What world leader said: “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”?
What Roman historian said: “A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.”?
What English author wrote: “The American elite is almost beyond redemption. . . . Moral relativism has set in so deeply that the gilded classes have become incapable of discerning right from wrong. Everything can be explained away, especially by journalists. Life is one great moral mush–sophistry washed down with Chardonnay. The ordinary citizens, thank goodness, still adhere to absolutes…. It is they who have saved the republic from creeping degradation while their ‘betters’ were derelict.”?
What economist said: “An e-mail from a reader says that liberals like to take the moral high ground, even though their own moral relativism means that there is no moral high ground.”?
Answers at the end of the post.
Our new Secretary of Self-importance, Robert De Niro, recently voiced his concern that he might well be targeted by a lone wolf MAGA gunman. Our staff conducted a detailed Google search for a list of MAGA assassins since Trump came down the escalator in Trump Tower. It will be a dreadful disappointment that the search yielded not one such case.
On the other hand the Left has produced an array of unquestioning followers bent on fatal violence for reasons that are ill-defined and irrational:
Luigi Mangione (26) is a self-indulgent brat who murdered Brian Thompson, CEO of United Healthcare. The jabberwocky justifications of his actions may have been ghostwritten by AOC.
Elias Rodriguez (31) shot and killed two Israeli embassy employees and, as he was being arrested, he made manifest his political and moral ignorance by screaming…”Free, free Palestine”. The Leftist media said they could not identify a motive for his actions. Helen Keller call your office.
Guy Edward Bartkus (25) committed autocide by blowing up his car and himself at a California fertility clinic because he was an anti-natalist, angry that he never gave his permission to be born.
Nicholas Roske (26) goes to the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh intending to kill the Justice and his entire family.
Matthew Livelberger (37) detonated the contents of a Tesla Cybertruck, including himself, outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas…no one else was injured and there was no damage to the hotel suggesting that Tesla should build all military vehicles in the future. He left a note suggesting he was sending a wake-up call…normal people use alarm clocks.
Audrey Hale (28) shot and killed six people, including three nine year old students, at a Christian school in Nashville. As a legal cost saving act he/she also murdered him/herself.
Aaron Bushnell (25) put together a home-made suicide kit (five gallons of gas and a Bic lighter) and self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy. He was protesting the reactions of the Israeli “colonizers” to the Hamas invasion of Israel and the accompanying barbarity.
And let us not forget the assassination attempt against Trump. In Butler the shooter was Thomas Crooks (20).
The media has lamented that not one of these soulless creatures was affiliated, directly or indirectly, with the MAGA movement. What is more alarming is the lack condemnation from the Left. In fact, there have been tacit excuses for this mindless violence. How did we arrive at this amoral point in our history?
Moral Equivalency
References to the “Free Palestine” movement and accusations of “genocide” by Israel are a staple at CNN and MSDNC without any reference to the October 7, 2023 Hamas invasion.. It is if the two events are unrelated or, more likely, they are deemed to be morally equivalent. Recommended reading: On Democracies and Death Cults by Douglas Murray.
A Venomous Atmosphere
A recent poll of younger Democrats suggested that they believe the assassination of President Trump would be “morally” justified. Imagine the outrage if a poll of Republicans had indicated, circa 2011, that the assassination of Barack Obama would be morally justified. Mangione is lionized and an on-line funding site for his defense has taken in over a million dollars. The Left is, no doubt, fantasizing about an AOC and Luigi love child.
There is a media drumbeat describing the Trump administration as a “dictatorship” in the making. The relentless criticisms of everything Trump has created a dystopian environment that generates fear and loathing among many younger people who live in fear of climate disaster, more Covid like pandemics and systemic oppression by Nazis and/or white supremacists. The video games they play incorporate endless violence and human life means nothing. Is it any wonder some resort to violence they believe is fully justified?
The media has been doing contortions that Nadia Comaneci would envy in order to avoid the perception that their universal Stage 4 TDS has had any influence on the atmosphere of violence in America. This despite their indifference to the violent acts listed above. Remember that the Washington Post described the assassination attempt in Butler, PA as Trump reacting to “loud noises.”
Yet when Timothy McVeigh destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 the media, with a nudge from President Clinton, tried to blame McVeigh’s hatred of the government on the lovable fuzzball, Rush Limbaugh. Pavlov was smiling somewhere.
