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Morality Games said:First, I don't always live up to the ideal (ideals tend to work like that), but I never celebrate my or anybody else's inability to not live up to the ideal. If I fail, it isn't something I am proud of, though I will own it if forced to.
That reeks of a liberal mea culpa. Now if I ever see a thread where a Democrat is being hammered for a borderline non-issue and you don't post with a moderate condemnation, I consider you a sinner by omission.
Second, partisanship colors the debate over what a bad policy or what ethical politics are to the point actual badness or ethics is very hard to determine. I'm trying to stay in the realm of the obvious, where a strongly worded belief based on a significant amount of feeling fostered during a short period of time and suffering being undermined by its own originator is unmanly.
Unmanly? Really? What a red herring. Why not just say that all anti-Obama people are impotent.
'Boldness' is a generous way of putting it. It would have been more bold if he hadn't hastened to ensure his action couldn't be construed as breaking state law by refusing service to supporters of health care reform. As it is, he undermined the force of his own message by claiming he wasn't taking it that far; he stood up for his ideals to the point of expressing an inflammatory emotional response, but not to the point of actually putting his job at risk.
A stoical person would not be capable of such an act (it would embarrass and demean him in his own eyes), and stoicism, a philosophy of self-reliance, determination, and dutifulness, is in practice a realization of manliness. Thus, his masculinity comes into question (not in a biological sense, but a moral one).
Stoical people can make bold movements, but bold movements require personal risk and require a lot of build up. The doctor would have to endure a lot for years before an action like this could be considered a morally legitimate complaint rather than a tantrum. That's what we intuitively expect, since toddlers are sensitive to the point that every deviance from their specifications is a cause for them to voice a huge complaint; they don't need to suffer over a long period of time.
Wow. Just wow. Seriously, warn me before you post next time so I can grab a glass of water. If you were any more dry and coarse, you'd be sandpaper. You got bent the hell out of shape over a joke. Amazing.