DU right away!!!!! Oh wait….
If this is a communist blog, then where’s my free phone?
You don’t get one Claymore, you once insulted a veteran (me) when you bitched at me about substandard healing in teh Halls of Lightening. For that, you’ve been thrown in the TAH Gulag.
I’ve been a good boy so where is my phone?
It’s out back of TAH HQ, in the barn behind the statue of Lenin and the sicle and hammer.
I’d ask for a free phone, but TSO will still hold my driving skills against me and claim that I don’t deserve one because I would endanger people on the road… or something.
BTW- Troll through the various links he has over there that are purportedly to Milblogs.
http://kohenari.net/about – Not a miblog
Tea Party Nation – Not a milblog
Environmental Republican – Not a milblog.
You seeing a theme here? His beef seems to be with TAH and Blackfive alone, and yet he cites to a bunch of other blogs that aren’t miblogs, and then slimes us all.
Like I said, dude is an intellectual coward.
And an officer I should need to note. This is exactly why I didn’t take a commission. There are some phenomenal officers out there, but theres always some bitchy 0 there that ruins everything.
Hell, if I’m communist, I want the free, GOOD, Vodka!! Don’t care about the phone, don’t want to talk to anyone anyhow!
I didn’t know that in addition to Obama and single moms, we were supposed to hate soccer too….In addition to being an old ARNG 11B, I am a nationally licensed soccer coach and I do volunteer work on a youth soccer board of directors that serves over 7,000 youth soccer players in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. I’ve even worked with my local politburo (police) chief to win a grant to subsidize the construction of a parking facility and soccer complex in the area….who knew I was supposed to hate the sport…
How do I fit in with the rest of you commie b4stards?
While I don’t mind this fellow exercising his right to ask the question he does, and he is most certainly entitled to do so. I do think there is a fair stretch made to say that everyone here is a fanatic to Military Political Correctness. Much of what I read here indicates that while everyone here loves their country and honors the service of their comrades, we don’t all agree on everything that takes place here. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you all post when you disagree with each other or me….must be my commie indoctrination was done so well I don’t even know it happened.
In any event deleting comments that don’t advance the discussion would mean most of that gentleman’s blog could disappear and the “discussion” would continue just fine without him…
And I want borscht! Lots of borscht!
I’m opting for the North Korean version of being a communist while I read over here because I like kimchee.
That is all.
@13, dude, stop making the mans points for him. Pioneer Valley is 100% communists. In Western Mass, you’re either Berkshire County, or a Communist.
Sheffield FTW.
BTW- UMASS a solid lock for the NCAA Tourney in Basketball this year, write it down now, 9 seed.
Guys, these two chuzzlewit wannabe intellectuals (and I say that merely to further the discourse) aren’t worth argueing with. They are in serious need of a an elementary political philosophy class. Until they actually learn the meaning of the words they write reading them is pretty much a waste of time.
They use emotionally loaded terms to garner attention and then switch between meanings depending on the needs of their arguement.
Not worth your time. Remember, although it’s true that if you haven’t been there you don’t get it, that doesn’t mean that just because you’ve been there that you DO get it.
These huys are not really much different than the Westboro fucksticks (and I say that merely to further the discourse).
UCLA. Need we say more?
What most of CA forgets is that the rest of us could care less if they fall into the ocean.
We care even less for their comments or opinion.
In the same way that small-government libertarians drill a Nimitz-class carrier sized-hole through their own ideology to protect defense spending…
I’ll address at least this particular bit of spectacular idiocy: First surf around to libertarian blogs like “Hit and Run” (which is the blog of the libertarian standard bearer Reason magazine FFS) and you’ll see lots of articles where they call for decreased defense spending (most of which I personally disagree with, but which at least provides food for thought).
But even if they don’t want to cut defense (and lots of right-leaning libertarians or libertarian friendly conservatives adopt this position) they aren’t being hypocritical at all. Unless you are an anarchist, there will be some functions that government will have to preform. Defense is usually listed as the classical “Public Good” (see http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PublicGoods.html for an explanation of this term), if government is going to do much of anything, it will need to provide defense to the nation first and foremost. Those of us who adopt this position aren’t confused about what the primary purpose of government has to be, rather than the host of social welfare programs all the good little lefties adore.
And I AM a communist.
I mean I live in an appartment building and the Russians have LOTS of those. At least in the movies they do.
Been on a train too. The commies always have trains in Bond films. Or I think at least in one of them so…
Yeah, communist.
And soccer? Dude. DEFINITELY communist.
@16 Don’t you Berkshire County guys have Tanglewood and Lenox/Lee, along with MCLA in North Adams? Aren’t these are all known commie hangouts? I even understand you have one of those commie outlet centers right off the pike on exit 2….
I actually enjoy driving to North Adams via the northern route 2 corridor and taking some time at the hairpin turn restaurant to enjoy the view of my western commie neighbors…
@21, I graduated from HS on stage at Tanglewood. Lenox I hated only because their cross country course was 3.2 miles across a golf course, and I ran like shit every time we had a meet there. But, I did love North Adams. I can’t remember if it was Drury HS or Mt Greylock that was there, but I always wrestled REALLY well up there.
