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Culture & Society Archive

Thursday

27

October 2011

4

COMMENTS

Free Loaders Against Free Loading

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society

Occupy Wall Street free loaders who demand that the rest of us pick up the tab for their student loans, among other things, don’t much like it when others free load off them:

The Occupy Wall Street volunteer kitchen staff launched a “counter” revolution yesterday — because they’re angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for “professional homeless” people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters.

For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad.

They will also provide directions to local soup kitchens for the vagrants, criminals and other freeloaders who have been descending on Zuccotti Park in increasing numbers every day.

…Some protesters threatened that the high-end meals could be cut off completely if the vagrants and criminals don’t disperse.

Unhappiness with their unwelcome guests was apparent throughout the day.

“We need to limit the amount of food we’re putting out” to curb the influx of derelicts, said Rafael Moreno, a kitchen volunteer.

That doesn’t sound very egalitarian and socialist of them. Why, it’s almost like they believe people have the right to control their property as they see fit!

Sunday

9

October 2011

0

COMMENTS

Wednesday

10

August 2011

2

COMMENTS

Cultural Rot in (Once) Great Britain

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society

The rioting continues in London, where petulant children born of a culture of dependency lash out in nihilistic rage.

And then, when the adults attempt to respond and try to literally clean up the mess…well, read for yourself (Hat-tip: Open Market):

Local people arrived in Peckham High Street armed with cleaning equipment to help restore order in the aftermath of the riots.

…But people waiting to clean up Clapham Junction have been told they cannot help because of health and safety issues.

…[O]fficers told the volunteers that the decision had been made for the clean-up to be done by the council.

Asked why, an officer said: “Health and safety mainly. There’s lots of broken glass around.”

Runaway moonbattery produces cultural rot.

Friday

14

January 2011

1

COMMENTS

A Shocking Poll!

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society

[A]ll experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

Declaration of Independence

A CBS poll has found shocking results. It seems that 16% of the public thinks it is sometimes justified “to take violent action against the government,” including a full 28% of Republicans!

Wait, that’s not the shocking part. What’s shocking is that 76% of the public, and 64% of the dangerous, far-right, radical Republican party, thinks it is never justified to take violent action against the government.

This is absolutely amazing. Seventy-six percent of the citizens in a country that only exists due to the violent overthrow of an oppressive government thinks such action is never justified. Never.

I suppose they must think the Declaration of Independence reads thusly, “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to complain nonviolently about such government.” Inspiring stuff.

The poll result would be understandable if the question premised that the government remained representative and the democratic process continued untarnished. Certainly violent action against the government is not justified just because one particular party won an election over another. But to say that violent action is never justified, with no qualification whatsoever, is ridiculously naive. Or maybe a cabal of Loyalists have remained active all these years, secretly growing their ranks and plotting their revenge.

Hat-tip: NRO

Saturday

13

November 2010

1

COMMENTS

Student Told American Flag Will Cause Racial Tensions

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society

The story:

A California middle school student was told to remove a U.S. flag from his bike to avoid ‘racial tensions’ with other pupils.

Cody Alicea, 13, was told not to fly the flag from his bike while at Denair Middle School, in Sacramento, after other students made complaints, according to KCRA-TV.

District superintendent Edward Parraz said that racial tensions at the school boiled over during the Cinco de Mayo holiday – a national holiday in Mexico.

Mr Parraz said: ‘The First Amendment is important. We want the kids to respect it, understand it, and with that comes a responsibility.

‘Our Hispanic, you know, kids will, you know, bring their Mexican flags and they’ll display it, and then of course the kids would do the American flag situation, and it does cause kind of a racial tension which we don’t really want.

…The teenagers parents said he flies the flag from his bike as a tribute to service veterans in his family.

I get so tired of this nonsense. I welcome all races and cultures that want to come to America, and I think it would be smart for us to streamline the process by which they are allowed to legally do so. But anyone who finds the American flag offensive, racially or otherwise, can get the hell out. The American flag is not an insult to Hispanics, and anyone who prefers the Mexican flag so much should go live in Mexico.

It is a gross indictment of our ability (or lack thereof) to integrate and assimilate newcomers that such blatant racial-nationalism is tolerated in the slightest.

