# (Ex-)Major Stefan Cook.....Bwahahaha! You cowardly nutjob! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 16, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237 "2009-07-16T17:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/21 "2009-07-16T22:16:37Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Don’t do invective well, do we? It’s a little more than the stringing together of random expletives. That effort had about as much force as your argument. Shit, I had an argument in my first post? _checks_ Nope, couple statements of opinion but that’s about it. Not much more effort really called for in a thread like this. But then again, with your head so firmly up your ass I can see how you’d confuse the BBQ Pit with Great Debates - that is, the written version of the smell of roasting flesh here in the Pit with the written version of the smell of your own farts that you call a debating style. It’s pretty clear you enjoy both. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/22 "2009-07-16T22:56:54Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Aw, you hurt my feelin’s. No wait, no you didn’t. I hope there are more soldiers like Matthis Chiroux, Ehren Watada, and Camilo Mejia… Those men stood up for their beliefs and took the heat for them. Stefan Cook is a coward using a silly conspiracy theory to get out of his responsibilities. It is an insult to Chiroux, Watada, and Mejia for them to be compared to Stefan Cook. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/23 "2009-07-16T23:20:43Z")
I disagree. They are all idiots. Liberal or conservative, anti-war or anti-Obama, all of them are assholes who knowingly signed up and then played the political game. If this recent guy is a coward, so are the others, regardless of their political beliefs. Civilian control of the military is an enormously important tenet of the American system. It is arguably as vital as free speech or the right not to incriminate yourself. It wouldn’t be right to suppress the speech of the KKK, no matter how pure your motive. The same thing applies to members of our military – being on the “right” side doesn’t excuse their violations. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/24 "2009-07-16T23:37:53Z")
I can almost understand why the Reserve just let him walk, on a cost/benefit basis. However, if I were the HR person where he applied for work, I wouldn’t hire somebody dim enough to fall for that birther stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/25 "2009-07-17T08:42:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Those men stood up for their beliefs and took the heat for them. > > Stefan Cook is a coward using a silly conspiracy theory to get out of his responsibilities. > > It is an insult to Chiroux, Watada, and Mejia for them to be compared to Stefan Cook. Whoa whoa whoa, hol’ up. Check my first post in this thread, m’man - you’ll see I have the exact same attitude as you. What I was saying is that I was hoping that there will be more soldiers who refuse to ship out for doing what Chiroux, Watada, and Mejia did to piss off people like **aldi** and **ivn** who use the crude “you’re ordered, you do it” argument to castigate people who are demonstrating real bravery. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/26 "2009-07-17T08:58:13Z")
You can lead a mental defective to logical argument, but you can’t make him not be a goddamned hippie who doesn’t have a clue. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/27 "2009-07-17T09:17:29Z")
Or a warhawk, for that matter. Except the benefit of a logical argument is lacking, in that case. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/28 "2009-07-17T09:48:36Z")
I find it very vaguely creepy that these are _officers_: \*\*Major \*\*Stefan Cook, \*\*Maj. Gen. \*\*Carol Dean Childers, and active U.S. Air Force reservist \*\*Lt. Col. \*\*David Earl Graeff. I don’t know much about the military hierarchy, but I did watch a war movie in a Holiday Inn Express. Aren’t officers supposed to be vetted to some degree? ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/29 "2009-07-17T18:37:12Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Or a warhawk, for that matter. Except the benefit of a logical argument is lacking, in that case. See, this is the problem. You have to throw out insults based on some perceived political stance that I have. Problem for you is that’s not why all of those people are wrong. But of course, if I disagree with your blathering, I must be some sort of angry conservative who doesn’t believe in evolution. Let’s say you felt very strongly about the death penalty. Therefore, as a police officer, you mess up evidence on purpose, or you refuse to gather evidence so that people who have committed capital crimes can only be convicted of a lesser crime like manslaughter. The problem (and I’m trying to put this in a simple way because you are apparently retarded) is that you, as an agent of the state, are usurping the position of our _democratically elected government_. Frankly, the last thing I want are drooling sandal fetishists like yourself making your own rules without regard to the system we’ve developed over hundreds of years that works fairly