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Shunning: A Survival Strategy
Over the years, I have assembled a short list of political aphorisms and I have been ruthless in my consideration of what merits inclusion. So ruthless that, in twenty-odd years, my list stood at a mere two entries. After years of advocacy, however, I realized that a specific point merits inclusion. My list now stands:
- Marxists lie.
- Never create a martyr.
- Some people need to touch the stove.
In reference to this new, third aphorism, there is a saying: “A smart man learns from his mistakes, but a wise man learns from other people’s mistakes.” The unspoken corollary is that a fool never learns. Which brings me to supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders.
As I see it, there are six types of Democrats:
- Marxist Globalists seeking absolute power and the total destruction of the United States (George Soros, President Obama).
- Crony Globalist Opportunists seeking to enrich themselves off of the carcass of the United States (the Clintons).
- Theoretical Marxist True-Believers (Sanders, some university professors).
- Brown Shirts (social justice warriors, violent protesters, some more university professors).
- Disgruntled Malcontents (The default Democrat, most of the remaining university professors).
- Utopian Pollyannas (Millennial Sanders supporters).
The first two types are dedicated criminals who are beyond reform. The next two are fundamentalist ideologues who are also beyond reform. The last two types are — to varying degrees — possibly open to reform, but only after they touch the stove first.
“The stove,” of course, is my metaphor for communism. The wise man looks at the collapse of Venezuela, the generational squalor of Cuba, the Kafkaesque mandates of the European Union, and understands which political actions should be taken and which should be avoided. The merely smart man and the fool do not and must first experience the horror. They must first — despite the loudest and most sincere entreaties — jam their hands, full force, onto the hot stove that every wise man knows will brutally disfigure them. Only then will the smart man learn (the fool never will).
However, the problem is that when the Democrats finally get their way — i.e., if the weak, beta Republican Establishment lets them get their way — then we will all touch the stove, whether we want to or not. This leaves wiser men to ask: Is there a way to escape our probable fate or at least a strategy to survive it? I have my own answer to that question: Yes, but it will not be pleasant.
For over a generation, the Democrats have made villains of the Republicans, and the Republican Establishment has done nothing. As a result, the Democrats now take it as an article of faith that the Republicans are not just wrong, but evil. There is no longer any argument we could bring to convince them otherwise, as they are no longer listening. And it is not possible for someone who does not listen to be wise. We can only hope that , when they do finally touch the stove, they are smart enough to learn.
Until then, we can give them a taste of the inevitable consequences of their choices: We can shun them. In shunning them, some of our fellow citizens might be smart enough to learn before they touch the stove. In shunning them, we might get a head start in forming refusenik communities to weather their Marxist storm.
For one hundred years, this miserable theory of Marxism has been tried and, for one hundred years, this miserable theory has failed. In its wake, it’s pulled the wise, the smart, and the foolish alike through rampant famine, mass murder, generational compulsory servitude, the imprisonment of artists, the disappearance of dissenters, and unspeakable terror. I see this theory for what it is — a hot stove not to be touched — and I am quite willing to say to those who malevolently or pollyannishly insist that I touch it that they are no longer welcome at my table.
Published in Politics
I wish I could say that there is some way to preserve family bonds in spite of political differences, but if there is I have not found it. I have a relative who lived most of his life in the mostly Liberal state of New Jersey along with a stint in California. He has been so brainwashed that no one in the family can get through to him. He is a lost cause as far as I am concerned. I would like to say that I can ignore his politics and maintain a close relationship but I have found that I cannot get past the fact that he is advocating for the destruction of our Country and is therefore destroying the future for my children. Preserving this Country for my children is more important to me than preserving my relationship with him.
Very sensible analysis. Very sensible action steps.
It is midnight on the Titanic. It’s headed for the bottom even if champagne and caviar are still being served in First Class dining salon. The most sensible thing is to see to the safety and welfare of you and yours.
Too bad so many types 5 & 6 live in bubbles where they never come in contact with liberty-minded people to begin with and won’t even notice if they’re being shunned.
Yesterday, I listened to NPR’s “Fresh Air”. Terry Gross interviewed New York Times reporter Nicholas Casey on the subject of Venezuela’s collapse. Gross (a progressive – surprise!) introduced the interview with but one explanation for Venezuela’s woes: low oil prices.
Casey disabused her of that notion. He laid the ultimate blame at the feet of Hugo Chavez. For example, Casey described price controls that (surprise!) caused the prices of goods to be lower than the cost of producing them. Oil income during the period of high oil prices masked the problem inherent with this system because Venezuela was able to import goods that were no longer economic to produce internally.
