I don’t recall any time in history, even the Sixties, when so many people, including those in elected position, behaved so stupidly with no apparent shame or self-awareness. This indeed is The Great Stupid. I could write post after post on just these episodes. But that would be, you know, stupid. So here are some brief notes acknowledging the phenomenon.
- Apparently actor Ryan Reynolds and his wife, rather less distinguished actress Blake Lively, are awash with guilt and remorse because they held their 2012 wedding at a former plantation in South Carolina. “[The wedding locale is] something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for,” Reynolds says. “It’s impossible to reconcile. What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy.”
So we’re cancelling places, now? We are supposed to shun areas where people were cruel, or where crimes occurred, or people with now-unacceptable values lived? How idiotic can we get? Reynold and Lively, apparently infected with irresponsible and irrational ideas spread by fanatics and hysterics, are now trying to spread them elsewhere.
My wife and I had a marvelous honeymoon at a lovely Virginia inn on the site of a converted plantation. I have no remorse about that at all. We stayed in the caretaker’s out-building, now converted into a lovely romantic cottage. My family celebrated Thanksgiving at Mount Vernon; I guess by the Ryan-Lively Standard that means I’m endorsing slavery. Nobody should live in Salem. Nobody should vacation in the former Confederate states. Or Germany. Or Japan. Or the nations from the former Soviet Union.
Stupid Rating (1-10): 9
- Just a week after a Starbucks employee was arrested for spitting in the coffee of a police officer, Vincent J. Sessler, 25, has been arrested for the same disgusting conduct at a Chicago Dunkin Donuts. The victim, an Illinois State Trooper, spotted the spit when he opened the coffee to let it cool. A surveillance camera caught Sessler in the act.
By what possible logic does it make sense, or is it fair, or can it be justified to treat another human being like that because of his occupation, based on the conduct of another member of the same profession in another state? That’s the essence of mindless bigotry. These idiots think they are opposing bigotry by being bigots?
Stupid Rating (1-10): 10.
You can’t be more stupid than this, right?
- Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser allowed rioters to spray paint their slogans all over the city. Then she commissioned her own graffiti, “Black Lives Matter,” which was painted in huge block letters on a DC street. Nor did she see anything amiss when BLM protesters then added “Defund the Police.” There were no arrests for any of this.
Then not-so-woke protesters used chalk to write “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” on the sidewalk, and were promptly arrested. This took place outside a Planned Parenthood facility. The two chalk-artists were arrested and charged with defacing public or private property.
Now, I’m not a First Amendment specialist, but it seems to me if a city government allows vandalism it agrees with, and arrests protesters who engage in milder vandalism when the message isn’t approved by the mayor, that’s chilling free speech. Boy, wouldn’t it be great if there was a non-profit, non-partisan organization that could be counted on to make this point in a courtroom?
Stupid Rating (1-10): I’ll say 5.
The middling score is only because Bowser knows her race-obsessed, mostly black citizens will tolerate it, and that the Washington Post is too partisan and biased to slam her the way she deserves.
On the other hand, Democratic officials seem to think there’s no longer any reason to hide their affection for totalitarian methods. I think this sort of arrogance will eventually run into Lincoln’s observation that you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
- Jason Whitlock, one of the sharpest of American sportswriters, examined the recently leaked video showing the entire George Floyd incident, from his initial arrest to his death. And what a surprise! Whitlock, an African American, concludes that race had nothing to do with the tragedy, which, I am compelled to point out, Ethics Alarms concluded before the new video evidence. Whitlock writes,
The behavior of the police officers seems appropriate and restrained given Floyd’s level of resistance and bizarre conduct. The footage reasonably explains how and why Floyd wound up on the ground with multiple officers restraining him.
The video does not justify officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. But it does offer context why Chauvin would be reluctant to believe Floyd’s “I can’t breathe” cries. Nearly every word out of Floyd’s mouth was a desperate lie.
Here are the takeaways from the footage:
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Floyd’s behavior escalated a routine arrest into a possible abuse of force.
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The George Floyd case is not a race crime. No rational person can watch that footage and conclude the police were motivated by Floyd’s black race.
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It’s going to be virtually impossible to convict former officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao of any crime.
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It will be equally difficult to convict Chauvin of murder.
Being a sportswriter, Whitlock goes on to ridicule the NBA, the NFL, and Major League Baseball, which…
… chose to drape themselves in Black Lives Matter symbols and view all negative encounters between black people and white people as examples of white supremacy. Life is far more complicated than the race-baiting that gets retweeted and liked over Twitter. What happened to George Floyd is more complicated than the substance-less assertion that Derek Chauvin acted out of racial animus. Chauvin abused his power. His defense lawyers will argue he was baited into abusing his power by Floyd.
