The eternal victim: Jussie Smollett
Does it seem as though there have been a great many high-profile trials lately?
That’s because there have been. And the latest involves actor Jussie Smollett. He originally claimed to be a victim of a racial hate and homophobic crime. Now he claims to be the victim of a race crime hoax that was engineered by others and fooled him into thinking it was real.
He happened to have known those “others” and happened to have been caught communicating with them, paying them thousands of dollars (he says for meal planning?), and even perhaps rehearsing the crime with them. But no matter. Jussie is the victim:
On the first day of the trial, Dan Webb, the special prosecutor brought in to replace the hopelessly compromised DA Kim Foxx, claimed that Smollett conceived of the hoax and held a “dress rehearsal” with the two brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, including telling them to shout racial and homophobic slurs and ‘MAGA,’” according to the Associated Press.
Smollett bankrolled the caper, giving the brothers cash to buy the props — red hats, rope, and ski masks. They bought bleach to splash on Smollett because the gas they originally planned to use was too dangerous…
And, lo, on Monday we found out who the real racist and homophobic attackers were.
The black guys.
That’s right, the Nigerian brothers, who will testify during the trial, were the real brains behind the caper, according to Smollett’s defense attorney, Nenye Uche.
I wonder if Smollett will take the stand in his own defense. Perhaps, because as an actor he may think he can pull it off better than most.
I understand that Webb conceded a serious point already, that the “Hate letter” Smollett allegedly received and may have written himself, is genuine. That is a serious issue and I don’t see why he would concede that, especially so early.
The number of high profile cases going on at the moment is amazing
The recently resolved cases:
Kyle Rittenhouse
Ahmaud Arbery
The ones that are ongoing:
Ghislaine Maxwell
Jussie Smollett
Kim Potter (taser/handgun confusion)
Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos
The ones that are upcoming:
Darrell E. Brooks (Waukesha Christmas parade massacre)
We’re living is strange times indeed.
What a small, small man. Microscopic.
I don’t think he comes out OK with the left or BLM either. He is a disgrace no matter how you look at it. Snitches get stitches, as they say in the hood.
Whatever happens in court, his acting career is over. He can’t even go into rehab and say the cocaine did it.
I honestly think that the number of people who actually believe Smollett is almost zero. But it’s necessary for many to pretend to believe him to preserve the white supremacy narrative.
I don’t understand what Smollett’s desired endgame is with fighting this. What is he hoping to accomplish by continuing the charade? Why not admit, apologize, and claim he was trying to ‘raise awareness of racism?’ He could have just laid low for a few months and gone back to acting, though he’d probably have had to put up with a few ‘MAGA country’ jokes. Jussie needs to put down the shovel.
Lest we forget ..
Smollett comes from a family of black radicals. His mother was connected to all those people, particularly the Black Panthers and Angela Davis who spent time with his family.
The context of Smollett’s hoax was the anti-lynching bill which Kamala Harris and Cory Brooker were pushing in 2018. The bill wasn’t getting traction and Smollett is a personal friend of Harris. So, I connect the simple dots that Smollett created lynching attacks on himself, first in a letter, then in a scarcely believable staged hate crime to assist the bill’s passage.
Indeed, Harris and Brooker used Smollett’s “attack” in public statements to support their bill, which eventually passed.
In June of 2018 Senators Corey Booker, Kamala Harris and Tim Scott introduced the “Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2018.”
It passed in the Senate in December of that year then stalled in the GOP controlled House.
On January 21st, 2019, Senator Kamala Harris announced she was running for President on “Good Morning America.”
At 2am, January 29th, 2019, barely one week after Harris’ announcement Jussie Smollett (son of Janet Smollett a close friend and political compatriot of Bobby Seale, Huey Newton and Angela Davis* who raised her children to be activists) barely escapes a lynching by Trump supporters in the heart of MAGA country, Chicago, Illinois. A lynching! The very thing Harris’ signature legislation was designed to prevent. What a co-ink-ee-dinky.
At 3:30pm of the same day Kamala Harris tweeted:
As a prominent black, gay actor was nearly lynched on the mean streets of Chicago, suddenly lynching in the U.S. (after a more than 50 year hiatus) is back in the headlines and, on February 14, 2019 the Harris, Booker, Scott bill passes by voice vote.
*https://www.earnthenecklace.com/kamala-harris-related-jussie-smollett/
huxley,
There were only two comments on this thread when I started typing mine, but it took me awhile to gather the dates. Also, internet search engines seem to be doing a lot of white washing of Janet Smollett. I had to do a lot of digging to find information I recall readily finding 2 1/2 years ago, when the “alleged” “attack” “occurred.”
Sorry for posting a comment that mirrors yours, but, like you, I have been surprised this facet of the hoax is not front and center in most reporting on it. It seems like everyone has forgotten the correlation with Harris.
