Reply #57: Pot, meet kettle [View All]

We're supposed to be the smart ones...and yet so many of us have limited reading comprehension skills.

Please tell me where in my original post that I:

A. said I thought withholding money as coercion to escape judgement was "ethical" or

B. said that I thought Americans should have special rules.

You didn't. That would be why I asked you if you believed those. Reread my post if you doubt me - my questions began with "is it ethical" and "do you believe" and both ended with a question mark.

Main Entry: 1ques·tion
Pronunciation: 'kwes-ch&n, 'kwesh-
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin quaestion-, quaestio, from quaerere to seek, ask
1 a (1) : an interrogative expression often used to test knowledge (2) : an interrogative sentence or clause b : a subject or aspect in dispute or open for discussion

Main Entry: as·sump·tion
Pronunciation: &-'s&m(p)-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin assumption-, assumptio taking up, from Latin assumere
1 a : the taking up of a person into heaven b capitalized : August 15 observed in commemoration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
2 : a taking to or upon oneself <the assumption of a new position>
3 : the act of laying claim to or taking possession of something <the assumption of power>
4 : ARROGANCE, PRETENSION
5 a : an assuming that something is true b : a fact or statement (as a proposition, axiom, postulate, or notion) taken for granted
6 : the taking over of another's debts

So yeah, it is very sad that you are so lacking in reading comprehension. Hopefully the dictionary references will assist you with your problem.

Simple rule: If you're going to flame, make sure the flame applies to the person you are responding to, not yourself.

frankly because we need it here. We're in so much debt I cannot grasp the number and people starve and die of preventable health problems right here at home. I think we should keep our money here until we solve these problems.

Nope, I'm not an isolationist either. But in my family, we don't buy a bunch of stuff we cannot afford and we don't feed the neighbor's kids before we feed our own.

My point in asking you the questions I asked (note once again: asked, not assumed) is to point out that there are multiple issues here. There is always the issue of what aid, if any, our country should extend. I think that if you had stated your case as such to begin with, you probably would not have been viewed in the manner you were viewed.

However, how much aid we should give, or whether we should give aid, is a separate issue from the ethics of using aid as blackmail. It also opens up the pandora's box of viewing Americans as a special class of people who are exempt from the rules. We are neither special nor exempt.