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Sentences of Great Sadness
Andrew Olmsted, a blogger who posted at Obsidian Wings as G'Kar, was killed yesterday in Iraq. He gave one of his co-bloggers a final post in the event of his death. It's very painful to read and also funny and sad. Here is one of the few sections that I can bear to post.
Believe it or not, one of the things I will miss most is not being able to blog any longer. The ability to put my thoughts on (virtual) paper and put them where people can read and respond to them has been marvelous, even if most people who have read my writings haven't agreed with them. If there is any hope for the long term success of democracy, it will be if people agree to listen to and try to understand their political opponents rather than simply seeking to crush them.
Posted by Alex Tabarrok on January 4, 2008 at 03:37 PM in Philosophy | Permalink
Comments
Thanks for posting this. Here's to Andy!
Posted by: Siri at Jan 4, 2008 4:53:55 PM
Both heartbreaking and uplifting, hard not to get choked up. I couldn't help but think of the end of "A Tale of Two Cities."
Posted by: Bill at Jan 4, 2008 8:14:45 PM
(a) There's no long-term hope for democracy. Fortunately, there is long-term hope for people.
(b) Until people decide (or enforce) more cooperative strategies of action between people, we can't (I don't mean won't, but can't) all just get along -- else the biggest jerk wins by being the only one doing the fighting. We SHOULD rip each others blog posts to shreds when we find the ideas behind them offensive.
(c) I'm sorry some dude died to make this post happen. That's where our democratically elected monkey-man did for us.
Posted by: infopractical at Jan 4, 2008 10:05:08 PM
"That's where our democratically elected monkey-man did for us."
Please select your own "abysmal-state-of-education" joke, and insert.
Posted by: DBrooks at Jan 4, 2008 11:34:02 PM
The last sentences and paragraphs of his last post were simply beautiful. My thoughts and prayers go to his family and friends.
Posted by: thehova at Jan 4, 2008 11:53:13 PM
I'm driven to tears. Very moving.
Posted by: Raul at Jan 5, 2008 3:31:29 AM
D'oh, typo. Blogs don't encourage me to proof or edit often. I still blame the monkey-people. Or the seven foot tall lizards.
Posted by: infopractical at Jan 5, 2008 10:55:02 AM
This was one of the most profound writings I've come across in a very long time. Not in it's all-knowing content, but its absolute humanity. A real person, with real fears and doubts, with a full heart and an unbelievably healthy perspective on life. We are all poorer...
Posted by: Chicagoan at Jan 7, 2008 10:44:38 AM
To you it may be profound; to me it's incredibly naive.
Treating one's political foes as worthy opponents and not enemies to be crushed is a wonderful idea -- so long as they practice it themselves. But when applied to opponents who really are not only willing to kill you on a battlefield but also to kill noncombatants indiscriminately, all you accomplish is to show the entire world that you're a hapless buffoon.
Anyone who still doesn't believe that that's the kind of opponent we face in the Middle East should travel there and see for himself.
It would serve the Europeans right if we *did* pull out of the region. They're the ones who face an oil cutoff (or at least, will have to kiss Mr. Putin's feet to get any) after Iran and Syria gobble up the entire Persian Gulf region; we've got plenty of oil here at home, as soon as we tell the Greens where to go and start drilling offshore in California and the Gulf of Mexico again.
Posted by: John David Galt at Jan 8, 2008 2:45:23 PM
Posted by: me at Mar 19, 2008 5:04:54 AM
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