Regarding the "Our Tsunami" thread, I wanted to share this with everyone here...
My apologies to Marco for quoting without permission, and my thanks for the clairty.
The Dreaded Marco Wrote:
Billzebub Wrote:
This is why hyperbole is such a poor argument--it reduces your position to one of emotion, and causes people to stop taking you seriously.
Yeah. We'll take you far more seriously if you make insensitive NASCAR jokes and compare the hurricane to a "a little rain". :roll:
My first instinct when I read this was to fire off some snarky retort. However, you're right on this one--and it crystalizes something that's been weighing on me this week.
First off, when I made my original comments, it appeared that the impact of the storm was not as great as had been expected--the levees had not breached and the area seemed to have come through intact.
That said, I have to ask myself, does that matter. The answer is "no". The fact is, there were people whose lives had been destroyed, and it was no time to make light of it.
I look back on my comments, and it's nothing I'm proud of. I can't rationalize it away, I can only acknowledge and admit that what I posted was grossly inappropriate, and not a reflection of the person I consider myself to be. Although this is the internet, and sometimes I use these boards as an outlet for blatantly crass, idiotic, taunting--this storm and its aftermath don't warrant it.
In retrospect, my comments were offensive. I offer my apologies--to the people affected by the storm at whose plight I chose to poke fun; and to the board members I offended--especially those who were directly impacted by Katrina.