# NYT report on Benghazi should be a wakeup call to liberals too **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 7, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-report-on-benghazi-should-be-a-wakeup-call-to-liberals-too/678141 "2014-01-07T16:20:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-report-on-benghazi-should-be-a-wakeup-call-to-liberals-too/678141/141 "2014-01-15T20:52:53Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Anyway, whatever: I’m a big boy. I think it’s interesting though that my making a negative judgment about people who belong to an organisation and subscribe to its beliefs is “bigoted”. That isn’t what you are doing tho. You are ascribing beliefs to people that they may not have and then judging them for what you think their beliefs might be. And you’re whole “silence speaks volumes” thing is misapplied, since you cherry pick when silence means something and when it does not. Also, you mistake the fact that you did not hear something as also indicating that nothing was said. I think you should sit back and critically examine some of your positions here and how you are defending them because you aren’t coming across in the manner you intend and frankly it seems to be because your positions aren’t all that well reasoned or thought out. They seem to be coming from irrational fears rather than rational considerations: > [@SlackerInc](#): > > But getting back away from that meta-issue, the thought experiment really hits at the heart of why I just seethe about these riots. I am the type of person who really enjoys engaging in, or observing others engage in, a nice round of cheeky blasphemy. And it enrages me that if it’s done [about Jesus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYcOHrxNJjg), it will mostly just make the devout wrinkle their noses or whine to Bill O’Reilly; but if it’s done to Mohammed, it’s cause for riots in the Muslim world which require the blasphemers, even living in the West, to take [extreme security measures](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYcOHrxNJjg). The death threats tend to be supported by other Muslims [actively](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy#Support_for_Khomeini.27s_fatw.C4.81) or tacitly (another example of why silence isn’t just silence). > > For me to think that I can’t dare voice these opinions except behind an anonymous handle online really galls me. There is pretty much nothing else I say on this board that I wouldn’t stand behind in a signed letter to the editor; but I value my life and that of my family too much to do it on this issue. So pardon me while I vent my spleen in the only manner I feel safe doing, while getting caught in a feedback loop of aggravation at being reminded of this fact. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-report-on-benghazi-should-be-a-wakeup-call-to-liberals-too/678141/142 "2014-01-16T07:44:58Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I’m going to move this to GD since it seems like nothing but a debate at this point (and has been for most of the thread), so it fits better there than here. Then I’m out. I don’t post on GD (technically, yes, I am doing so now; but it seems only right as the OP to quickly explain my departure). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-report-on-benghazi-should-be-a-wakeup-call-to-liberals-too/678141.md?page=7)