Holy crap!
Not to, like, go ON about it or anything but…
I HAVE refered to army buddies as COMRADES in arms.
I have pictures of me in a cold weather hat.
The first time I got drunk it was on VODKA!
Fuck! I AM godless communist!
Great. Just great.
There goes my day.
Just looked it up, Drury and McCann, but I don’t remember McCann having much of a wrestling team.
Okay, I just went over and spent some time on that blog.
I’ll swim against the tide here and say he a point. Obviously, he is going out of his way to try and be provocative (using language like “Our Communist Milblogs”) but he’s right that there are certain “accepted truths” on many milblogs that are not typically challenged by the members.
Of course, that’s true of any group that shares a common interest – there are going to be certain things that the members regard as “The Truth” and it is considered heretical or as contrary to the overall philosophy of the organization to challenge them. That’s human nature. “Political Correctness” is a pejorative term we use when we regard this kind of orthodoxy as being harmful or repressive, but we all practice it to one extent or another.
And one final point – You have to agree with the guy WRT the ASU! That’s just one hideous uniform!
Forward! (Oh, is that all ready taken?)
Here’s where I depart from your analysis. I don’t have a problem with political correctness per se. What I have a problem with is governmental activism within that realm. So, if someone wants to say something politically correct, I’m fine with it. What I oppose, vociferously, is having someone who is paid with my tax money engaged in that shit. If Code Pink wants to sing odes to political correctness, I will ridicule them, but hardly get fired up, but when we spend taxpayer money on things like Gay Pride events at the Pentagon, I wonder why we chose that specific cause, and not others. It appears to me to be viewpoint discrimination.
But clearly he was trying to rile us up, and more power to him. My statement remains though, anyone that would link to us, use us as an illustration, and then delete the comment when I respond is an intellectual coward.
And that’s not hyperbole.
BTW-it seems like not so long ago there was a thread here where we debated whether or not those killed in combat were “heroes” or whether that term had to be reserved for those who do something more. So he is wrong in that at least there is respectable debate about how to use that term on milblogs.
???? ???? ??????? ??????????, ?? ?? ????? ?????. ????. Oops, sorry, had my Kommie Keyboard Mode on…. AKO works better that way, you know.
@19 well, it’s a convenient piece of rhetoric for this fellow to attempt to make a point, and a little protection of those who protect us seems like a far wiser use of my tax dollars than a lot of money for those who produce nothing except more parasites year after year until it becomes a generational victim class.
On another note for the folks at the blog in question:
In my opinion based on the increase in welfare along with the decreased requirements for receiving it, one could argue that liberal democrats have done more through the law of unintended consequences to destroy the black family than the KKK could ever have hoped to achieve through violence. Thus those who use the term racism to denigrate every opposing argument have actually practiced a form of racism so destructive they have created a situation where 3 times as many children that they are trying to help are in single parent homes when compared to only 25% of the general population.
If you want an interesting discourse at least frame it in hyperbole that actually works dumbass….
(Tragically, Cyrillic characters are not going to fly here. Entirely ruined an already weak joke.)
I thought it rather odd, actually, because many of the things he complained about were subjects on which I’d actually seen a fairly spirited discourse here (and elsewhere); I don’t think there is anywhere near the unanimity of thought that he sees. Maybe I’m just reading the wrong milblogs?
I never deleted a comment from my old milblog; my new blog (only occasionally mil) gets too few that I could afford to do so.
@27: I see where you’re coming from, but that ship sailed years ago. Even in the 1980’s I can remember the various military communities celebrating “black heritage month” (February), “Hispanic Heritage Month” (May? can’t rememember), “Women’s history month/week/fortnight”, “asian-pacific islander month” (IOW ham and pineapple at the mess hall) etc, etc, all done with taxpayer $$ on “company time.” In that sense “gay pride week” is just another meaningless celebration that officers will use to pad their resume’s and Private Snuffy will ignore (especially if it means a Training Holiday.)
And for anybody to delete TSO’s comments…
That’s just soooo wrong on so many levels…
😉
I read the first line of each paragraph in the above posting.
This is what I learned:
THERE IS BIG STUPID IDIOT COMMIE JACKASS GUY (WITH A CIB) OUT THERE!
Lilyea, I don’t like you. You don’t like me. But at least you never wrote this pile of shit: http://onviolence.com/?e=593
Fuck that guy.
Maybe, just maybe this guy is a Yawn lover?
What in the Sam Hill? Now you’re gonna make me ask MYSELF if I am guilty by association?? Mwahhhahhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Better guilty by knowing Jonn, TSO et al than a SFB punk who deletes comments!!
@ 35 … I don’t know you and I don’t like you (but I don’t like alot of people) hell I don’y like myself quite often … but I have to agree with you … this Michael Cummings guy is one POS.
