There was no side-step and no waffle; nor will there be one, now. I said exactly what I meant to say, just as I meant to say it. My reference to "Inglorious Bastards" was to one german soldier, hardly a Nazi, and his personal bravery in the face of death, also very specific: it was irrelevant to the illustration of dignity in the face of death, at whose hands he was to die. As for your taking offense in what I said, all I can say is none was intended. Regarding the tragedy that unfolded in the lives of Jewish people before, and during, WWII, none who was not touched in a personal way can feel more deeply sorry about it than I do. It is, and will remain, a great stain on the human race.
what you mean to say and what people take away from that can be two completely different things. Obviously the two of us took away something that you didn't mean. So maybe you should rethink what you meant to say.
I think V has been very clear in his intention, to wit: "I said exactly what I meant to say, just as I meant to say it." So the only "obviously" here is that he has no intention of rethinking what he said, irrespective of what either you or I took away from it. I, for one, have no intention of attempting to rationalize away the umbrage I took at his statements, his attempt at clarification notwithstanding. As to his other statement, "none who was not touched in a personal way can feel more deeply sorry about it than I do.", I believe the statement. Nevertheless, V was not personally touched. I was (and unfortunately, continue to be). That may well be part of the problem. Nonetheless, the lack of sensitivity and unwillingness to at least reword what he meant to say is indicative of an inability to understand what I and perhaps you, mean to say. So be it and so goes it. Since V stands by his, and I stand by mine, let it die in a (pun intended) Mexican standoff. And V, I know you're reading this, so excuse the back door commentary. It didn't seem worth it to double post my comments to both you and 4bidden.
Mixz1, knowing something about your family's history makes it easy to understand the risk of evoking a powerful emotional response with any allusions to this period of time; but, I will continue to risk it. The Jewish people were subjected to years of unspeakable humiliations, and affronts to their personal dignity, before being marched off to their deaths. It is easy to understand how they would not have known how to respond to this. But, there were those who saw the indignities as a foretaste of things to come, and took any opportunity that presented itself to leave Germany, and other territories under the control of Germany, prior to the outbreak of WWII. Sadly, they couldn't all manage to do so. The consistent theme in what I've written on this thread has been human dignity, and the possible loss thereof, engendered by the situation in which our travelers now find themselves. Just how much further this process will go, in an attempt to guarantee safety in the air, remains to be seen. It's different here, of course, from the situation that pertained in Nazi Germany, which is why I spoke of it as my emotional response to the probing and prodding, now scanning; but, for free people, it should remain a topic of discussion just how far we are willing to let this current process go. __________________
Anyway, this started off as an interesting story and has evolved into something much too serious. It's your choice. Scanner, pat-down or don't fly.
The unfortunate reality is that Terrorist's don't need to bring anything on board with them, to hijack a plane. I'm sure those trained in the military can attest to that. There are countless ways of killing someone with your bare hands. Does it strike anyone else as strange that you are allowed to bring lighters on board? Aren't they potentially little bombs?
Your everyday Bic lighter couldn't do any real damage other than some shaken nerves. Now the liquid explosives that the terrorists in England were wanting to use would have been a different story. Even a small amount could do some serious damage. I kinda mentioned this before but the powers that be MUST start thinking proactively instead of re-actively.
That may have been true pre-9/11 but now unless they book the whole plane for themselves, every man, woman, child, and little old lady on the flight will be ripping the would-be hijackers apart. On 9/11 and before the proper thing to do was obey the hijackers and wait to be released, ransomed, or rescued... in today's world I doubt anyone will stay in their seat very long during such a thing... I know I wouldn't... The long list of things that you can't bring is mostly a plocebo for the flying public.... as if fingernail clippers or even a giant hunting knife would be sufficient to take over a plane now days.... even if you get a gun on board.. how many shots do you have? 15+1 maybe.. on a flight with how many passengers who are ready to bludgeon you to death.... Honestly, I'm amazed that the "terrorists" haven't started taking down planes as its seems it would be fairly easy to do... an ipod stuffed with plastic explosive for example would be more than enough to rupture a pressurized plane... so I don't get the whole explosive shoe and underwear nonsense really.... it makes me think that those attempts, like this time square thing, are the work of the wannabe's that don't have any real knowledge or connections to the groups that they claim to be a part of....
Actually I think there are a couple of reasons. 1. The ingredients that would make a useful bomb are actually difficult to get. By useful I mean small but powerful. IE the Oklahoma City bombing took 1 ton of fertilizer to do that kind of damage. 2. As much as we complain about security at airports it's still pretty good. It's the media that makes us all paranoid that there are terrorist around every corner. 3. The technology makes it pretty hard to get a bomb through. Scanners, X-ray, sniffers that detect even days old residue of explosives and what not are very good and widely used. I feel pretty safe. On top of that I agree that in the post 9/11 world people would take action.
I don't believe that you feel anything V, I think that's the problem with you. Why risk hurting someone further? Why not lay off when you have offended a regular poster here, especially one who has been through personal hell because of the holocaust? Why not apologize for your horrendous choice of words and back off and be a good and kind member of this community? Why the hell not grow some huevos and be kind for once? I think the reason is because you HAVE to be right, you HAVE to have the last word, you LOVE to argue publicly. And I don't think you actually feel it when you hurt others, I don't think other people's pain is real to you. Since you joined this board it's gone from being a friendly community to being a risky place to speak your mind. I would like nothing more than to see CancunCare go back to being warm again. But it won't do so until you grow the ability to empathize with others. So now, V, prove me wrong! Prove that you are better than this. Apologize to Mixz1 and stop dragging people's feelings through the mud. Stop attacking people here. Stop hurting people here. Leave your ego at the door and realize that this board is not here to make you feel good about yourself. Please start being a good kind healthy empathetic member of this community or stop posting! I am thoroughly tired of seeing you hurt my friends here. And I'm sad that so many of my favorite posters have stopped posting since your ego took over.
