He is discussing the student anti-gun march.
My criticisms of this "movement" are:
1) It portrays itself as a student-led march when it is no such thing.
2) Its goals are undefined.
3) It heavily engages in the politics of demonization of the other.
Jeff writes this:
Intelligent people constantly fall for blatant stupidity.
It's not so much a question of intelligence (although it is one factor), but rather orientation.
California neo-Nazi Tom Metzger said back in the 1970's that if you gave him a child he could make him into a Nazi. (OK, tell us something we don't already know.) Well, if you give any malevolent, fucked up do-gooder a child he/she can turn the child into almost anything.
Give them classrooms filled with children and they can destroy a society in the interest of improving all that imperfection in the lint in their navels.
Jordan Peterson had something interesting to say, in fact, several things, regarding destroying reasonably well running complex systems in the name of improving them, i.e., how hard it is to make actual improvements and how easy it is to destroy systems that work reasonably well.
As for me, I am thoroughly disenchanted with the Democratic Party and whatever the F it is they think they're doing. They get an F. An F also for a news and culture media that is simply FUBAR. I wouldn't trust them to clean my toilet. I saw a snippet yesterday of the BIG Stormy interview with Anderson Cooper. I was embarrassed for him.
I was embarrassed for us - one prostitute asking questions to another prostitute on behalf of an industry of prostitutes.
The question is not why do gun rights advocates not care about high schoolers, it's why doesn't the Democratic Party, the media and "activists" care about them. I went to high school, you went to high school, we all went to high school, and we had zero expectation of being shot in high school, even though more people had guns than now.
I thought radical meant getting to the root of a problem. You want to have a debate about gun control, then have one. But that screwed up kid, one of their own, was made in the image of those who wanted to improve the system, i.e., the product of a dysfunctional family created in a dysfunctional system in turn created with good intentions of the soft sciences built some bullshit ideological assumptions with results that speak for themselves.
Using a bunch of kids as fodder in an ideological campaign to simply acquire power is about as low as you can go.
It's the bottom.
If I were brutally cynical......I'd say that first off most of the people at all these marches are the same gaggle of assholes and retards you see at every rally from anti Trump, anti capitalist, BLM, BDS, anti white, anti Islamophobic, La Raza, DACA, Vegan, LGBTQ, SJW to anti free speech and to the far country and beyond. Purportedly, fewer than 1 in 10 attendees were actual students and people under the age of 21.
ReplyDeleteNext I'd ask, are you serious? Why kids? Kids are stupid and malleable. Kids are easy to whip up into whatever roiling mob you need. In the Iran Iraq War, Iran sent 1 million children to their deaths in human swarm attacks. The history of wars, atrocities and genocides in West Africa is the story of 'child soldiers'. Beat them up, sexually molest them, give them some drugs, slap a gun in their hand and you have an instant psychotic army of killer children.
So children and yes, high school students are children. They themselves say they are. They themselves lobby for more government and more laws to forestall adulthood later and later. If 27 is the new 18 then what's 17? The new 11?
This is why Der HoggFührer doesn't worry me. He isn't impressive. He's lead around by adults who stay in the background. When he says (to paraphrase) Old people cant even use a phone and they can't use democracy. We can. We will. It sounds ominous but it's a laugh. Really? How's that going to work, David? Because you act like you have nothing to lose but in reality you have everything to lose and I have little to lose. That's some bad math on your part.
Jeff, you're a good writer.
ReplyDeleteMike,
DeleteThank you! I thought I was being way over the top. Truthfully, I was a bit worried about that. But my dander was up. You're 3 points were "dead on balls accurate."
Your right. How could a group of high school students possibly have a well formulated opinion? After all they're just too stupid to know what they want. They should just listen to the NRA and their sycophantic supporters and scream more guns.
ReplyDelete1) It is not a student-led movement.
Delete2) It has no clearly defined goals.
3) It going for the lowest form of politics, which is demonization.
Keep your self-righteous indignation under control, Nagaura.
Naugaura,
DeleteThink things through and stop just reacting. Everyone thinks they know what they want. Children are the least prepared to formulate policy for a society. Adults have a responsibility and duty to educate and guide them toward maturity, to teach them to first observe objectively and think critically about those objective observations.
As I said, children are not prepared to formulate policies, and especially not traumatized children. But that is the narrative being pushed by politicians and media. It's emotional blackmail substituting for rational policies, and the reason is the acquisition of power. It is blatant.
We must be vigilant that western society does not emulate the Middle East where adolescent passions and emotional blackmail retard societies, real progress and growth. Unfortunately, it's the path we are now on.
The largest demographic of CCW holders in Florida, the state where this shooting occurred, is middle class middle aged black men. And for the record, relatively few gun owners have any membership in the NRA or pay much attention to what they say or do. Like AARP it's largely a brand and a magazine that collect dues for its own purposes, some of which is lobbying but also for things like group discounts, insurance, cell phones, buyer discount plans, sponsored vacations and the like.
