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Quote of the Day: Absurdities and Atrocities
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire
We can see an illustration of this quote in the behavior of certain politicians over the last month. The idea that preventing people from buying seeds or child seats can somehow prevent the spread of a disease is absurd, as is the belief that people sitting in their automobiles at a church parking lot are somehow at more risk of spreading disease than those sitting in their cars eating a meal ordered at a Sonic.
Yet we have officials who apparently believe that. Or simply enjoy imposing their wills on others by enforcing belief in absurdities.
It is nonsense, just as much of the security theater imposed after 9/11 was nonsense. And yes, it does lead to atrocities. Not necessarily the Pol Pot massacre of millions in pursuit of the absurdity of communism atrocities, at least not yet. But what would you call FBI agents routinely and cavalierly violating FISA protections for political gain? It may not rise to the level of Gulags and Nazi death camps, but it is a step in that direction.
Politicians need to be reminded that they govern only by the consent of the governed, active or tacit. We are already seeing pushback on some of the most extreme abuses of governmental power and states of emergency. We need more such protests.
When restraints are prudent they should be obeyed. When they are clearly absurd, they need to be opposed. It is not just our right as free people – it is our responsibility.
Published in General
Well stated. Most people will follow rules that make sense. Even then, they will only do it for so long. It will be interesting to see which governments ease up in the face of public opposition, and which crack down with a vengeance . . .
It’s a pretty safe bet in the upcoming weeks you’re going to see the people who support this type of thing, including some media outlets, try to push back to justify the tight limitations. That’s probably going to mean for the states which are going to opt to reopen, there’s going to be hypersensitivity to even the most minuscule uptick in cases, and where the “Blood on his/her hands” accusation will shift from simply being targeted at Trump a couple of weeks ago to being aimed at the governors in those states.
The pushback on demands for more freedom in states governed by the Gretchen Whitmer types is going to be shrieking about security in states with Greg Abbott type governors, where COVID deaths will get blanket coverage as a way to prove the foolishness of granting the public some of their liberties back (to the point that even if there is no loosening of the rules at first in urban areas, any new urban area coronavirus deaths will be treated as if they’re a consequence of the relaxation of the rules).
Then it’s going to come down to the reactions of the public in both types of states — do the states with Democratic governors press for targeted reopenings because they’re willing to accept the added security risk to get their freedom to go to work or go to the store back, or do states with Republican governors have a large number of people who freak out, and demand the governors re-tighten restrictions to save them from the virus? (here in Texas, I expect some of the political coverage, especially from the Austin-centric Texas Monthly, to be particularly hysterical in the upcoming month, since they’ve already spent the past month calling the state’s response to COVID-19 a miserable failure on the Bill de Blasio level of negligence, not-so-much because they actually believe it, but because they’re still holding out hope of turning Texas Blue in November).
Americans obey good laws and ignore bad laws.
Civil disobedience is a feature not a bug of a self governing society.
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I was traveling in Alaska during the government shutdown six or so years ago. Denali, etc. were shutdown. The height of ridiculousness was that park rangers were paid to close SIDEWALKS. They put yellow plastic sawhorses across sidewalks, with signs duct-taped to them explaining that the sidewalks were closed due to the government shutdown. I took one of the signs as a souvenir, and it was encouraging to see others move the sawhorses, or better yet, kick them over.
Obama did his best to make sure even static displays like open-air monuments and things like Mt. Rushmore couldn’t be seen. I remember the WW2 vets being helped past the barricades to visit their memorial. No cop or park ranger wanted his picture cuffing a wheelchair-bound veteran from the greatest generation posted on the internet . . .