As a long time and loyal Straight Dope fan, your “damn fool war” line was a huge bummer to me. I can indulge your hippy self indulgence only to a point, and now you have gone to far. Buh bye Cecil.
What’s the justification for that?
"Hello
I must be going
For I just came to say
I must be going
I’m glad I came
But just the same
I must be going
Goodbye, now!"
Ah, dmunter, what a long journey it’s been. I still remember your first post like it was today… Fare thee well.
I guess I’m going to have to buy more Cecil stuff in order to counteract people who are leaving. Oh well. 
Come back Shane! Come back!
Opps, wrong person. Sorry.
In any event, Cecil likes it when you link to the column in question: Did George W. Bush go AWOL during his time in the National Guard?
Personally, I’m surprised that anyone is still reading Unca Cece’s column, given his earlier assertion that “the War of 1812 was largely the work of the War Hawks in the democratically elected U.S. Congress.” I grow faint at the thought of what he might say about the French and Indian war…
Because, you know, once you disagree with a person’s opinion on an issue, you must cut all ties with that person. :rolleyes:
It isn’t about disagreeing. What cecil doesn’t get, and Harry over at Aintitcoolnews.com and the dixie chicks and Martin sheen and anybody else you want to name doesn’t get is this. We don’t come here, listen to the Dixie Chicks or watch the West Wing to get pissed off.
You have your opinion about the war, fine go express it somewhere else, but don’t ruin our enjoyment of the website with your comments about the war.
I don’t care if it is pro-war or anti-war. This web site is about answering quirky little questions that we find interesting. Not to come here and read anti-war crap.
You enter into a contract with people when you put up your website. They expect to come here to get away from reality for a couple of minutes and read some off the wall piece on “What came first? The chicken or the egg”. We didn’t sign up for your loaded question that had no purpous but to smear the president.
You have the right to free speech, I am not denying you that. This complaint isn’t about denying you your first admendment rights. It is about betraying the trust of your equally loyal pro-war/liberation readers. Stick to what you do best. Providing an escape from reality, no matter how short that escape may be. Not to use the trust we have put in you to ambush us and make us angry.
If Cecil tiptoed just to avoid hurting people’s feelings the column wouldnt be worth reading. He doesn’t owe us anything and to expect him to silence his opinions is disgusting and anti-american. If you cant discuss your opinions in a forum like this where are we allowed to talk freely, under a rock, in a closet perhaps?
<< This web site is about answering quirky little questions that we find interesting. Not to come here and read anti-war crap. >>
Well, I’d turn that around. You come here and find all sorts of questions being asked. You choose which ones you want to read.
- If you see a column called “Did Thomas Jefferson father a child by his slave mistress?” and you are a rabid segregationist, then you may not want to read that column.
- If you are a hard-core anti-semite, then you probably don’t want to read a Report called “Who killed Jesus?”
- If you see a column called "Did George W. Bush go AWOL…?"and you think that George W. Bush is the second coming incarnate, then you probably should not read that report.
Cecil has not shied away from tackling controversial questions like the forced sterilization of Native American Women in the 1970s, scrap drives in WWII, whether women are paid less than men for the same job, and others.
He presents a factual column, and he sometimes adds a personal comment in the last sentence. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. All this fuss is over three words at the end of a very interesting and impartial column? Sheeeeesh. If you disagree with him, then put it down to him being an eccentric genius.
<< If you cant discuss your opinions in a forum like this where are we allowed to talk freely, under a rock, in a closet perhaps? >>
Free discussion is forbidden under Section 22(b)(iv) of the legislation enabling the Office for the Prevention of Disloyalty, Treason, and Terrorism under the Dept of Home Security. Free discussion is only permitted if it is in absolute accord with the latest statements of the administration. Deviation is wrong and treasonous. Disagreement with any official policy is incorrect thinking and will be suppressed.
How about we just put Cece on THE LIST
Cece is the list.
Wow, great post, C K Dexter Haven (even if it did take you more than one try to get it right ;)). I’m bookmarking this for future reference.
Great post!!!
I got the gist of your post.
Too bad you didn’t get the gist of mine.
The column’s you listed were based in FACT.
They were written with no political agenda whatsoever.
I loved those articles. What I am talking about is ambushing his readers with a political hack piece that had no other purpose but to espouse his own political views thus betraying his readers that are on the other side of the coin.
Is Cecil going to do the history on Clinton and any other presidents who may have pulled strings in order to get out of service and the short comings they had in their youth?
Cecil usually deals in facts. His comments on the “Stupid War” and how Bush is going to come down on the wrong side of history is partisan hack trash.
If he wants to discuss his views in this forum, go right ahead, be my guest. Keep it off the main page and be a little more sensitive to your other readers who may hold different opinions about this SUBJECTIVE matter.
