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Things You Can’t Say Without Being Castigated
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- Nordstrom has every right to stop selling items that don’t sell well.
- Vladimir Putin is a vicious thug. He is in every respect America’s moral inferior.
- Yes, racism is still a real problem in America.
- Donald Trump actually did lose the popular vote.
- But voter fraud is indeed very real – not “nonexistent,” despite what so many in the media say with willful disregard for the truth.
- It was perfectly sensible both as law and policy for critics to say, as U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions said and as the Supreme Court confirmed, that the Voting Rights Act unfairly and unconstitutionally singled out certain states and locales for extra, vexatious administrative burdens.
- The original Violence Against Women Act was flawed in ways that had nothing to do with protecting women from violence.
- Racism, while very real (see #3) is not nearly as much of a problem in America as the Left and paid agitators say it is.
- It is extremely worrisome to read reports of a petulant President lashing out at allies such as Mexico, France, and especially Australia.
- It is unseemly for a President even to joke about “ruining the career” of a state legislator who disagrees with him on the proper boundaries for civil liberties.
- It is worse than unseemly for a President to poisonously attack the impartiality of a judge or judges, and to politicize court cases, even before a case has been decided. This rule applies whether the judge is Mexican, or is thought to be liberal … or, for that matter, if what’s at stake is one’s signature piece of health care legislation. (Yes, in other words, Barack Obama did it too, and he too was wrong.)
- There are indeed such things as alternative facts. But something that is false is not an alternative fact.
- If a President’s top aide accidentally conflates terrorist arrests with a separate terrorist “massacre” – and yes, there are enough such massacres that it is hard to keep track of them – and then admits she misspoke, then it is beyond asinine for multiple, major news outlets still to be obsessing about it with front-page stories a half a week later. Not all mistakes are malevolent, fergoshsakes.
- Just because not all complaints about the media are valid, and just because it is wrong for a President to give a tone of trying to throttle the press as an institution, this does not mean that the media as a whole is an honest or trustworthy institution.
- Yes, the establishment media leans way, way to the political left. And yes, it is prone to pack journalism of the most mindless sort. And yes, its double standards that favor the left are astonishingly blatant. And yes, its overall disdain for faith, for tradition, for traditional morality, and for “middle America” is obvious, obdurate, and obnoxious.
- Just because the media collectively exhibit all those flaws listed above, this does not mean that it is fair to disparage all members of the media or to lie when the media actually publishes the facts.
- By the way, facts do exist. Some things are not matters of opinion.
- There is not a very significant “pay gap” for women when adjusted for relevant factors such as years worked, hours worked, actual duties, and the like.
- All lives matter.
- The reason blacks make up a disproportionate share of the prison population is that blacks commit a disproportionate share of crimes.
- The absolute fact that blacks for years have committed a disproportionate share of crimes proves nothing about an individual black person’s propensity to commit crimes, nor does it mean that anything innate in blacks as a race is responsible for disproportionate criminality, nor does it excuse police profiling based on race alone.
- Police profiling based on multiple factors – such as style of dress, body language (and eye contact or lack thereof), and other behavior – is a valuable tool that in itself infringes on nobody’s rights, as long as police procedures related to the profiling are respectful, sensible, and of course lawful.
- Even though Coretta Scott King was admirable and well-intentioned, she also could be wrong. Even though US Rep. John Lewis merits admiration as a civil rights hero, he can be wrong and is not necessarily a saint.
- Hey, college kids: People have a right to have different opinions than you do. You have no right to be “protected” from those opinions. If you need a stuffed animal to hold and Play-Doh to massage because you don’t like election results, you’re pathe… er, you’re way too fragile for the adult world. And if you go beyond peaceful protest into interfering with the rights or property of others, or into violence, you should be arrested, charged, convicted, and heavily punished.
- If you don’t like # 24, grow up.
- US Sen. Chuck Schumer is a major hypocrite.
- US Sen. Elizabeth Warner is a massive hypocrite and a smear artist.
- Donald Trump is a smear artist. (See: Rafael Cruz, Heidi Cruz, Michelle Fields, the “Mexican judge,” residents of northern New Jersey, Ben Carson the “child molester,” and others too numerous to list.)
