Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
If that's what he was saying, suggesting that I want fact-free politics isn't a very good way of expressing it. In fact, it's ridiculous, considering that a couple of pages ago in this very thread I had a drawn out disagreement with Cali Panthers Fan on the basis that I consider it absolutely essential that every claim about the world be subject to critical analysis. I couldn't agree more with your last sentence.
What I was disputing at the outset was the notion that that whether you agree with the statement of the grieving parent or not is relevant to the question of whether it's exploitative to put them up on a stage to score political points. Of course you're going to be more sympathetic to the emotional case laid out by someone who's trashing the other guys' candidate. Of course you're going to think the other side doing the same is unethical and perverse. Both sides are using the same tactic at the end of the day, so this is not a false equivalence. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
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I would agree with that, but in my opinion the question of whether putting up grieving parents is exploitive or not is really a side issue, more of a distraction to what is important. I don't care for it, as it seems so transparent appealing to really basic emotions, but it has been going on forever and I don't expect it to change. As such, it is better to move on and parse out what was actually said. I didn't think either parent said anything overly surprising, considering the audience, but the reaction of the candidates was the real story. One reacted as my 4 year old would. I don't want my 4 year old running a bath, let alone a country.