Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at 
TalkingPointsMemo notes an odd simile, using the headline: Tom Friedman Compares Afghanistan To "Special Needs Baby". Friedman told Fareed Zakaria:
This is nation building. This is nation building 101 in the most fragmented country in the world. Fareed, we're talking about Afghanistan. And we're talking about America in the middle of the great recession. I feel like we're like an unemployed couple who just went out and decided to adopt a special needs baby. You know, I mean, that's really kind of what we're doing. And that's like, whoa, y'know, that terrifies me.Friedman's error isn't what kind of baby he thinks Afghanistan might be, it's the premise that invading and occupying a sovereign country is like an adoption.
If we take this simile in its strongest form, such that there is a comparison drawn between each element, we wind up with:
- USA compared to an unemployed couple
- sending ~100,000 troops into another country compared to adoption
- Afghanistan compared to special needs baby
That analogy is interesting to discuss, at least, while the parallels between adoption and a military occupation are … deeply disturbing. And you know what, Friedman's been selling that line for a while now. It's absurd, offensive to the Afghans, to our troops (or, as Friedman would have it until this September, "babysitters"), and of course, to actual adoptive parents.
For a long time, I assumed Friedman's request that Iraqis "Suck. On. This." was a reference to the male genitalia. But maybe he thinks we adopted Iraq, and just wanted them to nurse.
