If by implication you seek to infer I am not outraged by this senseless tragedy, you’re wrong.
It's our whole effin' media saturated culture that affects us all unless somebody like me warns us to take notice.
The good news to me is that Wretchard was on my ping list, and whether or not my mesage affected him, he seems to be agreeing with me. He is so much better at stringing words together. [words are his, emphasis is mine]
The real damage that this incident caused was to the fiction that these things don’t exist. Because despite the steady toll in far away places, nobody really believes a monster is real until he comes and sits down at your child’s birthday party and starts eating your daughter. Then it becomes real. And then the first reaction is isn’t surprise at the monster, who after all is only doing what monsters do. It’s one of anger at those who we’ve trusted; who’ve reassured us that the monster doesn’t exist. Who in fact hid away all of its tracks. What were they doing? On whose side are they on?The enemy can always be faced. It’s your friends you’ve got to watch out for. So here’s the question: does Hollywood do a movie on it? Does it become part of the national debate? Is it a discussable subject after all? Or do we just walk away with the idea that it couldn’t have happened because we’ve been told it’s impossible, or worse, that it’s all our fault?
What political correctness does is debase the coin of discourse. It drives all honest argument underground. We begin to assume that all discussions are conducted in code. Political correctness doesn’t make us trust each other; it creates presumption that lying is universal." -- commenting at #68 in his own thread stream at Belmont Club, "Fort Hood."
Then, later, responding to the fear that the US will generate not a US Grant in our moment of need, but a character like BNP leader Nick Griffin.
One of the reasons political correctness is so damaging is that it shuts everybody up. It creates inaction, and therefore prevents the implementation of small, relatively painless corrections until a huge head of steam is built up; like a boiler at 2,000 psi, just waiting to blow. It constipates every politician; turns public discourse into codespeak, creates a climate of suspicion, enables fruitcakes and in general turns the whole friggin political arena into a funny farm.Then you get your Nick Griffin, if we’re lucky, because Griffin doesn’t seem any too talented. If we’re unlucky we’ll get a handsome, smooth talking, spellbinding visionary who will build a new information superhighway, restore prosperity and create an invincible army. People used to ask: how could the German people be so stupid as to elect Adolf Hitler? Easy. He emerged from the bitter street battles with the Left, from the humiliation of what was once the strongest country in central Europe.
Both the extreme left and right are creatures of crisis. What may be different about America is three things: a federal structure in a vast country; a strong grassroots tradition and the 2nd Amendment. Blackshirts are going to have a harder time breaking windows everywhere except in the “gun free” zones. Each for its own reasons wants a showdown. Most people, they just want to sleep in a little longer on Saturday and maybe have a barbecue in the backyard. What I really dislike about the powertrip guys is they won’t even leave a bitty guy alone. Now that is low-down.
Get in the habit of correcting everyone who wants to call this anything other than outrageous. Outrageous that there are not better checks for nutjobs in the military. Outrageous that our military had to rely on civilian police to rescue them. Outrageous that at least 5% of the officials present were not at least CCWs if not open carry.
And a bunch of you on this ping have your own worthy list of outrages. DO NOT LET UP.