Author: Bill Vallicella
Extremism and Leftist Projection: The Border
Mainstream leftists promote extreme ideas and policies; mainstream conservatives do not. But this fact does not stop leftists from projecting their extremism into us. They call us extremists! Uncomfortable with their extremism, and not wanting to admit it, they suppress their awareness of their extremism by projecting it into us. There are numerous examples of this political-psychological projection. This entry will discuss just one.
Consider the question of national borders. My thesis is that conservatives at the present time in the USA are moderates on all or most questions pertaining to national borders and their enforcement.
A moderate position is one that is more or less midway between two extremes. One extreme is the de facto if not de jure open borders view according to which anyone at any time may immigrate without being in any way vetted as to health status, criminal status, or in any other way. The opposite extreme is the closed border view according to which no immigration of anyone at any time is permitted by law and the law is strictly enforced.
Now no one is for the second extreme. No one in the USA holds that all immigration should be illegal, than no one should ever be granted political asylum, etc.
But the Biden administration's position is very close to the first extreme. That cannot be denied by anyone who is both well-informed and intellectually honest.
The conservative position is commonsensical and moderate, lying as it does between the extremes. Conservatives, to harp on the obvious, are not opposed to immigration; they are opposed to illegal immigration. Among conservatives there are debates as to how latitudinarian immigration policy ought to be. But that is a further question.
I could go on from here and show that on every or almost every issue that divides the nation, mainstream conservatives are moderates. I solicit your help. Tell me in the ComBox what those further issues are and how the mainstream conservative treads the via media.
What Motivates George Soros?
What could motivate anyone to use his billions to bankroll the unravelling of the fragile fabric of civil society?
Miranda Devine explained last night on Fox that Soros is a utopian who believes that only after the status quo is razed to the ground can we start over and build utopia. But utopia is "Like, nowheresville, man" as Maynard G. Krebs once remarked. Or at least it is nowhere we can get to by individual or collective effort. The eschaton is not up for immanentization.
The deepest metaphysical error of the Left is the conceit that there is no reality antecedent to human beliefs and desires, and that everything is susceptible to human manipulation and production, to something like Heideggerian Machenschaft.
Devine on Soros. Check out the photos. "Birds of a feather flock together."
Memo to useful idiots: if you vote Dem, you should know what you are voting for. You need to wake up to wokery.
The Smart Home Blues
Sino-styled surveillance is upon us. No up-to-date police state without it. So only a dumbass would spring for a 'smart home.' Be smart, and keep your house dumb. How dumb? As dumb as a ding-dong dumbbell Dem.
In today’s world of politically correct insanity, it’s truly baffling that a significant number of Americans willingly invite in their homes these advanced devices that constantly eavesdrop on their conversations and actions. Yet, that’s become the norm with gadgets like Echo and Alexa, which feel like creepy spies sitting in the corner, recording every noise you make. Well, one guy learned the hard way just how risky that idea can be when his doorbell accused him of being “racist” and Amazon completely shut down his entire “smart home.” The guy’s name is Brandon Jackson, and he gave a detailed account of what went down that fateful day.
Story here.
The Difference between Philosophy and Polemics
Top o' the Stack.
Tony Flood comments:
Congrats on another vital post, Bill. You referred to our spectatorship and to theoria without adverting to the etymological connection between them. (You can't do everything in one post! (:^D) ) In Philosophy after Christ, p. 39n1, I noted:
The Greek theoreō (θεωρέω) means to look at; gaze; spectate; form a picture. “Theory” comes from the noun for “spectacle” and the verb “to behold,” theaomai (θεάομαι), from which we get “theater.” A theoros is a spectator. “When all the people who had gathered to witness this spectacle (θεωρίαν, theōrian) saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away” (Luke 23:48). “He [Jesus] beholds (θεωρεῖ) a commotion with people crying and wailing loudly” (Mark 5:38).
You'll no doubt see other implications.
Saturday Night at the Obituaries
Astrud Gilberto, the Girl from Ipanema, has passed on at age 83. The genre, Bossa Nova, was popular from the late '50s to the mid-'60s.
