The question,
“What’s the difference?” irritates me. A
person who asks this question is not interested in learning about differences. A person who asks this is using the question
to say that a difference is so insignificant that it is not worth discussing. People often say “What’s the difference?”
inappropriately. They ask this when the
difference is important and they do not understand it, or when they are hiding
something.
I wanted to
give Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the benefit of the doubt about the
Benghazi attack. Initial reports of such
an event can be inaccurate. The fact
that the attack occurred on September 11th made me suspect that it
had been planned ahead of time. Still,
it seemed reasonable that the attack could be a spontaneous reaction to an
offensive video. I wanted to give her
the benefit of the doubt until she said at a recent United
States Senate hearing, “What difference does it make?”
By asking
about initial statements about the Benghazi attack, Senator Ron Johnson may
have been attempting to learn about deficiencies in intelligence as they relate
to embassy security. This does make a difference. Saying “What difference does it make?” makes
me suspect that Secretary Clinton does not understand everything she should
understand, or she is hiding something.
