Progress in Venezuela

Back in the late 1990s when I was still living in Florida, I went to church with a family that had fled from Venezuela after Hugo Chavez had come to power.  They left a lot of extended family and friends behind and did their best to keep in touch. 

They were quite willing to talk about the horrific conditions of life down there. Terrible inflation, rampant and very blatant crime, thugs doing strong arm robberies in broad daylight, murder and mayhem.  A common denominator of the criminal thugs was that they not only supported Hugo Chavez, but they were his enforcers at the polling places. 

The immigrants were willing to admit that the things they saw in the SEIU here in America looked frighteningly close to what they left in Venezuela.  I say all that to introduce this from Joe Huffman's blog:

                               Quote of the Day
"We are building peace from within, and for that, you need disarmament.
Let us chase after the dream, after the utopia, the utopia of a Venezuela in peace." Nicolas Maduro      [the new dictator who replaced Hugo Chavez]
September 23, 2014

Venezuela’s Maduro launches $47M plan to disarm civilians
[How’s that dream chasing working out for the Marxists?]  -- Joe Huffman
Private gun ownership in Venezuela was banned in 2012. Yet the country has the second highest murder rate in the world.
Venezuela is also nearing default on its debt, the economy is a disaster, people can’t get toilet paper and many other basic goods, and now they want to spend tens of millions of dollars to “build dozens of new disarmament centers for civilians to surrender their weapons”.

So what happens when the powers that be decide to try that here in the U.S.?

The Bigger Problem

"Miseducation is harder to overcome than ignorance." 
             -- Francis W. Porretto

Once again I run across a tidbit from Liberty's Torch that becomes the seed for a post here. Francis managed to encapsulate an idea in just seven words.  Sometimes, really great quotes don't get the appreciation they deserve. Maybe this one little sentence struck me so significantly because I have enough worldly experience.

Maybe it set off bells and whistles in my head because I've had to deal with the truth of that statement so much lately.

At the risk of boring my more intelligent readers, I feel like expounding on the quote above. I guess another reason for this is that I've got several decades of experience that growing older does not guarantee growing wiser; at least not in a society that coddles ignorance and stupidity.  Recently I've had to encounter the most egregious sin of stupidity.  Willful ignorance.  While lately I have seen this attitude most irritatingly in people quite older than myself, I try to mitigate my angst by seeing an underlying attitude of: "I'm old, I've paid my dues, and I'm not long for this world anyway."

Believe it or not, I've spent enough time thinking about this that I now have two categories of willful ignorance. In the first kind, the subject is confronted with facts that are so upsetting to his worldview, that he dismisses the new information and quickly moves on to something else that distracts him from having to really ruminate on it.  It may be in the back of his mind, able to resurface later if brought about by another event.  But the subject sort of subconsciously suppresses it because the cognitive dissonance is just too uncomfortable to deal with presently.  In this primary level, at least there is hope that the subject will accept the truth in the future.  When I encounter this in an individual, I can easily smile and drop the subject, thinking to myself, "It's okay, he/she's just not ready yet."

But the second level of willful ignorance is where I have to fight the demons that set my blood to boiling. It's when the subject makes clear and very declarative statements to the effect of: "I don't WANT to know." And more importantly, the statements are made with a smile and a smugness as if delivering divine wisdom from on high.  This is where I DO need grace from the Almighty, because I feel like slapping the ever-loving shit out of the jerk.

Getting back to the main idea; both of the levels of ignorance above are most often born out of miseducation.  Ignorance in its pure form simply means that you don't know, but you have not been indoctrinated in any particular direction, like a juror in a fresh venue with no prior knowledge of the case.  The problem comes from being purposely "educated" to believe things that seem very plausible, have been seemingly accepted by the vast majority, and are typically very difficult and time consuming to falsify or prove on one's own. Amusement of all kinds is the modern American sport. Ignorance is bliss. "I'll take the blue pill."

Why?  Well, as much as I don't like leftist/progressives, I'll quote one here.  Gloria Steinem said, "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."  Of course, truth won't piss you off until you are forced to come to grips with it.  It's like the child of any age who's parents finally throw him out of the house to go fend for his self. The Eastern Airlines employee or air traffic controller who finds out that the union doesn't really have his best interests at heart. The college graduate who finds out that there is no one looking to hire someone with a masters degree in "Graffiti's Social Importance."
So many more examples I would like to give here, but I'll move on.

People don't cling to false things they believe to be true because of evidence or logic.  They cling to those things because of their emotions.  Kevin Baker over at The Smallest Minority has many uberposts on his blog, along with some long-running exchanges with hoplophobes that help prove this point.  I remember sifting through long threads on his site as well as others, and being dumbfounded at the extremes to which anti-gunners will go to defend their position against all evidence and logic which demonstrates their position to be blatantly stupid.