"Blame It on the Bossa Nova" is a song written by Cynthia Weil (lyrics) and Barry Mann which was a 1963 hit single for Eydie Gormé, reaching number 7 on the Hot 100 in Billboard in March 1963.
'Route 66' actor George Maharis is dead at 94.
Jack Kerouac in a letter from 17 January 1962: "Everybody is making money off my ideas, like those "Route 66" TV producers, everybody except me . . . ." (Selected Letters 1957-1969, ed. Charters, Viking 1999, p. 326; see also p. 461 and pp. 301-302.)
Here is the Nelson Riddle theme music from the TV series. And here is part of an episode from the series which ran from 1960-1964. George Maharis bears a striking resemblance to Jack, wouldn't you say? And notice Maharis is riding shotgun. Kerouac wasn't a driver. Neal Cassady (The Dean Moriarty of OTR) was the driver.
Now dig Bobby Troup. Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, Dr. Feelgood, and others have covered the tune. How should we describe the good doctor's performance? Energetic? Nay, manic. Makes this old man want to hit the road, which he will be doing before too long. Every true American loves the open road. And if you don't? Then you are not a true American. The version by Asleep at the Wheel is especially good. "Four on the road, one in the hand," as Neal Cassady says somewhere.
Tina Turner died recently at 83. Some of us remember her mainly in connection with the abusive Ike.
Enough death for one night.
We Need a Broad Coalition to Defeat the Left
Substack latest.
Tony Flood comments, with characteristic erudition:
A good case, Bill. I wouldn't say I'm looking for atheists to work with, but a conservative's atheism would be no barrier to my doing so. While reading, I thought of Antony Flew (not to be confused with Anthony Flood), once a target of academia's cancel culture. In 2001, the Mises Institute, then run by trad Catholic Lew Rockwell, awarded him its Schlarbaum Prize. His 1981 The Politics of Procrustes tore into Rawls's Theory of Justice. This was all before he went deistic, as was his 1995 "The Terrors of Islam." My friend David Gordon's brief notice of Flew's death credits the influence of David Conway to his abandonment of his long-held atheism.
I have the Politics of Procrustes in my library and drew upon it when I taught political philosophy at Case Western Reserve University. Flew had a salutary influence on my thinking in those days, as did Robert Nozick, although I find libertarians too 'economic' in their thinking and insufficiently appreciative of cultural considerations.
If Tony has Conway's book and is willing to part with it, he can contact me. By the way, if you are bookman looking to get hitched, make sure you marry a woman who won't mind living in a library.
And a bookman these days is well-advised to develop some ancillary skills.
Collective Guilt
Are there such things as collective guilt and collective responsibility? In Black Reparations, I put forth the following principle:
Only those who are victims of a crime are entitled to reparations for the crime, and only those who are the perpetrators of a crime are obliged to pay reparations for it.
A commenter, not impressed by the principle, offers this by way of rebuttal:
I steal $100,000 from you. I give it to my son, and head for the hills. My son is $100,000 richer than you. Do you have a right to ask for it back? Why? He didn't take it from you – he is no perpetrator. He is innocent. [. . .] Where do you draw the line? One can extrapolate individualism to absurd, unworkable levels – a baby may have no milk that he hasn't earned, for instance. No, if it is possible for your children and friends to benefit from your actions, then by benefiting from unjust actions, they become connected to the injustice.
There are many cases in which one who does not directly commit a crime, aids and bets the commission of a crime. The case mentioned above could be subsumed under 'trafficking in stolen goods.' One who knowingly does this, though not as guilty as the thief, is also guilty. Or suppose two enraged men are engaged in a violent dispute that threatens to become physical. I hand one of the men a loaded revolver, and he shoots the other. Have I done anything wrong? Of course. Even though I have not shot anyone, I have aided an abetted a shooting.
What is Philosophy Good For?
A Substack protreptic.
A protreptic is an exhortation.
From the late Latin protrepticus hortatory, encouraging, from Greek protreptikos, from protrepein to turn forward, urge on, from pro- + trepein to turn. (Miriam-Webster)
Confuse Hate and Dissent and You Will Find Hate Groups Everywhere
Did you know that Moms for Liberty is a hate group?
