House of Eratosthenes

One thing that impresses me as I see more years come & go, is the practical definition of dysfunction. Seems easy, at first. You just look at some guy and go “Oh he’s dysfunctional.” I mean, look, he can’t even get dressed by himself, can’t walk in a straight line…

But, wait awhile. He thinks the same thing about you. And maybe he’s right! After all, when you’re sitting in a ferry and it’s pulling away from the dock, it really looks like the dock is the thing that’s moving. And we KNOW it isn’t that easy. We have a whole scientific discipline, psychology, which doesn’t even qualify as science in many ways…it exists so we can have these alien-eggheads come up with names, and codes, to attach to things, thereby declaring them dysfunctional. And we know THEY aren’t all right. Do you actually know any psychologists? It’s a bit like hiring the fox to guard the hen house…

How Nature Says Also, think about the stuff they don’t bother to code. I’ve already listed several examples…which, if I were to list them here, that would be a distraction…

In extended family, as well as in politics, I see there is a high-level distinction that works consistently and well.

If you want to do right by someone less experienced, who is learning how to live life — you’re probably all right in the head, if your energies go toward truly EDUCATING him/her/them. Exposing them to your ideas. And then if someone who disagrees with you says “Okay, now I want to have my shot at it, I want to have my say”…you’re cool.

If you want to pass on your ideas, your lifestyle, your methods, your Weltanschauung on to the next generation by way of *restricting* what that next generation is allowed to see; by shrinking their exposure, stenciling off their experiences…then, I have some bad news for you. You’re that guy.

“Don’t leave your home town, that big city is evil.”

“Don’t marry her. With a mother like me, who needs a wife?”

“Stop reading these comic books, they’ll rot your brain.”

With that in mind, take a look at conservatives, liberals, and how each side seeks to proliferate their values forward in time by influencing the next generation…

Conservatives desire to teach. Yes this is in contravention against the stereotype, with the “new ideas” emerging and conservatives saying “No no no to new ideas, for I am a conservative.” But conservatives conserve civilization, and civilization is conserved by way of teaching. The old teach the young, so the young don’t have to re-learn everything the hard way; that is how it works. This is how you tie a knot, tie a bow, start a fire, use a knife, shoot a gun, go to Church. Yes, conservatives get surly about certain things. But very, very few of them go so far as to say “My kids are not allowed to watch movies because the actors are liberals.” Certainly, they don’t make a political movement out of such a thing. They don’t have the time for it. They’re too busy at their jobs, building things other people can use.

Liberals desire to restrict. Constantly. We don’t even need to wait past the next sundown to see more examples of it anymore, they emerge daily. Cultural appropriation! Sexist! Racist! It’s become such an unremarkable event for them to add more examples, to embiggen the definitions. So they can restrict some more. “Toxic masculinity!” With one single sweeping pronouncement, they declare 48% to 49% of humans to be toxic…”Don’t teach that in science, take it to a mythology class where it belongs!”…dishonest. What they mean is they don’t want kids to be taught religion. Even if the parents wish it. “Prosecute climate denialism!”…criminalize the very act of disagreeing with, or merely questioning, their catechism.

“Hostile work environment! You’ll have to take that down!”

“Excuse me sir, you’ll have to put that out!”

“Microaggressions!”

Click “You’re not welcome here!”

“This is a [blank] free zone!”

“Sarah Palin should shut up and go away!”

“Did you just assume my gender?”

“Trump’s not my President!” “Russia!” “Twenty-fifth amendment!”

With the holidays just around the corner, most people with extended families are going to see this in action. If you’re like me, you have some branches that are functional and some branches that are not. And you likely know enough already to realize: These branches have all been expanding over time. If they’re functional, the mere act of expansion has not brought any drama, or at least, not very much. EVEN if there is disagreement in political opinions.

But if you have some branches that are dysfunctional…and I think most everyone does…again, you’ll see the truth of what I’m saying. That branch has expanded as kids have arrived at adulthood, and married. Boom, like a match in a barrel of kerosene. Instant drama. Why does your wife put the seasoning across the kitchen from the silverware. Have you kids baptized the way I say, not the way she says. Or, the all-time all-too-common ultra-evil one: No, we don’t want you visiting your dad anymore.

If you feel the need to restrict the experiences of others, and MUST act on it, then you’re that guy. The psychologists should’ve coded you.

es this is in contravention against the stereotype, with the “new ideas” emerging and conservatives saying “No no no to new ideas, for I am a conservative.”

