Joe Biden yesterday defined much of current American politics in the simplest possible way.
"We choose truth over facts". Sounds utterly daft, because by definition, truth is fact, whereas "facts" that are not true aren't facts, but fiction. Nevertheless, it fits the extremist mindset perfectly. What is "true" is what conforms to how they think the world should be - whether or not the world really is that way. If it's not the way they want the world to be then, even if it's factually true, it's not "the truth" - which, of course, only they possess.
You can see that right now in the clamor for more gun control in the wake of the three mass shootings last week. Factual discussion of whether or not their proposals will actually work is neither here nor there - in fact, it's a waste of time. The extremists on both sides - those who want more gun control, and those who insist that not one more gun law is acceptable - all want it their way, and they want it now, and they refuse to even consider any alternative.
The moonbats on the left are as guilty of this as the wingnuts on the right. The neocons and ultra-nationalists on the right are just as ideologically hidebound and narrow-minded as the socialists and communists on the left. (And, of course, all extremists, of whatever ilk, are fundamentally untrustworthy. If someone can't even try to see the world through another person's eyes, or walk a mile in their shoes, they're unlikely to come up with solutions that work across the human, political, social and economic spectra.)
"We choose truth over facts." Sheesh!
Peter
Tolerance for tyranny is no virtue. Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice in no virtue.
ReplyDeleteThis is what the "reasonable compromise" people don't understand:
ReplyDeleteOne of their tactics is exhaustion - to exhaust the weak among us and get them to say, “Gosh, if we just give in we can put this unpleasantness behind us.” But you can’t put anything behind you with these people, because there is nothing to put behind you. It’s all a lie. You are not a racist. Your guns won’t hurt anyone but criminals and aspiring tyrants. And the leftists know it. They know they are spewing skeevy slanders, and if you give in on this one - handing over your AR-15 and hanging your head over prejudices you don’t possess - the libs and their newsprint lackeys will just club you with another set of grievances that you can only atone for through further submission.
It will never end. They will always hate you. Always. Nothing you can do will change that. Nothing. So get used to it and invite them to pound sand....
They are always going to hate you, so get any idea out of your head that if you just surrender then this endless tsunami of lies will finally be over. It won’t, because it has nothing to do with what you actually think or have actually done. Nothing.
link
although the LawDog made a very good cake analogy that applies as well.
I'm with McChuck.
ReplyDeleteThese shooters violate a ton of lesser laws to do their evil. I'm no sociologist, but every society I've heard of has prohibition on murder - not just the Judaeo-Christian 10 commandments. Yet they want us to believe that one more law will cause them to stop? We're going to pass laws that make it harder for the innocent people who had nothing to do with the crime to go about their life but not affect the killers at all and that's going to fix things? That's so insane, so antithetical to reality that it would laughable if it didn't make the situation worse.
And I'm a "wingnut on the right" for pointing that out?
Every time this happens we get this, "we have to do something!" hand wringing and nobody thinks to say "something effective" or "something that will work."
Folks, you misunderstand me. If you read my articles over the past few days, you'll see that I don't disagree with you.
ReplyDeleteThe "extremists" I refer to are those who claim the right to walk around carrying loaded AR15's into supermarkets and "frightening the horses" on the one hand, and those who want to ban every type of firearm (including childrens' toys) on the other. Neither side is logical - they're ideological. They don't care about reality. It's like racists on the one hand, of whatever stripe, who see everything in racial terms; or Antifa, who regard perfectly normal political expression as Naziism under another guise. Again, both are way out there in left (or right) field.
I think my position is clear from my previous comments. I strongly support the rights recognized (not conferred) by the Second Amendment, and I'll resist any attempt to diminish or restrict them. On the other hand, I also recognize that right now, logic is an approach that simply doesn't work with much of the American people, for reasons discussed over the past couple of days. We're caught between a rock and a hard place, and dogmatic insistence on "my way or the highway" isn't going to win this fight.
Peter you are attempting to be a reasonable sensible adult trying to look at the current situation rationally which lays you open to attack from the radical fringe on both ends of the issue.
ReplyDeleteMany of us have watched this song and dance for a very long time. Gun control on the Federal level has been a thing since 1934. Every time a few "common sense" restrictions are imposed that the honest law abiding citizens try their level best to obey while the criminal element goes on about their merry way. Criminals disregarding a gun law, who would have thunk it.
In rare glimpses of honesty the major proponents of such gun control regulations have been known to admit that each one they propose will not solve the problem. Each of them is just what they think they can sell to the public this time. Their real goal is the total disarmament of the entire civilian population of the country. Just make all those icky evil guns go away and then we will all be safe. Side note, look at how well that's working for the poor Brits in the UK.
And just suppose that we do implement the British "solution." What then?
Quite literally millions of Americans will refuse to comply. We see this already happening in those states that have imposed draconian restrictions on whatever their definition of assault weapon might happen to be. Turn those evil guns in or be labeled a criminal they shout from their elite political positions which by the way are protected by heavily armed bodyguards. Last I bothered to check compliance was running somewhere around ten percent.
Guys carrying loaded AR's around grocery stores aren't doing any of us any favors.
ReplyDeleteA pistol in a holster is a whole different kettle of fish. You see cops doing that every day of the week, and it doesn't bother any sane people.