Monday, July 27, 2009

Robert Aponte Is Too Busy To Rake Me Through the Coals...

But he does send this email:

Subject Line: Your Stupid Remarks

Dear Mr. Wenzel,

Your article is about as offensive as anything the insurance industry is putting out –and just as dishonest. I wish I had the time to rake you through the coals –intellectually, of course—like you deserve, but that is impossible.

The thing that I find most amazing about you rightwing nuts and Obama-haters, is that even when you have good solid bases for criticizing policy initiatives (or expressed desires that haven’t, or won’t, become policy) of the current administration, you can never resist going off the deep end and voicing derogatory lies and otherwise making innuendos that are not only outright falsehoods or misleading, but maliciously so.

I will take just ONE passage in your offensive diatribe of (dated this morning) whenever.

You (apparently) wrote, to wit:

Who knows how far down the line Obama's thinking is in line with Springer? My guess a lot. Singer writes that Obama has told people not to use the word rationing. Is this because he is against rationing or because he knows the outward advocacy of rationing will justifiably alarm Americans? I think it is the latter. Obama thinks he knows what is good for all of us and will lie and mislead to force it upon us all.

The first five sentences are perfectly fine. While even I agree with part of it –that Obama is wise enough to know that advocating rationing is a death knell for reform—and you have every right to be critical of that (though it would also be misleading, as you well know, because the current system we have in place also rations –and quite extensively at that—a point that Springer made quite eloquently), you can’t seem to satisfy yourself with working that angle further, and have to go for the absurd kill “Obama thinks he knows what is good for us and will lie and mislead to force it upon us all.”

Now, let me tell you something, mister: either you’re God, or you’re a complete liar! How the hell do YOU know anything about how the President really feels? When did he call you to tell you his obviously inner-most secrets that, if they got out, would be worse for him than the rationing item I just discussed? Did you tap his
phones or wire his personal areas (where he might discuss such items with his
wife)? Or, are you just what I describe above?

Of course, you may wish to argue --like a cornered mouse—that “it was only my opinion,” but the fact is that YOU FAILED TO LABEL IT AS SUCH! Unlike the second sentence in the passage above, where you are clear about what is YOUR OPINION, and the third sentence, where you clearly state what is an assertion of
Springer’s, etc., there is no qualifier in the last sentence.

So, the likelihood that you merely “forgot” to label the offensive sentence as something “in your opinion” is nil.

Why do you do it? Here I can only guess, but what I think is that you pull that crap because (a) you know you can get away with it; and (b), you know it is going to be effective in stimulating extreme disdain for the President, and THAT, of course, is a key goal of right-wingers, wherever and whenever, they rear their … heads.

Good-bye sir, and good riddance.

Robert Aponte
When I first read this, I honestly thought this was some guy writing from a closet who couldn't find a day job. Then I noticed the email address. It turns out Aponte is a professor of sociology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

A student at Rate-My-Professor notes:

Dr. Aponte claims to be unbiased, but truth be told. He's not. If you go into his class, be forewarned. he's VERY liberal. VERY VERY LIBERAL... On the plus side. he's got the easiest class ever. Though I wonder if he's depressed by the way he acts! You've been warned.
Hey Prof, Aren't you saying the same thing I am, saying that Obama is lying or misleading when you write?

The first five sentences are perfectly fine. While even I agree with part of it –that Obama is wise enough to know that advocating rationing is a death knell for reform—and you have every right to be critical of that
Of course, I don't focus on his being "wise" when he recognizes the problem, I call it lying or being misleading when he is "wise" enough to recognize the problem but doesn't state what he knows.

4 comments:

  1. Wenzel,

    Really funny he trotted out the "secret agent for the insurance industry" meme. I got accused of being an insurance industry lobbyist nearly every time I commented at Rolfe Winkler's Option ARMageddon blog when I took issue with Winkler's idiotic pandering for reasonable insurance regulation and sound reserve regulation.

    Is this some kind of go-to boogie man for people of a certain political persuasion or something?

    Btw, I had the same experience with an econ professor in college. He kept assuring me that he'd love to debunk me in an intellectual fashion but he just didn't have the time. Funny how someone who makes their living off of intellectualism can't find time for it. I suppose it took him less time to share (at length) how offended he was, rather than just explain why you were wrong?

    Seems like he knows deep down you're right, he just doesn't like facing the fact that his cherished icon might be a liar.

    It's too bad you toss left-wing out there so much (not that I disagree with you... though I do think the whole 'left-right' spectrum is meaningless to libertarians)... it makes it so easy for this quack to this he's refuted you by pointing out your 'right-wing' motivation.

    Is it any wonder why people who think like this, ultimately resort to violence to settle their political disagreements?

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  2. Wow, someone has diaper rash. Obama's misleading streak extends beyond healthcare:

    -He hawked himself as THE opponent of the Iraq intervention and we remain there.

    -He deliberately rushed the passage of the various stimulus crapages to avoid critical scrutiny.

    -He's kvetched about Republican fiscal irresponsibility - and "one-upped" them by running even greater budget deficits and monetary inflation.

    -He took credit for the Navy Seal headshots of the Somali morons during that little hostage crisis even though the naval commander in charge was the one who made the call.

    -He claims he recognizes the right to own firearms - and simultaneously supported the D.C. gun laws which were virtual prohibitions on all guns period.

    I was under the impression that we all were well aware that there has been an incongruence between the man's claims and the facts of reality.

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  3. Haha good good read. I love how he accused you of not labelling its as "in my opinion" when you clearly stated "I think it is the latter"

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  4. Mencken, as almost always, has said it best:

    "Consider [the pedagogue] in his highest incarnation: the university professor. What is his function? Simply to pass on to fresh generations of numskulls a body of so-called knowledge that is fragmentary, unimportant, and, in large part, untrue. His whole professional activity is circumscribed by the prejudices, vanities and avarices of his university trustees, i.e., a committee of soap-boilers, nail manufacturers, bank-directors and politicians. The moment he offends these vermin he is undone. He cannot so much as think aloud without running a risk of having them fan his pantaloons."

    http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/mencken.htm

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