If you need proof that Liberalism is a cult, look no further than this. Unlike lots of things Lefties say, that are so batshit insane they aren’t even wrong, this one is perfectly wrong — that is, it’s exactly 180 degrees from reality, as a moment’s observation will confirm. Liberals love to talk about how much better things are in Europe, for instance, but conservatives are the ones who have actually been there. Liberals, on the rare occasions they travel, do package tours or “youth hostels,” which is just the college kid version of a package tour. If you don’t at least know how to say “excuse me, do you speak English?” in the language of the country you’re visiting, you’re most likely a Liberal. (If you actually get angry that they don’t speak English, you’re a Leftist). As for the non-white world, fughettaboudit. Conservatives don’t want the Third World moving here; for many of us, it’s because we’ve actually been there.

Conservatives don’t want to hear your “new” idea, Moonbeam, because — since we actually have college educations, and got them when “college education” meant something more than “five year sleepover camp” — we know they’re not new at all. They’re old and busted, to the point that I have a hard time thinking of anything y’all have to say that wasn’t decisively refuted by the Middle Ages. Hell, even your “Reality is just a Social Construction” bit was a hot topic of debate in 2nd century India. Not that you’ve ever heard of Nagarjuna — as noted, y’all don’t know foreign languages, or travel, or read anything other than Game of Thrones and Harry Potter –but it’s all been thought before.

I know it goes against everything you’ve been taught, and it wounds you deeply to hear this, but: You’re not that fucking special. Get over yourselves.

As you say, Morgan, all of this boils down to a failure to grow up. There’s a (probably apocryphal!) Twain quote I like that sums it up:

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.
- Severian | 10/23/2017 @ 03:05
“My kids are not allowed to watch movies because the actors are liberals.”

No, but…”My kids are not allowed to watch THAT movie because the message is liberal.”

I’m a conservative, not a libertarian…
- P_Ang | 10/23/2017 @ 05:46
They are not “liberals”. They are instead Communists. In the finest tradition of Joseph Stalin and Mousey Tongue.

Don’t be surprised to find that most of them carry their Little Red Book to make sure they spot all deviations from “truth”…
- MarkMatis | 10/23/2017 @ 06:17
Morgan – the Idiocy Du Jour is that kids can’t dress in costumes of other cultures. Only Polynesians may pretend to be Moana! I mean, my kid’s gonna be a dinosaur, but the reptile lobby must not be all that strong nowadays.

Sev – one of my favorite Twain quotes. Until someone else can establish title I’ll continue to cite him.

P_Ang – if you like, there *is* one good reason to restrict something a kid’s watching: they are a kid, and you are a parent, and certain things aren’t appropriate for the kids. And ultimately that’s why the Left tries so hard to restrict and condemn: they think of everyone else as incapable somehow of negotiating life merely for coming to different conclusions than they have about the world. Whereas normal people don’t mind different conclusions, but mind quite a lot about different facts, and mind most of all about being told “not allowed.” Like Samwise, they have heard it once too often and are getting angry about it.

I have compared it to the difference between having two teams playing by agreed rules, vs. one team deciding to be the referees instead and “winning” by making the game impossible to play. They protest when the other side is playing better, we protest when we aren’t allowed to play. And they try to run “gotcha” games when normals protest this as unfair.

It’s the same mindset that wants the right to shut down all debate to have more respect in law and custom than having two sides to a debate. If people try to shut down the heckler’s veto they all yelp and whine and say “OH SO YOU’RE NOT IN FAVOR OF FREE SPEECH AFTER ALL REEEEEEEEEE.” Imagine a world where ripping up a picture was considered the same as drawing one, or a campsite where the campers couldn’t evict people holding an impromptu rock festival. The Left wants us to treat people who make things impossible to do with *more* respect than people who merely want to do them differently – use watercolors instead of ink-and-pen, or who have a tent instead of a trailer. As has been said before, it’s a literal mental disability at this point.

Mark – good luck to them. Having an out-of-date book is, itself, a deviation, and they’re liable to be next against the wall.
- nightfly | 10/24/2017 @ 11:38

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Conservatives Teach, Liberals RestrictSunday, October 22nd, 2017

Conservatives Teach, Liberals Restrict
Sunday, October 22nd, 2017