Whatever happened to “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen?”
If you go into politics, you should expect to be criticized. And if you say something in a speech or an interview, that statement is fair game.
Or at least, it used to be that way. One thing Americans didn’t want from their politicians and elected officials was whining and complaining that they were victims.
That all changed. Now, quoting a speech and criticizing it is doing a violence to a person. Now, any criticism of a person belonging to a minority group (other than white men, of course) is sexism or racism or a combination of all the “isms” that might apply.
Cases in point, of course, are Ilhan Omar and AOC, although they are hardly the only ones. Criticize what Omar said and you’re inciting violence against her. Take a look at this Twitter thread and you’ll see ample illustration of what I’m talking about.
It’s tempting to say this is a girl thing. But it’s not—it’s least, it’s certainly not solely that, although my guess is that it generally appeals more to women than men. But on that Twitter thread you’ll see men chiming in. And in fact, the first national politician I ever noticed doing it was Barack Obama. It struck me quite early on that complaining, making excuses, and in particular labeling any criticism by his opponents as racist (and/or allowing his surrogates to do it for him) was going to be standard for Obama’s campaign. You can see one typical post of mine on the subject here, written in August of 2008:
So, any reference to any physical characteristic of Obama is racist, because the only thing “typical white people” see when they look at a black person is that blackness. Although, if white Americans are as obsessed with race as Noah seems to think they are, how could they ever forget Obama’s race even if his body were never mentioned by the opposition?
That is never explained in Noah’s convoluted reasoning. After all, since Obama himself uses his own photo in his ads—wouldn’t this also remind people that (gasp!) he’s a black man?
What’s next? Is McCain to be banned from mentioning Obama at all?
There were plenty of other examples, but what they all had in common was that at the time the approach seemed new to me from a national political candidate. Perhaps there was something similar previously that I just never noticed, but if so I don’t recall it. I hadn’t followed Obama’s campaign for the senate seat in Illinois, but if I had to guess I’d say he didn’t use that approach (anyone with information on it, please offer it in the comments).
It seems to me that until Obama’s presidential campaign, stiff upper lips were required for national candidates of all sexes and all races, including candidates for Congress. For example, I don’t remember Elizabeth Dole—or for that matter, even Hillary Clinton—doing the “all criticism of me is sexism” thing prior to Obama’s national campaign. I don’t remember similar tactics from candidates such as Ed Brooke or Carol Moseley Braun or Shirley Chisolm. I think they wanted to show how tough they were, and Americans of the time demanded toughness in general from candidates.
Somehow Obama broke that mold. One of the very first posts I ever wrote about Obama was this one, in which I noticed candidate Obama’s general tendency to “offer up excuses too easily.” It was one of my first observations about him, and although the racial excuses hadn’t begun yet, the tendency to make excuses was noticeable because it was so very different, such a break from what had formerly been considered acceptable behavior from candidates. So the difference wasn’t just Obama or those who followed him—it was a change in attitude of the voters.
That change in attitude has been guided along not just by candidates, but by the leftists (feminists, socialists, thought police, and the like) in academia. Even college students are taught not to toughen up but to complain at everything that might hurt their feelings. The left can say pretty much whatever it wants and cry “Freedom of speech” if anyone tries to silence them, but the right is accused of not just all the various bigoted “isms” whenever someone on the left is criticized, particularly a person of any protected minority (or majority, such as women) group, but of actual violence.
The idea that speech is violence is current on campuses today and has been for quite some time. Candidates Omar and AOC and the rest are well aware that the public, particularly younger voters, have been primed and prepped to take such accusations very seriously. But it’s not just young people who now buy into this. It’s the entire left, which seems to constitute the an increasing majority of the makeup of today’s Democratic Party.
I remember that any criticism of Obama was racist. If you said that Obama wasn’t good at basketball, you were racist.
Ray:
And of course, if you said he was good at basketball, you were racist.
Hang on . . . if you said he was good at basketball then most would first conclude you didn’t know basketball.
I think Obama used the racist line because it was to his advantage in the campaigns. I also think he believes it to some extent, as do many of his circle.
The current whining that Trump is “inciting violence” against Omar is garbage, but they think they can sell it to the public.
Notre dam is gone… 🙁
The messiah is still haunting the nation. The source of Russia gate leads back to his holiness. VJ was the cut out.
My first post on Obama was this one which pointed out that he was an empty suit.
Jones had served in the Illinois Legislature for three decades. He represented a district on the Chicago South Side not far from Obama’s. He became Obama’s kingmaker.
Several months before Obama announced his U.S. Senate bid, Jones called his old friend Cliff Kelley, a former Chicago alderman who now hosts the city’s most popular black call-in radio program.
I called Kelley last week and he recollected the private conversation as follows:
“He said, ‘Cliff, I’m gonna make me a U.S. Senator.’”
“Oh, you are? Who might that be?”
“Barack Obama.”
Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills.
