COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

[Nicholas Laureys]

Great post, bikesandcars!! Thank you for putting in the time to write out your thoughts and analysis.

For anyone with kids who maintains moderate discipline in your home and strives to have your children be good citizens: You realize that what's going on in the world is the classic struggle through all time and of all children against their parents. Kids like free S#$T. Kids want the easy path. Kids love their grandma because she gives them candy. The easy path is sit in front of TV, play video games, get involved with a fun exciting protest when you are bored. Kids like to express their individuality, and what more convenient place to do that than against their parents. No kid likes to inherently do laundry, clean their room, do their homework, be nice to their sister, the list goes on and on. People are inherently lazy and impulsive given the lack of ability to see how doing good work translations into good results down the road. Good parents enforce good values until their kids learn how to behave properly so they can not only be successful for themselves, but so they can successfully contribute to society. Good parent's teach their kids discipline, civility, and most of all show the correlation between proper behavior and good results. They teach personal accountability and responsibility.

I'm going to apply your thinking to my earlier observation about why we (the members of various societies) follow laws, and that our basic , visceral (animal?) nature does not want to follow rules, and so following laws at its core is an unpleasant act.

So, why do we do it, why are we generally law-abiding? One reason absolutely is the fear of physical harm or imprisonment, which is why it is so important that "they" (the government) have the guns, and this is why Rip's suggestion of the gut-shots to rioters and looters is more realistic, necessary, and, actually, a sign of a polite society, than many would like to admit.

The Leftist Lie is perpetuated upon society because the main attraction is that it is easy... Vote for us, you get free stuff. People are susceptible to these notions because after decades of attack the moral base of our society has eroded to believe that freedom is indeed free. The pandering politicians scream "Vote for us and you will get your equality" (which by the way we made you think you didn't have). Support Antifa because it's an easy way to provide value to society (showing up in a mob of same-minded people to protest is much easier than actually working for a living and taking care of your business). It's all a scam meant to appeal to the minds of children, or the childish minds in all adults.

Absolutely; I mentioned before about how I don't explain to my toddler why he must eat his veggies, and similarly I've tired of explaining the obvious to people of a certain mindset -
that a cop is 18.5x more likely to be killed by a black male suspect, than the inverse;
that it's irrelevant whether the White Macy's employee called the Black male customer a негр (N-word), because that doesn't justify his assaulting behavior, anyway;
that guns don't kill people, people klill people, etc. etc.

Do you still feel the urge to debate the topics of our day on the Left's terms?? When the Progressive Left has started promoting reasoning & "logic" like this, crafted out of thin air, the time to intelligently and coherently debate the issues of our time has, unfortunately, passed:
#duet with @rynnstar #singing about racial crime #statistics bc people like to use bad stats to justify their #racism! #blm #blacklivesmatter #facts
(The exact OPPOSITE is true, as usual - > many perpetrators have plead down to lesser charges and actally committed MORE violent/worse violations than they were found guilty of. For a more detailed discussion of this lynchpin of our criminal justice system, see the beautiful, cogent Ann Coulter, who often comments on this rarely-mentioned fact when attacking the idiotic Republican pushes for "Criminal Justice Reform," who are ill-advisedly chasing the elusive Minority vote while losing the low-hanging fruit of White, working-class votes.)

HUGE H/T to Crowder for this stat (whom I'd unfortunately stopped listening to a few months ago as I had thought he was becoming mushy, corporatey, and RINO-ey lately), which he stated while he was ON FIRE with a rant about Rayshard Brooks and the time for polite disagreement (avoiding discussion of race-filtered stats entirely) being over: YouTube)

And for all you conservatives: The notion that all you currently passive gun-owning conservatives have is that when the mob shows up at your door your AR-15 and 1000 rounds is going to protect you is preposterous, it won't work like that. The mob is organized, and many, without coordinated political (and other) action by people who wish to maintain America by the time you need your gun it will be too late for you. I am in this situation right now and I angst over what to do about it. I'm no activist.

Please clarify; why won't it work like that? Are you referring to:
the gubmint having the bigger guns,
the Leftist mob being larger in numbers,
or the point I'd made earlier - that our 2A in practice right now lets us buy firearms and dress up as liberty-defending citizens, but when we actually legally discharge those firearms, we are met with such costly legal and social force as to pre-emptively make their deployment unfeasable?

So here we all are in this same situation: we don't like what's going on, but we are too happy in our lifestyles to throw them away for activism. In short, we have built so much on the generations of our previously hard working parents and fore-fathers that we don't want to just throw it away by going to stand in front of a Teddy Roosevelt statue.

My guess is that our social fabric is falling apart not for organic reasons (has it ever in history done that?), but due to the deliberate destruction of that second reason we usually follow laws in societies - the "social connections" we feel towards our culture and fellow citizens. As it turns out, probably dIvErSitY does NOT UNITE us, and the deliberate balkanization and victimization of minorites in our media and institutions does not make them more integrated into our society, WHOOPS!

