There is nothing more antithetical to the American ideal than celebrating victimhood. Are there victims in life, sure; but I posit that it’s largely a voluntary condition. Being a victim isn’t some kind of status symbol or anything to be celebrated in any case. There are always setbacks in life and challenges to overcome. That’s just life’s forge testing and improving your mettle. In my long life I’ve been abandoned, beaten, robbed, evicted, fired, jailed, and lived an altogether interesting life; but I’ve never been a victim. I guess if I wanted to feel sorry for myself and wallow in it, I could have been, but what good would that do? Victimhood is a mindset, and not a very productive one. Since so many people in this country today are members of some victimized group, it begs the question: "What benefit is there to being a victim?" Let’s explore that a little deeper, shall we?

As I see it, victimhood’s first and foremost benefit is that its claimants can shift responsibility from themselves to someone or something else. Can’t succeed? It must be because you’re a victim of some sort. Maybe you’re black, or a woman, or poor, or whatever. But if your failure were really caused by these factors, shouldn’t all blacks fail? How come other women have achieved what you cannot? And don’t even think about playing the poor card. This nation’s history right up to today is replete with rags to riches success stories. Belonging to these groups doesn’t prevent a person from succeeding; but claiming victimhood makes it all too easy to blame someone else for your own lack of fortitude.

The cancerous result of this mindset is that victimhood becomes the victim’s source of power. This power is a strong disincentive to getting well, to getting over the obstacles, to letting the failures go, and to moving on with life. If your victimhood is the source of your power, what incentive do you have to let it go? And since you are no longer responsible for your situation, you are perfectly free to expect others to cut you some undeserved slack. No one will dare confront you for your lack of motivation to get better.

Think about Rosie O’Donnell. I know it’s painful, but bear with me. She’s a screaming moonbat hiding behind the protective victimhood of homophobia. Any time she’s cornered, right on cue comes the accusation that she’s being attacked because she’s gay. She instantly becomes the victim and under the auspices thereof, is no longer responsible for anything. Oddly enough, I don’t think anyone really cares whether Rosie is gay or not. In fact if a vote were taken, I’m sure we’d all vote to never have that mental picture flashed at us ever again. As good as Rosie’s victimhood seems to work for her, the mindset that it fosters it has deeper ramifications.

How does Rosie’s victimhood differ from that of the Islamists? Muslims have become very adept at cultivating victimhood. As victims, whatever offends them is merely added evidence of that victimhood. And since they’re victims, how could we possibly expect them to shoulder the responsibility for their actions. That they literally leave half of their economic team in the locker room for the big game, haven’t managed despite massive oil wealth to show much economic progress since the seventh century, and revel in death and destruction isn’t their fault. It ‘s the Jews, it’s America, it’s those cartoons, it’s something the Pope said, it’s that movie, it’s that poster, it’s that statue. And once offended, their behavior also becomes the fault of others. Give me a break.

I have to give them some credit though, the Islamists have made me rethink this entire victimhood hustle. All the Islamists have done really is to take this idiotic victimhood sham to its logical conclusion in such a ham-fisted way that it can no longer be ignored or tolerated. I for one am sick of voluntary victims wielding this ridiculous and unwarranted power. I’m just not buying it anymore. It’s time for the perpetual victims to climb down from their crosses, use the lumber to build a bridge, and GET OVER IT.

Scottie

If our churches won’t press us to face moral issues and clearly delineate right from wrong, who will? Even the Jedi had the Force and an apprentice program. What do we have?

I know it’s Mississippi, but how the hell does Trent Lott manage to get reelected after dining on his foot so many times?

How do millions of “undocumented workers” cross our borders under Orange Alert while the nation is at war? Do we need to go to Super Duper Double Neon Red Alert before we get serious about securing our borders?

Can anyone give me a guideline as to which laws I can safely ignore and which I must obey? We seem to have become a “Nation of Suggestions” instead of a Nation of Laws.

What’s fair about the Fairness Doctrine? Would we label a bill for the euthanizing of puppies the “All Dogs Go To Heaven Act?” Or maybe we could codify open borders and amnesty by passing something like an “Immigration Reform Act”; oops, never mind.

Why do we have to show tolerance for Islam when there is no possibility of reciprocation? If Islam is so great, why do so many of its adherents live in mud huts? They’ve been working on this since the seventh century; shouldn’t there be more progress than this? Is belligerent self-pity really that overwhelming a force to be reckoned with?