Trump is absolutely right that we should build a wall. - Trump was absolutely right when he insisted while campaigning that “we don’t do enough winning anymore.”
- Trump is dead wrong about trade in general, and about NAFTA in particular. NAFTA has been a huge net plus for the US economy, for the economy of North America as a whole, for geopolitical stability – and for keeping illegal immigration lower than it otherwise would have been.
- Nonetheless, Trump is right that the United States does experience some trade disadvantages that are correctable, and that blue-collar workers disproportionately suffer from those disadvantages.
- Trump is wrong that the way to improve our trading posture is by “getting tough” on foreign trading partners. Instead, the way to improve the situation is by reforming our tax code, massively streamlining regulations, and outcompeting — not punishing — foreign rivals.
- Trump was hardly unique in identifying laborers as a too-oft-ignored voting bloc with honest, legitimate concerns. Plenty of analysts recognized that reality, and so did a significant number of politicians.
- …Nonetheless, far too few politicians, or business leaders, or establishment media outlets, recognized the reality and acted accordingly to help. And because those with the most power were among the least interested in Middle America, Middle America did, broadly speaking, get rooked.
- Therefore, even though Trump’s act of giving voice to these forgotten Americans indicated no particular genius or particularly acute sensibility, it is still to Trump’s credit that he focused heavily on this reality and stuck to his guns.
The list could go on (and on, and on). For each opinion or fact above, an essay (or at least a mini-essay) could be written. All of them could be done respectfully. (Well, except for the assertions that Schumer and Warren are hypocrites. But the facts there are so numerous and obvious, and the harm caused by their hypocrisy so manifest, that a lack of respect can’t help but exist.)
The list is almost evenly divided between statements anathema to some on the right and to ones anathema to some on the left. But, watch the comments that come below: Many will be furious, disrespectful, and full of name-calling without any actual arguments. Many will be so blinded by any apparent “attack” on their team that they lash out while refusing to recognize the central point here: Both sides are prone to shibboleths, both sides prone to yelling down opposing opinions (or even facts) – and, therefore, that rather than getting furious, we should consider assertions thoughtfully, on their merits, and be willing either to reconsider our own thoughts or to try to persuade people that our viewpoint is correct, by using right reason.
Maybe one or more of this column’s assertions are wrong (factually) or wrongheaded (not well reasoned). If so, bring on the respectful discussion. But leave the insults behind.
This article was re-posted from QuinHillyer.com.
Quin Hillyer is a Contributing Editor of National Review magazine, a Senior Editor for The American Spectator magazine, and a nationally recognized authority on the American political process.
Published in General
I have no problem with anything on that list, save how easy it was on Chuck Schumer.
But the Code of Conduct precludes my making any corrections, there.
I initially thought that said “Things You Can’t Say Without Being Castrated.” And it was like, whoa… Code of Conduct enforcement just got real serious.
Bit defensive there Quin. Nothing too bad either left or right. Nothing worth spitting over. Are you hoping for a tongue lashing so you can say “I told you so”?
I don’t agree with every item but there’s enough to like. Enough to see you are trying to be objective, fair and sane. Thanks for your thoughts.
It’s a good list. I am going to nitpick about #4. Trump probably would have lost a popular vote, but we don’t know by how much. If the nation had actually had a popular vote, more conservatives in blue states would have come out to vote. Many of them either didn’t bother to vote or felt they could vote third party because their vote wouldn’t count anyways. So we really don’t know what the exact totals would have been in an actual popular vote.
Happy to see you here, Quin.
As my Nigerian friends say: you are welcome.
It’s worth noting that this is reposted from his personal blog — so he wasn’t specifically predicting such responses from Ricochet members. It’s certainly true that if you say such things in the wider world you are going to get jumped on. Of course, if you only say the half of them that favor one side, you get jumped on harder (although by fewer people). A little honesty can go a long way sometimes.
#4: We’ve never held a national popular vote (sic) for president, so it’s impossible to claim that someone lost (or won) that which doesn’t exist and never has.
In Calif, all you need to vote is a drivers license. And you don’t have to be a citizen to get one. So why WOULDN’T these ( wonderful, hardworking) illegals vote? Are you calling them stupid? And Clinton won Calif by 3 million votes which accounts for her popular vote “win”.