The column in itself was just a hack piece. An opportunity to bash the president because he could. I have a great idea, lets do a whole week in “factual column’s” that are thinly disguised attempts at advancing one’s political views!! And that way, we can disenfranchise the rest of our audience.
Whatever views he holds on the war or on the job Bush is doing is not “Straight Dope” material.
I didn’t even complain when Cecil did his “Who was the stupidest U.S. president?”. I gave him a pass on that one. I thought I wouldn’t see anything like that again.
Lets look up the Straight Dope archives and see how many hack pieces are done on Clinton.
- Do Hitler, Bill Clinton, and Bill Gates bear the mark of the beast?
Oh, Clinton was only mentioned in the heading. Not even listed in the articale
- Could President Clinton run for a third term?
No hack done here. Almost a lament…
Nothing else shows up. One column with Clintons name in eight years of his presidency. How many does Bush have about him in less than half the time?
-
Who was the stupidest U.S. president?
URL: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010622.html -
Was George W. Bush AWOL during his time in the National Guard?
URL: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030411.html -
Was President Bush’s great-grandfather a Nazi?
URL: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030214.html
And all this in three years. Looks like Bush gets it once a year. We have 5 more columns to go Cecil, lets get cracking. Maybe we can do one on Florida and then you can really go to town and prove he isn’t the President!!!
The point is this, keep political agenda’s out of the arena. Do as many articles on Bush that you did on Clinton. Which is one that really isn’t about him. Already, we have three and not exactly the “Can he get re-elected” fluffball you afforded Clinton.
Thanks.
Sheesh! Cecil doesn’t need to do that one. It’s been proven on the SDMB. 
But I’m sure he would like suggestions for the next ones.
How about “Star Wars Characters and the Bush Administration: Does Life Imitate Art?”
As someone(Chronos, I think) offered in another thread similar to this one, Cecil was excoriated in the “Bush/Nazi” thread for being a Conservative, Bush apologist.
Hey! I gots it. Cecil=Rodney Dangerfield! Unmasked at last.
The last sentence of his column was unprofessional. All you butt monkeys will defend him to the bitter end, but it was uncalled for. I feel better that girls aren’t going to be raped in front of their families or shot as loved ones are forced to watch. If Cecil wants to write a few paragraphs as to why he feel the way he does, he can do it here. Not in one of his columns. Just my opinion.
Again, Bush/Nazi based in fact.
Bush/stupid war is opinion.
Bush/Judged harshly by history is opinion.
This is an entertainment website and people don’t come here to get upset is fact.
A lesson, Pearl Jam, the Dixie chicks and any two bit hollywood actor should do well to learn.
The lesson is this, Don’t set up your website to be a source of entertainment and then suddenly decide you are going to betray your fans with biased unentertaining political views. No matter what side of the war you stand on. I am sure you would be equally upset if he came out with a piece on Clinton: Spineless fool who didn’t have the guts to do what should have been done a long time ago?
You would be upset and I would be right there with you.
Amen
I agree.
Maybe I have misunderstood the Straight Dope - the idea of fighting ignorance, for me, has more or less related to correcting facts and enlightening people. It doesn’t advertise itself (through the history of articles/columns) as being an opinion piece, though opinion does sometimes seep in marginally.
For example, the (first or) last sentence of many articles is often filled with a sarcastic comment from Cecil directed at the people who send the questions. In this instance, I believe it was unprofessional since it expressed an opinion that was neither part of the question nor integral to the response. In other words, the venue does not correspond with the message - an Op Ed piece in any number of newspapers or magazines would have been more appropriate for an expression of opinion about the war. Hell, he could even sign a petition if he were so inclined.
And honestly, these days it’s pretty easy to read right through an opinion like this with a simple shrug of the shoulders. Still, Cecil Adams might consider that some people could be seriously offended by this unsolicited opinion - and simply rewrite that last sentence, at least for the website version.
You don’t find all this “entertaining?”
Sure, it’s not The Three Stooges(or maybe it is :rolleyes: ), but it beats turning on the tv these days.
I’m confused here.
Where does it say that The Straight Dope owes anyone strictly facts with out any opinion being offered?
Where is your contract with The Straight Dope that guaruntees you that?
If anyone with half a mind reads the article in question, I think it was perfectly clear where the facts ended and where Cecil was offering his own personal opinion.
And I submit that had Cecil written a column ending with wholehearted support of the war, you hear zero complaint from these same people because I suspect it’s merely a matter of whose opinional ox is being gored.
If anyone who has chosen to complain here has the balls to put up a competing website with the breath and scope of what Cecil has done here, I defy them to do it. Until then, yes, it’s fine to disagree, but screw the smug self-righteousness that tries to tell the Reader how to run their own damn website..
Grumpy Euty