If he is ever recalled to active he will have alot of splaining to do … particulary to guys like me. The CSM … the CMC would love to have a fireside chat with this chump.
HOLY SUPERIOR HUMAN BEING SH*T …
I remember it like it was yesterday, man…my finger hovering every so slightly to the point where I could feel my pulse against the cold, brushed metal…I could see my target…he had no clue I’d spotted him as he coolly rambled on about something I couldn’t comprehend. With a single tap, he was gone…the offensive post lost in the ether, hopefully unseen by anyone who could clearly comprehend how skillfully it had exposed my bias. A single bead of sweat trickled onto my laptop’s keyboard. The stink of it all. The horror…the horror.
COL Jesse “Comrade Blogger” McCummings
81rd Mechanized Motor Brigade Combat Specialist Team Platoon
Ben Gazzi’s Pizza and Subs, LA CALIFORNIA (via WiFi)
Doctrine Man had picked apart one of this guys previous debate scarecrows about two or three months ago. Same theme or we are all communists for wanting to be in the military. The authors seem to say that since we all get subsidized housing, “free”medical, walked to the beat of the same drummer in clothing and work and finally recievied other special allowances that the civilian population doesn’t receive (specifcallythe family sep, hazard duty/combat, and food allowances) we are all secretly communists and oh maybe even ultra-nationalist communists with some national socialism thrown in for good mix. All of which sounds very similar to the extreme leftist positions on the military except he did I clyde the tired old memes of racism and drafting the poor to fight the rich white man’s imperialism wars.
@35-I never thought I would say this, I agree with you.
@ Claymore … Nice!
well, there was one valid point… honoring female service members who performed fallatio… I seem to recall thinking very highly of them while I was in. (SOMEBODY had to say it)
Well Comrades, the gig is up. Our evil communist ways have been discovered and we’re going to need to build another subversive website to infiltrate the unsuspecting un-Politically un-Correct masses. Curses. Foiled again.
I blame moose and squirrel.
I got bored, so I posted this over there…
The only reason I showed up here and read this is well you kinda fished a bit. This really wouldn’t have made any headway if you had not posted anything about valorguardians.com, so good job there you upped your count.
Now as far as your actual points about “military political correctness” who exactly are you attacking? The military in general or just milblogs, because your logic in linking this to the military being pseudo communist is at best shaky. Now I could go back and read everything else you wrote, but I can probably draw the lines I have heard the arguments before. It really isn’t new.
To break your argument down into a form I can understand just for this sake. Political correctness is a symptom/sign of communism, milblogs practice a form of PC that you like to call Military PC therefore milblogs (who practice MPC) are communist. Now granted I know this is kind of dumbed down logic form.
Your evidence is: 1)every soldier is a hero, 2)every soldier is equal in sacrifice, 3)don’t criticize, and 4)liberals hate troops. I am just going to address each one individually quickly. 1)In the case of Chris Hayes as you pointed out, it wasn’t so much he asked the question, he was a prick about it. Yeah some in the media got on him hell I served with some people I would never think of as a “hero” and I don’t mind saying it. 2)Everyone’s sacrifice is the same? Boiling it down to pay? Obviously you haven’t read some of the posts where we have openly talked about this, or how brass visits on the last day of the month and leaves on the first… 3)So fucking what if I have been checked so many times it isn’t funny. There are times to criticize a decision and not to. Sometimes you have to be in that persons boots and sometimes if you make a stupid comment people are going to question your integrity. It happens, get over it. 4)Dude I am almost out of steam here. This is one of those arguments that okay, do all liberals hate the military? No…but, if you get fifty liberals together and ask them how to balance the budget, what are they going to say? This is just common sense speaking, but I would almost bet that an overwhelming majority would say cut defense spending. What does that really translate to bottom line? Troops and equipment, sure they can get rid of the next strike fighter which will cost jobs in whatever state or they can just lower recruitment numbers and tighten retention. So yes on a personal level it get perceived that way. How often does a purely assholeish comment come out of the left? Hell just watch Bill Maher and you will get that impression real quick.
I don’t think your argument stands up to scrutiny. If I were someone who hadn’t read from one of the blogs in question, sure I could buy it. If I were kinda smart and did some due diligence and maybe did fact checking or if I were a part of one of the communities, I have to kinda call bullshit on you its weaksauce.
Sorry for any grammatical and spelling errors…I am not proofreading this, I have spent enough time on it.
I got bored and posted a nice reply over there…I did include the term “weaksauce”.
I tried reading his blog…but started to nod off. Too long winded…trying to sound like a fucking college professor or something. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I hearing TERMINAL 2nd Lt in my little commie brain.
He doesn’t even come off that smart. Like a college freshman trying to sound like a college professor. His argument is just weak…
It is like a vacuum of stupidity, I keep getting drawn into it….I am so tempted to read more of his stuff just so I can say I did it. Kinda like when you do stupid things just to say you can…