Adam Silver, Roger Goodell and Rob Manfred… have been played and used by anarchists and communists who are using opportunists to promote an American race war.
But that’s just the pro sports leagues. Corporate America, and dozens of cities, and journalists and elected official have been played as well. Millions of dollars have been lost in phony protests, and Americans have been injured and killed in crimes because the police have been prevented from protecting them. Professors, public officials and business executives have lost their careers for not mouthing the mandated sentiments dictated by those “opportunists.”
And all because an incident that had nothing to do with race or racism was allowed to represent something it wasn’t.
Stupid Rating (1-10): No number can do this justice.
This is historically, tragically, operatically stupid. World War I stupid. The only thing stupider that I can think of right now is for us to refuse to call it what it is.
Ethics Alarms 
Is there a link to Whitlock’s full article?
Here. https://www.outkick.com/george-floyd-bodycam-footage-shows-it-wasnt-about-race-will-nbactivists-actually-admit-that/
I thought I had included the link. I apologize to all. It’s in the post now.
We are truly a nation gone mad. Sadly, I don’t see any end in sight.
We are truly a nation gone mad. Sadly, I don’t see any end in sight.
I hope that you will forgive my deliberate, sharp comments. The only way to get through to someone — the only way that some truths have gotten through to me — is in those moments when one meditates on and feels loss from one’s error.
I also want to point out that people like Guillaume Faye long ago looked into the crystal-ball and described a troubled future. These are the people who comprise the Dissident Right, and these are the ideas that you-plural adamantly refuse to entertain! You block them, you shoot them down and you participate in the vilification of them. Guillaume Faye, Jared Taylor, Greg Johnson, Pierre Krebs, Jonathan Bowden and a dozen others: these are men who are symptoms of the disease — affected by it I mean — and yet whose ideas represent a way to cure the illness. This is my position and has been my position. It is a moral and an ethical one. Not an immoral and an unethical one.
You could say ‘the nation has gone mad’ but that is not a rational enough assessment. The nation is suffering from a long line of choices made and which was constructed by choice. What you predict though is true, or seems to be: nothing ever *just gets better* of its own accord. A crisis has to be gone through and going through it one faces all that one did to construct it. The problem is that in degenerating democracy it is tyranny that is usually the next step. In this case a military-intelligence action to restrain the social conflict.
That is what is coming next.
Now, perhaps you will say “After we get through this social psychosis we will emerge, stronger & better to form that more perfect union”. I guess that stands as a possibility but it does not seem likely.
Well, with all this in mind I think it becomes necessary to begin to prepare for a continuation of these conditions and symptoms that are now visible.
Alizia,
I had no idea who Guillaume Faye was when I read your comment and reading the article on him, apparently the Southern Poverty Law Center brands him as a member of a hate group which they seem to do to anybody of the right of Karl Marx. I suppose that at this point I am depressed that so called conservative politicians embrace the notion that systematic racism in the USA exists and that we can have a dialogue with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer that would be productive. Anyway, I salute you for being the firebrand of Ethics Alarms.
Great post. Can you do a whole post on the leaked footage and your thoughts on it?
I saw the full body cam video; George Floyd is a rough equivalent to the boy who cried wolf but that doesn’t excuse the officers, mostly Chauvin, from being negligent (at some level) in insuring the safety of someone in their custody but it’s a very valid argument for his defense against a 2nd degree murder charge. In fact I think the video obliterates any justification for a 2nd degree murder charge against Chauvin. It’s clear to me after watching the body cam video and the context of the entire episode that Chauvin had absolutely no idea that what he was doing could be causing any harm whatsoever to Floyd. Also I think the original coroner changing the report without reexamining the body was a clear sign that there was an outright effort to throw Chauvin under the bus.
Based on this new evidence, I now think that my original assessment of 2nd Degree Murder based on the original videos I saw was incorrect. I think it would be impossible to justly convict Chauvin of anything other than some low level of negligence.
I agree, Steve. Also, you cannot overlook Keith Ellison’s role in all of this. He saw the video and somehow decided on three courses of action, 1) not to release this extended version of the events, 2) raise the charges to 2nd degree murder, and 3) increase the emphasis of the alleged racial component the event. All three of these contributed heavily in stoking unrest within the community and across the nation, and set the stage for significant violence if/when Chauvin is found not guilty of murder, and the other three probably found not guilty of any crime. All three of these actions need further explanation. His incompetence or political posturing will have devastating impact.
Guillaume Faye wrote: “We are standing face to face with the barbarians. The enemy is no longer outside but inside the City, and the ruling ideology, paralysed, is incapable of spotting him. It stammers, overcome by its own moral disarmament, and is giving up: this is the time to seize the reins. Present society is an accomplice to the evil that is devouring it.”
