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The idea that one may be wrong is so important to intellectual honesty that, as y'all plainly see, I've put it rather permanently into my user title. I haven't changed my user title in ages, and that's why. I trust myself in that I think I am a pretty bright person, but I have often gotten things wrong. And where people think I'm wrong I hope that they will try to put me right.
The Hollywood folks have gone over the edge from my perspective. I understand it, I think - if you feel you can't trust the administration, then you have to ignore specific facts that only the administration has put forth. Then things start to get murky. And because it's war, it's critically important.
In international relations, you really hope against hope that your government will set politics aside, and for once simply do the right thing. I remember Clinton preaching free markets at the students in China, and it practically brought a tear to my eye. When Limbaugh et al still tried to stick him in the side during that trip, it showed their true colors, showed who you can believe. It royally pissed me off...
Now the thing is, remember when we were about to invade Afghanistan? Remember what the same sides were saying at that point? Oh my ghod, some were saying, we're going to have a land war in Asia. Oh my ghod, we're going into the same morass that ended the USSR. We're going to bomb and kill these innocent people, the humanitarian aid is going to fail, we will make their lives worse.
And when it went better than it ever could, they spun it like it didn't. It showed their true colors, showed who you can believe.
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