Quote of the Day - Firehand Edition

In answer to a question I asked him on the Book of Face - What is the Chinese word for "Social Justice Warrior"? 

Baizuo — 白左 literally, “white left” — is an internet term that came into being in the mid-2010s. It’s a derogatory word for liberal elites, specifically those who are educated and whose “obsession with political correctness” serves only to “satisfy their own feelings of moral superiority,” according to an article by political scientist Zhang Chenchen, which brought the term to light in the English-speaking world. It’s effectively the equivalent of the term “Social Justice Warrior.”

As I put it, "White people who take it upon themselves to be offended FOR people (who obviously just don't understand how they're being oppressed and need to have it explained.)"

"We Have to Have Our Abilities to Consume Reined In..."

In relation to my previous post, there's a companion YouTube podcast of Michael Moore, Jeff Gibbs - the director of the film - and Ozzie Zehner who wrote the book The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism that inspired it. They discuss the reaction the film has been drawing. At the time I write this, there were eight comments, most of which were people OUTRAGED that they didn't know this information.

I left this comment. I'm curious as to how long it will last before being deleted.

People like myself - I'm an electrical engineer - have been trying to point out that wind and solar are not viable alternatives to fossil fuels for literally decades, and the only reason they are implemented is the massive subsidies of taxpayer dollars. That electric cars are not "pollution-free" but instead move the pollution from the tailpipe to the smokestack of the power plant (not mentioning the pollution associated with battery manufacturing and disposal), which is usually located somewhere far away from the people who can afford electric vehicles. What have we received in return? Vitriol and hatred and accusations of being on the payroll of "Big Oil." Well, as Mr. Gibbs discovered, we were right, and all that money WAS wasted. Now you want us to "rein in our ability to consume," and control our population. Well, if you haven't noticed, Europe isn't reproducing at replacement rate. The only reason the US population is rising is immigration. But you're telling the people living in the Third World, "We've got ours, you can't have any. It's for the Planet." Who are you going to trust with the POWER to "rein in our ability to consume"? The same people you relied on in the Green movement?

"Less Must Be the New More."

I strongly advise you to watch this film.  It is a brutal indictment of the environmental movement as organizations run by cynics taking advantage of useful idiots and financed by corporate billions.  It illustrates, with painstaking accuracy, the false promise of "green energy," - wind, solar, biomass.

It is also an advertisement for the Voluntary Human Extinction movement.  Quotes from speakers starting at about 46 minutes in:

There are too many human beings using too much, too fast.
--
As a global community we really have got to start dealing with the issue of population.
--
Population growth continues to be, not the elephant, but the herd of elephants in the room.  We have to have our abilities to consume reined in, because we're not good at reigning them in if there are seemingly unrestrained resources.

Just who is going to do the reining in?  And how?

The filmmaker has a valid point - there are real problems that need to be addressed, and the environmental movement is just a "feel-good" effort that is in fact counterproductive.  There is little to no incentive to actually address the problems, because no one wants to live like the Amish except the Amish, and I'm not certain about them.

But I did notice that the only comment made about nuclear energy was an aside jab at General Electric, which he notes makes both nuclear power plants and wind turbines.

Seriously, watch it.  It's worth your time.  Meanwhile, I have to see my psychologist about my endorsement of a Michael Moore-backed documentary.


UPDATE: 5/26/20 - "Planet of the Humans" has been yanked. One of the short sequences in the film was used without the permission of the creator of it, and he filed a Copyright takedown claim. Michael Moore is getting hammered by the Left for being RIGHT WING.

Read This. No, Seriously.

My Secret Life as a Reporter for “Doll Reader” Magazine

It’s not long. It’s the story of a woman who graduated with a double major in Women’s Studies and English who wanted to be a Journalist (capitalized on purpose - it was her calling!) for the Washington Post, but ended up writing for a collectible doll trade magazine and discovered that the B.S. that had been poured into her head her entire life actually was B.S.

The sheer arrogance and disdain she admits to towards people she considered beneath her (and that’s pretty much everyone she worked with) is TEXTBOOK for the Anointed Left.

She managed, at least somewhat, to overcome it. Reality has a tendency to do that.

This is my Shocked Face

So a Canadian whack-job goes on a 12-hour shooting and arson spree, killing at least 23 people before suicide-by-cop.  No mention of what weapon(s) the killer used, but Prime Minister Trudeau came out immediately stating that Canada was going to implement an "assault weapon" ban.

Twelve hours.  Offhand, I'd say the Canadian government has done a bang-up job of disarming its citizens.

"Let Them Eat Chocolate"

Whoever did this political ad for Trump more than earned their pay.

The Eduocracy is Worried?

