Visions From My Pensieve

The post from Wednesday has taken some interesting turns. I had a client in my office yesterday, and of course, the conversation turned to politics. I told him "Hold on, I wrote and posted on my internet site the other day something that I think you might like." and I printed off a copy of Wednesday's post. I handed it to him, he scanned it for two seconds, and he said "I have this. Somebody emailed it to me." I looked at him with shock, and said "Really?"
He said "Yeah. I know this guy up in Arlington, and he's emailing it to people."
To that I say "Guy in Arlington: Its important stuff, so emailing it? Ok, but I ask that you either give a link or attribution. It is an original work, and that particular post actually took a little time to write. A nod to the author, at the least, is in order, and if you have already paid me this courtesy, then Thank You. It's nice to know you thought it was worthy of sharing."

Another part of this conversation? This client sees a whole lot more people in a day than I do. He says he cannot believe how many people he talks to about the election who seem very invested in one issue, but then know nothing about the others. Nothing at all. I thought about that a lot last night and today. The idea bothers me quite a bit. How the Hell did we get to the point where people would be so ignorant about something so important? I realize that it is a combination of factors, but it still irritates me. There is enough ignorance involved with this election, from the people who say "What's wrong with social and economic justice? Then things will finally be fair!!1!" to the geniuses who think that the Constitutional requirement that a person be a "natural born citizen" is either an archaic concept that doesn't fit with modern day standards, or that it is a "nebulous term" that has never been defined in any applicable way, or both. Leave it to members of my tribe to create the perception of ambiguity where none actually exists. If we are to survive as a republic, we cannot allow this standard of ignorance and narrow focus to continue. However, if we are going to turn this course back to a thinking and informed body politic, then we will have to put conservatives back in to the classrooms and newsrooms of this country. We cannot allow these professions to remain as the last resort for those among us who were capable of little else or those determined to execute the leftist strategies of taking our children and corrupting them early with concepts corrosive to our unity as a nation and our tradition of excellence. Concepts like "Diversity" which celebrates the attributes of the individual and teaches that the whole is lessened without each of us retaining and demanding recognition for our respective racial and national identity, rather than adopting the identity of the nation that is our home. Or "Moral Equivalence" which teaches that every philosophy, religion, and culture is no better or no worse than any other, ignoring the fact that this simply isn't true, and there is a wealth of empirical evidence demonstrating the hollowness of this belief. Better yet, we have the cornerstone of newspeak which the left needs to destroy us: "Political Correctness". Political Correctness is the idea that certain people should be forbidden from saying certain things, because someone might get their feelings hurt. This is the wellspring for idiotic notions that everyone should be a winner, or that everything must be fair. It also hampers any real discourse on any matter of consequence because serious people will never be able to make their points. Serious people call things what they are. The acolytes of PC will demand that ephemisms be substituted, and if they still hit too close to home in any conversation, then the person trying to make a point or engage in a serious discussion must further circumvent conversation in an effort not to hurt someone else's feelings. This ignores the fact that sometimes, feelings should be hurt, and feelings should take a backseat to truth. The acolytes believe that this makes them more enlightened; I believe that it makes many of them marginal intellects at best, as they have surrendered the ability to do something in the pursuit of good feelings. As for the rest, they sleep at night secure in the knowledge that they have spawned a whole new shibboleth for serious people to contend with on a daily basis, and have shaped and warped an entire generation of young minds into a de facto police force to monitor and denounce the thought crimes of the rest of us. Think I'm wrong? How many times have Obama supporters or the Press (but I repeat myself) called us "Racist!" because we have expressed the idea that we will not vote for Barack Hussein Obama. Better yet "You CAN'T say HIS middle name!!!11!!! That's racist!!!11!!" or "You're implying that he is a Muslim!!!11!!" You and I both know that no matter how many President's middle names we can name, or how many perfectly good reasons that have nothing to do with Obama's race we give for not voting for him, or the fact that no matter how many years he sat in the pews at Reverend Wright's "Hate Whitey" church, even he can't seem to recall for moment to moment if he is a muslim or not. Their politically correct analysis demands that you be declared guilty of the crimes they accuse you of, because if they ever had to move beyond feelings, then they might just have to consider the idea, even for a microsecond, that they might be wrong in their enthusiastic support for him, and in their presumption of your guilt.

This is the real reason why we need to all become educators. Sure, I'm as guilty as the next conservative of simply lowering the boom on the lefties where ever they sprout up and mouth their talking points, but really, our best offense is also our best defense. Educate them. Innundate them with facts, with logic, with reason. Sooner or later, all but the hardest of the hardcore true believers will no longer be able to ignore the elephant in the room, especially when you introduced them and told them its name. And teach your children well, because no one wants to retire to a socialist workers paradise.