Your part of the elephant is boring

You know the old story of a blind man describing an elephant? Well, especially when you are close, very close to the elephant - and blind - you can only describe what you can feel, hear, and smell. Depending on where you grab hold of the elephant and what the elephant is doing right now, how you describe the elephant can be very accurate, very funny, and/or very wrong.

The blind man who gets the trunk has a much more accurate and entertaining time with the elephant and describing it.

The blind man who gets a big, broad ribcage is probably out to lunch on his guess and can't get beyond, "big with a few stubby hairs." What he feels is there - the description of what he feels is accurate and true from his perspective, but not enough is there for him to tell you what thing he has hold of. Not his fault.

The guy getting a hand full of the stern just is not having a good day at all.

Back on the 22nd, the esteemed BlogBuddy of mine, Bookie of bookwormroom, asked where all the Milblog and/or Conservative response was to seven junior NCO's from the 82nd ABN OP-ED in the NYT.

What really intrigues me right now is the dead silence in the conservative blogosphere about this one. I don’t recall any of my favorite conservative sites discussing this article. That’s really unusual. And for those of you who count yourselves among my liberal readers, and are inclined to think badly of conservatives, let me assure you right away that the reason for that silence isn’t simply because this story goes against the prevailing wisdom in the conservative blogosphere — namely, that that the War can still be won and that the surge is working. One of the things I’ve loved about the conservative blogosphere is its willingness to tackle all fact and opinion articles, whether the bloggers see the articles as occasions for celebration, deconstruction or despair. No matter the article, if it’s about a hot topic, as this one is, silence is never the response.

True. But, I did read it - I just didn't think it was worth the effort to reply to because - it just didn't break new ground or make a point that broke above my background noise. I didn't want to beat up on them either - as they are entitled to their opinion from their part of the elephant. They also reminded me of many a smart, aggressive junior NCO or Officer that I have worked with throughout my career who thought that they had the big picture - they knew what was going on - and they did. The saw what they could see from their POV - but with the exception of some specific details, when it came to the "Big Picture" issues, they were also wrong.

Heck, I have the same shortfall now and then.

Grim and others you can find over at Bookie's place have some solid replies that are worth your time. Me? I still just don't have the desire to Fisk their effort. They think they have a giant Heterocephalus Glaber - fine, let them think that.