Since we’ve been studying multiculturalism for a couple of decades now, how many students graduate with a working knowledge of a foreign language? Does anyone have an understanding of the political structure of Sudan? What are the cultural ramifications for a country accepting a quarter of its population in the form of illiterate foreign nationals? One would think by studying other cultures for a couple of decades, we would know more by now. Shouldn’t we?

We’ve had “Afro-Centric” studies for a couple of decades now. Any news? Pray do enlighten me with the brilliance derived from this massive effort. Meet me at the NAACP, if you can still find an open branch.

If the feminist movement were serious about its agenda, wouldn’t they be supporting the liberation of millions of women in the Middle East? If they were serious, I mean.

I’m just asking.

Scottie

Recently, our town fathers gathered to produce a law that will have the exact opposite effect than it purports to have. They seem to think that they can magically remove stray animals from existence by fiat. In Terre Haute, it is now illegal to own an unsprayed pet, illegal to give a pet away without a breeder’s license, and impossible to turn in an animal to the humane society without paying a stiff fine. This is supposed to stop the out of control population of feral animals in the city. How can that possibly work?

I took in a starving stray last winter out of compassion. I was surprised to find the little critter was preggers, but not overwhelmed by the turn of events. The kittens are fine, well socialized to humans, and all but one is currently pledged to a good home. The families adopting these kittens have pledged to have them spayed as soon as they are old enough and to have them vaccinated. As soon as the mother finishes nursing her babies, I will have her spayed, vaccinated, and licensed.

I will do this because I care about the little critter, not because of anything the law says. I just want her to be able to go outside without a repeat demonstration of fertility or maybe bringing home a disease to my other cat. Fortunately for this little mother and her kittens, I am perfectly willing to break the law and function in society’s, and her and her kitten’s best interests.

If I were to follow the law, the incentive is for me to rid myself of this creature and simply disown her outright. After all, that’s where she came from. All I would have to do is open the door and let her out and not let her back in. I don’t have to let her back in, and with winter over, her survival prospects are much better than they were. Solves all of my problems, puts me square with the law, and saves me a ton of money.

However, it doesn’t solve the inevitable problem of a litter of unsocialized feral kittens and their mother running the streets, does it? In fact, it would add considerably to the available uncontrolled breeding stock running free in the community. And what incentive would anyone else have to take her in and care for her and her kittens? And how would that person then deal with the kittens?

By passing these laws, the city fathers have ensured an increase, not a decrease, in the population of feral animals. They also prevent anyone from attempting to turn in these feral animals. These laws also criminalize responsible behavior and substitute wishful thinking in its place. If I’m caught, I think I’m going to call the cats a band of illegal immigrants. That’s exactly what they are after all. It should take the government all of the cat’s nine lives to sort that one out.

I started becoming dumber about a decade ago. I was just an old fogy with outdated clothing, questionable taste in music, and incomprehensible books to them. I didn’t have the slightest inkling of what was cool, what was popular, what terms in their hip new vernacular meant. And God forbid I should even try to bridge the gap. To them I was just too stupid to get it. I was often vindicated by their friends. Many times I overheard the other kids that came and went referring to me as a pretty cool guy, but the boys weren’t having it.

Now they are out of the house and running into the usual brick walls that we all must encounter in order to learn. They’ve been exposed to the facts of life that I patiently explained to them, but the lessons seem to be hitting home with a lot more clarity lately. If you don’t pay the light bill, they will come and shut the power off. If you spend all your money on the weekend partying, you will run out of groceries and smokes before your next paycheck arrives. Cars need more than gas to keep running dependably. Bosses don’t care why you aren’t at work on time, they care that you aren’t at work on time.

I’ve watched them struggle with these simple lessons with amusement, enjoying the knowledge that the lessons I imparted to them long ago come echoing back to them as they sit in one predicament after another. They never admit it to me, which is part of the amusement. I am far more connected to them than they know. I’ve studied them at great length for years. They don’t yet realize how predictable they are to me; just like I am to them I suppose. But they’re getting there.

They are realizing that ignoring the values I’ve taught them comes at a price. I’m becoming smarter by the day; my views are making more and more sense to them. Even the Missus (one of my more prolific information sources) worries less about them as the inevitable hard knocks they suffer has toughened them and built their confidence. The best part is they now come to me for advice and actually listen.

I was having a discussion (shooting the bull, really) with my eldest son the other night over a pool table and a pitcher of beer. He was bouncing a few ideas off of me and it dawned on me that he wasn’t so much asking advice as checking to make sure he was thinking the problem through properly. He’s starting to see the light. Being a single parent will do that to you.