One reason emotion is such a big issue is because nobody likes to find out they've fallen for a lie.  Short-term lies on the personal level are one thing. Someone in your personal world lies to you, but you eventually find out. Most of your anger can be righteously directed at them, and once you've calmed down you can at least feel good about yourself for discovering the truth.  But the big lies that will really rock your world are just too painful to deal with for a lot of people. Big lies that you find out you actually talked yourself into because they sounded so good.  But it was wrong.  And in the realization it was wrong you become angry. You are angry because it made you feel stupid.

The bigger the lie, the more stupid you feel, and thus the angrier you get.  The force multiplier to the tune of 10X is the fact that you have no one to blame but yourself.  There's not one individual you can blame for knowingly defrauding you.  If you got taken in by Bernie Madoff, you've got someone you can focus your anger on.  But who are you going to take to court or see in shackles over the Social Security Ponzi scheme?

Nothing perpetuates and protects ignorance as much as believing that you already know the truth. Oh, I believe that there are indeed absolute truths. But they are the things which I am always willing to put to the test.  Any test. Over and over.  But when you've come to the conclusion that "the argument/debate is over," then the only thing you have proven is your ignorance. 



Minor Rabbit Trail:  It's so easy to be like one of the sheep in this parade.  It's cool to feel like you are connected with a popular movie star.  It's so easy to let people like Leo and Algore and Bernie the Commie Sanders do your thinking for you, instead of asking the epistemological question: Are they right? How do they know?  What are the arguments on the other side?  If the argument is over, why the need for the march?  Back to my screed.

The things I am willing to argue passionately for are the things I am sure are true, with the caveat that I know I am human and that there may be information yet that I do not have.  But show me someone who is unwilling to entertain a reasonable and intelligent argument, and I'll show you a willfully ignorant and downright stupid fool.

Jared Loughner

I put his name right up there in the title to shamelessly draw attention to my own blog.  Why not?  Everybody else is.

Fact is, I'm disgusted.  I don't know which blog I saw that did this and I don't want to give them any publicity but they jumped on the story the minute it broke and then followed with a chain of ten "UPDATE" lines correcting previous information.

I expect to see breathless hysterics from people on the left.  You moonbats out in Pima County, Arizona now have all the proof you need that the most irresponsible, politicized person you could find now occupies the office of Sheriff.  He has proven it out of his own mouth.  But isn't that what you voted for? Of course, you didn't think about the full implications of what that means.  Being a leftist drone means never having to think deeply about anything.

A rational mind would want the person in charge of law enforcement to be calm and logical.  Somebody who doesn't "rush to judgment" when it comes to investigating crime.  Doesn't matter if he leans right or left.  I want someone who first says, "Let's look at the facts."  "What evidence do we have?"

Clarence Dupnik immediately began blaming the shooter's actions on "Right-wing rhetoric," before looking at Loughner's You-Tube postings or Facebook account to see what kinds of things he seemed motivated by.  You people in Tuscon really want somebody that incompetent running criminal investigations?  It would be bad enough regarding innocent people being punished for things they didn't do, but just think about the criminals who would be able to get away with murder by simply misdirecting the attention of a political hack  with the attention span of a 12 year old.

This is a tragedy, and I don't mean to make little of the pain and suffering of the people involved.  But I didn't create the problem of Sheriff Dupnik's incredible incompetence, I'm just pointing it out.  I'm pointing out that Dupnik and people like him see this shooting as an opportunity to rile up the leftist drones who need no more analysis of the situation than the fact that an evil gun was used, and the main victim was a leftist democrat congresswoman.  End of thought process.  The rhetoric of the left will continue to spew endlessly, mind you, but there will be no further reasoned thought on the matter.

I've had people I work with and other friends say disparaging things about listening to talk radio.  But such people let their emotions get the better of them and any rational thinking about the subject matter seems to shut down before they can get any benefit from the information.  Countless times I've heard people refer to Rush Limbaugh as a racist, but when I ask for what he has specifically said that makes him a racist, all I get is silence or "Everybody knows . . . " only to find out that "everybody" is somebody else who has never listened to him but heard it from somebody else.  I once challenged a black co-worker to listen to Rush for a couple of weeks and then tell me specifically what he said that could be considered racist, or anything that he said was a lie or just a twisting of the truth.  He promised me he would.  After the two weeks I asked him what he thought.

"Any racist statements?"
"Not that I heard."
"What about disparaging poor people."
"Well, really just the lazy people, and I know plenty like that."
"Does he seem like he hates anybody?"
"Not really.  He's actually kind of funny."
"Maybe you need to keep listening for a while and see if you can catch him on something."
"I might do that."

That's just a small sample of that conversation and many others, and after a while, my co-worker admitted that he just didn't want to spend any more time listening to Rush because he had other interests, but the point was made.

I can easily have patience with people who are willing to take the time to listen, and by listen, I don't mean be a bystander while somebody talks.  I've experienced enough of that.  I've been in a room with several people and heard a teacher explain something that required more than a few sentences, and then listen to a person in the same room ask a question that proved that they hadn't really listened to the teacher at all.  I don't have a lot of patience for people like that.  I have even less patience for people who open up their mouths and prove that they don't know what they're talking about while at the same time speaking as if they do.