“I took all the beatings and insults and endured all the racist comments over the years from nasty Republican committee chairmen,” State Senator Rickey Hendon, the original sponsor of landmark racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation yanked away by Jones and given to Obama, complained to me at the time. “Barack didn’t have to endure any of it, yet, in the end, he got all the credit.
Emil Jones was Obama’s kingmaker. I doubt Obama is grateful as that is not his style.
Why argue on the merits when you can cut the ground out from under those who disagree by claiming that their underlying motivation is evil?
Go ahead, prove you’re not a racist. Prove you’re not evil. But to do so, you must agree with their POV because any other POV is… evil.
It’s a fundamentally dishonest tactic justified by the end sought.
It makes even discussion impossible because it declares opposition… inhuman.
Ultimately, it makes “politics by other means” unavoidable.
Trotsky recognized that “You may not be interested in war but war is interested in you”
All that is left is to face the reality that they have already declared war upon all who disagree.
Which leaves a binary choice; surrender or prepare to fight because they cannot allow liberty to exist.
“Now, quoting a speech and criticizing it is doing a violence to a person.”
and thats a womans take… ie FEELINGS based..
if the prior standards were patriarchy, then…….
enjoy there is even freakier stuff coming
after all, this is from the gender that thinks steam cleaning your genitals is a goodness that had to wait for the modern age..
this train has no brakes..
Artfldgr:
Not this woman’s take.
I agree, though, that it’s a more typically female position.
The problem is the people who couldn’t stand the heat got into the kitchen.
I’m reminded of a story that stems from the Depression when jobs were few and far between. I think it had to do with the Roosevelt era conservation corps. The workmen would travel from job to job in a stifling train car. The worst job was being the cook. At least if you were outside you could catch a breeze. So the rule was, the first one to complain about the food became the cook.
So they got a cook that did everything and anything to complain about his cooking. No one did. So finally he went into the field and collected a bunch of cow pies. And he baked a scrumptious looking pie full of it. And that evening he served it. When the supervisor bit into it he exclaimed, “This is cow ****.” Then he recovered. “But it’s good cow ****.”
The cook kept his job.
I would say I hope nothing I say offends anyone. But if was incapable of offending anyone it would mean I have nothing worthwhile to say.
It’s not easy to cook for hundreds or thousands of guys. I have nothing but respect for Navy cooks. The last time I served in Carl Vinson I bunked with the food service officer. Every meal was a feast, but I can’t say every day was a holiday. At least I could look forward to Sunday brunch. He was also the finest officer I ever served with. If we had a problem child, he’d say, “Give him/her to me.” And he would turn them around. I’m still trying to figure out his secret. Because I’m still in the fleet reserve. And if I have to go back to work I need to know it.
https://maritime.org/doc/cookbook1945/index.htm
All that is left is to face the reality that they have already declared war upon all who disagree.
Which leaves a binary choice; surrender or prepare to fight because they cannot allow liberty to exist.
You have already lost when you are forced into this Catch 22 strategic death scenario.
The Third Alternative is non violent protests. That makes no sense to warriors of course.
“You have already lost when you are forced into this Catch 22 strategic death scenario.”
“War is a democracy, the other side gets a vote”. If they ‘vote’ to enslave your side, then only a binary response is possible; Fight or flight (surrender).
“The Third Alternative is non violent protests. That makes no sense to warriors of course.”
Non violent protests? Yes, that will impress the Left into seeing our differences as civilized disagreement. And it makes no sense because ideological fanatics are not open to reasoned persuasion.
As for “warriors” inability to consider non-violence, no one hates war more than those who have seen “the elephant”.
Steve, thanks very much for the addition to my cookbook collection! 😀
I notice that the 1945 Navy had no problem prescribing an egg a day for a strapping young sailor lad. Good for the Navy!
Obama broke the mold, but it was the colleges which set the culture up for it.
Colleges which have been discriminating against Reps, and using exactly that line of argument – old dead white guys “don’t know where we’re coming from”, so they can be ignored.
The feelings being more important than facts has long been a problem, but is now a huge problem. Probably needs to get worse before it gets better.
TG,
It will get worse. If you are old enough, think back to the 60s and 70s. We have recently seen the assassination of LEOs. Next comes bombing, especially if orange man bad wins in 2020. The hard left are Che idolatrous wet panty boys and girls. No horror is beyond their willingness to show no mercy, they are willing to go beyond borders of civility.. They are willing to go full gestopo.When, IF, TSHTF, give no quarter, take no prisoners, show to mercy.
Yes, that will impress the Left into seeing our differences as civilized disagreement. And it makes no sense because ideological fanatics are not open to reasoned persuasion.
As for “warriors” inability to consider non-violence, no one hates war more than those who have seen “the elephant”.
That kind of implies that because you are not a warrior, GB, you can make sense of how it will impress the Left. That’s probably not what you meant.