Not “castigating “. Just sayin’..
I agree with plenty of your opinions and statements. No Venetian Boys Choir punishment.
No “castigation” from me. Excellent list. My only observation is that the list is so long that I’m afraid that any resultant comment thread would be enormous and rife with scattershot. The list reminds me more of diary entries made during the last year or so of election rhetoric. Pretty good summary of the hot buttons. Thankfully, it’s over and we’re getting on with the business of living in America.
I had the same thought, Patrick, but I’ll give the thread some space until I see more evidence of projection.
Oh if only that were true!
Here’s a truth for you:
The U. S. trade deficit with ANY country is not because of any “unfair” anything. The U. S. trade deficit is because we have so much money and we love to buy stuff, and when we see something we want, we buy it and we don’t care where it comes from or what is the age of the person who made it or what kind or materials were used in the manufacture of it. We don’t care if someone jumped off the roof of the building right after they assembled it or if someone was being lashed with a cat o’ nine tails while they were assembling it, we just see it and we buy it.
If this truth does not apply specifically to you, it is still truth for the vast majority of this country. Stop blaming China or Mexico or whomever. Also, stop complaining that “we don’t manufacture anything in America any more” – that’s because of the above Truth, and we have nobody to blame but ourselves.
And yes, I include me in this Truth. I love stuff, lots of stuff, you should see all the stuff I have. It’s freakin’ everywhere around my place.
Excellent list.
No argument here. As has been stated many times, you can have you own opinion, but facts are indesputable.
You’re going to have to try harder than this, sir.
Only one I disagree with is the wall, really.
Now let’s get serious and quit being pussies, okay?
The Oxford comma is for jive suckas.
It’s one space after a period, you goddamned dinosaurs.
Flat front >>>pleated.
Hillary didn’t “win” anything. She got more individual votes than Trump but fewer state votes. We only count state votes. Here’s the correct way to report this: “A by-product of counting state votes was an interesting but inconsequential side issue: Hillary actually got more votes from individuals — isn’t that peculiar?”
Both candidates would have campaigned differently in a popular vote and so it’s ridiculous to say she won the popular vote when we don’t know if she is more popular. Probably not actually.
I frequently threaten to burn our house down with all our stuff in it.
Its easier than cleaning.
NO! Never.
Oh, I didn’t say it was pretty, @hypatia! I intended to inject ever so gently the idea that a lot of the topics on his list are overcome by events, or are at least boring in 2017. The election is over and the type of bickering has changed, and not for the better. The infighting in our party and the outright war with the Marxists will probably intensify. McCain is getting Melanoma from the camera lights on him, and Schumer is still selling baby parts.
Yeah! Commas must abound and TWO spaces! That’s right, I yelled…
Fight, fight, fight!
36. Conservatives watch way too much television news, and are too much influenced by it.
Of course it exists. It has no legal or Constitutional consequences, but it exists.
Yes, it isn’t exactly business as usual, is it? What we’ve always had here is people, even the losers, putting aside election politics after November and getting back to work. It’s like Frost wrote of the 1960 election:”So close, yet sure to be abided by..” and this year we don’t have that, we have masked paid protesters torching cars and breaking windows. An election is supposed to settle things till the next election. What we’re seeing here reminds me of what happens in places like Egypt where an election just touches off ever more violent mob activity.
When did our country forget how to be a democracy?
I wasn’t accusing you of Pollyanna-ism; it’s just that the phrase “getting on with the business of living in America” made ME feel all nostalgic and wistful…..
Excellent post, sir.
Edit: Deleted duplicate comment.
There’s nothing to nitpick about #4. Trump did lose the popular vote. This is an objective fact with irrefutable empirical data supporting it.
My main comment would be a qualifier for #5. Voter fraud does indeed exist. But it’s level is so marginal that it would have an effect on only the closest of elections. My qualifier for #5 would be that, while voter fraud does indeed exist, it is, however, ludicrous to suggest that voter fraud was (or could ever be) engaged in to a degree that it affected a 3 million vote aggregate difference between the two major party candidates.
There was no popular vote. He didn’t get a majority of the individual votes that were cast, but there was no popular vote. This is an objective fact with irrefutable empirical data supporting it.