Firstly, a comment on the irony of Kaepernick being “surprised” over being benched after a historically awful performance, and STILL not bringing that list of solutions he promised back in August. About as effective in politics as in football, that one. The lack of self-awareness present in so-called activists will be a theme of the evening
Anywho, take into account how much criticism Trump has taken over the last few weeks. Consider the obnoxious protests that fizzled out, the declaration of a hate-crime spike that never materialized, a phone call to Taiwan that was going to, -by itself- mind you, start a trade war with China, paying attention to the SecState choice but nothing about the women and the black guy he’s also chosen for his cabinet, not to mention his SecDef appointment being an undisputed perfect fit.
Think about what happens when this guy does something truly agregious, who will listen to this pack then? They had no political clout in the week following the election, the destruction and shouting made it worse, the declaration of the end times failed to materialize (as end times declarations often do) and didn’t help. And now every single move he has made, from the ones mentioned above to -ditching the press to get a steak- has been portrayed as a historic mistake against some element of decorum, tradition, good taste and God Himself.
So we somehow went from no clout, to what I’m more than willing to call negative clout in a month. Let’s call “negative clout” a measurement of the degree to which the majority of the population begins to passively or actively support whatever a tiresome and self-destructive group opposes. It isn’t exactly quantifiable, but it’s more evident than the vagueness of any of the labels from the Left. Contributions to NC include, destroying property, shouting exclusively, declaring everything under the sun to be a grievous insult to everything mentioned in the last paragraph and a provable and utter lack of self-awareness (i.e. claiming to promote tolerance while demonstrating intolerance or calling something a police state that doesn’t compare to an actual Soviet-style police state) Here’s another aspect of lacking self-awareness: these people have absolutely no idea they are doing the damage to their cause that everyone else can see. The mantra seems to be “We’re not doing the wrong thing, we just haven’t done enough of it yet.”
This has been done to death with “Racism” over the last 8 years. When criticism of a president has been immediately declared racist for nearly a decade, who is going to listen when those same people decide to take up the mantle of declaring that something else is racist now ALONGSIDE criticism of a black person’s opinion? There’s no debate with that mindset, so why bother listening in the first place? Continuing the lack of self-awareness, the fact that you won’t listen to fruitless shouting that will soon enter it’s 9th year will be blamed entirely on your “deep-seated” or “hidden even to you” racism. It’s always your fault, never theirs. It’s not that they’re doing the wrong thing, you just aren’t listening to reason
For a paralell, look at the New Atheists that make a millitant claim to reason and logic who find debating other opinions to be beneath them and the fact that someone disagrees with them to be a personal insult and a form of violence as well. Who follows them but their own inner circle? Better still, read “Letter to a Christian Nation” by Sam Harris or “Fighting God” by David Silverman. What rational, disagreeing mind would listen to such vitriol labeled as but not remotely resembling logic and reason, and what rational agreeing mind would put it forward as the best argument for their cause?
In other news, the recounts are failing, so expect to hear arguments around the Electoral College get reheated from the same people who had no problem with it. Remember always the Slate comparison. It was once a great and noble endeavor. Two weeks ago, it became the symbol of (what else) white supremacy and sexism. Sensing a pattern here? Accusations of white supremacy and sexism are the go to now; brought to you without evidence because the accusers don’t believe they need evidence.
Words. Have. Meaning. That meaning however loses its impact with repetitive use. Some of y’all have been crying wolf for eight long years that if anything that is the textbook definition of racism comes about, it is entirely likely nobody will be there to listen. This “crying wolf” is one of the main symptoms of the post-truth era. We don’t need to prove racism, sexism, bigotry, or any new sociological phobia, it’s out there, in the ether, inside every white male (and only white male).
Which brings up another point, why is it ok to say that racism is in every white male without evidence (This also assumes that racism towards white people is impossible, which goes against the dictionary definition of racism…the objective one.), but to say that evil is colorless (a notion backed by Mencken, Solzhenitsyn, Emanuel Kant among others and expounded on in Genesis and most notably Ecclesiastes in the Bible) is offensive and incorrect? Racism is a form of hatred, hatred is evil, evil is colorless. Hence, the latter is more objectively provable to the point that the former has no weight whatsoever.
It’s quandries like this that make the activist seek refuge in the Post-truth era. Ironically (we return to the lack of self-awareness) the fact that there is no objective truth in play means that what the activist declares to -be- objective truth is merely one among a horde of equally valid viewpoints. When/if people return to concern themselves with what is objectively provably and (Occam’s razor over Shaun King’s paintbrush) this routine of declaring everything to be the worst sin ever committed against man will be the first to die.
It’s a day that is very far off, but equally worth looking forward to.
Evidence over emotion.
Evil exists. Prepare for it, fight it, defeat it.
Good night.
Finally tonight 