At least that’s the view of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a far-left political organization, which is drawing scorn for labeling Moms for Liberty and other parental rights organizations as “extremist organizations,” including them on the same “hate map” as neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
Like many SPLC critics, [Vivek] Ramaswamy dismissed the attack as “a farce.”
“The SPLC is a tentacle of the woke-industrial complex,” he told NHJournal. “I’m proud to be the first candidate to sign the Moms for Liberty Parent Pledge. Tomorrow [Thursday, June 8], I’ll be in New Hampshire hosting a Parents Rights Town Hall with my favorite ‘hate group’ (badge of honor).”
Here is what these domestic terrorists and insurrectionists look like. Call me naive, but they strike me as sweet, loving, and lovable suburban mommies who want what is good for their children and have a healthy sense of the difference between good and evil.
Just for fun check out this SPLC Hate Map. It includes a nifty search utility. Look up how much hate is in your state! Fun for the whole family. In Arizona in 2022 there were 39 hate groups, including a chapter of Moms for Liberty in Pima County. Yikes!
The SPLC calls these groups "anti-government groups." The SPLC-ers are the kind of people who think that being FOR limited government is being AGAINST government.
Are you anti-government? I'm not. I'm anti-police state. Can you wrap your head around the difference?
ComBox open. I want your opinion. Is the USA at the present time a police state? Dan Bongino says it is. Agree? Adduce evidence for and against.
Addenda (6/9)
Dan Bongino: The Police State is here.
"You have to understand what's going on," Bongino added. "The timing here is not accidental. Evidence came out today, hard evidence that the president of the United States, while he was Obama's vice president, was involved in the biggest political payoff in human history and a political scandal.
"This is all about making Trump go away and covering up for not just Biden, but covering up for Obama. Remember, Biden was the vice president. If he was paid a bribe for policy decisions, what policy decisions? He can't make them. He was Obama's vice president.
"Everything is about covering up for the Obama-Biden regime. That's all this is. The timing here is not accidental."
Rudy Giuliani: We're a 'Banana Republic,' 'Fascist'
"We have these allegations of massive bribes to Joe Biden," Giuliani said. "I mean, I've seen them. I know them. I've heard them. I've heard them on tape. To me, it's astounding. And the FBI has been investigating these for four years. And done nothing.
"Never did a search warrant. Never interviewed a witness, and now they're taking a document dispute, and trying to make it into a federal crime. I mean, there's no comparison between the $5 million bribe and a document dispute; the $31 million from China and the document dispute.
"It's ridiculous. I mean, we're a banana republic and a fascist country. If we do things like this and let them get away with it."
John Hinderaker: Trump Indictment Watch
The criminal prosecutions of Trump are thin if not entirely baseless, and they obviously are politically motivated. Nevertheless, they illustrate why Trump should not again be president.
Reader J.I.O comments and I basically agree:
No, Mr. Hinderaker. You are writing nonsense and I can prove it to anybody:Turn all that you opine around and ask: "Do you want anyone so weak towards the heat in the kitchen, in the kitchen?" I sure don't.Trump, no if's and's or but's, has the best and best enduring interests of the United States at heart, full speed ahead. And that's best for all the nations of this world as well.Now let's examine a little more the track of 'candidates' along the lines you favor. They're thinking of that brass ring out there so they are NEVER focused on the task at hand.Hence you can count on two things, 1. their work is not their best, or, 2. they fob it off on someone else, so it's not really their work, they sit as a figure head, you know, that statue on the prow of an old sailing ship, a superstitious talisman. To sum up your favored candidates self-screening process: one finger in the wind, one eye looking backwards, the other eye looking WAY down the road at their all-along real goal.
Trump alone can turn things around. He has proven over four years that he can. He cannot be bought. He is tough as nails and can withstand the withering hatred directed at him from all sides. He doesn't need the job. He is not a career politician. He can have at most one term in office. He loves his country, and, contrary to the brazen lies of the filthy Dems, he is moderate in his views. There is nothing extreme about them.
The question to put to well-meaning useful idiots like Hinderaker and so many other yap-and-scribble never-trumping pseudo-cons is: which side are you on, man? Grow a pair and man up. Are you not embarrassed to be a lapdog of the Left?