As my Aussie friend says: “Trippy, eh?”
I find this quote frighteningly accurate:
“The current implicit ideology that dominates the world, especially in the West, still continues to profess, officially, the utopia inherited from the egalitarian philosophy of the Enlightenment (Eighteenth century), positivism and scientism (Nineteenth century): to create a situation where, in a few decades, some eight billion people will live on the planet with a good standard of living and democracy for all. All this resembles the billiard player who imagines that after four or five rebounds his ball will automatically fall into the hole. These professors of ballistics are playing golf, but they do not know it.”
― Guillaume Faye
Hello there! I hope this note finds you well. It is somewhat unrelated — or perhaps completely unrelated — but I have been listening to Isaiah Berlin talks on romanticism.
He is a wonderful talker and a delight to listen to. Berlin does not have the critical perspective of Faye — and Berlin would of course been decidedly anti-fascist given his Jewish roots (he said that no matter what, in the end he defined himself as a Russian Jew and nothing else) — but one can easily sense and see the developing confusion of Occidental ideation. Berlin presents it so wonderfully and charmingly. I love the way he talks.
Keith Ellison might well be the AG in a Biden administration.
Sure. He’s a sexual abuser too.
I disagree. Floyd was properly arrested for his earlier activity. He resisted arrest. He resisted being placed in the police vehicle. To have forced that issue beyond what was tried would have inflicted much pain and possible injury to Floyd. alternate transportation was called for and he was restrained on the ground awaiting its arrival (something the officers at the scene had no control over).
The prosecution of Chauvin is based on the apparent pressure on Floyd’s neck by Chauvin’s knee. The originally released video shows that virtually no distortion of the neck from this placement of the knee, and the actual autopsy report says no damage to the throat or neck tissues and no evidence of strangulation. People who cannot breathe cannot talk. This is taught in your basic Heimlich course in First Aid: choking people can’t talk, look for outward signs of distress.
Floyd was in control from the start. 1- Don’t pass bad money; 2- don’t resist arrest.
Another Mike wrote, “I disagree.”
Based on what you wrote after that sentence, I don’t think you actually disagree with me.
Be specific this time, exactly what part of what I wrote do you disagree with.
Even if Chauvin’s actions weren’t the cause of Floyd’s death, they still seem excessive. What if he had shot Floyd, but Floyd didn’t die from the actual gunshot? I’m all for letting the police do their jobs, but there needs to be reasonable limits on what they can do, and kneeling on a suspect’s neck, when there are better ways to restrain someone (especially if you have backup) goes outside those limits, in my humble opinion.
He’s guilty of negligent homicide. If they over-charge, they lose.
Always liked Jason Whitlock as a straight shooter; like him even more, now!
I read Whitlock’s piece and I was curious about this part:
“We don’t have a suitable replacement. Academia? Go look at the results produced by the white liberals in control of our academic institutions. You want to see white supremacy? Visit Yale, Harvard or any of their Ivy League brothers.”
I am not sure what he means. Is he saying that the Ivy League is the last bastion of white supremacy or is he saying that the Left has destroyed any semblance of white supremacy in the Ivy League?
jvb
Jack wrote, “I don’t recall any time in history, even the Sixties, when so many people, including those in elected position, behaved so stupidly with no apparent shame or self-awareness. This indeed is The Great Stupid.”
I couldn’t agree more.
How did we get here? I’m convinced the reason is apathy, because apathy fertilizes a breeding ground for stupidity to flourish.
If we don’t want to live under rules created by stupid people then we need to set aside our apathy for society and politics, stand up for intelligent truths and do something about what’s happening!
I know I’ve repeated these things until people’s eyes are probably glazing over but I truly think it’s crucial to the ultimate survival of the United States of America to continuously get this message out that it’s time for people to step up and let your voices be heard and publicly oppose the stupidity that’s happening across the USA!
We can’t forget that the silence we are experiencing is not the simple apathy of the old Silent Majority. The silence now being exhibited stems primarily from fear, not apathy. They are a Silenced Majority. Simply speaking your beliefs, the beliefs you espoused, Steve, can get you into serious trouble. We have all seen it. Troubles ranging from loss of your job to physical threats. Possibly actual violence against you, and who has stepped up to have their backs? Nobody. Individuals taking a stance stand a good chance of being destroyed. Absent the Trump rallies of the last election, I am hoping the Republican convention, limited as it may be, will provide enough cover for the multitudes to start letting their voices be heard.
Two words, Bill: anonymous voting. We can still all speak with impunity at the ballot box.
Cheers.
