Andrew Sullivan: No Show (The Bush military funeral canard - fisked)

The New Republic ^ | 12/02/03 | Andrew Sullivan

[ArGee]

Probably to clense our minds. I know it clensed mine.

Shalom (and thanks).

[tallhappy]

In what sense failed?

Failed in that only progressive cognoscenti use such trite usless terms.

And when they do they use it wrong, like Sullivan here.

Meme was brought to us by the 70's psychobabble crowd and the Wired mag PC progressive dot-bomb bilkers tried to bring it back.

Compare it to spin. Spin emerged in the same time frame. It came about naturally and has an intuitive meaning.

Meme on the other had was made up to be something big and important and meaningful but is none of them.

Meme is like Kwanza -- made up by the 60's generation but truly devoid of meaning.

Sullivan simply is betraying his roots. His point is good -- albeit rather obvious.

[tallhappy]

You probably didn't see this, but you make my point.

Real words don't need to be pushed and publicized.

It's the word equivalent of Kwanza or the Liberal Radio Network.

[tallhappy]

I don't know that Dawkins made it up, but you prove my point anyhow. It was made up by pseudo-academics like Dawkins (who are in academia, don;t get me wrong) to mean something deep.

Kwanza was made up in the same way.

[js1138]

My google search returned 1.8 million hits for "meme". I suppose there are a lot of words not in common usage.

[mountaineer]

At yesterday's protest in Pittsburgh, one leftwinger was all in a lather. He argued if Bush cared about the soldiers so much, he'd be there fighting alongside them in Iraq. I asked why we didn't see Bill Clinton pick up a rifle and join the fray in Serbia. His response? "Well, that was a just war."

???

[Helms]

Andrew takes liberties with the word perhaps but I agree with the meme theory and it was Dawkins who developed the theory. I like how Andrew tries to get it popularized.

Its a small m meme not a capital M.

[tallhappy]

Meme theory is OK but is not novel. It 's not really a theory -- like Kwanza isn't really a holiday or celebration. I can't stress the analogy between Kwanza and mem enough.

Fads and trends always existed. Sullivan uses it wrong here anyhow.

Meme theory doesn't add anything. It's a pompous way to say fad.

Dawkins has made a good career as a Marxist masquerading as a scientist.

[xzins]

I was with a very high profile unit at one of our KY installations, when the problem of the media first surfaced. With no regard whatsoever for the feelings of families and grieving human beings, they would stick their mikes in the faces of weeping loved ones and ask absolutely insensitive, rude questions.

The unit simply banned anyone but family, friends, and unit members. In the years following, I saw other military units go to the same procedure.

It was clearly geared to the needs of the grieving and bereaved. There was plenty of information on the deaths out there that the media could use. They had no need to be at someone's funeral service OTHER than sensationalism.....the last thing a person in grief needs.

Our president knows that if he attends these private, family/unit gatherings that they will become a circus sideshow of media anti-americans besmirching the sacrifice of our best and our bravest while trying to get a grief-stricken loved one to make a mistake on camera or on sound-bite.

He is doing the right thing. He's an outstanding Commander in Chief!

Xzins
Chaplain (Retired) US Army

[50sDad]

There are some 18-year-old kids from my church over there who glowingly wrote our youth leader of the awe of seeing George Bush come to them for dinner. They spoke of the honesty of the man, of the concern, the support for them as he came and fed them dinner, not unlike Christ washing the feet of His followers...in service for their service. Contrast this, I tell my 10-year-old daughter, with Hillary, who made Our Boys and Girls wait an hour for their Thanksgiving dinner while she got her entorage settled, seated and fed. Let them eat cake, indeed!

[Helms]

Meme in itself is or in fact may be a meme and in that case you can accept it into your thought process or not which you have the perfect right to do.

Since I believe in evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology, I have embraced it as an explanatory theory. If you do not believe in evolution at all, I would expect you to reject it out of hand.

Sullivan is accusing Dowd of "running a meme". He is calling her on that and I understand and accept that.

[tallhappy]

Meme has nothing to do with evolutionary theory and the analogy to DNA is nonsesne and contradicted by other analogies to it being a virus.

It's gobbledygook.

[Britton J Wingfield]

Fine, substitute the word 'myth' if it makes you happy. The point is that Dowd was perpetuating one, and she got nailed on it.

'Fisking' is a new, made-up word that I am happy enough to embrace :)

[Patriotic Bostonian]

From what I understand, President Bush has written personal letters to the troops families. This is one man who does not like to be in the spotlight when it is not his event. He is one classy guy!

[PhilipFreneau]

The goal of the Baathists in Iraq is not to remove the coalition forces by military means, but to so weaken Western morale that the American and British publics decide to throw in the towel. A critical part of the enemy's calculation is the lesson it took from Beirut and Somalia: that the American public cannot tolerate any casualties. So broadcasting every funeral plays directly into the hands of the Baathists. It's what they want. Why does it honor soldiers killed by these thugs to give the enemy an easy propaganda victory?

Why is it that America's media (so-called) elite cannot grasp this simple concept?