The Leftist as Denier of Distinctions
The denial of distinctions is the subversion of thought.
A Substack quickie.
One distinction the wokeassed cannot process is that between hate and dissent. To dissent from what you say is not to hate you. Failure to grasp this simple distinction is predicated on a further failure, that of failing to grasp the distinction between a proposition and a person.
'Wokeass' is appropriate invective because an ass is a donkey and the home of the 'woke' in the USA is the Democrat Party the symbol of which is the jackass. Communists could not win here under the Hammer and Sickle but they are winning under under the sign of the Donkey.
Astride the Jackass at present is a man multiply defective: feeble in body, non compos mentis, morally corrupt to the core, devoid of principle, a traitor in dereliction of duty, and the mere puppet of hidden masters. Our geopolitical adversaries are licking their chops and preparing to pounce.
When you vote Dementocrat you are voting for the suicide of the West.
Those Useless Masks Now Have a Use
Did you throw away your useless made-in-China COVID face masks? Yes? Too bad. They now have a use in places like New York City.
If someone is firing a shotgun at you it would be futile to take cover behind a chain link fence. But if you are being pelted by baseballs, the fence would prove barrier enough.
Smoky places unsought are the problem; those sought not so much.
A Mistake of Memory
One mistake we sometimes make is to confuse a memory of a decision to do something with a memory of having done it. "I thought I did that! No, my man, you merely thought of doing it."
One morning I wasted time searching for an article I had printed out the day before. But I was searching for a nonexistent object. I hadn't printed it out; I had merely resolved to do so. I confused resolve with result.
Memory, then, is fallible. But it is via memory that we know this. The non-veridical memory of having printed the document is known to be non-veridical by comparison with the veridical memory of having intended to print it. So while fallible, memory is a source of knowledge, and generally reliable, although its powers vary from person to person.
Veridical memory of wholly past events gives the lie to presentism, the view that the present alone exists. For if the present alone exists, then the wholly past does not exist. But what does not exist cannot be known. Given that some memories are veridical, presentism is false.
"So what are you saying, man? That the past is real?"
Anti-‘Woke’ Parents versus Antifa ‘Wokesters’
Here:
Antifa members who showed up outside a public meeting for the Glendale, California school system on Tuesday got beat down by the Armenian parents who showed up to voice their opposition to LGBTQ+ curriculum in the classroom.
Andy Ngo comments:
Local sources tell me it was this use of Armenian colors/symbols mixed with LGBTQI+, pup play pride in the shape of a Christian cross that incensed Armenian-American families in Los Angeles & caused them to mobilize against the school boards.
Historical comparisons are tricky and in any case I'm no historian. Are we in something like a Weimar period? You know what came after that. Or are we in something like the waning days of the imperium romanum? You know what came after that too.
Is there an historian in the house?
One thing is clear: we have a government that gives aid and comfort to anti-civilizational elements. At the head of this government we have a man who is not only morally corrupt personally, but also in dereliction of his constitutional duties. A little south of this entry I quoted David Horowitz on Joe Biden:
He began with a brazen lie that he would unify the country and represent both those who voted for him and those who did not.
Then he issued a series of executive orders that illegally and unconstitutionally nullified our immigration laws, and welcomed a flood of unvetted illegals from 200 countries to invade our country. This was the greatest crime ever committed by our government against its own people.
The fish stinks from the head as the proverb has it, and in this case it stinks to high heaven.
On ‘Breaks Down’
Headline from a fairly high-level conservative publication: RFK Jr. Breaks Down His Stance on 2nd Amendment.
Surely that is bad writing. I don't object to the use of 'breaks down' to mean 'analyze,' although the overuse of the former expression by journalists is becoming tedious and all-too-indicative of what language lemmings they are. But what the headline reports is not analysis but explanation. 'Explains' is the word. Or one of them.
No wonder journalists can't think worth a damn: they can't write worth a damn. The worst, of course, are the leftists. I deprecate them as 'journos.' The conservatives I call 'journalists.' They are a couple of cuts above the journos, but that is not saying much. Neither term is approbative in my book.
The visage of 'Walter' above signals a language rant, so that you may bail if such is not to your taste.