well. But zealots like yourself never care for details and realism or anything other than your narrow worldview. Nope, you see one of your chosen causes and it’s some case of heroically resisting the state and making a personal statement, how brave. Even though they are committing crimes _and_ they volunteered in the first place, knowing full well the risks. I guarantee that if an appointed government official refused to enforce environmental laws because she was a free market conservative, you would be up in arms demanding that she be removed from office – how dare she try to enforce her ridiculous ideals on the enlightened people. Or maybe if some person honestly believed that Obama was not a legal president and they refused to honor their commitment, that person would be a cowardly asshole, unlike those who support your worldview. Hypocrite. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/30 "2009-07-17T18:52:11Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > I was hoping that there will be more soldiers who refuse to ship out for doing what Chiroux, Watada, and Mejia did to piss off people like **aldi** and **ivn** who **use the crude “you’re ordered, you do it” argument to castigate people who are demonstrating real bravery**. But you left out the “volunteered” part, which is a major component of the argument. The military as we have ours structured cannot function effectively in combat without strict adherence to legal orders and to the chain of command. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/31 "2009-07-17T19:41:37Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Well, it is the name of a cocktail, but yes, it should also be illegal! 🙂 > > [Urban Dictionary: Genocider](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Genocider) > > - > > [Everclear - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everclear_%28alcohol%29) > > :eek: Somehow, I think I’ll take a pass on that drink, even though I love cider! :eek: Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m a pussy… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/32 "2009-07-17T19:56:11Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > I find it very vaguely creepy that these are _officers_: \*\*Major \*\*Stefan Cook, \*\*Maj. Gen. \*\*Carol Dean Childers, and active U.S. Air Force reservist \*\*Lt. Col. \*\*David Earl Graeff. > > I don’t know much about the military hierarchy, but I did watch a war movie in a Holiday Inn Express. Aren’t officers supposed to be vetted to some degree? Childers is retired, and frankly, being a general in the USAF just means you’re \*really big \*on dropping things on people. Don’t know if that makes you feel any better. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/33 "2009-07-17T20:14:24Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > “Genocider” is not a word. Don’t be an asshole. You know what I meant. > [@](#): > > And **ivn1188** ’s stance clearly delineates between legal and illegal orders. (Note: Genocide is illegal.) Yes, I see that now that the poster before you has shown me, thanks. Somehow, I missed the word “non-illegal” on first reading. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/34 "2009-07-17T21:28:03Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > But of course, if I disagree with your blathering, I must be some sort of angry conservative who doesn’t believe in evolution. Nope, just an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/35 "2009-07-17T22:40:55Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Nope, just an asshole. That’s right. I **am** an asshole. And hey, so are you! But at least I don’t have to resort to one line posts calling you out on the waves of patchouli reek that I am sure waft from your unwashed body, because, unlike you, I’ve made an argument. And even better, it’s one that you can’t refute without making yourself look like even more of a hypocrite. And to people like you who call me an asshole, I say this: Damn straight. The world needs more people who stand up to fuckwits like yourself when you open your mouth and spout incalculably inane shit that makes everyone who hears it dumber. I hope that the next time you click that reply button to spew another fuzzy-headed groupthink one-liner, that you think back to that time (by which I mean, now) where you called a bunch of deserters heroes because they agreed with you, but the other bunch of deserters who disagree are cowards, and you got called on you howling hypocrisy. I hope it makes your fuzzy little man-plums shrivel up a little as you contemplate how embarrassed you were when you tried to make an argument, and after repeating yourself a few times, the best answer you could come up with was to say “Well, yeah, but… but.. you’re an asshole!!!” So pull up your little white manties, wipe off the tears, go watch an episode of Whale Wars to reassure yourself that there are still some heroes out there, and do a little hard thinking about the world and how it works and how maybe, just maybe, we live in a country where we try to represent everyone’s interests and have processes and necessities that override the wishes of a few petulant spoiled brats who volunteered and then decided to violate their own oaths when the going got tough. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/36 "2009-07-17T23:10:03Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > [Soldier sues](http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/71760.html) > > [Soldier fired](http://washingtonindependent.com/51177/birther-soldier-fired-from-his-civilian-defense-contracting-job) Clicking around a few links from the Washington Independent site, I find this: [Soldier is a Freeper](http://washingtonindependent.com/50789/obama-birther-soldier-is-a-freerepublic-poster) Oh, gee, hmm, anyone surprised? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/37 "2009-07-17T23:43:18Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Clicking around a few links from the Washington Independent site, I find this: > > [Soldier is a Freeper](http://washingtonindependent.com/50789/obama-birther-soldier-is-a-freerepublic-poster) > > Oh, gee, hmm, anyone surprised? This guy’s a fucking Engineer? Jesus Christ. They’re not exactly on the front line of combat like their infantry or Ops bretheren. My Dad was in the Army Corps of Engineers for 36 fucking years, did two tours in Vietnam (wasn’t drafted, West Point grad), a war he didn’t personally agree with, but went anyway…and this guy is a fucking reservist officer whom had a chance to back out prior to his orders being cut, and now this? Fuck that guy with a capital F. Seriously. Talk about a fucking pussy. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/38 "2009-07-18T00:12:20Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > And **ivn1188** ’s stance clearly delineates between legal and illegal orders. (Note: Genocide is illegal.) Pretty meaningless, since if the government wants to commit genocide it’ll simply declare it legal. At SOME point an ethical soldier has to be willing to say “no”, or he’s just a thug in uniform. Legal or not, it’s wrong to help round people up into death camps, or torture people, or round women up for rape. > [@ivn1188](#): > > You can lead a mental defective to logical argument, but you can’t make him not be a goddamned hippie who doesn’t have a clue. > > \< snip \> > > Frankly, the last thing I want are drooling sandal fetishists like yourself > > \< snip \> > > But at least I don’t have to resort to one line posts calling you out on the waves of patchouli reek that I am sure waft from your unwashed body, > > \< snip \> > > I hope that the next time you click that reply button to **spew another fuzzy-headed groupthink one-liner** , You mean fuzzy headed one liners like the right wingers insinuating that anyone who disagrees with them are unwashed hippies ? The 60s have been over a long time. At least use insults that don’t belong to a time when I was in kindergarten. Do you still call people “pinkos” too ? ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/39 "2009-07-18T00:27:54Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Pretty meaningless, since if the government wants to commit genocide it’ll simply declare it legal. At SOME point an ethical soldier has to be willing to say “no”, or he’s just a thug in uniform. Legal or not, it’s wrong to help round people up into death camps, or torture people, or round women up for rape. Yes, that’s exactly how it would work. One day, General Killgore wakes up and throws out the UCMJ, then convinces the government to ignore all NATO and UN treaties, as well as the Geneva convention, and then starts the rape camps. Are you seriously contending that “some point” is right now, and that the correct time for a soldier to stand up and cry “no more” is when they disagree with the political system in its entirety? I suspect not. Btw, you pinko bitch, my politics, right or left (as if you’d know), aren’t the driving force behind my disdain of people who mouth empty platitudes and can’t conceive that they might not have thought it through. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237/40 "2009-07-18T00:35:10Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > Yes, that’s exactly how it would work. One day, General Killgore wakes up and throws out the UCMJ, then convinces the government to ignore all NATO and UN treaties, as well as the Geneva convention, and then starts the rape camps. > > Are you seriously contending that “some point” is right now, and that the correct time for a soldier to stand up and cry “no more” is when they disagree with the political system in its entirety? No, I’m not. I’m simply pointing out the moral bankruptcy of the the position that a soldier should follow any order whatsoever so long as it’s legal. Nor is it the ridiculous worry you want to pretend it is; we went far in that direction under Bush. > [@ivn1188](#): > > Btw, you pinko bitch, my politics, right or left (as if you’d know), aren’t the driving force behind my disdain of people who mouth empty platitudes and can’t conceive that they might not have thought it through. Of course I know; here and elsewhere, you accuse people of hippy stereotypes, and of living in a “double wide”. Clearly right wing sterotypes are your thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-major-stefan-cook-bwahahaha-you-cowardly-nutjob/503237.md?page=3)