DeleteThe screams and hair pulling about the NRA smacks of the same prattle that people scream about 'The Jews'. If we really had all that power we'd be running everything. If the NRA really had the entire government in its pocket then there would be no discussion about anything ever. And, I suppose they'd be fighting the Jews for who really runs the world. Per opensecrets, the NRA doesn't appear on the list of the 20 largest lobbying efforts:
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=s
Nor does the Gun Industry appear in the list of industries in the top 20 list:
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=i&showYear=a
And if you look at individual contributors, most money of the top 20 largest contributors goes to the democrats:
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lobby_topcontribs.php
Spending on single issue Gun Rights causes has decreased not increased 3.7% 2016-2017. The total is about $10 million dollars. Million, not billion. Of that about half, or $5 million dollars comes from the NRA
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indusclient.php?id=Q13
And no, I am not a member nor have ever been a member.
DeleteTrudy, you are an invaluable resource.
Delete"The screams and hair pulling about the NRA smacks of the same prattle that people scream about 'The Jews'."
In my view, antisemitism, as a process of mistaken thinking, is present in much of the current political and cultural milieu.
On a side note, big brother is stifling my creative writing efforts with his grammatical insistence that no one but he can spell. So, I give up.
Trudy's comment makes lots of sense to me.
ReplyDelete==========================================
If Isaiah Were Alive Today:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-isaiah-were-alive-today.html
==========================================
If Ezekiel Were Alive Today:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-ezekiel-were-alive-today.html
==========================================
If Daniel Were Alive Today:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-daniel-were-alive-today.html
==========================================
If Jeremiah Were Alive Today:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-jeremiah-were-alive-today.html
==========================================
Over the past 2,000 years, many hundreds of languages have become extinct.
Many of those languages had more speakers than the number of Jews in the world.
Only one language – Hebrew, the language of the Jews – became a living language after 18 centuries of being categorized as a dead language.
If there is no G*D, then how does something like that happen?
If you believe that there is no G*D, then can you name even ONE language, other than Hebrew, that became a living language after many centuries of being categorized as a dead language?
www.algemeiner.com/2018/03/30/the-end-of-the-era-of-palestinian-deception/
ReplyDeletehttps://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-ezra-were-alive-today.html
Talk about stupid there is nobody stupider than a a Gazan rioter at the Israeli border. 14 killed and hundreds wounded today alone in what promises to be 6 weeks of trying to infiltrate Israel.
ReplyDelete"Hamas leader Haniyeh: 'Israel's threats do not scare us.' Course that big yellow coward is not on the front line while his lemmings are.
""We have information about plans to carry out many terror attacks during the rioting. A significant terror incident will lead to a response by us that will not be limited to the border fence area," the IDF spokesman warned. "
Yep, Gaza is gonna get bombed because of this and the world will cry and wail and hate Israel for repelling terrorists and their cannon fodder invaders. And families brought their kids to the riots maybe hoping to gain a little martyr; the child abusing death cult barbarians.
"Hamas leader Haniyeh: 'Israel's threats do not scare us.'".
DeleteSome of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I am prepared to make.
Doodad,
DeleteThere is someone stupider than those Gazans used as fodder; it's those who give support to it, the western enablers. There was a time, a long time ago, when no one would have pretended that these kinds of shenanigans were anything other than what they actually are, a cynical ploy resulting in intended deaths, which is nothing but a form of savagery which should inform people as to the true character of those who launch such schemes. Nowadays everyone is pretending. As oldschool often says, "pretending not to know."
Amnesty International was cheering these terrorist on earlier. The blood is also on their hands and those who enable it all.
DeleteTime for Israel to say there will never be any right to return, get over it. And you're never getting Jerusalem either.
It's time for the world to condemn death cults who bring children to what everybody knew was going to turn into a war zone. Maybe someone like David Hogg could try and school these morans about being adults and protecting their kids for a change instead of offering them up as mini-martyrs. Geeze, maybe a UN commission on protecting children could chide the monsters....don't hold yer breath.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe stupidity is illustrated by the idea that society should follow these children as if they were sage, as if they know best. Most anyone who has been a teen knows the depth of thought of a teen, the lack of acumen so prevalent.
ReplyDeleteFor dedicated progressives, however, it's war. It's ok to use kids. Look at what happened in Ithaca with Shirley Temper's dad. Or the lovely videos with little girls and boys talking like sailors. Child abuse. Very sad.
The question is: What they are fighting for? It's hard to understand. As if their ways are shown to be better? These smart guys have been wrong about almost everything. Why should we listen to them, let alone accept their lectures?