The people of Venezuela have touched the stove – big time. Casey described the horrors that the country’s hospitals have become. Because there is often no running water, surgeons wash their hands in bottled seltzer water. Because of the lack of sanitary surgical conditions, one in five patients return to the hospital with infections. In addition to water supply disruptions, electrical power is intermittent.
To blame oil prices for these and other problems is to ignore that other oil producing countries are not experiencing anything similar.
It was amusing to hear Casey school Gross on the evils of price controls, as I wondered whether it was at all possible that she might make the connection between the market-distorting price caps for goods and the market-distorting price floor for labor that the minimum wage represents.
I am uneasy about this. I had a very painful estrangement from my sister during the Scott Walker/Act 10 civil war here in Wisconsin, and I feel nothing but regret about it now. Family is more important than any political disagreement.
Just remember the full version of “blood is thicker than water” — the blood of battle is thicker than the water of the womb. Those who fight along side you and support you should have more priority than those whom who do not, even if the latter group includes family.
You are correct, there is an opening for a tu quoque attack. So let me provide further context.
In the first two categories, I am speaking of very specific people. Certainly, not every Democrat has the mindset or the means to be considered in the first two categories. As far as the specific people mentioned go, I am certainly open to argument that they are not as I consider them – but at this point any evidence would have to be extraordinarily convincing.
In the second two categories, I am referencing a point which I often make on Ricochet but have not specifically made here: I agree with Karl Popper that Marxism is, at its core, a religion. As such, anyone who openly professes and advocates this faith after one hundred years of human misery is, in my opinion, not just a believer, but a zealot. Zealots are not open to the appeal of reason. Social Justice Warriors are zealots of the Cultural Marxism denomination of this faith. They have by their actions repeatedly proved themselves closed to the appeal of reason. Violent mobs are closed to the appeal of reason by definition.
This may or may not answer your question, but it is the answer I have.
I would throw these in group 5: Disgruntled Malcontents – the default Democrat. I consider it a kind of catch-all category.
And when the fools and the smart who have not yet learned drink all the water?
The top two categories, as I had intended them, are certainly the leadership. The next two, to varying degrees, are fairly exclusive – not every Democrat is a Marxist theoretician, an SJW, or a brick wielding thug.
This is anecdotal, sure – but I once had a woman I worked with call me a racist to my face because I was voting for McCain over Obama. She then wondered why I never spoke to her again.
And there are many who would agree with you.
There seems to be an XKCD for every occasion.
It does need a a final branch off of the scientist:
Thank you.
I think category 5 catches most if not all remaining cases. Just because they are disgruntled and malcontented doesn’t mean that there’s not a fair reason: Ayn Rand said that the way to enslave a people is to feed them poison for food, and then feed them poison for antidote. The majority of Americans, not just Democrats have been fed poison for so long, it’s no wonder they are disgruntled and malcontented.
That’s a fair analysis. Thank you for reading.
I have a similar situation, but if a person is not open to reason, what can you do?
Thank you. I understand that voting with your feet is not an option for most people, but getting the hell out of Connecticut was one of the best things I and my family have done.
And I would be willing to bet that Casey did not make a dent in Gross’ faith. I would also be willing to bet that Gross, working at NPR, is more a fool than potentially smart.
Certainly everyone has to make their own choices based on their own circumstances.
I’m not so certain they’re the Jay Leno street question types. The ignorant masses are – at least here in CA – the coastal inhabitants. They have been duped by their ‘self-proclaimed betters’ who instruct them on the ‘realities’ of all things economic and ecological. Actually, it is those ‘betters’ who preach who are the true Ignorant Smugs as they are certainly pleased with themselves for taking what they believe to be the good, proper, and caring approach – without ever bothering to factor in reality (read: economic and scientific fact).
Here is one such example, and on a similar subject.
Yes, the stupid are easily duped, especially by those genius pop culture “betters”. My thinking was that there are just a lot of people who haven’t got a particular axe to grind, they aren’t thinking at all. They have just been inducted into the Smug Club, because as the OP said, the Repblicans have tolerated being characterized as evil.
Agreed.
Like.
That said, a career in the military means that I’ve run into a lot of people who could not be summarily shunned, so I’ve had to take a somewhat accommodating tack. At times, I’ve had to avoid certain topics which I thought could potentially cause disagreement. The military being a hierarchical organization, I learned it’s most prudent to avoid politics and religion (and the possibility someone might interpret what I’m saying as an attempt to influence a subordinate), but invariably things come up. Yet, when I had the opportunity to choose, such as when President Clinton came to my base in 1996, I skipped the “All Hands Call.” Couldn’t stand the thought of being near those people, even back then.