[tambourine-man]

Originally posted by Sinner
No Shit there are double standards, welcome to planet earth. Not only in war but in everyday life, Princess Di dies in a car accident, good for all I care, but christ they still talk about it in the news, An actor gets caught drinking and driving it is national news. This is nothing at all new.

I'm glad we agree. However, my annoyance is not with the media's self-obsession with celebrity. It is with double standards within White House policy.

Ok, I only have heard NFL and football people talk about him, you saying they don't have the right too?

Point out where I propose denying some NFL cock-jockey his right to eulogise. This is known as a strawman, where you misrepresent what I said so that it's easier to win an argument. You're a fucking expert at that.

...and at the draft they honored all those fighting and fallen hero's in Iraq and Afghanistan, they also had Marines there. This is news to some so if you can not deal with it then ignore it.

Wonderful, I should hope so too.

Be my guess.....

I assume you mean, 'Be my guest'...??? As you wish.

"Pat Tillman was an inspiration both on and off the football field. As with all who made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror, his family is in the thoughts and prayers of President and Mrs. Bush" - The POTUS

"The tragic loss of this extraordinary young man will seem a heavy blow to our nation's morale, as it is surely a grievous injury to his loved ones," - Sen. John McCain

"Pat Tillman is a great American hero in the truest sense." - Sen. Jon Kyl

"It will be important as time passes to think about what an appropriate commemoration is. Given the fact that he did this and didn't really want any press about it and wanted just to do it as the right thing to do it, he probably would be the last person who would want all the press attention paid to the fact that he gave his life in Afghanistan." - Gov. Janet Napolitano

"Tillman exemplified the sacrifice, selflessness and service of the U.S. military. Nowadays, genuine role models in professional sports are few and far between, but Tillman proved that there are still heroes in sports," - U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake

"A true American hero, like all the members of our Armed Forces serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. He died serving his country and defending all of us." - U.S. Rep. John Shadegg

More...???
How about these two...

"We must pay attention to the privacy and to the sensitivity of the families of the fallen, and that's what the policy is based on and that has to be the utmost concern." - Trent Duffy: White House Spokesman (reacting to photographs of soldiers caskets being released)

"We continually get feedback from families that this reflects their desires to maintain a degree of privacy." - Deputy Under Secretary of Defence John Molino (reacting to photographs of soldiers caskets being released)

you make me sick and I guess maybe you just don't believe in anything as strongly as Tillman did. You think you are better then him? I can relate to him, maybe you just can not.

Strawman number 2. You're wrong to suggest that maybe I 'don't believe in anything as strongly as Tillman did'. It's just that my national leaders don't manke a song and dance about it. Strawman number 3. Nor do I believe I'm better than him. This is your assumption. As to whether I can relate to him... well, yes, I can. Anyone who's willing to stand up and take action for what they believe in, I'd say that I'd be 'able to relate' to them - at some level at least.

However, this is irrelevant. Tillman's motivations are a subsidiary aspect to my post. The central point is that the politicos chose to talk-up and hype this man's death as a compression of the other 750-odd other deaths. They chose to use him as a symbol of endeavour and heroic death, not merely because of the handy anonymity of every other dead soldier, but because those 750-odd deaths are slightly-less palatable... somehow, less... media friendly. In doing so, they negated their own arguments regarding the de facto mandatory privacy of the bereaved families.

The political hypocricy is astounding. Which is it to be? Privacy or media frenzy? Sanitised stories or grim reality? It can't be both ways, not when the Administration is prepared to be so moralistic.