thoughts from a brokenSoldier

Ron Christie is not only a Republican shill, but a shameless, idiotic one at that.  His recent blog advances - and indeed makes the effort, however futile, to justify - the ridiculous assertion that McCain’s computer and technological illiteracy is a direct result of the injuries he sustained as a POW in Vietnam.  Now, I wouldn’t expect Ron Christie to actually parse this out for himself and really see how feeble an excuse it is, but I would expect him to recognize that there are plenty of other people - worse off than McCain physically - that use computers and the internet on a daily basis.  As a matter of fact, there are many individuals on this Earth who are so grievously disabled that the only way they can interact with the world is through the use of technological assistance.  This is simply because when the body fails, the mind can still persevere.  Also, in a bit of first-hand experience with this, I can tell you that due to my injuries received in combat in Iraq (which are both physical and cognitive in nature), the government’s policy is to offer things such as free BlackBerries and computers to veterans in order to allow us to use them to augment our quality of life and allow us to live - somewhat, at least - like we used to live.

A shining example that should be readily recognizeable to anyone is Stephen Hawking.  The man hardly has the ability to use his body at all, yet he is able to communicate ridiculously complex and cutting edge ideas to the scientific community using the technology that has been designed for him, and using that chair he sits in for the multiple functions he uses it for is certainly more difficult than signing on to check your email.  I would put money on the fact that Hawking certainly knows how to do that…

The glaring conclusion in this is that it is not the body that prevents someone from understanding and using the technology available to us today, because doing so is not a physical undertaking, but rather a mental one.  It does not take a fully functioning musculo-skeletal system to log onto the world wide web, and it certainly does not require that the user have full range of motion in their arms.

(And if anyone decides to take this criticism as a slight against McCain’s service record, you can take a flying leap off the tallest structure around.  His service record and his feeble excuses as to why he isn’t versed on common technology have absolutely nothing to do with each other, and the suggestion that they do is simply a thinly-veiled attempt to shield the candidate from any and all criticism by way of using his military service and experience as a crutch.  And being a disabled vet myself, if there is one thing I absolutely hate, it is the unjustified exploitation of injuries received in combat. Such injuries and disabilities already create plenty of genuine problems for those who are unfortunate enough to experience them without an ambitious and unscrupulous candidate inventing difficulties that don’t actually stem from them in order to cover his own personal inadequacies.)

So, there are two explanations here.  Either John McCain truly cannot lift his finger to get online because of his injuries, or the problem is not physical.  Since he obviously has the physical ability to hold a microphone, walk around under his own power, and write with his own hand, it is painfully obvious that the obstacle in this case is not physical.  (And if they are suggesting that he has cognitive - as opposed to physical - disabilities that prevent his understanding of such, then should he really be a viable candidate for the highest office in our nation?)

Also obvious are the McCain campaign’s motivations behind this vacuous, and frankly hilarious, excuse.  In today’s technologically advanced society, it would seem to be common knowledge that our leader should be able to use all the tools at his disposal to execute his duties as POTUS.  To admit that he has a lack of understanding concerning something that has become second nature to most citizens would - or at least should - be a death knell to his campaign.  But cast that lack of ability in a physical light and connect it to something as honorable as having survived enemy captivity, and you magically have an explanation that is seemingly unassailable by his opponents.

I’m not buying it, and neither should the rest of the country.