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