Apathy and Acquiescence
The word that best describes the above listed youthful miscreants is callow…inexperienced, naive, or immature. We are seeing the impact of social media and the constant reference to influencers…people who inspire or guide the actions of others. Callow youth, ignorant of the ways of the world, seem to have become willing tools of media and political influencers. Many seem to be living without any moral guardrails. The lack of a moral compass, coupled with an ignorance of history and the lack of the ability to understand and filter information they receive, make young people more susceptible to being “influenced”.
The return of virulent anti-Jewish attitudes on college campuses is reminiscent of the widespread attitudes in Germany in the 1920’s that led to the rise of Hitler and the Shoah. The chant “From the river to the sea” echoes across campuses throughout the country but the nattering “students” simply do not understand that it necessarily means the destruction, not just of Israel, but also the Jews.
Last week President Trump met with the President of South Africa and the subject of the 49 Afrikaner refugees was discussed. Jamie Raskin, a Representative of Maryland, is gifted with an encyclopedic ignorance. Raskin suggested that we don’t want white asylum seekers thereby marginalizing the dispossession and murder of white farmers in South Africa. Trump brought the receipts which the media dutifully deflected. Apparently the entirety of our social and news media have memory holed the brutal treatment of white farmers in Zimbabwe during the brutal regime of Robert Mugabe. His policies converted Zimbabwe from a food exporting country to a nation rife with malnutrition. Nothing to see here, please move along.
We must do something to instill in our youth the ability to think critically. They must be given context for the world around them and an understanding of what went before them as well as the many positive contributions of our ancestors. This will, hopefully, make them less susceptible to manipulation and less easy targets for the negativity of the influencers.
In the past we counted on American teachers to help the next generations understand the gratitude they should feel toward those who came before them. Sadly the schools have abdicated that role and the history of America has been reduced to one historically inaccurate concept…slavery was invented by the white settlers. Responsible Americans must pass on their wisdom, experience and, dare we say, common sense to future generations by engaging them in face to face conversations whenever possible…we owe it to our descendants.
In a recent post there was a paragraph about the tragic story of Emmett Till. A reader of that post, a high school senior, said she found it informative but admitted that she had never heard of Till. Inspired by Diogenes your humble scribe set out to find out if any young students were aware of the grisly fate of that young Black visitor to Mississippi. This quest culminated in a restaurant in North Carolina. A group of twelve young diners was asked if any knew of Emmett Till. Seven, including the only Black at the table, responded positively. There followed a ten minute conversation about the events of 1955…let it be noted that the the group was respectful and attentive to the facts and asked some excellent questions. They were asked to distinguish between the death of Saint George of Floyd and the horrific murder of young Till.
Go forth and communicate, educate and stimulate intellectual curiosity among young Americans.
Several readers have asked for an explanation of the argument made in the prior post about blind obedience to the Democratic Party. Ayn Rand, speaking through John Galt, provided as good an explanation as any:
The government will “protect the property of the rich and give a greater share to the poor. It will cut down the burden of your taxes and provide you with more government benefits. It will lower prices and raise wages. It will give more freedom to the individual and strengthen the bonds of collective obligations. It will combine the efficiency of free enterprise with the generosity of a planned economy.” Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, could not have said it better. In 1929 the politicians in America promised “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” We need Rumpelstiltskin now more than ever.
This catalogue of oxymoronic promises is, sadly, embraced without question by the typical Democrat voter.
Recently James Comey, “found” shells on the beach arranged to send the message “86 47”. The artist is anonymous although the FBI is interviewing porpoises which had been seen in the vicinity. Comey has managed to confirm that Trump was more than justified in firing him by claiming that he had no clue what the number 86 signifies, i.e. to get rid of.
Answers to the pop quiz:
What world leader said: “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”? Mahatma Gandhi
What Roman historian said: “A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.”? Tacitus
What English author wrote: “The American elite is almost beyond redemption. . . . Moral relativism has set in so deeply that the gilded classes have become incapable of discerning right from wrong. Everything can be explained away, especially by journalists. Life is one great moral mush–sophistry washed down with Chardonnay. The ordinary citizens, thank goodness, still adhere to absolutes…. It is they who have saved the republic from creeping degradation while their ‘betters’ were derelict.”? Charles Dickens
What economist said: “An e-mail from a reader says that liberals like to take the moral high ground, even though their own moral relativism means that there is no moral high ground.”? Thomas Sowell