In article ,
Doug Kanter wrote:


Hypothetical situation: Your 4 yr old child is diagnosed with brain cancer.
Surgery will save her. Without the surgery, she'll be dead in a month.
Obviously, you want to meet the surgeon and make sure you're comfortable
with him/her. You meet. For one hour, the surgeon completely mangles the
English language to the point where you and your spouse are tapping each
other's ankles under the table as if to say "How the hell do we get out of
this conversation gracefully?"

Would you hire that surgeon, or find another?


I would hire the best surgeon and not worry so much about his English.
When I had my surgery, I had it done by a person who talked like
a longshoreman, but who learned how to put people back together
in tents in Vietnam under fire.

The superficiality of the liberal approach is typified by your
question.

It reminds me of a pair of hematologists who used to work as a team
when I was a medical student. The first, who shall remain nameless,
had the best bedside manner in the world. The patients *loved* him, as
did the residents. He was articulate, had a wonderful sense of humor,
and made people feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, he wasn't
the best hematologist in the world, and occasionally had a lapse in
clinical judgement. His partner was the opposite -- a sour, arrogant,
taciturn man who you just hated to deal with. He was, however, an
excellent technical clinician. The team worked by having the first guy
come in and glad-hand the patients, while the second one made sure he
didn't screw up.


billo