The conversation turned to the age old question: "What I would have done differently if I were his age again, but knew what I knew now?" I wanted to say “I wish I had listened to my father more,” but I stifled the impulse and told him, “I really wouldn’t change a thing. Everything I have now is a result either directly or indirectly of decisions I made along the way. You are one of the results of those decisions I made a long time ago; and I certainly wouldn’t want to contemplate what my life would have been like without you in it.”

I think he was a little shocked to realize that I had already sifted this idea in much more depth than he had. I’m sure he had been mulling over his mistakes of the past few years, wishing he had done something different. I could see it cross his face as he realized that I was still a step or two ahead of him on the path to wisdom. But his shock was more than matched by mine when he said, “I wish I had listened to you more, Dad; it sure would have saved me a lot of problems. You really did know what you were talking about; at least on the important stuff.” Genetics? I don’t know, but I’ll drink to that.

Scottie

There’s been a lot of discussion lately on the Immigration issue here in the blogosphere, so I guess I’ll weigh in as well. A lot of emotion is masquerading as reason here, and a lot of name calling is displacing facts as a basis for sound decision making. I hope to clarify things as I see them here and start a discussion with some substance.

First, immigration to the United States is the gold standard for the entire planet. No other country is a more desirable destination. People from all over the globe want to come here; people that are here don’t want to leave. I think that speaks pretty well for America. The question here is who gets to decide who will be allowed to come here and who will be denied access? I say it’s our country after all, and membership and entrance requirements are rightfully up to us. It’s time to stop the current system of admission by geographic default and start exercising some standards and selectivity.

Historically, the standard for immigrants was first and foremost a desire on their part to become Americans. We admitted people from all over the world that wanted to become part of the great melting pot. Immigrants were expected to adjust their customs and traditions to fit within the framework of American culture. We expected people to show an understanding of our collective culture, to understand and obey the laws of our country, to speak the language, and to discard the parts of their native culture that were incompatible with ours. This seems reasonable to me. If you want to join our club, you have to play by our rules and make the effort required to become a full fledged member of the team.

The current debate is whether we should allow a large group of people from another country to come here and substitute their culture for our own. A vocal group of immigrants organizing groups like “La Raza”, “Mecha”, “Atzlan”, and “Reconquista” while waving the flag of a foreign country on our soil and loudly demanding benefits and accommodation from the rest of us doesn’t convey the spirit of assimilation to me. Demands for bilingual ballots and education don’t indicate it either. I’m sorry, but I don’t see a great desire on the part of the current group under consideration to become Americans first and foremost. I don’t think it’s racist to withhold membership on that basis; nor can any intellectually honest person.

Since it is our country, I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect something in return from the members we admit. It makes no sense to admit members that contribute less than they extract from public coffers. Since we have no shortage of applicants, doesn’t it make more sense to be selective in our admission requirements? We should select people that can and will carry their own weight. Shouldn’t we be choosing engineers, artisans and skilled tradesmen instead of uneducated low skilled laborers? Shouldn’t we be selecting the best and brightest from every corner of the globe instead of letting a single group displace everyone else through sheer volume? There is no shortage of people desiring membership in club America; we should be picking better members from the huge pool of available talent than we currently are.

In the current debate, the answer seems to be to throw up our hands and surrender to geography. The current crop of illegal immigrants is completely displacing every other candidate from consideration. Until we control our borders and start deciding for ourselves who we let in and who we exclude, we will continue to be overwhelmed by a huge group of largely uneducated, unskilled people that cost us overall more than they contribute to the exclusion of many more worthy candidates. We have to stop the gate crashing horde before we can begin to bring a sense of sanity to the system.

Finally, if we are a nation of laws, we must enforce the law. Laws that are as unenforced are just words on paper, and more words on more paper isn’t the solution. We need to summon the national will to enforce our laws instead of creating more of them. We don’t feel bad for a criminal that has eluded capture for years when he finally receives his comeuppance; nor should we feel bad for people that have knowingly built their lives in our country illegally. Building a life on an unstable and illegal foundation is not mitigated by the results achieved. For every “poor immigrant” uprooted, remember that there were also people of higher quality denied access through the legitimate process. I find it hard to generate any sympathy for those that knowingly cheat the system then accuse us of being the bad guys when the rules are ultimately enforced.

We are an open and welcoming country. Those that wish to come here through the legitimate process, assimilate, and with something to offer this great nation in return are as welcome as can be. Those that come here through stealth, take more than they put in, and demand that to which they are not entitled are not welcome. Our policies and priorities should reflect that. That is not unreasonable, nor is it racist; it is simply rational.

