To Criticise Or Not To Criticise

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There's a strain of thought that says because so and so did such and such then so and so's opinion on X (provided that the opinion agrees with your opinion) can not be questioned or challenged. Take for example serving in the military. Folk are crying foul because Rep John Murtha, a former Marine now serving in the US Congress, is being criticised for calling for US withdrawal from Iraq.

Serving in the military does not make anyone infallible nor omniscient (neither does losing an adult child in Iraq who volunteered to be there by the way). For those who would use their service in the military to shield themselves from criticism, if your fellow Americans are not free to challenge your ideas, dissect them and analyse them, and say you are wrong then what exactly did you serve to protect? What did you fight for and your compatriots die for if the ideas of all Americans do not stand on the same footing and are subject to the same scrutiny?

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