hot tempers at Mefi
TBC posts this: A 16 year-old girl was hanged in Iran for having a "sharp tongue," i.e. back-talking the judge.

Apparently Americans aren't allowed to think that's a bad thing, according to Mayor Curley:

Let he who lives in a country that doesn't execute retarded people cast the first stone.

(meaning any American in this thread had better decry all executions of people with diminished responsibility, not just ones in countries full of brown people with a different religion.)

ed\26h rolls his eyes:

Someone's used the term "brown people" in an attempt to straw-man an opposing argument; that happens really very frequently. Tu quoque!

Mayor Curley adamantly defends his beloved strawman, credibility be dammed:

"Straw-man," contrary to the example that people have tried to set here (it shows up in about 1/4 of the threads), isn't just a magical term that negates. I used the term ["brown people," apparently] to anticipate the people that I'm guessing will express the strongest horror to this news story-- folks who try to justify their loathing of non-christians by painting every single musilm as a nutjob with C4 strapped to his/her body. And they'll show up. Give it a while.

Ah, Mayor Curley! "Anticipate" makes an Ass out of -- oh wait, that's not right. Anyway, anticipating is bad, mmmkay?

Then all hell breaks loose. Was the Iranian girl a martyr for freedom or just trying to get herself a Darwin award? Is capitol punishment really really evil or just regular not-so-bad evil? What the hell kind of language is that with all those squiggly letters?

Check your compassion at the door, forget that it's all about the life of an actual human being and settle yourself in for the fireworks! :D

(Post a new comment)

	visp 2004-08-24 08:45 pm UTC (link)
	Where would the internet be if the U.S. government executed retarded people for mouthing off? Bwahaha! (Reply to this)(Thread)

	smo 2004-08-24 10:24 pm UTC (link)
	I wonder if that's too long a quote to be an icon? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littlest_lurker 2004-08-24 11:51 pm UTC (link)
	I hope not. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	vasaris 2004-08-24 08:46 pm UTC (link)
	Where would the internet be if the U.S. government executed retarded people for mouthing off? Best. Quote. EVAR. But yes, the number of people who seem to miss the point is amazing... and amusing. (Reply to this)

	teratologist 2004-08-24 09:45 pm UTC (link)
	I admit that executing murderous retards is kind of sketchy, but it still beats electing them president. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	visp 2004-08-24 10:00 pm UTC (link)
	Or not electing them, but letting the courts put them in anyways. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littlest_lurker 2004-08-24 11:52 pm UTC (link)
	drumroll cymbal crash (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	OT, but... xturtle 2004-08-25 12:40 am UTC (link)
	... random drive-by icon love. Because it's SO TRUE! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	rubber_baby 2004-08-25 05:17 am UTC (link)
	I admit that executing murderous retards is kind of sketchy, but it still beats electing them president. OMG ded. ded!!! Will be reciting this line to everyone I see for at least, oh, the next three hours. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	bunny 2004-08-24 10:18 pm UTC (link)
	This is definitely not Teh Funneh. Wanky, but not Teh Funneh. (Reply to this)

Oh damn, I am getting urge to wank

necronomist
2004-08-25 01:00 am UTC (link)

"meaning any American in this thread had better decry all executions of people with diminished responsibility"

Uh, what if you're an American against the death penalty for their own reasons? I get to call the execution wrong and you a jackass. I mean, I rather discuss this off-line, but really.

(And Iranians aren't Arabs, and don't look especially brown to me, unless you're going to consider Italians and Greeks 'brown')

(Reply to this)

	blackjackrocket 2004-08-25 09:34 am UTC (link)
	You missed out on what I thought was even wankier--the whole thing might not have happened at all! There's a lot of comments debating the validity of the story, and they can't seem to find any major news source reporting on it. (Reply to this)