Scottie

I had a brief conversation with a co-worker this morning that startled me. I was changing some tires for a big truck and cleaning up the white letters on them when my co-worker said, “I bet if they made tires with ‘Bush Sucks’ on the sidewalls, they would be popular”. When I asked who he thought would buy those tires, he replied, “the soldiers returning from Iraq.”

I said, ‘I don’t think so. The military doesn’t hold that kind of animosity toward Bush.”

He went further, “So you think they’re happy killing people and raping women for Bush then?”

I replied, “That’s not what they’re doing. Those are Americans over there. They’re from the heartland of America. Those are the sons and daughters of friends of ours. Unless those are your values, how can you attribute them to people that are just like you?”

What a disconnect! Needless to say, the conversation died at that point. I knew without asking that this guy had never served in the military. Nothing dishonorable there, many do not choose that path. But it is stunning that someone so utterly ignorant about the military would presume to speak such garbage on their behalf. Let’s set the record straight here.

Our men and women in uniform serve this country with honor and distinction every day and night because they want to. They endure endless hardships in far flung places to defend our country and its interests. They do not come from the lower classes of society; they come from the broad middle. They are educated young people seeking to contribute to a country that offers more opportunity and freedom to its citizens that any other on the face of the earth. They are the guardians of that freedom and they know it.

While it may be popular to denigrate the War in some circles, it is unconscionable to slander our sons and daughters in such a fashion, especially while they remain in harms way. No one serving in the military would ever exhibit such irresponsibility and lack of discipline. That behavior is reserved for those that sleep safely at night and pursue their dreams and happiness under the vigilant care and protection of much more honorable people. When you hear these casual slanders of our young men and women in uniform, grow a backbone, drop a pair and speak up! It's far less than we are asking of our soldiers.

Scottie

I know it’s a hippy thing to say, but bear with me a minute. I see an undercurrent shaping up in the forthcoming election that seems to be missing from the current debate here at Townhall. I’ve been out in the trenches talking to a lot of people about the election coming up and offer the following unscientific results for your consideration.

Article 1. – The People are fed up with Standard Politics and Politicians.

We’re sick of the political machine and the candidates it produces and markets to us. We’re sick of people that have to pass every word they utter through a committee of handlers and consultants before they can answer a direct question. As Hawkeye Pierce chanted to uproarious support when the meal was liver for the fortieth day in a row, “WE WANT SOMETHING ELSE!”

Article 2.- The Mainstream Media is part of the problem.

I haven’t talked to anyone that thinks the MSM is giving us the whole story. This feeling comes from both sides of the political spectrum. Nobody believes we are getting the truth from these guys; Nobody.

Article 3 – The Stakes are too High for Politics as Usual.

Regardless of political persuasion, the folks blame the entire inside the beltway crowd for the mess we’re in. While the media trumpet George Bush’s poor job approval numbers, the Congress shares similar numbers.

From these precursors, I have concluded that a true populist movement is shaping up from both sides of the political spectrum. The grassroots support for Obama and Thompson isn’t a fluke, it is a repudiation of the status quo. The youthful and the idealistic Left love the fresh-face aspect of Obama. They are undeterred by his lack of experience; rather it is viewed as a plus. The right loves Fred Thompson for speaking directly to the issues without handlers and focus groups to tell him what he should say. Both of these candidates have something all of the others lack, authenticity. Call me crazy, but I think we’re going to see the People take a stand against the system next year, and not a minute too soon. What say you?

Scottie

I’m growing more and more unsettled with the direction of my church these days. It just doesn’t seem to be getting the job done with respect to guiding me and the rest of the flock. It’s kind of like having one of those cool hippy moms that are more focused on being their children’s friend than being a parent. A recent sermon asked, what does being a Methodist mean to you? It got me to thinking.

It means never hearing about sin, or how we fall short of the glory of God for one thing. It means belonging to a church that is just too squeamish to broach the subjects of homosexuality and abortion. In fact, its greatest concern lately seems to be why the pews are virtually empty and the median age of the congregation hovers at about 60 years old. I cannot recall any serious discussion or pronouncement on any moral issue from the pulpit in the past three years. But it is clear that the Preacher is a Global Warming true believer and impulsively anti-war.

As a recovering Catholic, with substantial indoctrination in the values of that church, I grew up expecting the church to be a moral guide, a proxy for the Trinity. They call the priests “Father” for a reason. Unfortunately, whatever moral authority the Catholic Church once had has been squandered by protecting scores of the vilest predators for decades with full knowledge of what they were doing. I just can’t follow them anymore.

