# Hearts, Minds, and Lies: Letters from the Front **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 12, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004 "2003-10-12T16:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/21 "2003-10-13T03:32:24Z")
sorry for mispelling your name, big guy! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/22 "2003-10-13T03:33:22Z")
Well, I haven’t seen the “Tightie Righties” anywhere. Get over yourself, **milroyj**. The martyr schtick is SO five minutes ago. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_the_CC)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/23 "2003-10-13T03:36:54Z")
Everyone already knows Elucidator is off-kilter. More and more people who are off base that we didn’t know were off base, both left and right, are showing it as Bush’s list of lousy shit piles up. The left for being orgasmically happy when people die in Iraq, and the right for trying to say those deaths mean something. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/24 "2003-10-13T03:37:06Z")
And for misspelling “misspelling”, I should be shot. GAH! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/25 "2003-10-13T03:40:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > **Well, I haven’t seen the “Tightie Righties” anywhere.** Then you haven’t been paying attention, dear. He uses it in every other post, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/26 "2003-10-13T03:43:56Z")
Milroy, it’s not so much the use of Lefty Looney (I’d be perfectly satisfied to be called a Lefty Looney!) but where it’s used. If it’s true, here, we Looneys are correct - this is utter bullshit. Appropriating people’s names to make propoganda look more sincere? Ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/27 "2003-10-13T03:45:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by milroyj \* > \*\*I’ll respond to **Guin’s** post because at least she seems to get the point. > > Comrade **eluicidator** has been using the phrase “Tightie Righties” for months (years?) with nary a peep from the SDMB regulars. I use Loony Left three or four times, and all hell breaks loose. Hmmm. What conclusions can we draw from that observation? \*\* The conclusion I draw is that you have so little credibility left on these boards that even **elucidator** gets more slack than you do. He may be a rabid partisan hack, but at least he does it with style and wit. You, on the other hand, are merely tiresome. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/28 "2003-10-13T03:53:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gadfly \* > \*\*Appropriating people’s names to make propoganda look more sincere? Ridiculous. \*\* Umm, I really don’t understand your criticism here, as I don’t think I have appropriated anyone’s name. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/29 "2003-10-13T03:54:51Z")
Comrade Miller, do you recall anyone asking your opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/30 "2003-10-13T03:57:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by milroyj \* > \*\*Umm, I really don’t understand your criticism here, as I don’t think I have appropriated anyone’s name. 😕 \*\* Not only tiresome, but incredibly _stupid_ as well. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/31 "2003-10-13T03:59:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Desmostylus \* > \*\*Not only tiresome, but incredibly _stupid_ as well. \*\* This is just getting stupid. I ADMIT I AM STUPID, but whose name did i appropriate? i would like to at least know what crime i am being accused of. Sheesh! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/32 "2003-10-13T04:13:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by milroyj \* > \*\*This is just getting stupid. I ADMIT I AM STUPID, but whose name did i appropriate? i would like to at least know what crime i am being accused of. Sheesh! \*\* Please, please tell me you’re joking. You CANNOT be THAT stupid! But just in case… YOU didn’t appropriate ANYONE’S name, fishfuck. He was talking about the letter writers in the OP! :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/33 "2003-10-13T04:21:07Z")
OK, I am officially an idiot. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/34 "2003-10-13T08:20:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Airman Doors, USAF \* > The problem with that is that if this is true, you have every right to be critical. _If_ this is true? Seems to me like proving it is easy enough – just ask Pfc. Nick Deaconson: > [@](#): > > A seventh soldier didn’t know about the letter until his father congratulated him for getting it published in the local newspaper in Beckley, W.Va. > > "When I told him he wrote such a good letter, he said: ‘What letter?’ " Timothy Deaconson said Friday, recalling the phone conversation he had with his son, Nick. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/35 "2003-10-13T08:52:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by milroyj \* > \*\*OK, I am officially an idiot. :smack: \*\* Anybody looking for a sig? ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/36 "2003-10-13T09:06:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Frostillicus \* > \*\*Another soldier who purportedly sent one of these letters was informed of the fact as he was recovering in a Baghdad hospital from having his legs blown off. I somehow think that his letter might have had a slightly different tone to it. \*\* From the OP’s link : “He spoke to his son, Pfc. Nick Deaconson, at a hospital where he was recovering from a grenade explosion that left shrapnel in both his legs.” shrapnel in his legs != had his legs blown off ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/37 "2003-10-13T09:11:38Z")
So, is there any evidence that Bush, the GOP, or indeed anyone outside of the 503rd had anything to do with this? If not this story is being blown way out of proportion. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/38 "2003-10-13T12:10:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*…He may be a rabid partisan hack, but at least he does it with style and wit… \*\* “I was struck nearly speechless by this complimentary thunderbolt! Never have I heard a compliment so well phrased. Or so richly deserved.” - Mark Twain All in all, I think I’m in agreement with Comrade **Airman Doors** on this one. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/39 "2003-10-13T12:29:41Z")
To expand just a bit: ask yourself why such a campaign might be deemed necessary? Unless, of course, _genuine_ letters of fulsome praise from Our Troops are lacking. Americans are enormously sentimental about Our Troops. I am not suggesting that this sentiment is undeserved. Only that such sentiment is easily exploited by persons whose ethical sensibilities are weak. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004/40 "2003-10-13T12:33:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cervaise \* > \*\*Anybody looking for a sig? \*\* Hell, I’ve been using that one for _years_ as my motto. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-minds-and-lies-letters-from-the-front/207004.md?page=3)