Over at RealClearPolitics, conservative scholar and pundit Victor Davis Hanson has an essay that I fervently believe is spot-on regarding what he calls “the Trump counter-revolution.” Of course I do: it tracks exactly with what I’ve been writing here for more than a decade, the primary difference being that Hanson’s views carry a lot more weight than mine do. The “money quote” in the essay, its conclusion:
Enraged Democrats still offer no substantial alternatives to the Trump agenda.
There are no shadow-government Democratic leaders with new policy initiatives. They flee from the Biden record on the border, the prior massive deficits and inflation, the disaster in Afghanistan, two theater-wide wars that broke out on Biden’s watch, and the shameless conspiracy to hide the prior president’s increasing dementia.
Instead, the Left has descended into thinly veiled threats of organized disruption in the streets. It embraces potty-mouth public profanity, profane and unhinged videos, nihilistic filibusters, congressional outbursts, and increasingly dangerous threats to the persons of Elon Musk and Trump.
All that frenzy is not a sign that the Trump counterrevolution is failing. It is good evidence that it is advancing forward, and its ethically bankrupt opposition has no idea how, or whether even, to stop it.
Oh, those words give me a BINGO! orgasm. I am now in the processes of fighting the impulse to post Hanson’s essay on Facebook, knowing full well that it will lead to mass fury among 90% of my friends, have me unfriended and cancelled, even cause some associates to pull out of a major theatrical project I’m involved in. Posting it would run directly into Cognitive Dissonance Scale reality.
And yet…I put up with far more triggering (for me) content from them literally every day without protest. I don’t cancel them or unfriend them, any more than I reject friends and relatives when they have contracted a pernicious disease. Do friends let friends remain tunnel-visioned, bubble-bound, biased and ignorant?
Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz of the Day is…
Ethics Alarms 
One impulse of me would like to say “Hell Yeah!!”.
My other impulse it to focus on why we have a presence on social media such as Facebook. Is that because we want to stay in touch with friends and family? Maybe we should keep politics of Facebook. The problem is that politics has gotten way too important n many people’s lives, to the extend that it has replaced many other things for providing meaning in our lives, such as religion, family and friendships, and social activity. Perhaps we should resist the urge to tell the people close to us how we think on various things such as politics.
I do not use Facebook, and when I am with friends or at church I prefer not to talk about politics. Talking less about politics would probably be good for civility in society.
Except that the only way anyone can become a competent citizen is to talk about politics with knowledgeable people as much as possible..who must be willing to listen.
That is why I am glad to have Ethics Alarms, and other watering holes at the Internet that are more geared to a reasoned debate about politics.
And at Facebook people are not listening.. it is more like in he cartoon below:
I’ve become tempted to act as if I’m on board with the Trump deranged when I encounter them. Why confront them? I’m thinking of simply going all in on “Hell yeah!” when they start.
Isn’t that enabling?
You could post it with something like your second-to-last paragraph, talking about how you’ve never unfriended others for their political views, despite all the preaching-to-the-choir political memes you see. You could also include links to various posts you’ve made here criticizing Trump, and basically tie it together with “If you want to get rid of Trump’s brand of politics, the Dem’s current course is not the way to do it, which should be increasingly obvious.”
Don’t do it.
Were I you, I don’t think I would post it. There is no upside, it will serve no real purpose, the only person it will hurt is you.
Just be content with knowing that someone with Hanson’s stature agrees with your analysis of the situation.
I would recommend not to do it; you just invite negativity from the deranged and will incur additional stress as you try to refrain from responding to their insane replies.
Post away. The responses you get will tell you who to keep and who to throw out the door.
I’m going to answer your question with a question.
What was your original purpose for having a Facebook account?
Only you can know what your original purpose was and if posting the Hanson essay is inline with your original purpose.
My purpose for Facebook was to get and remain connected to distant friends and family. My purpose was not to troll friends and family with things that I know would likely trigger them. Some of my friends and family choose to trigger their Facebook friends and when I see those kind of posts, sometimes I’ll oblige them with counter points or facts because that’s what I do when people intentionally troll. I’ve been blocked more times than I can count on Facebook because I had the audacity to reply with counterpoints and unchallengeable facts, it’s their choice to keep me on their friend list or not. I choose what I personally post on Facebook with my original purpose in mind and I encourage others to do the same. I make my choices, they make theirs.
The choice is yours.
Additional Note: I consider what I do on Facebook to be a general following of the Golden Rule. I don’t want to be trolled by by friends so I avoid trolling them; however, when they troll me, I figure that they are treating others the way they want to be treated, that’s why I’ll sometimes oblige them.
if friends dismiss you because of the truth then are they really friends. I know you don’t like Bible quotes but Jesus had some advice for his disciple when they found themselves in the same situation-shake their dust from your sandals.
Wait: I never have said I don’t like Bible quotes! That would be crazy: it’s great literature. I don’t like people quoting the Bible misleadingly, or as proof of propositions that are open to debate. Not liking Bible quotes is like not liking Shakespeare quotes!
Should you post the article? It would depend on what you are trying to accomplish and what you are willing “pay” for posting it. It has been my experience that most people are firmly rooted in their ideological bent and are not interested in open-mindedly discussing alternatives to their worldview. Given this mindset, my wife and I tend to avoid political discussions with our true-blue progressive friends and acquaintances. When we have, the results have been quite interesting and consistent. Only one terminated the friendship. I offer three illustrative examples.
During Trump’s first presidential run, one evening, while my wife and I were dining with another couple and their two adult sons, I was asked if I thought Trump could win the election. I promptly replied, “of course he could. There are plenty of idiots in this country. Obama was elected twice.” One son, an active-duty Army Captain, enjoyed my quip. The rest of the table was silent. We moved on to other topics.
Another time, I was dining with a university employee who worked in the student diversity department. He was explaining white privilege to me and how there were so many incarcerated blacks in our prisons. I responded, “You mean they are innocent and shouldn’t be locked up?”. After an extended pause, he changed the topic.
At a party during Trump’s second presidential run, an acquaintance asked what I thought of the approaching election. I stated that since we live in New York State, who we want for president is irrelevant. New York City will determine the State’s vote. Since we are powerless to impact any statewide election, I tend to ignore them. As is typical, we moved on to other topics.
Regarding the lost friendship, I was initially saddened. In retrospect, I realized what I thought was friendship was just a myth. So the outcome was positive.
Revisiting, to post or not to post? Examine your motivation. Ego? Would you rather be right or happy? Do you wish to engage in spirited debate for sporting purposes? Do you view quixotic quests as useful activities? Do you have hair shirts in your closet? Other?