The Missus has a friend that collects bulletins when she visits other churches, and she was absolutely livid that the cover of one from another parish had a fetus on it. “How could they talk about that with all the babies being killed in Iraq!?” was her first and only comment. When the Missus asked me what I thought about this, I told her it was because our church had failed her. Instead of giving this woman guidance and moral direction, she is adrift in a sea of moral relativism. Had the church been doing its job, the difference should have been clear to her.

While I disagree with the anti-war crowd, I can respect some of their positions. One can make an honest argument that we shouldn’t have gone into this war in the first place; I can respect that. An argument that things have been handled badly is also not out of line. But to equate the accidental killing of children while combating a culture that wantonly kills its own women and children is a bridge too far to me. To use this ridiculous comparative to shift the focus away from the uncomfortable truth that we’ve allowed the deliberate murder of over 45 million babies here at home is just unconscionable.. There simply isn’t any equivalence.

We are in an existential struggle with an ideology that sanctions murder of innocents all over the world. This culture deliberately bombs public places where women and children gather. It bombs weddings. It kills people that speak out against it, like Theo Van Gogh. It bombs subways and trains, like in London and Spain. Its adherents are responsible for the burning of over one hundred cars every night in France. This ideology has stated its aim as nothing less than our utter destruction.

Contrast these zealots with the unbelievable restraint and professionalism of our military. I simply do not believe our soldiers deliberately kill women and children, and no rational person does either. I believe we put ourselves at a great disadvantage on many occasions to avoid such unwanted destruction and death. How many mosques that have served as firebases and weapons caches have been destroyed? NONE! Why is it so easy to believe our own young men and women are monsters while ignoring the flagrant and deliberate destruction being wrought by those we fight? Moral blindness, that’s why. Lack of guidance and spiritual leadership, that’s why. Lack of faith in our country, ourselves, and the truth of the word of God, that’s why. And in my book that’s the first obligation of a church.

God didn’t outlaw war. He sanctioned many wars. He took sides in them. There is no biblical prohibition to war. Deliberate killing of the innocent is forbidden, but not war. Sometimes, evil has to be faced; with courage and faith in the rightness of your actions. Why don’t we hear that from the pulpit? Where is the guidance teaching the difference between the unfortunate but necessary tragedy of war and the abject slaughter being perpetrated by our enemies? These aren’t morally equivalent, so why is the church silent on one of the great moral issues of our time?

And witness how this confusion allows a regular church-goer to leap to such a morally bankrupt comparision to avoid dealing with the voluntary destruction of more babies than the entire population of Iraq. How can the church put people in the pews if it can’t convey the basic moral guidelines that have under girded our nation for over two hundred years? Frankly, I’m looking for a new church. Maybe the Baptists can make a spot for me in the front row.

Scottie

I have to say, the term discrimination tends to be treated like the proverbial skunk at the intellectual picnic these days, but it shouldn’t be. I would like to explore this term for what it really is and encourage you to consider the concept a little more deeply. The intelligencia derides the whole concept as inherently evil, but is it really? I don’t think so.

Discrimination means nothing more than choosing carefully. If you are a discriminating shopper, you consider your purchases carefully and investigate as many of the alternatives as you can before you make an informed choice. Sometimes the proper decision is to forego the purchase altogether. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact if you act irrationally or emotionally, you act indiscriminately. The ability to discriminate simply means you have the ability to make sound choices.

I think the Left has devolved to the point that it is utterly incapable of discriminating. Evan Sayet calls them the cult of the indiscriminate. Look at some of the choices they make and you decide.

The feminists (a subgroup of the Left) give tacit support to an ideology that advocates stoning women to death, prevents their education, executes them for being raped, and makes them wear a tent over themselves on the rare occasions they are allowed to leave the house. They also deify a sexual predator and turn a blind eye to his misogynistic behavior as long as he keeps abortion legal. Surely they should be more discriminating.

The antiwar crowd can’t seem to discriminate between freedom fighters and terrorists. They also seem to think we are imperialists bent on stealing oil from a country we have freed from an oppressive maniac. And all the while paying nearly twice what we did a couple of years ago for gasoline and sacrificing thousands of lives in the process. Shouldn’t gas prices be coming down in light of all of this stolen oil by now? And where is this empire we’re supposed to be accumulating? Surely we should have more than a few islands as territories by now given we are virtually unopposed by the rest of the world militarily. Or maybe accusing America of being an Imperialist oil thief is an indiscriminate thing to say.