Tuesday

26

January 2010

0

COMMENTS

Polarization Continues Unabated

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society

Barack Obama promised to be a game-changer when it comes to polarization (McCain made similar, though less direct, promises).  He clearly promised more than he could deliver (which I predicted would be the case at the time), as a new Gallup poll shows.

polarizationThe trend line here is interesting.  It fits with my own theory, that bigger government results in greater polarization.  However, it’s possible I was right for the wrong reasons.  I readily admit that I cannot rule out other explanations.  It’s possible, for instance, that this is a reflection of greater ideological homogenization of the parties thanks to realignment.  Southern conservative have shifted from the Democrats to Republicans while Northeastern liberal Republicans have made the reverse trip.

Can you think of any other explanations for the trend?

Saturday

23

January 2010

0

COMMENTS

I’m Not Sympathetic

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society

NRO describes the “questions” Obama received at his Ohio Town Hall appearance yesterday:

A very out-of-rhythm speech was followed by some of the most obscure and unhelpful questions ever uttered at a town-hall meeting. I was left with a bit of sympathy for President Obama, as questioner after questioner asked about their own specific concerns, often way out of the president’s duties, responsibilities, and realm of expertise: One guy was an inventor who wanted to give him a sales pitch, one woman lamented the impatience of the American people before complaining about a slow response from the state environmental agency over her toddler’s lead poisoning, one guy wanted to read the president a poem; there was a woman who talked about the problem of finding students for her truck-driving school, an old lady who was upset that her Social Security didn’t have a cost-of-living increase, and a guy who had the patent for some wind-turbine issue that he was in a fight with some company about. One poor soul raised his hand and just wanted to shake Obama’s hand.

While I would no doubt find this very frustrating if I were in his position, he has no one to blame but himself (and his statist political philosophy). He has long encouraged people to look to government to solve all their ills and to look to him personally as a savior figure to right all the wrongs in society – indeed, in the world (slowing the rise of the seas and what have you).

These are creatures of his own making. They are exactly the constituents he deserves.

Thursday

27

August 2009

1

COMMENTS

Culture Of Cowardice

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society

Clark Howard at CNN describes two ex-Best Buy employees who were fired for pursuing and capturing a shoplifter in one of their stores.

These two Best Buy employees tackled a shoplifter they saw busting out of their Denver, Colorado-area store with stolen electronics. They wrestled the suspect to the ground at great personal risk. The perpetrator pulled out a knife and cut a manager before ultimately escaping, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Bergstreser had been a three-year employee, while Trapp was on the job for less than a year. What did Best Buy do for these employees who showed such extreme loyalty? They fired them.

Clark is right to be incredulous, but I think he misses the mark when he primarily blames Best Buy for this outcome, and more generally faults “corporate America” for what he calls “the ‘not in my silo’ mentality.” He describes this mentality as the “times we wait for help to arrive when we’re the help we seek.”

Is this really something that originated in corporate America, or is it a natural consequence of the elevation of collective over individual responsibility? Clark scoffs when an acquaintance mentions liability as a possible reason for Best Buy’s stance. Yet in today’s sue-first-think-later culture – where any negative event is a fault of others for which they must pay – businesses can hardly be blamed for being hyper-cautious of any risk taking by those under their employ. If an employee had been stabbed to death by the thief, you can bet the deep pockets of Best Buy would have been the first place the family of the deceased would have reached for compensation. Even worse, if the criminal had suffered serious injury, a lawsuit would have been quickly forthcoming. After all, it’s the job of the police to apprehend criminals, right?

That’s certainly the kind of attitude perpetuated by the American political left. When average Americans go about defending their property and the nation’s borders because the federal government refuses to do so, they are not only labeled vigilantes, but slandered as racist, xenophobic nutjobs.

Crime and defense of property are not the only areas where individual responsibility has fallen by the wayside. The existence of private charity is seen by many as de facto proof of government failure. Taking care of people, after all, is a government responsibility first and a social one second, if at all; or so the collectivists insist.

