Word: argumentative
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...heavy argument indeed. But Robinson does not pursue it doggedly or even systematically (to have done so with such elusive material as music would have been painfully Procrustean). What he offers instead is an interesting potpourri of perceptions, suggestions and possibilities. He demonstrates, for example, the despair of the hero of Winterreise by noting that Schubert consistently describes reality in a minor key and changes into the major only when he is shifting into fantasy. This is a somewhat technical point, necessarily, for most writing about music is either technical or gush. In addition, Robinson has the wit to confess...
...death the city's mayor, George Moscone, and its first openly homosexual supervisor, Harvey Milk; by his own hand (carbon-monoxide poisoning); in San Francisco. At his 1979 trial, White pleaded "diminished capacity," contending that a diet of sugary junk food had aggravated his severe psychological problems, an argument that became known as the "Twinkie defense." When White was convicted only of voluntary manslaughter, 5,000 rioters, most of them gays, stormed city hall. Following his release after five years in prison, White, unemployed and dogged by fears of retaliation, lived undercover, apart from his family...
...Nazis, whom she admires, and musing over her childhood, which was dominated by Aunt Dan (Linda Hunt), a slightly sinister friend of her parents. Aunt Dan, it turns out, is crazy, but crazy in the way some people are at cocktail parties; she is able to find a plausible argument for almost any evil that governments commit, and she has turned Lemon into her philosophical clone. "Lemon presents the justification for pure selfishness," says Shawn, "even for sadistic murder. The question is raised: To what extent have we already accepted these justifications? I intentionally set out to leave the audience...
...American team was whisked to Osobnyak, the czarist-era mansion where Soviet diplomats often conduct business. "We always expect good results from meetings," said Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze before escorting his visitors into the white marble meeting room. It was a friendly opening to two days of inconclusive argument about fundamental differences...
...translator and launched into a rebuttal. Commented Shultz: "He is accustomed to interrupting and expressing a view. So, when in Moscow, do as those in Moscow do. We interrupted too." It seemed to be "a shouting match," suggested one reporter. Not quite, said Shultz, just a "frank argument." But he left Moscow with no agreement even over whether the President and Gorbachev should issue a joint communiqué at the end of the summit meeting. The Soviets have proposed one, but Shultz's team answered in effect: Let's wait and see how the talks...