The Left thinks we should extend the rights we reserve for our own citizens to people that are here illegally. It also wants to extend these rights to people who have vowed to kill us. If they can’t manage that, we should at least extend Geneva Convention protection to them, even though they are not signatories to the treaty and engage in the very behavior the treaty intended to prevent. The Left can’t discriminate between good and evil, even when the differences are writ large for all to see.

Now the inability to discriminate seems to be infecting some on the Right as well. We are urged to support candidates that have nothing more in common with our values than their willingness to fight for our survival. While the willingness to fight for our survival should be universal, unfortunately it isn’t. But what good is surviving if we aren’t willing to uphold our core cultural values as well; to merely survive as a shadow of ourselves?

I encourage you to shop among the candidates carefully as the primaries approach. Support the candidate that best reflects your values. Discriminate, it’s the Right thing to do.

Scottie

No one will say it, but the reason this psycho wasn’t confronted earlier, when many people around him recognized he was a danger, was fear of being called names by a bunch of weak kneed sissies enforcing the PC code. Had anyone confronted this deranged individual for his erratic and threatening behavior in advance of this slaughter, they would have been unjustly pilloried for being “racist” and “xenophobic”. Yet even in death, this sick individual will not be called what HE truly was: evil.

Instead of action when action was called for, we hear "Why weren't we warned?", "Why didn't someone protect us?"  When evil clearly telegraphed its approach, who stood up to confront it? When did we surrender our obligation to stand up for ourselves? When did we become so soft, so dependent, so afraid of mere words? 

Pity his students weren’t taught the values so forthrightly demonstrated by their professor. Pity the fear of being demonized by the PC police had to cost so many lives. More the pity that the lesson, paid for in blood by an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, won’t merit the attention and admiration it justly deserves while the psycho and his sickness will be 24/7 news for a week. Evil must be confronted, not bargained with, no matter the cost.  And the longer you wait to confront it, the higher that cost will be. God bless Professor Liberscu, a true hero and exemplar of what manhood should be. 

Scottie

Update:
Having read the Smith article today, I soberly reconsider my previous questioning of the actions of the students at VT.  As Anonmyous Coward tried in vain to convey, there are some considerations I have obviously overlooked. In light of this new perspective, I find my previous position assinine and I sincerely regret having taken it. See for yourself:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=va_tech_students_under_fire_why_didnt_someone_stop_cho&ns=WThomasSmithJr&dt=04/26/2007&page=full&comments=true#c636cf6c-03b1-4dde-ba14-f646102a84ce

In my opinion, what Imus did was objectively wrong.  You don’t refer to women as whores.  I hoped that this would highlight the ubiquitous and vulgar use of the term by rap artists. But instead of absorbing the lesson, we are treated with the endless twisting by those that would defend this behavior for blacks, while demonizing it for whites.  Well, they can’t really defend it for blacks either, but when black people use the term it’s different somehow even though it means exactly the same thing.  It’s a cultural difference and how dare anyone show any insensitivity to someone else’s culture.  This also explains why blacks can call each other “n_gga” and why blacks cannot be racists.  What is objectively wrong for whites simply doesn’t apply to them.

You’ll notice that in order to appear consistent, those arguing against Imus readily condemn the use of the term by rappers.  But this is more of a “gimme” forced by the situation than a deeply held view.  I’ve noticed the Imus controversy; how could I avoid hearing about it?  But I haven’t noted any similar outrage prior to this about Snoop Dog and his ilk.  These current condemnations ring hollow even as they are offered.  In the coming weeks, does anyone seriously believe black rappers are going to be excoriated by the same mob that came for Imus?

That’s because those currently outraged at Imus don’t truly believe that what Snoop Dog does is the same as what Imus did; even though it is exactly the same. Well you see, Snoop is an entertainer; So is Imus.  Well when Snoop does it, it’s an act, it’s art, you wouldn’t understand, it’s a black thing.  Horse puckey!  Calling women whores is wrong.  It is wrong to do it on the radio, or at home, or in rap music.  It’s wrong when Imus does it and it’s just as wrong when Snoop Dog does it.  Either that or Snoop Dog’s “culture” is somehow morally defective.

Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it!

