Barbara Walters

[Sitaram]

I never said it was funny. I was not even certain where it is fact or apocryphal. I posted it here as a curiosity, to see what people might think, to be perfectly honest. I was drinking coffee, this morning, and there it was, in my email. So I posted it. Just like that Michael Moore email, that suddenly appeared in my email, from a rather successful and influential African-American business many who is close friends with my father. So I posted.

I was not aware of a joke thread. I do not particularly take an interest in jokes and humor, though I am capable of humor at times. Some jokes are quite instructive.

 

[Peder]

Sitaram, all
Just for the record, it was the original land-mine story that I took to be a joke and to which I registered my reaction. Why I thought I to be a joke would take us far afield, and I decline to start such a discussion.
Peder

 

[Sitaram]

So what you are all really trying to tell me is that there IS a jokes thread, and my very instructive theological joke about Ratzinger would be most welcome, even though it uses appalling words like

Spoiler

God

?

 

[Mari]

No, here's what I find worth discussing:

I did the following Google search:

"barbara walters" landmines OR "land mines"

Here are the first two results:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_land_mines.htm

http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/landmine.htm

Sitaram, this is homework you could have done easily.

 

[novella]

You can put jokes anywhere.

The problem with this joke here is that there's no rationale for Barbara Walters to be in it. A Princess Diana joke about land mines would make sense.

 

[Sitaram]

Good grief! I had 10 minutes before I had to leave for work. I didnt have time for homework. I pasted and posted. (I knew I could depend on the TBF for that). I type 80wpm. Some of my posts are done very quickly, thought later, I return to reflect and edit.

These are not doctoral dissertations, or drafts of a Constitution. Its supposed to be just relaxing and friendly (or at least civil).

This is how I relax (when I am not busy being pedantic.)

 

[novella]

This is an improvement

What does Princess Di have in common with landmines?

Spoiler

They both get laid by Arabs.

But she did look smashing!

 

[Mari]

Good grief! I had 10 minutes before I had to leave for work. I didnt have time for homework. I pasted and posted. (I knew I could depend on the TBF for that). I type 80wpm. Some of my posts are done very quickly, thought later, I return to reflect and edit.

Then stop doing it that way. Lesson learned.

 

[SFG75]

Barbara should walk ahead of everyone else.

Novella- , LOL-gotta love black humor.

 

[Sitaram]

For me, the profound topics of discussion in this thread are, with regard to this particular, email, why should a woman in a theocracy find it significant, regardless of whether it is fact or fiction; and in general, why are such topics as patrocide, genocide, incest and pedophilia acceptable as the topics of great literature, but poor taste in other contexts?

 

[novella]

For me, the profound topics of discussion in this thread are, with regard to this particular, email, why should a woman in a theocracy find it significant, regardless of whether it is fact or fiction;

Do you assume that living in a theocracy dictates her personal views? I live in a country whose present leadership disgusts me. It's quite possible that she does not adhere to the dictums of the society around her.

and in general, why are such topics as genocide, incest and pedophilia acceptable as the topics of great literature, but poor taste in other contexts?

Are they? I think the current popularity of the movie The Aristocrats defies this notion. It's said to be a brilliant piece of social commentary and deconstruction.

 

[Mari]

I, for one, am not suggesting that the joke was in poor taste. If you had taken the care to identify it as a joke, and to label it appropriately, I'm sure more of us could have appreciated it as a political and social comment, and discussed it accordingly. Since you labelled it carelessly, some of us expected something else, as I explained earlier.

 

[Sitaram]

When life give you lemons, make lemonade.

Life has give me you, all of you, here, for now. And life has give me to you. I can tell how thrilled you are. I have suggested what might be a worthwhile discussion.

If the agenda is to complain and find fault, then any suggestions at positive efforts to make lemonade will of course, fall upon deaf ears.

 

[novella]

I have suggested what might be a worthwhile discussion.

If the agenda is to complain and find fault, then any suggestions at positive efforts to make lemonade will of course, fall upon deaf ears.

Hold on a sec. I addressed the topic directly. You've made two basic assumptions in your proposition, both of which I disagree with. That's substantive discourse. Seriously, in what way is that finding fault?

 

[Mari]

Sitaram, what I don't see from you is this:

"I apologize for presenting this thread in a way that turned out to be misleading to some. I will try to be more careful in the future."

What I see instead is defensiveness in the form of pseudo-intellectual bluster.

 

[Sitaram]

I feel I have done absolutely nothing wrong. I cannot afford to have attorneys review my every post. I feel sorry that some of you are the way you are and feel the way you do, but sorry is different from an apology. If you want to attack and persecute me, there is absolutely nothing I can do about that. In one thread, I am told that I am pedantic and that my fellow alumni date women who look funny.

I never ask for apologies, because the people you really need them from are not capable of regretting their actions.

Certainly, I could give you an apology, for the sake of political correctness, to appease you and humor you. Is that what you want? Dishonesty? Insincerity? Sure. Why not.

"I am sorry. Please forgive me."

There is a better reason for apologizing than political correctness or appeasement. It only makes sense to apologize when there is a possiblity of forgiveness.

You do not strike me as a forgiving person.

Derrida once said that "forgiveness, if it happens at all, comes in the face of the unforgivable." What Derrida ment, was forgiveness for things like Hiroshima and the Holocaust.

 

[Mari]

...people you really need them from are not capable of regretting their actions.

Yeah, that's pretty clear.

 

[novella]

I feel I have done absolutely nothing wrong. . . .my fellow alumni date women who look funny.



.

I don't think you've done anything wrong at all. But this latter statement is false. I was referring to my own brother, I was not addressing you, and I didn't say anyone looked funny.

 

[Motokid]

The only problem I have with this thread is the word "Hiroshima" in your last post....but if I tread into that territory this thread will be locked on political grounds....

 

[Mari]

I feel that I came close to making personal comments, and may even have crossed that line, and I feel that Sitaram has indeed crossed that line:

I feel sorry that some of you are the way you are ...

You do not strike me as a forgiving person.

So, I will stop posting in this thread, and all of his others.