(Anyone out there reading, PLEASE provide other examples of public policies and social norms crafted in the 80s, 90s, and 00s that helped lead to our social fabric being so torn as to allow this arson, rioting, looting, and these hate-crime beatings to continue unabated and with no remorse. Our cultural and political leaders seriously phucked up and I'm curious what other decisions they made that helped lead to this. These are NOT part of the natural progressions of healthy, self-preserving, patriotic societies)

We have families to protect, work to do, we can't afford a misdemeanor or felony on our record (lest we be unemployable)... the Left is using our own civility against us. They have no civility, there are no rules when you have nothing to lose.
Where does it go if we all just watch, but what is the real alternative?

This is also why I surmised that most liberty-loving people still followed the illegal COVID restrictions: most Americans are so tied up in debt and monthly obligations to meet our desirable quality of life that the slightest disruption of our income flow results in absolute devastation - hence we 'roll over on our backs and show our bellies' to avoid the Left's Cancel Culture and gubmint's selective prosecution of crimes, which would devastate us and our families.

Thanks again bikesandcars for such a useful post filled with interesting analysis and independent thought!

[cmdrfunk]

Looks like they might be: Instapundit >> Blog Archive >> IT’S KINDA LOW PROFILE, BUT THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT GOING ON ALL OF A SUDDEN, EVE…

This is from June 3rd: AG Barr To Deploy Joint Terrorism Task Force Against Antifa

I don't know how everything is supposed to work or who does what, but I don't think the idea that since you don't see the military in the streets that nothing is being done is true. I'd imagine that they are going after the money and the "leaders" and hoping the rest scatter back to their bedrooms once they see their heroes plucked up by unmarked vehicles in the dead of night.

[Yngvi]

It just keeps getting more severe. We may have thought these riots would either temporarily occupy or stay the heavy hands of your police forces and DAs. Turns out, you only get leniency if you are black or latino.

They 4 men were arrested for "suspicion of vandalizing a black lives matters sign".
Men accused of vandalizing Black Lives Matter sign in Westlake Village work for sheriff, DA
Did any of the graffiti artists tagging BLM everywhere ever get arrested? How about those toppling statues? How about the equivalent of defacing statues with paint? Was it ever even a possibility that they would be arrested or even reprimanded or warned in some way?

In other news, a white man who shot his son with an airsoft gun (yes, the type that can cause a small red mark if it hits bare skin at from a close distance) was arrested by police. Man shoots son with Airsoft gun to teach safety, police say | KSL.com

The police state is becoming more heavy handed for the white citizens, while the blacks, latinos, muslims and leftists will get a pass on severe crimes. Laws are being applied selectively, unevenly and irrationally.

This is it.

[bikesandcars]

Great post, bikesandcars!! Thank you for putting in the time to write out your thoughts and analysis.

Please clarify; why won't it work like that? Are you referring to:
the gubmint having the bigger guns,
the Leftist mob being larger in numbers,
or the point I'd made earlier - that our 2A in practice right now lets us buy firearms and dress up as liberty-defending citizens, but when we actually legally discharge those firearms, we are met with such costly legal and social force as to pre-emptively make their deployment unfeasable?

Thanks, I read my post and still cringe a little, it's far from perfect and no way I can adequately or clearly type all of my random thoughts about this crazy time with the limited time I have. Plus I can't edit here, so it is what it is. Plus I'm not that smart.

To respond to your question: It's all of those... probably more angles too.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I dunno about the despair a number of you posters here have for the rest of the 3000 or so non-urban counties here in the US. Yes, the populous coastal blue urban counties and some of the inland blue counties look like a lost cause. But then they did before the current unpleasantness. At least to me. Having lived and worked in two such sinkholes, Chicago and LA metro, I can certainly understand the origins of how it is manifesting itself this badly and being promoted by the MSM as the pervasive wave of the future.

It reminds me of when the Jenner formerly known as Bruce got some of his original factory equipment modified and how this was celebrated by the MSM as well. But it seems to have faded from fashion now, other than in a few commercials for vodka and HIV treatments.

It seems as though Boggsy in rural VA has fewer concerns than some of the hand wringing I see here. I am plenty upset at the local pandering and me-tooism so many guilty middle class white folks seem to have adopted in BLM style marches in Southern Illinois, but after the marchers have left, little has remained of that bolted on fervor du jour. Other than a little whipping up of guilt by the local TV stations.

In short, this "trend" seems localized to the great urban unwashed.

[Barry Charles]

Would that be a bad thing, particularly as it would be among young healthy people? Would it not give C19 a chance to adapt to to its human host, and thus become less lethal? I think a virus prefers a living host over a dead one, so that it may continue to live.

I'm not anything close to a biologist, so beware of this pure hackery.

No I think an immune system requires continued stress to function. I lived at the South Pole for a year. You were told you would get sick when the new crew arrived. Not you might. That you would. And you did. 9 months of isolation does that. Also not close to a biologist.

