The thread speaks for itself:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=151537&perpage=50&pagenumber=2
It certainly speaks to the fact that he is quite capable of expressing himself calmly, providing several cites to back up his opinions.
Oh, for God’s sake.
Well… his worst crime, as far as I can tell, is taking a Black & White view of the law, while Sailor is taking the Shades Of Grey route.
I see no reason to throw the guy in the Pit…
i disagree with some of his arguments, but i don’t think he warrents this.
I can’t see any major issue with what he says or the way he says it in that thread. It’s his opinion, it’s calmly, politely, and logically written, and backed up with cites.
Have we missed something else that he said?
Really, are you going to pit everyone with a contrary opinion to yours? I read nothing so offensive in any of his comments that merits the pit.
If anything, it seems like Sailor is the one in that thread behaving like an ass. I particularly like “just because they broke the immigration laws doesn’t mean they’re illegal immigrants” theory. :dubious:
Um. . . okay there, skip.
I’m also slightly confused as to the fuss. I don’t necessarily agree with every comment, but I don’t see where it’s Pit-worthy, or even offensive.
Assholistan is lovely in the spring. But I wouldn’t recommend spelunking.
Good grief. We’ve ought to be allowed to disagree with someone else without automatically being Pitted for it.
Hmm. Maybe I should give an example of his opinion, “calmly, politely, and logically written:”
Yes, that certain seems like a calm, rational opinion. And of course, it’s an indisputable fact that the overwhelming majority of 2 year olds are capable of filling out their own immigration papers. Ditto for the fact that both he and his parents knew they were in violation of immigration laws for all those 16 years.
Somehow, the idea of telling an 18 year old who’s been in this country for 16 years to ship out to Iran–a country with whom he shares neither a language or a culture–because of a paperwork snafu on the part of his parents that occurred when he was a minor disturbs me. But what disturbs me even more is RobertTB’s cavalier “bugger him” attitude–suggesting a complete lack of sympathy or even humanity. For him, no punishment is too Draconian as long as it’s technically the law.
On second thought, perhaps RobertTB should go live in Arcadia, where residents are killed for failing to observe neighborhood CC&R’s. Certainly seems fair: after all, the rule says no burned out light bulbs on the front porch–if you followed the rules like you were supposed to, you wouldn’t have to worry about getting mauled to death by a Tibetan garbage monster.
Ah, argumentum ad X-Files. Well, I’m convinced.
Get a grip, Opus. Use both hands.
MY GOD, HE WANTS TO BUGGER IRANIAN CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS / GUARDIANS!!! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!
that hurt.
I think it’s far more likely that RobertB is clueless than malicious. No way is there enough information in that quote to determine what, if anything, the poor Iranian kid or his parents may have done or not done. It’s one thing to file your change of address notice a few days late, but quite another to have a felony convision, as I hope you can all agree.
Minor nitpick: until a person is 18, one essentially cannot make legally meaningful immigration decisions for oneself. If you’re under 18, you are legally precluded from filing your own naturalization application; your parents have to do it for you.
And for what feels like the zillionth time, there WAS no requirement for Iranians to register until a couple of months ago. Hell, immigration attorneys are still fighting about what the rules are, not to mention the Federal courts. I can post a link from work tomorrow, but INS realized that Special Registration, as currently implemented, was a disaster, and have for that reason extended the deadlines.
That said, one shouldn’t jump to conclusions without ALL the facts.
Oops; that should read “felony conviction,” not convision.
Soooo…what you’re saying is that you’re upset that he advocates following the laws as written rather than ignoring laws he doesn’t like? I thought that was what we were supposed to do.
Take deep, cleansing breaths, Opus. Get some oxygen into your system. I’m about to tell you a trufact and I want you in as close to a zen-like state as possible when I say it. Ready? Ok:
It’s possible to disagree with you and not be evil. Honest.
Fenris
I agree that this thread is not justified.
Now you are being an asshole.
speaks for itself as an opinion whether the law is reasonable or not and nowhere does it say that the law should be abided or not. The fact that it is the law does not make it right. Furthermore, you are ignoring that in the thread referenced, it was clearly stated that people were being punished for things which were no fault of their own and, sometimes fault of the INS. If this seems reasonable to you then you really are an asshole. Government actions which send large numbers of innocent people escaping as best they can, in the snow, trying to get political asylum in Canada does not seem like a reasonable law to me.
No, he was not. You were though. The whole point of most of the posts to this thread is that people could disagree on a point without being idiots about it. A point you must have missed. Grow up.
This might well be the least justified Pitting in the history of the SDMB.