The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Banned Words (In The Interests Of Freedom!)

    By Michael Maiello on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 12:02pm | Politics

    Just some things I don't want to see on any blogs anymore, anywhere.  These words and phrases are now banned until further notice on all of the Internet.  I will be working with my friends at the NSA to enforce this. By the way, they aren't all that prevalent at Dag.  This is just stuff irking me on the rest of the Internet.

    The List

    We the people...

    Duly appointed officials...

    Duly elected representatives (or president)...

    He (She/They/It) broke his (her/their/its) oath... (I'm so sick of it).

    Those who would trade freedom for security... (seriously, stop it.  In the history of mankind, this quotation has never convinced anyone of anything and everyone has heard it a zillion times.)

    The United States is not a democracy it is a Rep-- (Stop it, we know. We went to middle school.)

    My (yours, his/hers) Constitutional rights... (will not be determined in the comments section of Slate).

    Military jargon when used by non-military veterans or by people who haven't worked closely with he military in some capacity.  This ban will be especially enforced when it comes to tactical discussions because they are a waste of time for amateurs.

    Add more below!

     

     

     

     

    Topics: 
    Politics

    Comments

    Would your military jargon include collateral damage? 'Cause I kinda think that one is useful for ironic purposes at least…


    by Verified Atheist on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 12:06pm

    "Big Brother" (and related Orwell references, especially from people who haven't read him since 9th grade English class)

    "First they came for the [insert persecuted group]..."

    "Repuglicans" (It was dumb the first time someone blogged it in 800 B.C., the 100,000,000th time is nauseating.)

    "MEGA-SHARK!!!" Ok, the joke got old, but now I kinda miss it.

    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 12:27pm

    Those are great ones.  Especially the "first they came for," poem.  Drives me nuts when somebody posts the whole thing earnestly.


    by Michael Maiello on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 12:30pm

    First they came for MEGA-SHARK, and I did not speak out because I was a Giant Octopus…


    by Verified Atheist on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 12:55pm

    :^D


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 2:53pm

    And... Senator Sanders just sent me an email. "An Orwellian World."  Sorry, Bernie.  Rules apply to you, too!


    by Michael Maiello on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 2:59pm

    An interesting aside: I just spent 10 days in Myanmar and while I was there I read Orwell's Burmese Days and a travel/political history book called Finding George Orwell in Burma.

    In Myanmar, they jokingly refer to Burmese Days, Animal Farm, and 1984 as "the Burmese trilogy." While my experience in the country was very different from the experience of the journalist who wrote Finding George Orwell..(​published 10 years ago), I still experienced enough to understand that the United States is so far away from "Big Brother" as to make any claims to the contrary patently ridiculous.


    by Orlando on Tue, 06/18/2013 - 10:08pm

    You are not alone in your thoughts, Orlando. Ran across three guys basically joking about your point the other day on Twitter:

    https://twitter.com/arabist/status/343068538950537216

    (Ibish is a prominent Arab-American, Arabist is Issandr El Amrani, a Moroccan-American blogger who's been in Egypt for at least a decade, and Gara is an Aussie writer working in NYC. I was wondering if Issandr's Amreeka is special was meant along the lines of Dana Carvey's Church Lady from Saturday Night Live.)


    by artappraiser on Tue, 06/18/2013 - 10:42pm

    If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.


    by A Guy Called LULU on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 12:36pm

    The Democrat Party. Bastards, which is why I have to write repubs.

    The blood from the sacred tree...what? Maple Syrup?

    From my cold, dead hands or whatever. Does anyone know if Heston was buried with his musket?

    Too big to fail. I hate that one.

    The Washington Redskins? What?

    Reality shows? They are supposed to represent some sort of reality?

    Guns don't kill people, crazy people with guns kill people.

    Outsourcing. Just a way of bypassing Governmental Unions and taking away workers' rights.

    That's enough today


    by Richard Day on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 12:50pm

    "I wonder how many of you have the courage to repost this ...?"


    by Donal on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 1:44pm

    Ooh, good one.


    by Michael Maiello on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 2:58pm

    I'm adding, "betrayed his country." Such sanctimony!  I can't take it.


    by Michael Maiello on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 3:52pm

    Okay, fair enough!

