Are Military Retirees "burdens" on our country?

[maineman]

Of course he meant it as a pejorative. He hates my guts and the feeling is mutual. MOST people view the word burden as generally negative. That was the way he meant it, and I want people to understand that he is perfectly willing to throw ALL military retirees under the bus as long as he knows that I am under there with them all. He could certainly give a fuck. He found some reason not to serve his country. I, on the other hand, didn't once bother to even look for one.

 

[Canceled.2014.1]

I was about to post the full definition as well, but I see MM beat me to it. He's so fast!!! um, I mean, in typing, I wasn't of course implying anything else. Um, I'm not implying he's SLOW either - I'm sure he's heckuva faster runner and swimmer than I am so...

ok, now how do I get out of THIS corner????

Moving right along and ignoring the train wreck - I was going to post the full definition and point out that there are literal meanings ; but there are also connotations of the word. And as the synonyms indicate, burden is generally negative in its connotations.

DY could have said "military pensions are a reward for valuable service that the country is happy to give"; he could have said "pensions are an obligation to the country in return for service" ; neither of those would have had as negative of connotations.

But over and over he hammers burden.... I've only been on this board a week, and from his postings I totally interpret this as a pejorative. If he wants me to take it some other way, then he would need to change the tone of his postings. Totally up to him, of course.

DY plays a game with words. He baits people. This time MM took the bait and shared it with many other people.

DY COULD have said a lot of things. But there is a lot of bad blood between MM & DY. That is basically what all this is, just an ongoing feud.

 

[Canceled.2014.1]

Of course he meant it as a pejorative. He hates my guts and the feeling is mutual. MOST people view the word burden as generally negative. That was the way he meant it, and I want people to understand that he is perfectly willing to throw ALL military retirees under the bus as long as he knows that I am under there with them all. He could certainly give a fuck. He found some reason not to serve his country. I, on the other hand, didn't once bother to even look for one.

Now you are saying you know his intent? Please.

 

[Topspin]

Dumbyanky is a retarded klansman, apparently even they have friends.

 

[Canceled.2014.1]

Dumbyanky is a retarded klansman, apparently even they have friends.

Topper, there is no way you are ignorant enough to be implying that I am DY's friend. Even you don't smoke that much dope.

 

[maineman]

Now you are saying you know his intent? Please.

and are you really saying that, given the bad blood between him and me that spans three different boards, I have somehow misread his true intent? Please. If that really IS what you are saying, take his dick out of your mouth first.

 

[PostmodernProphet]

Lucky Howie!!! He's way ahead on that one!!!

oh its unbelievable how much I benefit myself.....

 

[PostmodernProphet]

So basically, you're defending an ad hominem attack on one poster.from another because the attacker has a similar political viewpoint as yours and the victim of the attack does not....you accomplish this by using semantics.

/chuckles at the thought of Winter and Yank having similar political viewpoints......

 

[PostmodernProphet]

Main Entry: burden  [bur-dn] Show IPA
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: mental weight; stress
Synonyms: Maineman, accountability, affliction, albatross, anxiety, ball and chain, blame, care, charge, clog, concern, deadweight, difficulty, duty, encumbrance, excess baggage, grievance, hardship, hindrance, load, millstone, misfortune, mishap, obstruction, onus, punishment, responsibility, sorrow, strain, task, tax, thorn in one's side, trial, trouble, weary load, work, worry
Antonyms: aid, help, relief

gosh, they noticed too.....

 

[maineman]

PiMP... I understand that, given our long and vitriolic history, you consider me, personally to be a burden. Do you also consider the pensions of every OTHER military retiree to be a burden as well?

 

[Canceled.2014.1]

and are you really saying that, given the bad blood between him and me that spans three different boards, I have somehow misread his true intent? Please. If that really IS what you are saying, take his dick out of your mouth first.

Oh please! Are you so intent on continuing this that you now make me out to be a fan of DY? Really?

You might want to start taking whatever meds 007 has stopped taking, because you are delusional.

 

[maineman]

Oh please! Are you so intent on continuing this that you now make me out to be a fan of DY? Really?

You might want to start taking whatever meds 007 has stopped taking, because you are delusional.

you, of course, failed to answer my question?

 

[Canceled.2014.1]

PiMP... I understand that, given our long and vitriolic history, you consider me, personally to be a burden. Do you also consider the pensions of every OTHER military retiree to be a burden as well?