Re: put down the shovel…
NewYorkCentral:
Agreed. But it would be hard. He doubled-down and doubled-down on his honesty and innocence. He encouraged other blacks and leftists to defend him.
Maybe he figures he can tap dance out of it.
Angela Davis bought weapons to break the Soledad Brothers out of court. The attempt went south and several people, including the judge, were killed. Davis was arrested, got out on bail and was eventually acquitted. She came out as a full-throated communist (much of her support was organized by communists).
These days she is a professor at UC Santa Cruz. So even though her crimes were much worse than Smollett’s bit of amateur hour, not too shabby!
Maybe Smollett needs to aim himself at academia.
NewYorkCentral,
The endgame is the same with Bill Clinton denying he had sex with Lewinsky, or O.J. denying he killed his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, or Jen Psaki saying there is no crisis at the border, or schoolboards stating CRT is not taught in their districts, or reporters telling you images of burning buildings are peaceful protests.
2 + 2 = 5. It’s not about the math. When someone can look you in the eye and tell a lie and you are powerless to contradict them they have demonstrated they have power over you. Jussie Smollett will be just fine. His future is bright. He’s not hiding behind “NewYorkCentral” or “Rufus T. Firefly” when he speaks his mind in public. Ipso facto, 2 + 2 = 5.
Politics has been described as “show business for ugly people” but at the national level politics is show business as much as pro wrestling is.
And here we have an illustration, an actor doing some acting to help an ally get some legislation passed. Passed by both parties.
Hollywood, mainstream media, and the national parties are in it together. The question is how long is the audience (the voters) going to go on thinking this stuff is real?
“Why you fool, it’s the educated reader who CAN be gulled. All our difficulty comes with the others. When did you meet a workman who believes the papers? He takes it for granted that they’re all propaganda and skips the leading articles. He buys his paper for the football results and the little paragraphs about girls falling out of windows and corpses found in Mayfair flats. He is our problem. We have to recondition him. But the educated public, the people who read the high-brow weeklies, don’t need reconditioning. They’re all right already. They’ll believe anything.”
Rufus T. Friefly:
By all means, put your shoulder to this wheel! Thanks.
I agree that the context of Smollett’s background and the Harris/Brooker anti-lynching bill is crucial for understanding the Smollett hoax.
If one knows the left’s history, current events become much more comprehensible. I couldn’t figure out Obama until I saw his radical pedigree from Rev. Wright and Weather Underground royalty, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.
Frederick,
There will always be enough voters who fall for the charade to make our lives miserable.
Look at the Brits. For centuries have they supported an inbred, murderous family of frauds and larcenists because they hide behind the pomp and circumstance of ermine and horse drawn carriages. And the support continues to this day. In just the past two years “Prince” Andrew was discovered to have extremely suspicious ties to pedophile peddler Jeffrey Epstein as “Prince” Harry uses his title to defame just about everything Brits hold dear. And is there a more pusillanimous world “leader” than heir to the throne, “Prince” Charles? But those weddings and funerals still get a massive audience! Pomp. Circumstance. Bread. Circuses.
The founding fathers had it right. The best shot free people have is to limit the state’s power as much as possible. If the state has minimal power over me then it doesn’t matter who the collective elect to state office.
huxley,
I’m sure it’s just another coincidence, but Jussie’s sisters; Jurnee and Jazz worked for Barack Obama.
https://canadafreepress.com/article/jussie-smolletts-sisters-worked-for-barack-obama
That page also shows photos of Michelle Obama dancing with Jussie Smollett. Weird how none of that pops up when you search the internet on Jussie Smollett’s name. I guess it’s just the quirks of those apolitical computer algorithms churning through their apolitical binary code.
Politically congruent (“=”), trans-social, narcissistic personality with “benefits”.
He will get off.
SHIREHOME,
He certainly won’t do jailtime. From ABCNews:
And let’s not forget, even if found guilty, Jussie did us all a great favor by raising awareness about the issue of race in America.
We owe him a debt of gratitude.
I wonder why CNN has never given us a background story on his connections to Harris and commies. I guess it was a mostly peaceful attempted lynching.
I knew none of this background
Nonapod,
You missed what could prove to be the most significant case currently being heard: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.
expat,
Sadly I often get deeper and more detailed reporting on U.S. events from the major U.K. and Australian news outlets. I think this is why so many Americans are seeking independent sources. I don’t mind that a paper or channel has a slant and states an opinion as long as it also states the relevant facts.
Rufus/huxley – thanks for the responses and the context; I’d totally forgotten about the ‘victims of lynching’ bill. Regarding Smollett’s endgame, I hadn’t really thought about him being part of the ‘there are five lights’ or ‘there are five fingers’ crowd…he didn’t seem bright enough or sinister enough, but perhaps that’s all part of the act.
