Startling

[LettersFromTatyana]

But you have to admit it has a Twain-y twang to it.

It does, doesn't it? Much more so than the MLK quote sounded like MLK, I think.

Are you sure thast wasn't a quote from Mark Twain? He was around a long time before Darrow, who might have been quoting him.

I'm not a Twain expert, but if you do a google news search for Twain and quote, you'll find a good number of articles discussing the misattribution of a butchered quote.

 

[Dual_Triode]

I'm not a Twain expert, but if you do a google news search for Twain and quote, you'll find a good number of articles discussing the misattribution of a butchered quote.

I apologize for attributing the quote to Twain. Those words were all over the net after the event and they struck a chord. I re-posted the quotation without researching its origin.

"All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike some one they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed any one, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." Clarence Darrow - The Story of My Life (1932).

~Dual

 

[BrianCaster]

Dead Laden is more powerful......................

 

[Quiet_Cool]

I believe the hatred of Bin Ladin was and is even more virulent than the hatred of Hitler and Tojo, but I was very young during WW2. Even now, Hitler is an object of hate for most people, and I have some doubt feelings about Bin Ladin will be that strong in 60 years.

A decent point, but I'll disagree with a lot of what is being said here (well, sort of what's being said, maybe being referenced is more appropriate). I don't think hate is the issue here.

I also don't think it's really an issue of victory over Al-Queda, although clearly it's at least a statement that sooner or later...

It's seems to me, that this is what we've been waiting for since 9/11. We found an object to focus on as a result of the bombing. In a distinct sense, it's our chance to accept and put to rest what happened. It's closure, not hate or even an act of war.

Q_C

 

[Athalia]

While I'm at it, may as well post that this wasn't Twain:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/05/mark-twain-didnt-say-thing-about-obituaries/37279/

The correct quote is, "I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction," and it is from Clarence Darrow.

The poster may have confused that quote with one that Mark Twain did say (AFAIK);

I did not attend his funeral but I sent a very nice letter to his family saying that I approved of it."

As for quotes concerning bin Laden, one that comes to mind is:

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
--Blaise Pascal

That sums up my feeling about bin Laden. I don't mourn his death, but his life, and the forces within and without that sent him down the road to his ruin, even before his death.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Elites act on principles.
Bums act on appetites.
Middleclass respond to polls.

Elites act on self-interest.
Bums act on immediacies.
The Middle Class does want to know what they should do, and polls are one way of finding out.

I think that Elites do act on principle; but that means the actual Elite, not the people who tend to be seen as Elite. With the NFL draft behind us, football makes an interesting example. T.O. is no longer (if he ever was, and I don't really believe so) Elite, he's just very good at something and very visible. In extension to the example, T.O. might be good at something, but it won't save him from his arrogance, vanity, and self-servitude. So-called-Elites tend to be Bums in nice new shoes.

Bums... appetites, immediacies. Selfishness, more or less, and want. There are differences, but you agree to an extent, and I agree with you both. They are exactly that; self-serving and absorbed, to the extent that they offer nothing to the world, but take all they can from it. They're leeches, more or less.

The Average person acts based on trend. Polls express trends and they follow the leader. They simply want to know which leader they want to follow.

I changed middle class to average person because, while I realize the references may have been monetary, I don't believe money means a damn thing. One group has too much, one too little, the rest enough to get by on. I work for a Fortune 500 company; trust me, monetary gain and principle know nothing of each other. They may have once, but they disowned each other some time ago.

Q_C

 

[TE999]

There's a new mixed drink appearing in bars across America...it's called a 'Bin Laden'...two shots and a splash of water.