Death of Dialogue

Pop Quiz:

What was the longest filibuster in the history of the US Senate?

What President said: “Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion.”?

What world leader said: “Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.”?

What Austrian philosopher said: “A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.”?

What socialite said: “Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory.”?

Who said: “Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.”?

Who said” It doesn’t matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.”?

Answers at the end of this post.

Imagine one’s surprise upon learning that the Shoah was caused by too much free speech. So says Margaret Brennan at CBS “News.” It defies reason that this monumentally ignorant statement actually crept into her otherwise empty head but the fact that she then allowed it to pass her lips on national TV is positively stupefying. It speaks volumes as to the state of education and intellectual curiosity in this country.

Intelligent dialogue is on life support in America. The term “intellectual” has become bastardized. The new elite think it means possessing an Ivy League degree and being able to quote Che Guevara at cocktail parties. The term actually refers to the use of one’s mind and not the detritus of failed attempts to use that mind, i.e Margaret Brennan’s verbal droppings.

Today we live in a country that minimizes human interaction and thereby discourages the free exchange of ideas which, in turn, stifles intellectual growth. Testing one’s ideas through Socratic dialogue results in at least two people growing intellectually. However we foster an environment that discourages open, honest dialogue.

It is striking that there are endless ads on our media that sell on-line education. Such impersonal “classrooms” are perfect tools for brainwashing and group think. No ideas are refined, challenged or expanded because of student interaction. And this is exacerbated by the inability of younger people to deal with even the slightest disagreement or opposing ideas. All intellectual development becomes inhibited or repressed. How else do we explain that AOC actually has a degree from an institution of “higher” learning?

You tax dollars at work: It has been revealed by the tireless spelunkers at DOGE that the EPA awarded $60 million in projects to deal with “climate justice” and “climate equity”. Apparently one of the recipients of this largess had, on their website, a Free Palestine message suggesting the road to climate equity passes through Gaza. Happily these contracts have been cancelled. And if you are puzzled by the term “climate equity” it means that on January 2 each year Miami and Minneapolis will enjoy the same temperature and lots of sun.

So how do we address the government driven policy of perpetuating ignorance? Bring back Socratic dialogue in the schools, Bring back debate clubs as part of the extracurricular activities available to all students. Invite “controversial” speakers to after school events and encourage student participation. Be assured that any such programs would be strenuously opposed by the “education” establishment.

If you try, as an act of masochism, to analyze the Brennan comments referenced above you have to view them in the converse. What she actually meant by “too much free speech” was the failure of the government to censor ideas that were antithetical to the perceived interests of the people. Had the Nazi government, under the tender ministrations of Joseph Goebbels, been in the business of censoring ideas…wait, isn’t that all they did…managed to retroactively erase 1,900 years of anti-Jewish dogma in Europe then the Shoah would have been avoided.

We can be certain that Ms. Brennan would have been an enthusiastic supporter of the Disinformation Governance Board of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the stillborn brain fart of Joe Biden. Under such an authoritarian existential threat to democracy the most powerful person in America would no longer be Elon Musk. It would be the person in charge of defining and identifying what constitutes “mis” or “disinformation”. We can assume that the likes of Brennan would be mortified if, say, Tucker Carlson were appointed to be the Winston Smith of the free speech suppressing Disinformation Governance Board.

Had we had such an agency in place we could have killed any suggestion that the Covid virus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, silenced anyone who opposed the shutdown of schools because of Covid or believed that it might be a good idea to do more diligent testing of the vaccines. If only…wait a minute…we did all that without the Board. We dodged a bullet on that one.

More importantly the recent products of our public schools and over-protective parenting would never have to confront ideas that did not fit into their Tik Tok universe. You can be assured that Luigi Mangione never heard the word “NO” in his entire life. Speaking of which…have we accounted for the whereabouts of his brother Mario?

Your tax dollars at work: Team DOGE has discovered 20,657,701 people between the ages of 100 and 159 years who are receiving social security payments. No waste and fraud to see here, move along. And to top it off 1,039 people between 220 and 229 are also dining at the Federal trough. Methuselah was not amongst them, Is it possible that the social security numbers in play here were given to illegal border crossers?

This just in: Kash Patel has been confirmed as the new Maitre d’ at the Cafe OK Corral, now with expanded seating.

Among the gems being mined by the DOGE team was the confirmation that FEMA did, in fact, withhold the distribution of benefits to folks that had the temerity to show any support for the MAGA revolution. Yet this is not without precedent. In the 1930’s FDR, a man described as a “vain, intellectually shallow person whose principal interest was to retain at all costs his personal power”, used his regulatory powers to punish his political opponents. FDR was the father of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the epitome of a pork barrel program, and it was used to support his reelection. Republicans in Kentucky were told change their political affiliation or lose their WPA jobs and those who kept their jobs were instructed to “donate” 2% of their wages to the Roosevelt campaign. The same thing was done in Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Are these Democrat practices engraved on stone tablets?

Your tax dollars at work: DOGE has announced that it found $4.7 Trillion in untraceable Treasury payments that were missing a critical tracking code. We can be certain it was money well spent…to someone, somewhere in the world.

It is perhaps time to begin to ponder what we will be doing with the cornucopia of information that the unelected DOGE team has unearthed. Do we demand repayment of the ill-gotten gains that lined the pockets of our political class, profited the chattering class, provided the vigorish skimmed by the bag men who directed the loot to their favorite free riders or received campaign contributions from those who got to wet their beaks? If we do this there will be a pile of cash that even Hunter Biden would be impressed with. Tax cuts, reduction of the national debt, one-time payments to the tax payers of America are all options to be explored. In other words the stuff that dreams are made on!

Answers to the Pop Quiz:

What was the longest filibuster in the history of the US Senate? The Democrat led opposition to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 60 days.

What President said: “Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion.”? The little known or long remembered Franklin Pierce

What world leader said: “Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.”? Winston Churchill accurately predicting discussions with Democrats

What Austrian philosopher said: “A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.”? Ludwig Wittgenstein

What socialite said: “Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory.”? The ever proper Emily Post

Who said: “Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.”? The creator of pre-woke entertainment Walt Disney

Who said” It doesn’t matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.”? Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace