"Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
But, we're not telling them. So says Ann McElhinney of Not Evil, Just Wrong and Mine Your Own Business fame.
She has a great conversion story. She was a typical European liberal living in Romania working as a freelance journalist. She came upon a story of an "evil" Canadian mining company which was planning to open a gold mine in Transylvania by first tearing down a village, and, of course, raping, pillaging, and plundering the villagers. At least, that was the story she presupposed while riding the train to the area. What she found when she got there was somewhat different. May I present the incomparable -- Ann McElhinney!
Ms. McElhinney is a fabulous mess of a speaker (John Fund), which makes every one of her speeches a trove of riches for conversation. Just in this short clip there's the brain dead liberal story, the liberal media bias story, the DDT story, the environmentalist tyranny story, the CO2 as the new DDT story, the wrong versus evil story, and probably more that I missed.
However, this post is just about conservatives telling their conversion stories. Or, if you've always been conservative, what's the most potent story you tell which reinforces the conservative facts of life?
P.S. Has Ann McElhinney ever been on Ricochet and, if not, wadda we waiting for -- Al Gore's apology for the global warming farce?
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Comments:
Feb '11
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
"God, I love America." What a woman!
I'd never heard of her, Western Chauvinist, thanks for sharing her with me. I'm interested in reading/seeing more of her.
I also love her saying, "I need to be more mindful of the time." So instead of saying less, she just talks a lot faster.
Apr '11
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
What a voice! Reason and passion in perfect balance.
Thank you!
Dec '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Mama Toad: "God, I love America." What a woman!
I'd never heard of her, Western Chauvinist, thanks for sharing her with me. I'm interested in reading/seeing more of her.
I also love her saying, "I need to be more mindful of the time." So instead of saying less, she just talks a lot faster. · 6 minutes ago
Isn't she somethin', Mama? I watched a lot of Fr. Barron, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and Bill Whittle on YouTube during my Lenten retreat from Ricochet. I just happened upon Ann McElhinney in the "Recommended" column. You'll find more from her by scanning that column once you've watched the videos I linked.
If it weren't a CoC violation, I'd speculate about it being some kind of conspiracy that McElhinney isn't more widely known in conservative circles.
Feb '11
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Not familiar with Fr. Barron, but Bishop Sheen is an old favorite. The children love his angel. And we always write JMJ on our chalkboard or our papers during school.
And Bill Whittle is a national treasure. I enjoy all the pjtv I can watch. I have to admit I am two or three weeks behind in my Ricochet podcasting, but I eagerly click on the pjtv youtube channel "three times a day for [my] antidote to the obsolete news media," as Scott Ott says.
Dec '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Oh ho! I have a treat for you, Mama. Fr. Barron is the creator/narrator of the new series Catholicism. He's been commissioned by his bishop to evangelize the culture using new media.
Word on Fire
Edited on April 14, 2012 at 5:49pmFeb '11
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Ahh! I'd heard of the series, but I didn't recall his name. Thanks for the link! Ann McElhinney was helping me fold the laundry (thanks be to the Lord for the washing machine and clothes dryer!!) and now Fr. Barron can come up to the attic with me while I sort away winter clothes and cull for the thrift store. Thanks, WC!
(My laptop has crud speakers and used to make this kind of job impossible because I had to be practically sitting on my machine to hear anything, but my eldest tadpole heard my wish and granted me some speakers for my birthday in December, so now I can go anywhere and hear anything!!! Love that technology and available electricity! Go carbon-based fossil fuels!)
Edited on April 15, 2012 at 12:09amDec '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Western Chauvinist:
... May I present the incomparable -- Ann McElhinney! ...
Yes, yes you can. What a pleasure to watch and listen. David Halberstam had it wrong, Ann McElhinney is actually one of "The Best and The Brightest"and they all have great stories with the same ending ... a moment of clarity, followed by waking from an intellectual coma, and then discovering the truth about capitalism - i.e. capitalism is the fountain head of freedom and prosperity.
What a great lady, she's a real tiger and we need a thousand more just like her.
Oct '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
You're back with a bang, WC. Great post!
May '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Wonderful.
She's just the sort of passionate person we need to go on The View or MSNBC, because she would have the decency to get angry and flay them with her tongue when they started peddling their lies.
Apr '12
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
I've pretty much always been conservative; 'pretty much' because my parents never taught it, at least not recognizably-- they'd explain politics if we asked, and otherwise taught us a world-view.
Only ask for help if you really need it-- and give help when people need it, without them having to ask.
Every story is incomplete. Try to figure out the important parts that are missing, especially if you're being sold something. (Car, world views, a request for support.)
"What you heard might not be what they said"-- semantics is important.
Almost anything can be abused; misuse doesn't invalidate good use, just be aware.
There is good and evil, but people don't consider themselves evil.
Their reason might suck, but there is one. Somewhere. And it makes sense to them.
Most important, that people can do a lot of damage in ignorance or being mistaken; it's a bigger threat than the ones that are TRYING to hurt you. You're no less dead from a misunderstanding or values dissonance than from someone trying to kill you.
Pay attention. Think. Try to remember your shortcomings.
Feb '12
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
I had tears running down my face. God bless her. I know she is harsh on Rachel Carlson and the editors will probably delete all of the wonderful comments above because of this (personal attacks are a violation of Ricochet code of conduct), but I will enjoy them while I can!
Feb '11
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
She isn't undeservedly harsh on Rachel Carson. Ad hominem attacks are a violation. Calling 'em like ya sees 'em is not.
The Overlords are very loose and free market about their censorship.
Nov '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
I never heard of her before, but thank you so much for posting this! It was wonderful. I have a new hero!
Sep '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Me too! How great is that?!?!?!!
Dec '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
I'm so glad you all agree with me that she's wonderful. Will you help me lobby the Rico powers to get her on a podcast or as a guest contributor? Why she's not featured on every conservative forum is a mystery to me.
To bring this back to the presidential election for a moment, this is something that greatly concerns me about conservatives in general and Romney in particular. We're up against a president whose greatest appeal is emotional. He tells good stories, even if they're mostly fabrications. What is Romney going to say... "when I was born with that silver spoon in my mouth..." It's not a good story, is it? I think he's got a good story to tell about adding value to our society through capitalism, but he hasn't mastered his witness, has he?
Conservatism as philosophy can be a hard sell because there are requirements for delayed gratification and personal responsibility. Our ideas don't fit easily on bumper stickers either. But, to sway the voters, we need to get good at giving testimony the way Ann McElhinney does -- with passion, conviction, and "troot" telling.
Dec '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Thanks Severely. It's good to be back. I missed you all! If this is a great post though, it's because of the subject. Ann McElhinney has got to be America's best import from Ireland in ages!
Dec '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Mama Toad: She isn't undeservedly harsh on Rachel Carson. Ad hominem attacks are a violation. Calling 'em like ya sees 'em is not.
The Overlords are very loose and free market about their censorship. · 57 minutes ago
Agreed. Rachel Carson did a wicked, wicked thing with her lies about DDT. She has the blood of millions of black children on her hands.
And remember, CO2 is the new DDT. People are dying unnecessarily over environmentalist hysteria and it's going to get worse as long as they hold sway in our politics.
We've got to make the moral case for conservatism and capitalism.
Nov '10
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
I'm in. How about a move of this post to the Main Feed, as a start? Why haven't I heard of this woman before?
Feb '11
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
The most depressing thing about watching her all the way through was her call in Part III for a grassroots answer to the execrable Inconvenient Pile of Bupkis with her movie Not Evil Just Wrong. This video is from 2009. It's not too late, is it?
I'd also very much like to see her FrackNation. Living in progressive New Paltz, lots of people are anti-fracking. I earned no friends the other day on a homeschool list serve when I posted a response to the impassioned plea from another mom to lobby our politicians to ban the evil fracking. The silly movie Gasland has been accepted as Gospel by most of my acquaintances.
Feb '12
Re: "Conservatives Have All the Best Stories"
Mama Toad: She isn't undeservedly harsh on Rachel Carson. Ad hominem attacks are a violation. Calling 'em like ya sees 'em is not.
The Overlords are very loose and free market about their censorship. · 2 hours ago
How objectively, deminstrably wrong you are. First, there is no mention in the code of conduct of the word "ad hominem" meaning "appealing to people's emotions and prejudices instead of their ability to think". You made that up. Rather, the COC prohibits " Personal attacks on an individual, group, or class."
Resting, as your argument does, upon a fabrication, it is unlikely that your conclusion would make sense. And indeed it does not - and would not even if your predicate was accurate (which it is not). Specifically, how does one make the leap to "Calling 'em like ya sees 'em is not (a violation)."? Please try the following: Imagine the most hateful personal attack possible. It is prohibited by the COC? Of course. Now, imagine I wrote that hateful attack (the one you imagined) and that I was calling it as I saw it. Did it just transmogrify into acceptable discourse. Of course not - because your conlusion is simply false. QED. Cheers.