tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post3943291332015592338..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Overcoming BiasAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-18468891771251101012007-12-11T17:47:00.000-05:002007-12-11T17:47:00.000-05:00Daniel - point taken. I was trying to point out t...Daniel - point taken. I was trying to point out that not <I>all</I> the supposed innocents killed in Iraq are. There is an untoward percentage of men of military age among those regarded as bystanders. It is too readily assumed that everyone we cannot absolutely demonstrate has been recently shooting at us is an innocent.<BR/><BR/>But you are correct - by inserting that comment, I implied the opposite: that there are few real innocents among the dead. That is of course not so, and I should not have suggested it. <BR/><BR/>Thank you for your kind words. We have a small but chummy group over here, and you will rapidly get a sense of some of the usual commenters. Most tend center-right, though we have a few from the moderate left, and an occasional visitor from a more intensely rightwing stance. We used to have a regular far-left commenter who I hope you get to meet.<BR/><BR/>About one-third of the regulars are known to me in real life.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-37283858750858926042007-12-11T15:44:00.000-05:002007-12-11T15:44:00.000-05:00Ah, yes, "overcoming bias," the "blinded by brilli...Ah, yes, "overcoming bias," the "blinded by brilliance" cohort. <BR/><BR/>I will comment on this particular matter as 'anonymous,' because, as most women know, some people are just too smart to deal with. Doesn't mean they're right. Just that they have declared themselves uniquely qualified to define the knock-out punch.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-30115298122930722072007-12-11T14:47:00.000-05:002007-12-11T14:47:00.000-05:00Dear Assistant Village Idiot,I like your blog. I c...Dear Assistant Village Idiot,<BR/><BR/>I like your blog. I clicked over here from your comment on Overcoming Bias, where I am a regular lurker and occasional commenter. <BR/><BR/>Your comment was thorough, sane, and well-reasoned. It's actually very good writing: precise and forceful, without bluster.<BR/><BR/>If I may quibble? You really threw your train off the rails at the end with the mention of "semi-innocent" bystanders. There have obviously been many, many just-plain-innocent Iraqis killed directly by US force (especially the Air Force), and many, many more killed by third parties as a result of the whole endeavor. Your argument still stands that the war is made more expensive and difficult by our squeamishness about this, but to call them "semi-innocent" seems to betray a kind of chauvinist, or perhaps racist bias. I do not accuse you of such bias; merely I wish to point out what that phrase implies.<BR/><BR/>I acknowledge that such a class of people (semi-innocent) may exist, especially in a messy place like Iraq. But certainly they are not the only victims of our "police action." <BR/><BR/>And, sadly I feel the need to point out (since this is the internet and one is always assumed to be either a raging nazi conservative or a godless pinko fool, based on whether one's argument might be coneivably grouped into either a "liberal" or "conservative" camp), I am no knee-jerk liberal. Merely a pursuer of the truth. As you strike me to be, as well. <BR/><BR/>Keep up the great blog! I've got it bookmarked.<BR/><BR/>-Danieldonniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02065447815312599386noreply@blogger.com