Well, for one thing, reading the Once Upon a Time article, I finally understood why I've been getting nowhere in most of the arguments I've had lately with people who still think this war is a good idea. (I live in Texas. The few people who still support Bush apparently all live here.) I knew logic didn't seem to be working, and they're still falling back on the "President knows best" arguments. Deconstructing that argument means I can have that discussion with them in a way that might help me explain what I think, and might get them, even against their wills, to think.
I've believed on a gut level for a long time that we don't seem to make war based on the intelligence, but other things. But I hadn't gone the rest of the way into thinking about how few wars in history (not just in my lifetime, and I'm old enough to remember Vietnam) had anything to do with logic or intelligence or necessity. It gave this non-history major something to think about.
I'm sure it's all obvious to people better versed in these things, but it made me re-think my assumptions, and that always changes my internal landscape a bit.
As for the Making Light link, I'll confess that I had a moment of fangirl "Holy crap, that's THE Steven Brust!" And then I actually realized whose blog it was, and that these people have edited a great many books that my husband and I both love. After I quit blinking and shut my gaping jaw, I actually read the comment thread more carefully.
I also appreciated your explanation of how classified material works for the people who work with it. I know people with clearances, but I've never asked about what they do because, well, I expect that they can't tell me.
And then there were the sonnets. And the sestina. :)
What fascinated me, in brief
I've believed on a gut level for a long time that we don't seem to make war based on the intelligence, but other things. But I hadn't gone the rest of the way into thinking about how few wars in history (not just in my lifetime, and I'm old enough to remember Vietnam) had anything to do with logic or intelligence or necessity. It gave this non-history major something to think about.
I'm sure it's all obvious to people better versed in these things, but it made me re-think my assumptions, and that always changes my internal landscape a bit.
As for the Making Light link, I'll confess that I had a moment of fangirl "Holy crap, that's THE Steven Brust!" And then I actually realized whose blog it was, and that these people have edited a great many books that my husband and I both love. After I quit blinking and shut my gaping jaw, I actually read the comment thread more carefully.
I also appreciated your explanation of how classified material works for the people who work with it. I know people with clearances, but I've never asked about what they do because, well, I expect that they can't tell me.
And then there were the sonnets. And the sestina. :)