Ironically, however, the ability to analyze precisely, identify
underlying assumptions, and make careful distinctions is precisely what
you gain when you get a real education. Indeed, many very educated
people––Dorothy Sayers and John Henry Newman, to give two famous
examples––have remarked that the ability to make clear distinctions is
almost the definition of what it means to be educated.
It’s easy to see why: without such abilities, you simply aren’t able
to get beyond the level of ramming generalizations at one another until
someone gives up. And if the modern person is not equipped for it, then
tracing the subtle track of a discussion to get at the real core of the
argument is bound to be a dizzying endeavor. No wonder he complains of
semantics––he really has no idea how to navigate such a discussion.
Naturally, being able to analyze effectively, make careful distinctions,
and get at the deep assumptions of things are all invaluable for
confronting the truly overwhelming amount of information we are exposed
to daily. But something we often overlook is entertainment, which
contains its own kinds of deeper assumptions, although they are usually
hidden to one degree or another.
Life is pain and filled with horrors. The only choice, the only defense is to become more awake.
Tell ‘em all I said hi, hope you’ve been well You’ve been asleep while I’ve been in hell Tell ‘em all I said hi, have a nice day I’ll be just fine, don’t worry ’bout me
The only way anyone can have a right to something that has to be produced is to force someone else to produce it for him.
The worst guilt is to accept an undeserved guilt—and that is what you have been doing all your life. You have been paying blackmail, not for your vices, but for your virtues. You have been willing to carry the load of an unearned punishment—and to let it grow the heavier the greater the virtues you practiced.
Here
are some questions for America’s bashers. What would happen if, as
once common, people could manage with fewer lawyers, advocates, drugs,
and therapists? Could they live with safe schools and neighborhoods,
entertainment free of sex and “politically correct” warp? What would
happen if more people worked at useful jobs? Could there be a problem
with schools, churches, and media not pushing Marxist propaganda? What
would Americans do with an America-loving president? Could they bear up to all such oppression?
The
connection between today’s rampant disorder and leftist machinations
against American society should be plain to all who really care about
America. Unfortunately, it’s hard for many to see what has been going
on without their knowledge; brainwash is difficult to detect. You could
read the papers, watch the news, listen to lectures, sermons,
speeches, and not know that you were being brainwashed. Being
“reformed” while being “informed” or “entertained” is, for most, harder
to detect than the smell of gas leaking into a room. It is why so many
in the mainstream are clueless about what has happened to them and to
our country. It is why so many continually cast votes that
incrementally dismantle their own society while honestly believing they
are doing the right thing.
I
like social media. I learn a lot from my news feeds. Today, 45% of Americans say they
get their news from Facebook. But I have to wonder, is this censored? Is there information
I don’t get to see?
Prager
University has 3 million followers. The site offers dignified lectures on
conservative philosophy. One day, Prager saw that some of their videos had been seen by zero people…zero! Facebook
later apologized. Prager says Facebook told them privately it limited their posts
because someone clicked a button flagging their videos as “hate speech.” Then
one of Facebook’s human content monitors agreed and censored it.
So, who are
these sensors? Well, the social media companies say “we try to be politically
balanced when we pick them.” Facebook chose the Weekly Standard to be a
“fact-checker,” and Facebook censors did temporarily ban the artist who posted
a painting of a nude Donald Trump with a tiny penis.
But censorship does seem
to happen more often to people on the right. And that’s not surprising, because
the people who work for social media companies tend to lean left. Twitter’s CEO
admits that: “We need a constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which
I fully admit is more left-leaning.”
People on
the far right have been totally banned. Alex Jones was banned by every major social network. Milo Yiannopoulos
was banned by Twitter. Of course
Facebook, Twitter, and the others can legally censor whomever they want – they’re private companies. Jones and Yiannopoulos
say hateful things. But should they be censored? Open debate keep societies healthy. I’ll defend your right to say ugly things
even if I hate what you say.
And I cringe at comments made by comic and
activist
Gavin McInnes.
McInnes
co-founded VICE Magazine. Now he’s a Trump supporter, saying provocative things on CRTV.
McInnes
has been banned by Twitter too. “There is an absolute all-out war on conservative
free speech,” he says. I haven’t seen enough data to convince me that the media companies
actively ban conservatives, but Twitter did notify
McInnes
that he was banned
specifically for…”Specifically for nothing,” he reminds me. It was blank. They didn’t give any
reason. So we asked Twitter, and they said he was banned for, “…violating our policy
prohibiting violent extremist groups…”
Now,
McInnes
did create a group called “The
Proud Boys.” According to the Southern Poverty Law Center it’s a “hate group.” “It’s a multiracial group,”
McInnes explains.
McInnes says The Proud Boys are just a men’s group. “The only prerequisite
is that you’re a dude – born a dude – and you accept the West is the best,” he says. But what got The Proud Boys and
McInnes
banned is that some
people calling themselves “Proud Boys” joined the Charlottesville protest.
McInnes
opposed the Charlottesville racism: “I
don’t want nothing to do with this and those guys are nuts.” He then kicked out
anyone he thought was racist. Should he be banned for what a few Proud Boys did?
Maybe Twitter banned him for other things he did. After the group that calls
itself antifa, for anti-fascist, harassed
McInnes
and others outside one of
his speeches, McGinnis said, “I cannot recommend violence enough. It is a really
effective way to solve problems.” How does that not violate the social media
company’s guidelines? “I’m not condoning violence, but I am condoning justified
violence in self-defense,” he explains. Last year,
McInnes
fought the antifa activists. “I had
to make it clear to a mob of 500 that I wasn’t tolerating any transgression,” he goes on.
This month outside a McInnes
speech, Proud Boys
and antifa protesters confronted each other. Police tried to keep the groups separate, but the
antifa protesters circled the block to confront the Proud Boys. But in this
case, it was the Proud Boys who were the most violent. Should we blame this on
McInnes? Where is the line?
Some would ban
McInnes
from social media simply because of
what he writes. Like in an article saying that while leftists do comedy mocking
American Hillbillies as ‘yokels’ that stereotype better fits the Muslim world. I
see why people call him a racist. He wrote, “Muslim world is filled with shoeless, toothless, inbred, hill-dwelling, rifle-toting, sodomy-prone men ready to kill.” “[Chuckles] I’m funny. That
quote is hyperbolic. It’s colorful.” Your tone is so mean. “Yeah, so? What’s the matter with the rude tone? I think speech should be widely colorful. Some people like it spicy. You don’t have to have Tabasco sauce. I’m Tabasco
sauce,” he contends.
I think the social media bosses would say, if they were to be honest, “Well,
McInnes, we just don’t want him on our platform, because he’s not bringing us
together. He’s mocking people. He’s pushing us apart.” “That’s a valid point,” he quips. So, they don’t want to carry you. “Why didn’t they say that then? That’s a reason. But, that
means that your social media platform promotes a homogeneity of ideas where
everyone is gray and thinks the same, and no one is malicious, no one is is rude, no one is crude. What kind of a media platform is that? That’s Stalinism. That’s
communism. It’s unAmerican,” he says.
I don’t like some things
McInnes
says, but he does
make me think. I’m more upset that some people in Silicon Valley in secret determine
which ideas are allowed on my social media feed. The best answer to speech we
don’t like is more speech.
CultML 