Comments on: Obligatory Post on McCain on Education Part 1

By: Michael Bérubé

Michael Bérubé — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:30:42 +0000

My apologies, Harry—I was remarking on McCain’s disability-illiteracy, and (I thought) underscoring your point. Damn these Internets to hell! Damn them! Until these “blogs” with their “comment sections” came along, human beings understood each other just fine. Sorry for getting all pedantic about this and spelling out the differences (wrt prenatal testing, e.g.), but I’ve actually had conversations with people who, like McCain, think of “autism” as a term that covers all children with developmental disabilities.

And I should add, just as a political cheap shot, that if Sarah Palin were truly McCain’s “soul mate,” he’d be capable of naming little Trig’s developmental disability properly.

By: lindsey

lindsey — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:47:32 +0000

Actually, I thought you were serious. And I was baffled. And then I read your response on 11D, and then I felt silly. Of course you were sarcastic, but sarcasm slyly slipped in with earnestness is very tricky indeed. I think that instead of foregoing sarcasm altogether, you should forgo earnestness all together and just be sarcastic. At least for one post. It’d be great.

By: Harry

Harry — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:53:50 +0000

Sarcastic, but also unfair, apparently—someone on Laura’s blog says that Sarah Palin’s nephew has autism/is autistic, so McCain does know the difference. Good job I was only being sarcastic, and wasn’t actively complaining…

By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:35:38 +0000

Another: “You can expect as much education “reform” from John McCain as you could expect bread from Marie Antoinette.”

Stuart: “Seeing as the phrase you are alluding to appears in a book 20 years before she was born, it seems fairly unlikely Marie Antoinette said it.”

Not at all; however I would agree that it’d be fairly unlikely Marie Antoinette originated it.

By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:33:11 +0000

Caroline 10.20.08 at 10:24 pm

“Friday, I happened to be in downtown Lowell Mass. at the same time as the Lowell High School let open their doors to release students for the weekend. Never in my 20 some odd years of adulthood have I ever been surrounded by such a foul mouthed, rude, narciscist crowd of teenagers. ”

“Somehow the idea of Parental responsibility and Personal Responsibility have gone completely out the window. ”

By any chance have you read the news from our federal government for the past 8 years? Can’t imagine from whom those kids got their attitudes.

By: laura

laura — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:25:27 +0000

I got it, harry.

By: Walt

Walt — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:15:56 +0000

Remember, kids, every time someone makes a joke on the Internet, and someone else doesn’t get it, an angel has his wings ripped off.

By: dsquared

dsquared — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:44:45 +0000

In retrospect it is pretty obvious! sorry

By: Harry

Harry — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:12:38 +0000

Michael, Daniel, and Katherine—good grief, I was being sarcastic. My usual earnestness deserting me for once. Lindsey, did you notice?

By: engels

engels — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:24:30 +0000

Never in my 20 some odd years of adulthood have I ever been surrounded by such a foul mouthed, rude, narciscist crowd of teenagers.

So in 20 odd years of adulthood you have only had such a bad experience once? Sounds good to me…

By: Lex

Lex — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:11:52 +0000

Umm…Ummm…. Yo mama wears army boots!

OK, I give up.

By: dsquared

dsquared — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:15:34 +0000

I think that the suggestion that either US Marines or Royal Marines would commit a criminal assault on a civilian for making an amazingly common mistake over service branch distinctions on a blog is really quite insulting to those various Marines; it’s an implicit suggestion that they’re undisciplined, violent criminal thugs. All the evidence is otherwise. And even if they did, it wouldn’t alter the empirical fact that nobody cares.

Unless you’re trying to suggest that my wife is a Marine, in which case I’m happy to confirm that you’re mistaken.

By: Lex

Lex — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:05:09 +0000

@12: yes, but the Sveriges Riksbank are so much less likely to take offence in a way discommodious to your future love-life…

By: Katherine

Katherine — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:32:17 +0000

My point was that I have no special knowledge in these areas. I don’t have a child with Down syndrome or autism, or know anyone personally who does. I didn’t have social contact with any such children when I was growing up. On this subject, I think I’m the very definition of lay-person. In those circumstances, I think it takes some special level of ignorance to know less than me.

By: ejh

ejh — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:08:05 +0000

Or maybe that they were ill-informed on these subjects, but perhaps better-informed than you in other areas.