If there is one thing I've seen consistently on the left, it is the amazing amount of projection.  It's okay for them to engage in some of the most vile "hate" speech and they had better get a pass for it.  But if "right-wingers" do or say anything that can somehow be subtly tied to a concept of "hate" or seem threatening, then they should be reigned in, or shut down to make it safe for leftist tyranny, for the good of the country, for the sake of peace.

Because of the wonderful world of the internet, we don't have to make unsubstantiated charges with regard to who is doing what.  All of the news outlets have plenty of money and resources to monitor and record anything being said by Rush or Glenn Beck or whoever.  If the mainstream media could catch any of the conservative talking heads saying anything that could be used to inflame the public into demanding they be shut down, they would have broadcast it by now.

On the other side, we have the public record as recorded by folks like Michelle Malkin who provides us with clear and convincing evidence of leftist rage and violence at this site. I dare you to go check it out.

Bill Whittle Explains It Well

Peterson Syndrome II

The first installment of this essay can be found here.

From my studies on language, the government welfare systems, politics, and history, I find that people are pretty much like electricity and water; they take the path of least resistance and they seek their level.  Both of these things are a corollary to the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Both of these conditions have never changed in the course of human history.  The founders of the U.S. of A. understood this.  Mankind is not inherently good. Therefore, he needs to be trained in the ways of goodness. The Left wants to believe that mankind is inherently good and because they want it to be so, therefore it must be so. Both cannot be correct.  The proof of this can be found every time one ventures out into the community.  You can easily find one example of the Leftist style of parenting.  It is often hard to find examples of conservative styles of parenting, especially if you live in a large, metropolitan area.

You are in the store, and you can hear the kid wailing, sassing back, just being an all around little jerk in an effort to get his way (girls too).  The reason this is happening is because the parent sees little Johnny or Susie as an adult with all the rights and privileges that they themselves have. Johnny must be negotiated with. Johnny deserves to know that mommy can't afford to buy him that toy. Never mind that he doesn't contribute anything to household income or even know how to balance a checkbook.  The word "No" to Johnny simply means that he hasn't negotiated long enough or used severe enough tactics. This kid has been reared to date under the assumption that Left wing ideas about human nature are true, only to prove that such ideas are nonsense.  This kid has not the slightest inkling of concern over what is good for his family, his mother, or anyone around him.  He wants what he wants and is determined to push the envelope as far as he can to get it.

Once in a great while, you come across a family, often there are two or more children (that's the first clue, and there's a reason for it) where the children are quiet, respectful, and observant.  The older one's might even be helping to tend to the younger ones.  These are kids who have been trained under the assumption that the training is necessary.  Lest there be a misunderstanding, I'm not talking about strict discipline that borders on abuse.  I'm simply talking about loving discipline that helps the child develop into a loving, caring adult.  The conservative understanding of human nature and the subsequent training that results from it, produces people who function well in a society as self-sufficient and contributing to the overall good.  The leftist philosophy of human nature is that of leaving the garden to grow completely untended so that it produces nothing of any value, and we all end up starving.  The only thing that keeps the latter scenario from happening quickly is the reality of human nature that creates the speed bumps on the way to hell.  We just experienced such a kind of speed bump in the 2010 elections, or as P.J. O'Rourke said, "more like a restraining order."

What does this have to do with Peterson Syndrome?  Well, in thinking long about it (and I intend to think more, and refine my thoughts on this), Peterson Syndrome is something akin to Stockholm Syndrome, in that it is induced by outside factors, rather than being something innately organic.  It is my opinion that it is like brainwashing.  Albeit slow and subtle and accomplished by what I would call a "Cattle Conspiracy."  Once a Cattle Conspiracy has fully developed, reality becomes a very inconvenient truth.  This is what we see happening in France and Greece as of this post.  It does not matter that there is no more money to allow government union workers to retire at 55 and continue to collect taxpayer money in the form of pensions. They will riot in the streets until either the government sprinkles more magic pixie dust on the treasury to produce the money, or the government sends in troops to violently squash the rebellion.  This is the fruit of Peterson Syndrome on a large scale.  You could take a classroom full of Greek or French union workers, or for that matter, General Motors union workers and set them all down with charts and graphs and give them a crash course in basic economics and you would be lucky if one or two out of 50 understood that the game was rigged for disaster from the start.  It doesn't matter that the laws of economics have no feelings for their circumstances. They were promised something. Logic and facts be damned. "I have my RIGHTS!"  These people don't even understand the rules that determine whether or not something can or cannot be a "right."  Somebody said  "_____" was a right, and they believe it, and that settles it.  Look for a forthcoming essay on what constitutes a right.

Peterson Syndrome was coined by Joe Huffman about Joan Peterson and her irrational and illogical perception of inanimate firearms and human nature.  I think this became easier for us conservatives to analyze because the firearms issue has statistics that are far less complex for understanding than economics, while at the same time having far more emotional aspects that paint the picture with much more vivid colors.

In the next installment, I'm going to try to show why the promoters of the Peterson Syndrome do what they do.  After that, I hope to delve into their methods.