Propeller Week In Review: November 2, 2007 — Nov 2nd 2007

By James Marcus

FIGHTING WORDS

On the basis of comments alone, our most popular story last week was "Protestors Call For End to Iraq War." The thread ran to 357 comments, with a predictable split between pro-war and anti-war participants. Codi6934 had nothing but contempt for the protesters: "When the hometown does not support the home team, that bugs me. And don't say you support the troops, and not the war. That is a load of crap. That is the PC way of spitting on the troops." Another member, KMFDM, begged to differ: "With that kind of ideology, you would have supported Hitler in WWII if you were German. Last time I looked, it wasn't the soldiers that started this war." A related story also made our Top Ten, with 135 votes and 85 comments, prompting a debate about the role of oilman Ray Hunt and this pessimistic summary of the conflict from hyperbola: "It appears that the U.S. has set itself up to protect the Kurds while supplying arms to both the Sunni and Shiite forces. Arming both sides in a civil war while sitting in the crossfire is crazy and the actions to create this situation can only be called treason."

LAW AND ORDER?

Still another Iraq-related post, "Blackwater Guards Given Immunity in Shootings," snagged 132 votes and 161 comments. Although gamahuche considered such grants of immunity to be a scandal, he did think some exception should be made for "soldiers who are following superior's orders.... Of course in the surreal world of warfare there's often not a whole lot of time to deliberate." Some members preferred to hold their tongues until the investigation was complete. "We should not rush to judgment as to the guilt or innocence of these men until all the facts have been laid out to review," urged palama. Others, like rightfromwrong, had no doubt about the guilt of the Blackwater contractors, which he described as "Bush's thugs." There was, meanwhile, a parallel debate about whether Blackwater guards qualified as rent-a-cops or a true mercenary army: are they latter-day Pinkertons or the sort of Hessians-for-hire that George III employed during the American Revolution? The jury is still out on this one.

MATTERS OF FAITH

A story about the impending release of The Golden Compass--and the campaign conducted by Christian groups against the film's atheist message--brought in 116 votes and 315 comments. Just as they do in Phillip Pullman's intricate trilogy of novels, the believers and nonbelievers took to the trenches. StillUnashamed wrote: "I'm not afraid of letting atheists spout their nonsense." To which Candida, waving the atheist flag, replied: "That's the right attitude. We are not afraid of letting the religious people spout their nonsense either." Just for the record, the conversation thread also included a sidebar about spam--the food, not the pernicious Internet phenomenon. According to tanglang, it's a Hawaiian staple: "They say it's as popular as hamburgers are on the mainland." Bringing the conversation back to the original topic (sort of), slate fired back: "Spam must be the new kosher food of the atheists." Nobody else had an opinion on that issue.

AND DON'T FORGET....

The Propeller community had plenty to say about Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, and even faux-candidate Stephen Colbert. (The latter story, with 181 votes and 126 comments, also gravitated toward an irrelevant food theme. "Free Doritos for all! I want the Fiery Habenero ones!" V.O.R. declared.) There were popular posts about the spike in oil prices, the FBI raid on a George-Soros-related firm, and the late Gerald Ford's characterization of Bill Clinton as a "sex addict." Another winner: "Belief in Ghosts High," with 121 votes, 164 comments, and surprisingly few skeptics in the house. (Jaydee40 did ask the question on everybody's mind: "Where's Scooby Doo when you need him?") Finally, two Propeller-related stories made it into our Top Ten. "Note to Spammers: Propeller Is Not For You" warned purveyors of spam (not the food, this time) to stay away in no uncertain terms. And the annual Halloween Avatar Contest got an excellent turnout, with 136 votes and 143 comments. The winner? That would be Vidman04, for his vision of a suave skeleton in a green suit.

Tags: week in review, wir

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