    In college I took an honor’s independent study course one summer. My advisor, a wise and patient mentor, designed a program tailor-made for me. This was no mean feat; at the time, I had decided I was going to be the next Danny Bonaduce, the next Alex Keeton, a money guru heretofore only imagined by mere mortals. I wanted to know everything about money, finance, taxes, and business. I had a rapacious appetite for anything to do with money. I read the Wall Street Journal every morning while sitting in a veritable fortress of magazines. Money, Fortune, CEO, and other financial periodicals littered my study area at home. I was intent on reaching for true financial greatness.

    My assignment was: find and interview some lottery winners and write a ten-page essay with my findings. Yowza! I couldn’t believe my good fortune. I knew I was going to produce the feel-good story of the century. How could I fail to hit this one out of the park? I gladly accepted the assignment and we submitted the contract to the dean, who readily approved it. I was set for a summer of hobnobbing with people that had it made.

    What I learned that summer absolutely destroyed my naiveté. I found people without exception that were isolated, suspicious, and so profoundly confused about their “good fortune” that I struggled to comprehend much less communicate what they were telling me. Just getting them to grant me an interview was unbelievably difficult. You see, when you win the lottery you become very popular with people “working an angle” as one winner, “Bill”, put it. Since this guy was typical of what I found, I’ll elaborate a little about “Bill”.

    “Bill” had won over twelve million dollars about five years before I met him. In the intervening years, he had purchased a lovely home in the country, cars for his kids, and an awesome pickup truck for himself. His home was appointed with beautiful furniture, and his game room was to die for. A carved Brunswick pool table dominated a room complete with several pinball and video arcade machines, a soda fountain, a fully stocked bar, and matching leather furniture. I took a seat at the poker table across from “Bill” and we had a very enlightening chat for the next couple of hours.

    “Bill”, it turned out, was a very lonely man. His wife had left him not long after the flood of money came along. The stress of the change in lifestyle; and the new possibilities now afforded her, had fundamentally changed their relationship. He had a certain fatalism about things as he reminisced. It seems that most of his former friends had also been corrupted by the change in his financial status. When he stopped buying things for them, they too seemed to fade away over the next year or so. He said they acted like they were entitled to a piece of the “good fortune” he had come into; but none of them wanted to, or could, help him deal with all the new problems having money had delivered.

    He offered me this advice if I were ever “lucky” enough to win the ottery: “Disconnect your phone son; just yank it out of the wall. You won’t get any peace until you do.” He went on to tell me of the multitude of “investment advisors” and brokers and lawyers that called him at all hours of the day and night until he just unplugged it. He also said you had to have a heart of stone to turn down the endless pleas for assistance from kids needing operations, charities, and less scrupulous sorts of people. He had never had to deal with these things before and had been pretty badly burned a couple of times before he said he had just had enough of it. He hired a local lawyer that he knew from high school to handle his business affairs. He knew the guy was in over his head, but then he was over his head, too. So it all balanced out; almost. He couldn’t really be sure his high school buddy was a real friend or just a “money-friend.”

    You see, “Bill” learned that money had solved all of the problems he ever had before he won the lottery. But it had also brought him a lot of problems he never could have anticipated. He was a farmer before he won. He was a simple man with a simple world-view that didn’t enjoy endless meetings about estate planning. He didn’t like having to make decisions about tax planning, or being hounded by those that wanted to “help” him all the time. He was tired of being sued by people that knew he hadn’t done anything to them, but also knew they would get some kind of settlement to go away. He wasn’t very impressed with many people he had to deal with these days.

    “Money doesn’t make you anything more or less than what you were without it; but it sure does change the people around you. You don’t fit in with the old crowd anymore; and you sure don’t fit in with the new crowd. You wind up in a beautiful cage. Isn’t it ironic that we’re sitting at a poker table, but there haven’t been enough people in this house for a game of poker since I bought it?” I sat there thunderstruck by the words coming from this man. Maybe I had missed a few of the finer points about money.

    My professor was duly impressed with my paper when I turned it in. She could have failed me and it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference to me at the time. I was so shell-shocked by my discoveries that summer; it took me a couple of years to digest all that I had learned. I eventually graduated (Magna cm Laude) with a degree in Accountancy, passed the uniform CPA exams and went out to apply the knowledge I had amassed. But I’ll never forget the lessons I learned that summer. Getting rich is a process and it sure isn’t for everybody. The jump forward in wealth from a lottery win is kind of like skipping high school and starting college with an eighth grade education. And while money has been central to my livelihood for a long time now, it is no longer an object of worship to me. I am grateful for a college professor that understood that reality, and took the opportunity to really teach me something of enduring value one summer, long ago.