Also, I like “the Silenced Majority.” Fits right in with my own coined phrases: “The Great Suppression” and “The Scamdemic.”
To maximize the loudness; I’m drafting an outline of what I want society to learn to be like in the next couple years or so. Few enough people listen to even the most trenchant criticism, but when I offer them something that they can criticize, that’ll get their attention. Then I’ll use the platform to emphasize that while we may disagree on which methods are most effective, we can work together to figure that out. The important thing is that we agree on the values at stake.
Extradimensional Cephalopod wrote, “Then I’ll use the platform to emphasize that while we may disagree on which methods are most effective, we can work together to figure that out. The important thing is that we agree on the values at stake.“ [Bold Mine]
We’re talking about stupid people here that are lead by ignorant Marxist anarchists and these stupid people have very clearly shown us these two things:
1. “They” have no intention of working together with anyone that opposes them in any way.
2. There is absolutely no agreement on the values at stake.
These stupid people have very clearly told us, “If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it.” They are not marching and/or rioting for justice, they are out there marching for anarchy. They have literally painted in their goals in their graffiti all over the USA, their movement is a Revolution and they will accept nothing less. They are cultist fanatics. Their terrorist style of intimidation tactics are working and we see it in just about everything; individuals, companies, municipalities, universities, states, and some in the government are openly kowtowing to these hordes of stupid people. Some are kowtowing because they agree with them and others kowtow to keep them at bay, either way the hordes of stupid cultist fanatics win!
The terrorist minded cultist fanatics have shown us that there is absolutely no middle ground, there is absolutely no compromise, you either bow to the will these Marxist led stupid people and support their goals or they will destroy you, it’s their way or the highway; there can be no mistake, this IS their stance. This is why I’m rapidly beginning to think that this stupidity will only end when the current silent majority that oppose what the stupid people are trying to do physically lift their lazy asses out of their apathetic lounge chairs gain some genuine courage and march en masse in the streets across the USA to squash the nonsense out of the stupid people with either massive overwhelming opposing protests pushing the stupid people back under their rocks or violent physical force or a combination of the two. The terrorist minded cultist fanatics are showing us that force is the only thing that they understand and they are applying their force, it’s time for everyone else to push back hard. As we have been shown since the killing of Trayvon Martin all the way up to the current George Floyd train wreck, the Marxist “leaders” of the stupid people want martyrs to use as “proof” that anyone that opposes them is evil so they can rally the people against “evil” – everyone that doesn’t kowtow to them is the evil they’ve been looking for…
If we don’t want to live under rules created by stupid people then we need to set aside our apathy for society and politics, stand up for intelligent truths and do something about what’s happening!
The terrorist minded cultist fanatics are currently winning, is that what you want?
I know that is a dark view of the near future but it will get a whole lot darker if we don’t begin to stand up now before these terrorist minded cultist fanatics gain complete control over our society.
I’m not sure who originally stated this but it seems relevant in today’s world…
How does this tweet rate on that scale?
Michael T Ejercito wrote, “How does this tweet rate on that scale?”
First you have to evaluate the claims and the purpose of the Tweet.
1. They are not unidentified.
2. They are not stormtroopers.
3. They didn’t kidnap anyone, they took people into custody.
4. What they did was in response to actual violence directly related to riots not in response to graffiti.
5. Keeping the peace and enforcing the law is one of the responsibilities of the governing authorities of democratic republic, so yes the actions were the actions of a democratic republic.
6. DHS did not undermine its mission, it’s upholding their mission which is “to stand united against the threats attacking our great Nation, fellow Americans, and way of life”.
Nancy Pelosi is a lying propagandist spreading seditious propaganda in an effort to subvert the Administration of President Trump; therefore, subvert the United States system of government. Think about that for a minute, Pelosi is actively trying to subvert the very government system which she is an integral part of. If the goal is to bring down the system, then her words aren’t “stupid” at all – it treasonous.
Byron York managed to note this as well.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/byron-yorks-daily-memo-the-political-battle-of-portland
To whom are these Democratic leaders appealing?
That’s not stupidity, it’s deliberate, calculated lies for political gain. Pelosi isn’t stupid, she’s corrupt, manipulative, and dishonest.
New York has also been arresting people for painting over the BLM painted in front of trump tower, calling it vandalism.
I’m hoping that the same argument is made, that selective enforcement of vandalism applied based on content is a first amendment violation.
Even the company I work for has been baited into this race thing. They proudly declared in a virtual town hall that they would now hire people using a racial lens. Companies openly racist. I’d have thought that would be bad business practice.
It’s not just bad business, it is illegal. I hope someone recorded the moment.
They published a video and a transcript. So anyone who didn’t catch it live can watch it in full. Can even download it.