There are plenty of ideological fanatics, Muslims even, that underwent spiritual conversion via NDE (Near Death Experience), aka meeting Allah/Jesus/God. As you can see, the NDE is indeed a non violent path, at least non violence as conducted by humans against humans. You have supported the bombing of Muslims but little support against the traitors inside the US. Which one is more effective?
Out of all the traitors in the US, how many have spiritually repented due to violence or mercy from you? Vs all the Muslims that have spiritually repented due to non violent NDE conversions.
It’s something to think about. I know somebody warned you about the traitors in the US, GB, even if you thought them loony, categorically insane or stupid as fk, at the time.
As I told the warriors such as Grim from Blackfive and his blog Grimbeorn blogspot, if people do not kill Leftists, the Left doesn’t take them seriously. And thus there is no way to avoid CW2 as the negotiators look down on anyone that uses mercy or compassion. The Left fears and respect Islam precisely because Islam butchers people daily.
You know what the “warriors” told me about my statements concerning CW2 in 2007? They said they were the peace lovers and I was becoming the war monger.
That’s how …. as whatever, people are.
I have known more about this war than every writer at this section that have been actively posting, combined, at one time or another.
If they ‘vote’ to enslave your side, then only a binary response is possible; Fight or flight (surrender).
You write as if you feel I don’t understand these things.
I have quite a bit of experience on this subject by now, GB. Far more than the orthodox soldiers.
It’s too late to make any kind of brilliant strategic or diplomatic moves. Even if you could kill the Leftist alliance with a brilliant death stroke, GB, it doesn’t matter. They are just expendable pawns for the Deep State. Do you know the full extent of the Deep State’s powers, bases, logistics, strategy, tactics, resources, assets, and historical power plays?
Even if you killed the Left, the amount of resources you would expend would make you and your nation vulnerable to the Deep State deathblow. It does not matter in the least if you execute every single FBI CIA traitor.
It is too late. You all were warned. What did you do with these warnings. Reap what you have sown. It matters not to me at this point. You will all be held accountable, for my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts.
More word salad.
Steve57 on April 15, 2019 at 8:21 pm at 8:21 pm said:
The problem is the people who couldn’t stand the heat got into the kitchen.
I’m reminded of a story that stems from the Depression when jobs were few and far between.
* * *
The story is older than that, it goes at least as far back as cowboy chuckwagons, possibly into the pioneer period.
My Grandad was a cook in WW1, and they used horsedrawn wagons just like he was used to on cattle drives. (He didn’t tell me the story though; would never have thought of using those words with kids; would probably have said “cow pies” anyway.)
One history I read claimed that the single largest expense in WW1 was horse fodder.
Omni word salad is cooking down. I kind of miss, in a stupid fashion, back when he was lampooning GB and others here in 2015 over their support of Donald J Trum as President.
I can still remember Omni on his Christian war horse looking down at us as the lecture sermon began. It was far more venomous. It was far more evil feeling and full of negative energy, the Dark side. Now it just feels like a warm wind from Biden’s hands
More word salad from Yammer, when in doubt he goes back to the 2015 election. Now he is falling into Star Wars (the “Dark Side”). Manju, come and rescue Yammer from himself.
Steve57 on April 15, 2019 at 8:36 pm at 8:36 pm said:
If we had a problem child, he’d say, “Give him/her to me.” And he would turn them around. I’m still trying to figure out his secret.
* * *
I don’t know if this scales up to service ages, but at least with Cub and Boy Scouts, I found that the more responsibility I gave them — doing things they knew were important, not just busy work (which is relative to the age group) — the more they grew. That, and making sure I taught them what to do before turning them loose. Attitude is often a cover for ignorance and fear of failing, which is not the same as stupidity.
If they would not accept responsibility, then there was not much more we could do with them.
It will get worse. If you are old enough, think back to the 60s and 70s.
parker: That’s a reasonable extrapolation, but the straight-line is not always one’s friend.
IMO the woke folks don’t have the commitment, the courage or the brains to match the 60s/70s New Left for violent resistance. For instance, where are the leaders like Bill Ayers or Eldridge Cleaver? Or organizations like the Weather Underground or the Black Panthers?
Getting back to neo’s heat/kitchen metaphor, today’s left doesn’t even have the stones to go head-to-head in verbal debate. The Old Left and the New Left loved to debate and they could cut you to pieces if you weren’t booked.
The old activists didn’t need safe spaces, trigger warnings or support animals. They were hardened fighters.
They were hardened fighters.
Haha, such traditional American myths. They were weaklings and pathetic delusional ones at that.
As for the current modern Leftist, there are organizations that arm themselves up in the Blue version of a militia. Not exactly known to the anti gun hippies of course.
Haha, such traditional American myths.
That’s right. I forgot all those John Wayne movies showing him at the Days of Rage breaking windows with a chain and throwing the tear-gas cannisters back at the cops.
Huxley, I hope you are right.
Whatever else, Ayers has a certain feral cunning, which has allowed him to “Pass” as a member of the Intellectual Elite. A Perfesser, after all, so One of Them.