I am affronted
I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, therefore I am an American citizen by birth. I am American by choice: I live here because I truly believe this is the best country in the world. I also place high value on character, and on people like Pat Tillman who lived by their convictions. It is therefore twice as offensive to read diatribes such as this, and to hear the "writer" talk of "my neighborhood in Puerto Rico", and watch him gasbag his way through some sort of tripe about "those living outside the (sic) American borders".

I am insulted, and angry to a point beyond words, to see the man who wrote this refer to Pat Tillman as a pendejo. While the "writer" says it means "idiot", the word originally meant pubic hair, and its equivalent in English slang is a**h*le.

I am appalled that a college newspaper would not check the meaning of the word, and publish a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack on a human being who died in service to his country.

I am disgusted that people like the "writer" can lead parasitic lives in freedom, benefiting from the guarantees of the American Constitution to free speech, simply because throughout our history heroes like Pat Tillman have died for the cause of liberty. I am so disgusted that even when I'm aware that bringing to anyone's attention this "writer" glorifies him, I must comment on it.

Samizdata's Johnathan Pearce says, [Note: Johnathan initially thought the writer was a woman]

I will not bother to fisk the piece. The illogicality of it is so glaring, its vile intent so obvious, that a line by line response would merely insult the intelligence of this blog's readership. Suffice to say that a man gave up the promise of a fat paycheck and the comforts of a loving family to go and join the army, knowing that in so doing he might be called upon to fight in situations those moral perfectionists in our academic world would find abhorrent.
. . . This sorry excuse for a human being has not just traduced the memory of a very brave and good man; she (sic) has done so against all those who believed they were fighting to defend the freedoms we enjoy.

I am angry.


Update: As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... per the Watcher's instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.