tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433945320549143329.post601902066271977361..comments2023-09-13T10:53:12.598-05:00Comments on Tullius est [et Tullius non est Cicero]: More on Obama's Mendacity...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15716893685688516529noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433945320549143329.post-1036095029834425152015-02-16T12:47:51.579-06:002015-02-16T12:47:51.579-06:00Dear Jenn,
"- I don't think we will agre...Dear Jenn,<br /><br />"- I don't think we will agree that mentioning statistics from a government report is lying."<br /><br />TB: Actually, I do agree that mentioning statistics from a government report is not [necessarily] lying. Where I disagree is that Obama mentions this statistic.<br /><br />Note the use-mention distinction which would take too long to define but is easy to grasp by way of example. Earlier in this post I used the term "bullshitting." Here in this comments, I haven't used the term, I merely mentioned it. My mother wouldn't like me using the term but there is nothing wrong with mentioning the term. [There's nothing wrong with using it either, I think, since it's about the only word we have which picks out a certain type of behavior]. Or take the term "WOP" which was once often used derogatorily of Italians. My mentioning the term here is one thing, my calling my Italian buddy John S. a WOP is an entirely different matter.<br /><br />If I walk into my classroom and say "Obama said the other night that right now, nearly one in five women in America has been the victim of rape or attempted rape" I have mentioned what Obama says (what follows "that" in the sentence is what I mention him as saying). If, however, I walk into the classroom and say "Right now, nearly one in five women in America has been the victim of rape or attempted rape" and then I go on to say that this is really alarming and students should go online and take the pledge, etc., I have not mentioned what he says I have used what he said to get my students to believe that it's true that 1 in 5 women have been the victims, etc. If I didn't believe that what I said was true, then I lied to my students to get them to take the pledge. Students will have taken me to be asserting as true that 1 in 5....<br /><br />"- Listen past the statistics in the Grammy message. There is the legitimate plea."<br /><br />No one is saying that rape is a trivial thing or that nothing should be done about it. But progressives and conservatives will definitely disagree on the causes of it, what should be done about families and education about sexual morality, the best ways to minimize it via the justice system, etc.<br /><br />Re: Dehumanizing. Yeah, sure. Just read an open comments section at about any news site and you'll find that sort of thing going on from both sides. (That's why I don't have open comments).<br /><br />"- The inaccuracy of "Grammy Award Winning Lie" is actually very fitting for what follows in the blog post. It sounds great"<br /><br />No one who reads that title should take it literally. I don't even know what a Grammy Award Winning Lie would be, taken literally. The Grammy's give awards for music, not lies. It should be read figuratively, drawing attention to (what I take to be) Obama's lie at the Grammys.<br /><br />"- I'm never going to be able to see Tully Borland again without thinking of the words "loveable, furry old fuzz-ball.""<br /><br />It is 100% true (figuratively, not literally)! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15716893685688516529noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433945320549143329.post-833365636315736142015-02-16T11:57:24.510-06:002015-02-16T11:57:24.510-06:00"I read your blog."
Thanks! Apparently..."I read your blog."<br /><br />Thanks! Apparently so do people from a couple dozen countries if I'm to trust the stat counter.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15716893685688516529noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433945320549143329.post-57784722579259815042015-02-16T11:51:21.907-06:002015-02-16T11:51:21.907-06:00"The inaccuracy of "Grammy Award Winning..."The inaccuracy of "Grammy Award Winning Lie" is actually very fitting for what follows in the blog post. It sounds great, but unless you are autotuning or setting the Grammy message to music, it can't technically win a Grammy."<br /><br />There is a difference between an effective (or ineffective) rhetorical device and a lie. In order for Dr. Borland's statement to be a lie, he'd have to be asserting that the lie actually won a Grammy (technically, "Obama's Grammy Award Winning Lie" isn't even a statement, so it doesn't assert anything). I don't think we have any reason to think that Dr. Borland is actually attempting to convince anyone that Obama's statement won a Grammy. He's using rhetoric to express an opinion about Obama's statement. Obama, however, appears to actually attempting to convince America of an alleged fact, not opinion, that 1/5 women are raped--really raped. Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09843549266216600261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433945320549143329.post-3021402512958024052015-02-16T11:35:04.839-06:002015-02-16T11:35:04.839-06:00I read your blog.I read your blog.Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09843549266216600261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433945320549143329.post-55955644810835837782015-02-16T09:35:08.205-06:002015-02-16T09:35:08.205-06:00I don't have the time to write a lengthy respo...I don't have the time to write a lengthy response, but:<br /><br />- I don't think we will agree that mentioning statistics from a government report is lying.<br /><br />- Listen past the statistics in the Grammy message. There is the legitimate plea.<br /><br />- I did not mean that your comments were dehumanizing. However, I have heard some deplorable comments about Obama from people who call themselves conservatives. I can send you examples via email, but I will not post them on a public forum.<br /><br />- The inaccuracy of "Grammy Award Winning Lie" is actually very fitting for what follows in the blog post. It sounds great, but unless you are autotuning or setting the Grammy message to music, it can't technically win a Grammy. But it sounds and that's what important.<br /><br />- I'm never going to be able to see Tully Borland again without thinking of the words "loveable, furry old fuzz-ball."Jennhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07032966382272674837noreply@blogger.com