Scottie

I am convinced that entropy is the most powerful force in the universe. Nothing works anymore. It’s like the system was designed by idiots, and then endlessly tweaked by even greater idiots to maximize the friction and waste within the system. Let me give you a few examples:

Our schools don’t teach anymore. At the K-12 level, the system amounts to warehousing kids and indoctrinating them. For the more affluent, the children that actually receive a decent primary education, they're promoted to universities where they are not taught how to think, but rather what to think. People with no fear of losing their cushy jobs staff the entire system; receive absolutely sterling health and retirement benefits, and have no accountability whatsoever for the end results. What idiot designed this?

Our police don’t enforce the law anymore. They basically take reports, often over the phone, and file the paper away. They aren’t allowed to check to see if the person before them is in the country illegally. If they shoot a drug smuggler during the commission of a crime, they get put in jail and the drug runner wins the lottery in court. The border patrol isn’t allowed to exceed the speed limit when pursuing bad guys. What idiot designed this system?

Our courts don’t work anymore. They’ve become a means for imposing a hidden tax on everything and everybody for the benefit of lawyers. Justice has become so commoditized, no one cares about right and wrong anymore; most just want to find the cheapest way out of a system more rigged than a three-masted schooner under full sail. The Supreme Court has almost become a punch line and the confirmation process will likely keep jurists with any self-respect from seeking a seat there. What idiot designed this system?

Our political system doesn’t work anymore. 80% of the citizens in this country are in favor of English first, most are opposed to unfettered immigration, and the overwhelming majority are opposed to same-sex marriage. And while there may be wide disagreement with the prosecution of the war, most Americans are not in favor of a precipitous pullout from Iraq. Meanwhile, our borders are wide open, we’re under a continuing existential threat from Islamofascists, and the biggest concern of our elected officials have is whether some lawyers may have unfairly lost their cushy government jobs. Isn’t this an example of a system as dysfunctional as the Bundys? Only the Bundys aren’t real and these problems are! What idiot designed this system?

The NAACP doesn’t represent black people anymore. Virtually every position they take is in opposition to the fundamental views of black people. The same can be said for the AARP. Hijacked by the left and carefully hidden behind a slick marketing campaign. But it’s not the fact that they’ve been hijacked that’s so troubling; it’s the fact that their members continue to blindly support them. What kind of idiot supports an organization that actively undermines them?

The Republican Party doesn’t work anymore either. The party of small government has presided over the largest growth in government in the nation’s history. They’ve added prescription drug benefits for the AARP crowd, expanded the Department of Education with a No Child Left Behind program that hasn’t improved schools in any significant way while increasing spending threefold. The party of fiscal restraint has bloated the federal budget to beyond anything ever seen before in the history of civilization. The party of integrity has so soiled itself with scandals real and imagined that it stands impotent in the face of real criminals. (Think Sandy Berger, $90K Jefferson, ABSCAM Murtha) I’m giving up on the Republican Party. In the end, they’ve sold us out in their pursuit of power and incumbency. What idiot designed this clusterflop?

WE DID! When we stopped fighting for the quality of our children’s education and handed it over to the teachers unions, we did. When we accepted poor or non-existent law enforcement, or worse, allowed others to demonize those that put their lives on the line for political gain, we did. When we valued convenience over justice and settled with someone when we knew it was wrong, we did. When we voted to keep judges that don’t uphold justice, we did. When we (re)elected people that didn’t deserve our vote, we did. When we joined and supported special interest groups that said one thing and did another and turned a blind eye to it out of misguided loyalty, we did. When we became complacent and accepted the dismal state of the Republican Party and voted for the lesser of evils in election after election, we did. As the great philosopher Pogo once said, “We have met the enemy and he is us!”

It’s not the evil Democrats; it’s our unwillingness to actively fight their agenda. It’s not the teacher’s unions, it’s our unwillingness to confront them and hold our ground. It's not the leftist universities; it's our donations to the Alumni Associations and the tuition checks we send with our children that fuels the system.  It’s not the courts; it’s our willingness to forsake justice for the sake of convenience. It's not the politicians, it's our votes cast while holding our collective noses that props them up. Until we’re totally fed up with the status quo, things will not change. Entropy will continue to degrade the system until it finally prompts us to do something about it. Then we will have to muster the will to overcome inertia and reshape the system. Until we are ready to put our butts in first gear and bust a clutch, nothing will change. What idiot designed this system? The answer is as close as the nearest mirror.

Scottie



PS:  OOOh Rah! to Gunny and Nee for representing at the GoE rally.  That's exactly what I'm talkin' 'bout!