Look at the definition. Is the pension a responsibility? Is it a duty? Yes? It certainly doesn't come free, so there is a load that we, the tax payers carry. That you somehow see the word "burden" as solely a negative thing is not my problem.

Yes, the military retiree's pension is a burden. But it is a burden we gladly bear, a responsibility we owe, and a duty we gladly fulfill.

 

[Canceled.2014.1]

you, of course, failed to answer my question?

What question is that? Asking if I think you misread his intent? I don't know if you did or not. I think it is hugely egotistical of you to claim to KNOW what someone intends.

But I also know that, by the definition of "burden", DY is correct. He baited you and you rose to the bait. How many times have I cautioned you or warned you about rising to the bait? But you cannot resist and you end up on his playing field. Two threads of nonsense when he was, technically, correct in what he said.

 

[maineman]

What question is that? Asking if I think you misread his intent? I don't know if you did or not. I think it is hugely egotistical of you to claim to KNOW what someone intends.

But I also know that, by the definition of "burden", DY is correct. He baited you and you rose to the bait. How many times have I cautioned you or warned you about rising to the bait? But you cannot resist and you end up on his playing field. Two threads of nonsense when he was, technically, correct in what he said.

if only I had heeded your wise and sage counsel.

 

[Howey]

So basically, you're defending an ad hominem attack on one poster.from another because the attacker has a similar political viewpoint as yours and the victim of the attack does not....you accomplish this by using semantics.

WB's a troll.

DY plays a game with words. He baits people. This time MM took the bait and shared it with many other people.

DY COULD have said a lot of things. But there is a lot of bad blood between MM & DY. That is basically what all this is, just an ongoing feud.

See?
Nothing more, nothing less. WB purports to be above the fray, yet when it gets down to it, WB's no better than DY or USF.

 

[Canceled.2014.1]

WB's a troll.



See?
Nothing more, nothing less. WB purports to be above the fray, yet when it gets down to it, WB's no better than DY or USF.

This is hilarious. The question was asked, and then I was asked to post on this thread. I first said I hadn't seen anyone making this claim. Someone posted a link to what DY said. I looked at the definition of the word and saw that DY was correct in what he said. And now I am being told I consider myself above the fray? That I am somehow DY's dick-sucking buddy?

WTF? Maybe if some twits would grow up and accept that the definition is what it is, and the word fits. Maybe if the point of all of this were an actual discourse instead of merely a smear campaign. Maybe if people could learn to admit when they are wrong, we could see an improvement in the quality of threads here.

 

[PostmodernProphet]

PiMP... I understand that, given our long and vitriolic history, you consider me, personally to be a burden. Do you also consider the pensions of every OTHER military retiree to be a burden as well?

I wouldn't expect there to be many like you in the military.....at least not long enough to earn a pension.......

 

[Topspin]

If they are neocons!
Huge burden
Not for the money they already earned. That's retarded

 

[maineman]

Last night, WB and I got in a bit of a tiff over this thread, so, let me just say one more thing and then we can put this to rest. When I opened this thread, I was trying to get a sense about people's views about military retirement pay. I wanted to start a discussion about whether or not people begrudged career military personnel their retirement pay. I will readily admit that we do start receiving it, and our total benefits package at a fairly early age and the package is certainly generous. I was NOT, however, wanting to start a discussion about the technical definition of the word, burden. I believed, and I still do, that the word burden has a generally, and fairly universally accepted negative connotation. There is no doubt that the dictionary definition contains options that are not overtly negative, but I still think that if you tell someone they are a burden to you, the connotation there is that the burden is onerous and unwanted. From the vast majority of replies to this thread, it is obvious that connotation is broadly accepted.

If one were to look up the word FAT in the dictionary, one would find, among the various definitions, these two:

4. profitable, as an office: a fat job on the city commission.
5. affording good opportunities, especially for gain: a fat business contract.

but if you called a woman FAT, the existence of those non-derogatory definitions would probably not keep you from getting slapped.

WB, you are certainly correct that, technically speaking, military retirement pay is a burden on our country, and I certainly apologize for chastising you for the English lesson you gave me last night. I also apologize for not phrasing my initial post more broadly and to you liking which would have prevented your feeling compelled to give me that lesson in the first place. Those errors are all on me.