Not to mention the authoritarian, totalitarian bent too often seen. How quick they are to violate the rights of others for their purposes. There are so many examples of their "repressive tolerance" that it's hard to pretend what's going on.
It will take a long time to bring back institutions soaked these smart people. The ride is just starting. It may end badly. But at least there is noticeable pushback different than before against the illiberal actors and their cultural monopoly. Perhaps the repudiation will be swift, from events, and the monopoly will crumble like the Iron Curtain. More likely it will be a slog.
Though under far more negative treatment from the Resistance and in the media and elsewhere, Trump's successes reveal the Obama ineptness, home and abroad. Symbols and feelings don't seem to cut it in the real world. Not to mention the corruption under Obama the way of doing the business of governing, is coming to the surface.
Overall, there is so much noise and hate these days, and personal invective, mostly over things unimportant, and especially from the progressive side. The outrage is palpable, even when it's fake. It can be funny. It can be scary. So easy to do. Will it ever end?
The true idea that made America the envy of the world, in a good way (imagine if the Axis had won), may be morphing to a European vision where individual rights, especially the freedom of expression, are under threat.
The American idea made this place that lets these smart people make idiots of themselves, sometimes in the most obnoxious and divisive ways, but they're too smart to notice. Or to understand why people the world over clamor to be here, not the utopias these smart people worship.
Since Mr. Cohen brings up what Ezekiel would say if he were alive today, it's worth pointing out another one of Ezekiel's sayings. From chapter 16, verse 4:
ReplyDeleteBehold, this is the iniquity of Sodom your sister, she and her built areas had pride, satiety, and tranquility, and did not strengthen the hand of the poor and indigent.
Tell me, what would Ezekiel say to those whose top public priority is shredding the public safety net?
"Not to mention the corruption under Obama the way of doing the business of governing, is coming to the surface."
ReplyDeletePlease, spare me your piety about being concerned about public corruption. If you support Swamp Thing, that is Trump, the only issue objection you can have about corruption is the wrong people collecting from it.
If Swamp Thing is so clean, why does he have his family running his business enterprises, and reporting to him periodically on exactly how his policies are affecting those enterprises? If he's so clean, why is Ivanka able to meet with China's Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago and shortly thereafter get her brands approved in China? Explain the rolling back of regulations on the banks when he owns substantial amounts of stock in the banks.
"Overall, there is so much noise and hate these days, and personal invective, mostly over things unimportant"
Are you saying that regular mass shootings are unimportant things? The Left has plenty of high horses that fit your characterization. Calling for an end to mass shootings and a curtailing of other gun violence is not one of them.
This is not to say that their demands should be accepted uncritically. It is legitimate to ask about what specific measures should be taken, such as how should assault weapons be defined if assault weapons should be banned, or to question what effect such measures would have on gun violence. However, start from the premise that regularly occurring mass shootings are unacceptable and evaluate proposals based on demonstrable evidence of how they would affect such episodes of violence.
Further, if you assert that the high school students' lack of ability to connect acts with usage of guns, which is probable, means that their effort deserves no support, do you claim that the calls for improved workplace safety in the wake of incidents like the Triangle fire a century ago was similarly illegitimate because the vast majority of the marchers then probably had little more clue about effect of regulation of employers on occurrence of workplace accidents than today's high schoolers have about the connection between gun regulation and gun violence.
Corruption. Do you have a problem with Obama's $65 million (each!) book deals? For comparison, Stephen King earns about $16 million per book.
ReplyDeleteAre we to believe that Obama's (ghost writer produced) tripe is going to be so much more popular? Of course it will be, as a mandatory purchase by various lefty run institutions with taxpayers money. And that's just for starters, then there is a Netflix deal (in tens of millions at least), and who knows what else. Chelsea Clinton "an accomplished young woman with a lot to offer" on the board of directors of numerous companies, no doubt cause she's so gifted. Linda Sarsour, already with double digit million count,
awarded taxpayer money for "popular activism". At least Trump is rich already and doesn't have to steal.
"At least Trump is rich already and doesn't have to steal."
DeleteI won't say anything about any predecessors, but that's complete nonsense. For starters, he is loaded with debt primarily from shady figures because regular banks don't trust him to repay. If he doesn't need to steal, why does he need taxpayer funds to cover visits to his enterprise's projects abroad? Are you not bothered by his appointing close associates (such as Lynne Patton) to public office (regional HUD administrator) from which they can direct contracts to his holdings (a Brooklyn complex)? How about directing a contract to a financial collection agency to collect on defaulted student loans in which his Education Secretary holds substantial stock?
Obama doesn't hold a candle to Swamp Thing. Yes, we should celebrate his change in tone and substance on public discussion of Israel. Read 2 Kings 23:25-27 for my thoughts.
This is a pissing contest.
Delete