Harvard Magazine warns of the damage homeschooling can do to children.  Note that they used the Bible as one of the books, and that the cartoonist cannot (apparently) spell "Arithmetic" correctly.  Note that more than one critic of compulsory government schooling has pointed out that one tenet of the architects of "Public Education" was reducing the influence of parents on their own children to better condition them as good cogs for the social machine.

I Don't Think the American People will Willingly Surrender Their Firearms

Over 342 MILLION background checks since 1999.  Not all new gun sales go through the FBI.  Some states do it internally.  Not all background checks involve the sale of a firearm.  Some may represent the sale of more than one firearm.  Not all firearm sales are of new firearms.

But I think The Narrative™ that there are only about 300 million firearms in private hands is well and truly busted, since as a nation we've been buying guns for 230+ years, not just the last 20.

And look at March, 2020.  Largest number of background checks in a month, EVER. Closest previous record was December, 2015.  What precipitated that again?  We've had more background checks in the first three months of 2020 than in the entire YEAR for 1999 through 2005.

And all the guns that have been purchased?  I don't think the people who bought them did it with the intention that they'd give them up if asked nicely.

A Moment of Zen

Time for another of these:

Quote of the Day - Robert Heinlein Edition ca. 1984

From an interview in the WaPo from September 5, 1984, In the Strange Land Of Robert Heinlein:

You can go to a cocktail party on the campus of a major university and be asked three times what sign were you born under. And we've got citizens in this culture who honest to God believe that professional athletes and actors are important people with opinions worth paying attention to!

And

I'm not convinced that we're going to make it. I'll bet on the human race. I'm just not sure about the United States of America.

Analysis: Truer today than ever.

Education Quote of the Day

Seen at Instapundit by Robert E. Wright of the American Institute for Economic Research:

As I recently argued elsewhere, America’s educational system has not prepared us for the government power grab because it does not create enough Emersonian independent thinkers or, frankly, even adult thinkers. Due to the extreme Left bias of higher education, many of America’s college graduates remain intellectually infantilized to the point that they can do little more than Tweet ignorant hate at any idea that does not accord with Progressive mantras.

 Analysis:  True. Read the piece in that second link.

Let's Try This Again

First time in awhile where Blogger borked a post.  Let's try this post again, originally titled "Democracy Worship Again."  Retitled, "You know, we're just not reaching that guy."

From a comment thread at Quora:

James Briggs

Those who claim that America is a republic, not a democracy are opposed to democracy. The former Soviet Union was the kind of republic that the Federalists want.

Kevin Baker

And you base this on…?

James Briggs

The words we are not a democracy says it all. Those who deny American is a democracy do not want it to be a democracy.

Kevin Baker

This is known as circular reasoning. While I will grant that the words “we are not a democracy” mean exactly that, it’s quite a logical leap to the position that those who say it want a Soviet dictatorship. Care to elaborate?

James Briggs

Those who oppose democracy want a dictatorship. Those are the only two choices we have at this time.

Kevin Baker

Well, my time of taking you seriously has certainly come to a middle.

Democracy = 1 person/1 vote. 50%+1 of a population can vote for anything - the banishment of all left-handed redheads, for instance. Since left-handed redheads are a distinct minority, they have no recourse. They’ve been outvoted. Then there’s gang-rape. Should the victim acquiesce simply because they’re outvoted?

Here’s something I like to remind people of who extol the wondrous desirability of DEMOCRACY!!:

Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding on what to have for dinner.

A representative republic is 50,000 wolves and 40,000 sheep voting 50 wolves and 40 sheep into office to decide what to have for dinner.

A constitutional republic is a similar situation but with a constitution saying that lamb cannot be for dinner, with a Supreme Court of 5 wolves voting against 4 sheep to determine that mutton is not lamb.

Liberty is well-armed sheep protesting the vote.

So as for your assertion that there’s only a binary choice: 1=Democracy, 0=Dictatorship, I disagree wholly.

I thought we were finished, but he replied!

James Briggs

Your spurious examples have been used by those enemies of the truth from time immemorial. it is like the old canard that Hitler was elected. It is in the people's interest to vote what is best for the people. They may be mistaken but it is better to be ruled by a fool who is on your side than by a genus who is your enemy. The fact is democracies always win in the real world. Germany was destroyed by the experts who rejected democracy and put Hitler in power. We have just seen the demise of the Soviet Union a republic that was not a democracy. Then Venezuela had the same results. Now we undemocratic Islamism take the stage and you have learned nothing.

Kevin Baker

Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.

HE REPLIED AGAIN.  (And upvoted my comment!)

James Briggs

Thank you but as you have been so nice I feel that I should add to my point. Those who make decisions fall into two groups those who know the answer and those who don’t. Statistics assumes that mistakes are random and cancel each other out while those who are right are all going vote in the same direction. Groups of people voting have been able to beat chess masters. I wish I could find a journal article on this issue but I was unable on short notice. Best wishes.

 

Yeah, I'm done with that particular wall of knowledge.