What the hell is wrong with the conservative brain? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with them? Do they carefully study logical fallacies in order to more adroitly implement them? I think conservatives are becoming increasingly skilled at the use of stupifying nonsense. Once a certain level of absurdity is acheived, it becomes impossible to craft a reasoned response. This is an amazing debate tactic. During my experiences at high school debate tournaments, I occasionally faced opponents with this kind of "skilled idiocy." I seldom defeated it. I don't know how to produce a structured response to an unstructured statement. Examples of this nonsense are pouring out of a weblog called Right Wing News on a daily basis. It is an excellent source for nonsensical fodder. There are also ample examples on various internet fora, such as the religious site CrossAndFlame.com. This thread is about the alleged rape of Jessica Lynch at the hands of her Iraqi captors. I say "alleged" because (as discussed on the thread) the Drudge Report suggests conflicting evidence. The thread's author, "Boston," is instantly irritated with the lack of extreme emotions from others who post on the thread. He says things like "I just find the silence here deafening. Silence sometimes speaks louder than words." Huh? And, "if it was the US Army our fellow Liberals would be breathless in their condemnation." Okay... One of other participants, "Icebrc," restates his response and indicates that he is, in fact, outraged. Boston replies: "Well the reaction seemed very restained and not so Immediate. I have been around long enough to smell politics and faux shock. I just felt troubled that the only response to a brutal rape of one of our soldiers was that it felt "WEIRD" Could you describe feeling weird?" I don't understand what Boston is trying to do or why. He appears to think that something is proven by the emotion itself, and he must therefore force everyone to acknowledge the emotion, as though it were a premise for some larger argument... Boston later veers off in this direction: "I believe the media took the ball and ran [with the Lynch story] because they wanted to show a female soldier in a light equal to that of a male." Okay... I'm straining to process this new statement in the context of previous ones... Then, in response to the Drudge Report, Boston pulls out the big guns with the irrelevant Clinton evocation:

Look Drudge likes to hype but he always links to so called legitimate news sources. Don't forget Drudge broke the story regarding your esteemed leader Clinton and his little something something on the side. I find it unfortunate that some cannot see beyond the haze of their ideology and believe this Womans story. I said from jump street that I believed Woman prisoners would be raped. It has haappened in the past and that is fact.

I would respond to this, but as usual I don't even know what his argument is or why he is making it. To close his argument, in a typical conservative bewilderment tactic, he evokes the UN: "Yes but the Genie is allready out of the bottle. So we might as well learn the truth on how Iraqui soldiers treat prisoners of war. I wonder if the UN will act?" I always seem to be asking this question when I talk to conservatives: "Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"