House of Eratosthenes

Far too often, so-called “moderates” get fooled into thinking that liberals support some things and reject other things, in service of issues that actually make a difference in peoples’ lives — whereas conservatives get wrapped around the axle, accepting-and-rejecting things that don’t matter in any way. I don’t want to call those moderates stupid; some of them are my friends. And, although I have very little respect for this opinion, and sad as it may be to admit it, they do have their reasons for thinking this.

Too many so-called conservatives just have sticks up their butts. They see a woman in a v-neck, they write their letters. The younger generations might see it and get corrupted or something. So they mount their campaign to keep the kids from seeing certain things…ever. It looks like a campaign for ignorance because that’s what it is. And, it looks overly-controlling, neurotic and futile. Because it is all those things too.

Saddest thing is: We do have a moral crisis in this country, and “please take that picture down” conservatives are helping to make it happen. Might as well face it, when there’s not supposed to be anything wrong with having a President who is a sexual predator, but there is supposed to be something wrong with remembering it happened and talking about it — that’s a moral crisis. That’s losing the sense of direction.

Conservatism, to me, is conserving freedom first & foremost. There, too, we have a crisis. Ask those moderates what we should be free to do, sometime. Right now you get back “marry whoever you want” and protest on behalf of the ninety-nine percent; that’s about it. How wonderful. Attack free enterprise, attack the family, and our list of freedoms has reached its end. How much better I’d feel about the whole gay-marriage movement if some among its advocates could say, just once in awhile, “here are some other things people should absolutely, positively, unconditionally, be able to do” and then rattle off a few more items that would show they put thought into it.

I get into arguments like this with moderate and liberal (and even my one hard left) friends all the time. They all seem to believe that there’s some natural, fundamental link between stick-in-the-ass Churchianity and conservatism. I guess I can see where the leftish people get this — if they could evaluate evidence consistently, they wouldn’t be on the left — but so many moderates and even conservatives seem to buy it.

Where does it come from?

A Pat Robertson type has zero problem with the all-intrusive state. Using the power of government to crush nonbelievers and enact mandatory school prayer is, ahem, fundamentally no different than using the power of government to crush dissent and enact mandatory political correctness. We can debate the morality of, say, abortion all we’d like, but using the NSA and IRS to decree “no abortions for anyone, anywhere, anytime” is exactly the same exercise of exactly the same power as it would be to send NSA / IRS / FBI / TSA agents out to enforce “abortions for everyone, everywhere, anytime.”

The power’s the thing. Lenin’s roasting in hell as we speak, but he got at least one thing absolutely right. If you can boil a proposal down to “Who? Whom?” it’s fundamentally totalitarian, no matter the putative intent.
- Severian | 02/24/2014 @ 07:55
Sounds good in theory, but Severian shows us the failure of the actual. Everyone has a stick up their ass, everyone wants other people to stop focusing on their stick, and to start focusing on things that matter…… Freedom? Freedom is good, but freedom is not anarchy, is it? Freedom is about the boundaries of Authority, and that’s what we are arguing about, not Freedom, which everyone is for, but what the boundaries are, what Authority is. And the Left has so muddled the waters that some can’t see the difference between that most fundamental of Freedoms, Life, and the most fundamental of crimes, the crime of Cain. Civilization, Freedom, requires a shared Morality, otherwise, whatever you do, you are no different from Lenin. “Who? Whom?”.
- Robert Mitchell Jr. | 02/24/2014 @ 10:50
The problem is people’s essential powerlessness.

What do individuals really have control over these days? We’re ruled by The Cathedral. Not doing things their way takes enormous effort and has a vanishingly small chance of succeeding. How, then, does one “make a difference” in one’s daily life?

By being obnoxious, basically. I can’t do jack shit about anything that’s actually wrong with my society, my country, my state, my city, or even my neighborhood. But I can get that guy over there to take down that picture of his wife from his cubicle, and I can get the wife herself a good talking-to from the HR department. The Cathedral will do what it wants — it’s far easier to just submit to it, and call that submission “freedom” (or “good manners” or “political correctness” or “science” or whatever), and do your bit to help enforce its will.

That seems to be what a whole boatload of people have decided, anyway.
- Severian | 02/24/2014 @ 13:25
Perhaps the wrong audience. I have vast control over my life and my daily life. I don’t like veggies. I don’t eat them. I like Japan, so I go there once a year for a month. Thanks to the “Capitalist System”, it costs me about $3000 to do so. Easy enough because I chose not to own a car. So, perhaps you could give an example of how the Cathedral crushes my Roman Catholic butt. As it stands, it seems to be to be a golden age for eccentrics.

Second, if your quest for Freedom can’t tell the difference between a Fireman and an Arsonist, then I think it needs more polishing…..
- Robert Mitchell Jr. | 02/24/2014 @ 15:33
I was speaking in (what I consider to be) the voice of “a whole boatload of people.” Which is why I specified that. My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the management.

So, perhaps you could give an example of how the Cathedral crushes my Roman Catholic butt.

I can’t, of course. You’re free as a bird. Society, the government, convention, custom, culture…. these lie powerless at your feet. You’re like James Dean, man, except unencumbered by a car (like I bet Dean once wished he was).
- Severian | 02/24/2014 @ 16:03
Funny how this sort of thing only works one way.

Feminists object to Goya’s “ La Maja Desnuda” hung in a classroom. Feminists at Wellesley College object to the statue of man in underwear. And on and on and on.

Suddenly because of having ‘plugs up their butts,’ feminism declines and Leftists state losing elections.

Not.
- ErisGuy | 02/26/2014 @ 14:05
I’m a bit miffed about the hit on Pat Robertson. Despite the fact that he’s targeted as a fundamentalist in today’s society, I’d argue that there’s a HUGE difference between using the power of the government to protect religious rights and protect school prayer against egregious intrusions by hate-filled liberals and their hand-wringing minions, and your wildly off-mark statement. Sure, he’s said stupid things in his life. I’m willing to bet you have too. Mkfreeburg might have even missed the mark once or twice. The fact that you don’t understand or don’t approve of his religious beliefs does not mean he’s some kind of Christian Hitler.
- P_Ang | 02/26/2014 @ 15:56
I’ll admit I don’t know the ins and outs of Robertson’s policies. His type, however — and I did say type — strikes me as the kind that would be fine with state intrusion, providing the intrusion is going their way. For instance, what is the difference between “protecting” school prayer and mandating it? Does a Robertson type say “well, it’s up to the community to decide, and if they vote against it, we’ll pack up our prayer books and go home?”

Whether or not he (or I, or Morgan, or anyone else) has said stupid stuff is immaterial. I don’t want the state mandating thought or behavior. Freedom means — among many, many other things — the freedom to be immoral. Would Robertson agree?

If so, then I’ll cheerfully withdraw my comment. If not….
- Severian | 02/26/2014 @ 16:25
Mkfreeburg might have even missed the mark once or twice.

Agreed, except for the “might have.”
- mkfreeberg | 02/26/2014 @ 21:19

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