# RIP Mary Jo Kopechne **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788 "2009-08-26T17:20:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/161 "2009-08-26T23:09:39Z")
Is there anyone who feels like Ted Kennedy certainly did some important work for the country during his career as a Senator, and like many politicians before him (Democrat and Republican alike) in his personal life he often acted like an arrogant, entitled asshole??? (before during and after Chappaquiddick) People can do wonderful things in thier public lives, and also be pieces of shit in their personal affairs-----I have no trouble giving credit where it is due, and am also not afraid to accept the fact that many of our elected leaders are egocentric pricks… ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/162 "2009-08-26T23:10:50Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I can swim too. Does that make me an expert on crash reconstruction and air bubbles? Do you swim for a police department and get paid to pull bodies out of the water for a living? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/163 "2009-08-26T23:18:13Z")
Even if I did, that would not make me an expert on crash reconstruction and aquatic physics. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/164 "2009-08-26T23:20:55Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Even if I did, that would not make me an expert on crash reconstruction and aquatic physics. Yeah, this fallacy should have been debunked long ago. It’s more of the, “Academic experts who study things in theory are the only people who know what’s going on. People with hands on experience in the field are unqualified to pass judgments.” I hope you don’t mind if I give more weight to his testimony than I do to your armchair speculation of his fitness to pass judgment. In otherwords if his testimony is suspect then your opinion of it certainly ain’t worth shit, being as you have neither practical experience, theoretical expertise, nor were you actually there. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/165 "2009-08-26T23:27:04Z")
What expertise do I need in order to note that someone else is not an expert? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/166 "2009-08-26T23:28:25Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What expertise do I need in order to note that someone else is not an expert? Well your definition of expert is pretty self-serving IMO. It’s the kind of thinking that trusts systems analysis and game theory over the recommendations of generals in the field. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/167 "2009-08-26T23:31:17Z")
I should have known this would be a shitfest. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/168 "2009-08-26T23:32:37Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > I should have known this would be a shitfest. I dunno seems a lot more civil than I expected after the initial reactions to it. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/169 "2009-08-26T23:38:47Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Yes, obviously, no one is disputing that it is relevant that it was Kennedy and Kopechne. I really don’t see what you’re getting at. Your amateur psychoanalysis is going over my head or under my feet, I can’t tell which. I didn’t do any psychoanalysis, armchair or otherwise; except possibly of the posters in this thread who are getting frustrated with your evasions. We all understand the timing of the thread, triggered by Kennedy’s death. What nobody understands, and what everybody is being forced to spin wild theories about because you refuse to subtantitively answer their questions, is why this particular pair of deaths earned a post from you, and no other similar pairs. What’s so special about this particular incident that makes it so much more important to _you_ than any of thousands of similar incidents that you haven’t posted about? You’re entitled to post what you want about Kopechne and Kennedy. And we’re just as entitled to question your motives when you’re working so hard to hide them. The ‘she was tragically killed at a young age, isn’t she entitled to a memorial thread?’ motivation you’re claiming is so transparently absurd that it’s not just impossible to believe, but it’s even really hard to believe that _you_ believe it. And a lot of people just aren’t prepared to let you slide on that–they want to know what you _really_ want from this thread. And when you won’t tell them, they’re going to start speculating. Personally, I don’t actually care what they are. I was just interested enough to post to make it clear that you’re not fooling me, or much of anyone else … Your attempt to deflect the topic is not particularly competent either. I have neither imputed any particular motive to you, nor tried to defend Kennedy in this thread; your accusations of ‘airmchair psychoanalysis’ or ‘idolizing the positive’ are not relevant to my points in any way. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/170 "2009-08-26T23:43:04Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > I didn’t do any psychoanalysis, armchair or otherwise; except possibly of the posters in this thread who are getting frustrated with your evasions. We all understand the timing of the thread, triggered by Kennedy’s death. What nobody understands, and what everybody is being forced to spin wild theories about because you refuse to subtantitively answer their questions, is why this particular pair of deaths earned a post from you, and no other similar pairs. What’s so special about this particular incident that makes it so much more important to _you_ than any of thousands of similar incidents that you haven’t posted about? Frankly my motivations are irrelevant. Take the thread at face value or hijack it to talk about motivations, either is your prerogative, but I stated straight up what my motivations were without evasion in the OP and that’s the final word on it. > [@](#): > > You’re entitled to post what you want about Kopechne and Kennedy. And we’re just as entitled to question your motives when you’re working so hard to hide them. The ‘she was tragically killed at a young age, isn’t she entitled to a memorial thread?’ motivation you’re claiming is so transparently absurd that it’s not just impossible to believe, but it’s even really hard to believe that _you_ believe it. And a lot of people just aren’t prepared to let you slide on that–they want to know what you _really_ want from this thread. And when you won’t tell them, they’re going to start speculating. Personally, I don’t actually care what they are. I was just interested enough to post to make it clear that you’re not fooling me, or much of anyone else … Your attempt to deflect the topic is not particularly competent either. I have neither imputed any particular motive to you, nor tried to defend Kennedy in this thread; your accusations of ‘airmchair psychoanalysis’ or ‘idolizing the positive’ are not relevant to my points in any way. I wish you wouldn’t try to hijack my thread by making it about my motivations, but if you must then go ahead. Anything you say that deviates from the position I have already stated is wrong, pure and simple. So if making shit up in your head about it is tittillating then gossip away. I have no more to say on the issue. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/171 "2009-08-26T23:46:15Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I said, “ABOUT to be forgotten”. She’ll be forgotten because now that Ted Kennedy is dead there isn’t much reason to keep talking about it. I give her about a month before the living memory begins to fade irrevocably. [sub]Clintonblowjobclintonblowjob[/sub] You’ll never forget. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/172 "2009-08-27T00:16:00Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I said, “ABOUT to be forgotten”. She’ll be forgotten because now that Ted Kennedy is dead there isn’t much reason to keep talking about it. I give her about a month before the living memory begins to fade irrevocably. And if she had not died in that tragic accident, would you know one thing about her? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/173 "2009-08-27T00:27:42Z")
You know, I’ve been wondering what **mswas** thinks about Ted Kennedy’s death and that whole Chappaquiddick thing. I sure hope he weighs in on that at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788/174 "2009-08-27T01:24:03Z")
Closing very poorly disguised Kennedy pitting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mary-jo-kopechne/507788.md?page=8)