5 Replies to “Really, I’d like to know.”

1. Kathy says:

   May 19, 2004 at 5:26 pm

   I think it’s because men don’t have to (and generally don’t) wear underwear when they throw on a dishdasha.  You’re right: it’s all about the liberating aspects of the flowing robes, but more to the point it’s about the liberation of certain body parts. 

   I mean, after all, who wants to wear underwear if they don’t have to?

2. Jeff G says:

   May 19, 2004 at 5:30 pm

   So simple.  Well, guess I’ll get the beard going.

3. Marble says:

   May 19, 2004 at 5:31 pm

   And hence the misunderstanding of why making those Iraqis wear ladies underpants was so humiliating. When your boys are used to freeranging, putting them into a thong is painful.

4. Jeff B. says:

   May 19, 2004 at 9:51 pm

   Jeff, I think you know what the answer is.  Actually, maybe you don’t – maybe you’re just WRONG. 

   Well.  At the risk of coming off as depressingly earnest in my response, here’s the serious answer, gleaned from my interactions with my peers: these people aren’t conscious unpatriotic, nor do they consciously think they’re working towards the detriment of the United States.  They simply don’t even calculate in those terms – they’re wholly orthogonal to their mindset, never even entering the picture.  What drives these folks is an overwhelming desire to have been RIGHT at any cost.  Afterwards, they make shake off the haze and proclaim, David Byrnelike, “MAH GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?” (for psychological reasons this is unlikely), but right now the folks rooting against the war effort are totally locked in a myopic need to prove that bastard Bush wrong.

   It’s as simple – and dishearteningly petty – as that.  And, speaking as a Republican, the Right has by no means been immune to such behavior over the years; it’s a human affliction, exacerbated by the nastiness and intensity of politics, nothing more.  I think that the one saving grace of the Republicans is that, should a similar threat arise (or continue) during a Democratic administration, we may reflect on the Left’s behavior during this era and rise above it.  I hope.

5. Jeff G says:

   May 19, 2004 at 9:57 pm

   I’d rise above it.  Of that I’m absolutely certain.

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