Monday, September 24, 2007

TEH STUPID, IT BURNS!

Idris Leppla, a senior at Columbia University, is astonished to learn that the Naval Academy exists to educate future naval officers. (Hat tip to Wizbang.)

To paraphrase the classic line from Billy Madison:

Ms. Leppla, what you've just written is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent article were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone who has laid eyes on your screed is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

1 comment:

MLEH said...

You're a little late to the fair, Ken. It gets worse. Here is her response to the first million comments about her article:

"To all of you who took the time to read this article:

"First of all, thank you very much for reading it. I do not know how to respond except to say that you are right in many respects: this article was not meant to be a piece of investigative journalism. It was not meant to serve as a litany of facts about the miltiary or specifically about the navy. It was not meant to dismiss the importance of having a military and it was not meant to pubically embarrass my brother.

"In fact, my brother is such an incredible person that he and I have talked about how this reflects poorely on me, and he feels sorry that I come off as someone unable to conduct thorough research.

"All I can say is that this article is not factual. It is based on emotion--and sadly emotion is what hinders rationality. Emotion and fear, emotion and uncertainty, emotion and sadness--is what prevents our clear vision and our normal perception of things. And I wrote this article as a function of my emotion. Because, truthfully, when any member of my family could be in danger (be it in the next month or next decade), I get emotional and I get fearful. Perhaps we all do. And for mothers and fathers whose lives have been bereaved by losing a son or daughter in the military, their lives may too become run by emotion.

"The real question is: how do we balance an emotional knee jerk reaction to a personal experience with what should be done on a national level such that fewer families have to have this emotional shading of facts because they are too hurt to see anything else? How do we prevent either emotion, an an obstruction of facts, or personal motives from running our national polity? How do we do this on a citizen level, and how do we do this as a public official?

"Before you criticize this article, please help me on the above questions--and if you can do this--if you can balance the emotional needs of military families with just and right conduct in the world--you can run the world."

It's still all about her and her "emotional knee jerk reaction". And she wants something done on a national level to protect her tender sensibilities (and those she projects onto other families with service members). At least she admits that her article "is not factual".

God help us!