    As long as we are not speaking of Dick Cheney!


    by Richard Day on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 4:36pm

    Oh, and everybody... stop using the phrase "tradecraft" like you're a secondary character in a Robert Ludlum novel, unless you are.


    by Michael Maiello on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 4:43pm

    WE THE PEOPLE, are not going to give up our common language, because you of the internet elites, think you know what's good for the rest of us. Maybe you prefer we all write and speak in Latin? 


    by Resistance on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 7:52pm

    Nope. Latin is totes pretentious.


    by Michael Maiello on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 8:58pm

    First they came for the internet elites...


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 9:04pm

    Love ya, man.


    by Michael Maiello on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 9:32pm

    Your crack, as usual, is much better than my literal comment below. But didja notice that Snowden wears eyeglasses. Huh, didja?

     


    by artappraiser on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 9:50pm

    It's ironic that you really don't seem to be aware of the history of the kind of populist rhetoric you sometimes spout. That it is totally antithetical to other rhetoric you often spout about protecting libertarian style freedom. The authoritarians you fear, they don't need guns and they don't fear your guns, as they have much more powerfully used people like you as weapons against yourselves to eventually enslave you in a system you cannot get out of.


    by artappraiser on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 9:42pm

    Evidently, it is you unaware, that one of the foremost motivations of Authoritarian governments, in order to quell dissent/rebellion, is for them to get the guns and they do employ the foolish, to assist them. Most of the time, the sheep have no idea of the secret campaign against them, until it is too late and they are being directed to their fleecing and eventual slaughter with NO means to resist. 


    by Resistance on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 10:58pm

    The police state is you: ...In 1959, William S. Burroughs wrote this: “A functioning police state needs no police.”....


    by artappraiser on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 8:58pm

    "It is what it is...."

    "Bipartisan..." in the context of complete disrespect and opposition to the other side. 

    "The American people..." In the context of totally screwing 99% of them.

    "Entitlements". As though they are undeserved and not pre-paid for by recipients. 

     

    There are so many more, but I have to stop somewhere

     


    by CVille Dem on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 9:31pm

    CVille!  Brilliant additions.  I think, if everyone's okay with it, that we'll take suggestions for the next week and then collate everything and have the NSA enforce it for us.  So far, I am behind every ban.


    by Michael Maiello on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 9:33pm

    Goebbels would be so proud of you.......


    by ocean-kat on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 11:30pm

    You know, back when I was in high school, first they came for the 7 words you can't say on TV and I didn't speak up because I would never ever use such filthy language when I was a teen.

    Then they came for the n-word and I didn't speak up because there was too much history and anger surrounding that word.

    Then they came for the trite overused cliches and I was left with nothing to post.

    /sigh


    by ocean-kat on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 10:04pm

    yes


    by artappraiser on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 10:20pm

    Thumbs.  Plus One.  Ditto.  Banned.  Banned.  Banned.


    by Michael Maiello on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 1:45am

    Good luck with that...it's from the smiley set offered by the publisher you have chosen to associate with, buster...heh heh heh heh.....


    by artappraiser on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 1:28pm

    angry


    by Michael Maiello on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 7:10pm

    You're starting to get the picture, but don't despair. Our metaphors are broken right now so smiley sets [visual language], are sometimes more useful.  But wait > enlightened  > writers like you might find new ones?  smiley


    by artappraiser on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 9:49pm

    We the People appreciate this comment


    by Michael Wolraich on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 12:06am

    As your duly self-appointed leader, I applaud this as Constitutional!


    by Michael Maiello on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 1:44am

    Some get old quicker than others. The half-life of this one should have been well before the first time it was spoken.

    RED LINE  Grrrrr angryno

     


    by A Guy Called LULU on Sun, 06/16/2013 - 8:56am

    Yes!  Driving me nuts.  Also, "Line in the sand."


    by Michael Maiello on Sun, 06/16/2013 - 2:20pm

    Adding, from me: WMD (too vague, say the weapons to mean).

    Adding, via Wolraich: All Bush era intelligence failures as a reason for not supporting an foreign intervention, in the absence of a compelling reason why the Bush era failures are being repeated.


    by Michael Maiello on Sun, 06/16/2013 - 6:52pm

    At the end of the day, we must overstate the bottom line that accounts for the prevalent weltanschauung  castigating our post colonial empire in order to disenable the misunderstood degree of manufactured discontent over just how badly the financial elites have cluster fucked general prosperity.

    Because if we didn't use the mangled semaphore of post collegiate frat jokes to outline the undeniable eclat of improperly quoted French words, hardly a word would be heard.

    Certainly not a discouraging one.


    by moat on Sun, 06/16/2013 - 9:10pm