A Note on Rhetoric

Here's a good rule of thumb: In today's society, using inflammatory rhetoric--such as comparing Gitmo to a gulag or a concentration camp--will get you a soundbite, but it will also detract from your point. It's unfortunate because everyone's discussing the way you said something, not what you said. Instead of debating what's happening at Gitmo and whether or not it's appropriate for any prisoner detention area, let alone one run by a democracy, we're flinging more blame and insults and indignation back and forth about bringing up the Nazis. There's a reason Godwin's Law came about. It's because you end up debating how the comparison is or is not apt, instead of the substance of the debate. What a waste of time, and what a disservice to the real issue at hand.

By the way, stories like Durbin's speech and the way they're reported do more to confirm my opinion that the media is neither liberal nor conservative but sensationalist. Before long, all the newspapers will be tabloids.