Per post above yes some cultures have a lot more contact and smaller personal space. I forgot.

I’m struggling with processing reality, something I thought I was good at.

[Brian Harlin]

For anyone with kids who maintains moderate discipline in your home and strives to have your children be good citizens: You realize that what's going on in the world is the classic struggle through all time and of all children against their parents. Kids like free S#$T. Kids want the easy path. Kids love their grandma because she gives them candy. The easy path is sit in front of TV, play video games, get involved with a fun exciting protest when you are bored. Kids like to express their individuality, and what more convenient place to do that than against their parents. No kid likes to inherently do laundry, clean their room, do their homework, be nice to their sister, the list goes on and on. People are inherently lazy and impulsive given the lack of ability to see how doing good work translations into good results down the road. Good parents enforce good values until their kids learn how to behave properly so they can not only be successful for themselves, but so they can successfully contribute to society. Good parent's teach their kids discipline, civility, and most of all show the correlation between proper behavior and good results. They teach personal accountability and responsibility.

The Leftist Lie is perpetuated upon society because the main attraction is that it is easy... Vote for us, you get free stuff. People are susceptible to these notions because after decades of attack the moral base of our society has eroded to believe that freedom is indeed free. The pandering politicians scream "Vote for us and you will get your equality" (which by the way we made you think you didn't have). Support Antifa because it's an easy way to provide value to society (showing up in a mob of same-minded people to protest is much easier than actually working for a living and taking care of your business). It's all a scam meant to appeal to the minds of children, or the childish minds in all adults.

Trump is holding them accountable. You (Americans in cities, etc) are responsible for who you elect and they are responsible for their actions.

I can't figure out right now if Trump is the most brilliant parent in the world, that will need to be played out, but he is giving his nation of "kids" a lot of rope and watching to see what they make with it. I'm praying for America

And for all you conservatives: The notion that all you currently passive gun-owning conservatives have is that when the mob shows up at your door your AR-15 and 1000 rounds is going to protect you is preposterous, it won't work like that. The mob is organized, and many, without coordinated political (and other) action by people who wish to maintain America by the time you need your gun it will be too late for you. I am in this situation right now and I angst over what to do about it. I'm no activist.

So here we all are in this same situation: we don't like what's going on, but we are too happy in our lifestyles to throw them away for activism. In short, we have built so much on the generations of our previously hard working parents and fore-fathers that we don't want to just throw it away by going to stand in front of a Teddy Roosevelt statue. We have families to protect, work to do, we can't afford a misdemeanor or felony on our record (lest we be unemployable)... the Left is using our own civility against us. They have no civility, there are no rules when you have nothing to lose.

Where does it go if we all just watch, but what is the real alternative?

Good post!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Laws are being applied selectively, unevenly and irrationally.

Oregon county issues face mask order exempting non-white people

[Willk87]

I dunno about the despair a number of you posters here have for the rest of the 3000 or so non-urban counties here in the US. Yes, the populous coastal blue urban counties and some of the inland blue counties look like a lost cause. But then they did before the current unpleasantness. At least to me. Having lived and worked in two such sinkholes, Chicago and LA metro, I can certainly understand the origins of how it is manifesting itself this badly and being promoted by the MSM as the pervasive wave of the future.

It reminds me of when the Jenner formerly known as Bruce got some of his original factory equipment modified and how this was celebrated by the MSM as well. But it seems to have faded from fashion now, other than in a few commercials for vodka and HIV treatments.

It seems as though Boggsy in rural VA has fewer concerns than some of the hand wringing I see here. I am plenty upset at the local pandering and me-tooism so many guilty middle class white folks seem to have adopted in BLM style marches in Southern Illinois, but after the marchers have left, little has remained of that bolted on fervor du jour. Other than a little whipping up of guilt by the local TV stations.

In short, this "trend" seems localized to the great urban unwashed.

Great post.

[David A. Rowe]

You all need to calm the fuck down. Gird up thy loins. The tempest swirls in the teacup. Democrat neo-Marxist policies, which have been churning away since the 60s, are bearing their fruit... yet again. The cities aren't even burning, yet. It's a few blocks here and there, and the actual interruption of economy is almost non-existent compared to the harrowing of COVID-19.

Draw your lines, but not around the statues. Let them burn churches and tear down pictures of Christ. They can burn all of the American flags they can get their hands on. They can call you whatever they want. It doesn't matter. It changes nothing. If it wasn't YOUR church or YOUR flag or YOUR city, then it is well outside of your control,and the men and ideas of the statues are dead to them and invisible to society at large.

Now is the time to prepare. The cities are beyond anyone's control, now. Be at peace. Eat well. Work hard. Lift heavy. Train your shooting and hand-to-hand. Keep you mind sharp. Pay attention. Sleep enough. Love your family and see that they prepare, too. Be a good neighbor. Be a good citizen.

When either the government or the mob crosses your line... that will be the time. They aren't that close, yet, but they also were never that far away.