re: #96 A Mom Anon

That’s what annoys me too — that their antics are ineffectual. I mean, who the hell LIKES government secrecy? Their posturing and condescension is insufferable because they talk to you as if it never occurred to you to not LIKE it. WTF?? And no matter how many times you tell them “No, I don’t like it but I don’t *expect* to,” it simply does not penetrate their skulls.

Conor Friedersdorf approached me on Twitter to argue about President Obama’s “extra-judicial” killing of U.S. citizens (al-Awlaki). I told him his position was dishonest because he was trying to impose civilian due process into a war context, and because he didn’t offer a plausible alternative. That pretty much ended the discussion.

And so, that’s how to end a discussion with these maddening people — ask them what their plausible alternative course of action is, make them defend it, and don’t let them deflect and derail the discussion.