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Comment by jmduke | Hacker News Reader

And General Alexander should get a costume that doesn't make him look like one of the Love Boat crew.

Cheap ad hominems only detract from the actual arguments to be made. Ad hominems that focus on an individual's clothing are especially weak, given the average attire of a programmer.

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Alexander could have worn business or business casual attire to this event, but he chose wear official military garb to a non-military event in order to cloak his arguments with official authority.

As I've argued elsewhere, the amount of political authority "Emperor Alexander" has managed to accumulate, and the unquestioning treatment he has received in congress and elsewhere, are signs of weakening in the republican system.

I don't think it was to cloak his arguments with official authority. I think what he was trying to do is use the blackhat conference as an open forum between the technology experts/hackers and the government. He had to have balls to wear that uniform in front of thousands of outraged people. I may not agree with what the NSA is doing, but you have to respect the man for talking at that conference especially in that uniform.

Costumed popinjays have proven far more dangerous in history than those that make fun of them.

General Alexander isn't worried about social niceties. I won't worry about them either when expressing my opinions about him and his peers.

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