Clark blames corporate America for being cowardly. But they have a responsibility to their shareholders to make a return on their investment, not to be brave. In other words, he misses the point. Corporations respond to social and economic cues; they don’t drive them. In a world where individual responsibility is shunned and even punished via civil lawsuits by the dominant collectivist culture, corporations will be forced to discourage actions like those of the two heroic Best Buy workers. Corporations are cowardly, but no more so than, and it is as a direct consequence of, our cowardly society which demands that only central authorities be allowed to solve life’s problems.

Wednesday

8

July 2009

0

COMMENTS

Confusing The Leader For The Nation

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society

Although their exact characteristics vary from instance to instance, dictatorships tend to have a number of features in common.  One such feature is the confusion of the head of state for the nation itself.  In this view, the welfare and success of the country is inextricably tied to the welfare and success of the leader.  It is convenient for dictators to foster this belief, as it ties the well-being of the individual citizen to the success of the leader via the welfare of the nation.  The individual need not even consider what specifically the leader is doing.  Whatever it is, he must succeed.

I am saddened to see an elected official promoting such illiberal and undemocratic views right here in America:

“It appears that the Republican Party leadership in the Congress has made a decision that they want to deny President Obama success, which means, in my mind, they are rooting against the country, as well,” the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman told WAMU radio host Diane Rehm on Tuesday morning, promoting his new book, “The Waxman Report.”

Barack Obama is a politician.  He is not the United States of America.

Wednesday

17

June 2009

1

COMMENTS

Left Using High Profile Murders To Advance Agenda

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society, Gun Rights

In a slight twist to the “never let a crisis go to waste” motto on constant exhibit at the White House, prominent leftists have approached the recent string of high profile shootings with a resolve to not let the tragedies go to waste.  The agenda? Hate crimes and gun control.

Hate Crimes

Explicitly citing the recent shootings as evidence, Attorney General Eric Holder called for new hate crimes laws as a way to stop “violence masquerading as political activism.”  Although each incident involved the commission of acts which are already considered crimes, Holder says Congress needs to pass new legislation “to protect the rights ensured under our Constitution.”  Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has said that he is committed to getting to hate crimes legislation before the August recess.

A particularly pernicious aspect of the current hate-crimes push is the willingness of proponents to submit the accused to multiple trials, if necessary.  Although the Constitution’s prohibition against double-jeopardy has never applied cross-jurisdictions between states and the federal government, it has nevertheless long been seen as desirable to avoid the prospect of federal prosecutions following state acquittals for the same crime.  Now, the ability to try acquitted individuals again using federal hate crimes laws is seen by liberal advocacy groups as a virtue.

They’re even attempting to tie opponents of open immigration into the issue of hate crimes.  Meanwhile, ceaseless race-baiter Jesse Jackson takes the well worn low road and blames the attacks on everything from conservative talk radio to “our obsession with guns.”

Gun Control

Perpetually displeased with the reality of living under the Second Amendment and its protections for individual gun rights, the left is forever looking for ways to undermine and destroy our deep historical and cultural beliefs in self-protection and personal freedom.  Gun grabbers have a history of hijacking high profile tragedies in hopes of harnessing the emotions of the moment to enact far-reaching bans without any need for consideration of the merits.  The most recent spat of shootings are no different.

The Washington Post’s Marie Cocco dramatically writes that we are “enduring a spring of slaughter.”  And the cause of our present horror is that “we have decided to let just about anyone have a gun.” Cocco also offers the usual gun control lie, claiming that, “among the guns Poplawski reportedly used in his attack was an AK-47, a so-called “assault weapon” whose manufacture was banned in the 1990s, but is no longer.” Lying about the AWB has always been common place among its proponents.  As reality would have it, Ak-47s were not simply banned by the bill, and many variants were legal to purchase, as the bill comically dealt more with what combination of cosmetic features a gun had rather than its functionality.

The various shootings over the last few weeks are deplorable. but so are the left’s efforts to stretch the facts in order to advance a radical agenda.  Whether it be lying about the contents of past legislation and its impact, or pretending that a lunatic, jew-hating, 9/11 truther is “right-wing,” the left has demonstrated that they have no intention of getting tripped up over facts while pushing for greater government control.

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About Me

profileI serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.

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