“‘How many fingers, Winston?’
‘Four! Stop it, stop it! How can you go on? Four! Four!’
‘How many fingers, Winston?’
‘Five! Five! Five!’
‘No, Winston, that is no use. You are lying. You still think there are four. How many fingers, please?’
‘Four! five! Four! Anything you like. Only stop it, stop the pain!'”
Stop the pain, indeed!
NYCentral: because I believe he will walk away a free man. I think the city is trying to give him the opportunity. After all it is obvious that the 2 Nigerian brothers are really white supremacists.
I don’t believe Jussie will serve time either
However, call me a starry-eyed optimist, but I believe he has seriously damaged his life’s prospects.
Sure, leftists get away with a lot of stuff and Smollett will get away with his share. But he doesn’t have power or charisma. He’s not Hillary Clinton nor Angela Davis.
He didn’t try to break someone out of jail or risk bombing a building like a true revolutionary. He pulled a silly stunt stupidly, got caught, then lied, cried and blamed others like a weak punk. He even got ridiculed on camera by Dave Chappelle, the top black comedian today.
Smollett apparently has some support via Michelle Obama to Kim Foxx, the Chicago prosecutor who got Smollett treated so generously. However, he did anger the Chicago Police Dept and wasted their time with the false charge. When his story fell apart, he embarrassed bigger people like Kamala Harris.
Furthermore, blaming other blacks, from Africa no less, doesn’t play well either.
Smollett isn’t too big to fail. He’s a whiny small fry, whose leftist comrades would just as soon forget and I predict will. He might manage the occasional TV gig, but that will be about it.
huxley,
Hunter Biden makes Smollett look like a very stable genius yet Hunter’s public persona and ability to earn keeps growing and growing.
Smollett is adhering to the Leftist faith and will be richly rewarded for not breaking ranks under pressure.
Jussie Smollet’s blackness confers upon him a victimhood that transcends mere fact.
huxley,
I’m highly doubtful that Kamala Harris is capable of genuine embarrassment. You have to have a moral compass to experience genuine embarrassment.
Rufus:
Well, we sees it differently.
Hunter Biden is connected to the biggest fish of all for now — the Big Guy, President Asterisk. Hunter is not expendable.
Smollett is small fry, embarrassing and expendable. Leftists like their heroes to be heroic, are at least arguably so. I can’t think of any leftist who snitched on friends, much less black friends, to beat a rap and maintained their reputation among leftists.
Geoffrey Britain:
I’m talking about embarrassment as a pragmatic blow to one’s social position. Harris publicly used Smollett’s lie for her anti-lynching bill, then had to backtrack when the hoax became too obvious.
I wouldn’t accuse Harris of possessing a moral compass and I don’t think she plays the social game as well as she should for her position. Nonetheless, she can tell when she’s caught doing something boneheaded and I assume she doesn’t appreciate anyone putting her in that position.
Re the Nigerian brothers: Today I read that Smollett was the the sex receptacle of one of them who was his “physical trainer”. Probably a trainer, as with putting a leash around Smollett’s neck.
That was news to me.
But the fact that crazies and perverts are wrecking civilization, is not.
Oh come on guys! Have a little sympathy! Poor Jussie Smollett was the victim of the most notorious branch of the KKK, the Nigerian Branch! And just because Smollett happens to be the founding father and Grand Wizard of that branch, does not make him any less of a victim!
Any chance the prosecution could cal Dave Chapelle to the stand to testify?
Doubling down on (multi-dimensional) depravity.
Not to worry, though…if it turns out that all of them will get off—either totally or light, token sentences—because “‘systemic racism'” made them do it”…
The Chicago Police Department won’t be too happy, but I’m not sure the feelings of the CPD are a priority here.
…Speaking of depravity, here’s a rather curious report—remember, it’s Chicago:
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/kim-foxx-claps-back-after-mayor-criticizes-decision-not-to-charge-shooting-suspects/2628662/
Look at the Brits. For centuries have they supported an inbred, murderous family of frauds and larcenists because they hide behind the pomp and circumstance of ermine and horse drawn carriages.
1. No clue who you fancy the British Royal Family has murdered or defrauded, or from whom they have stolen.
2. The Queen and Princess Margaret had six children between them; all six married strangers. Of their 12 grandchildren, six have been married; all six married strangers. Princess Margaret married a stranger. The Queen married a 3d cousin. Their parents were strangers. The Queen’s father had a sister and two brothers who married and had issue; two married strangers and a third married a 2d cousin. The Queen has had six paternal-side 1st cousins who married and had issue; all six married strangers. The Queen’s grandfather George V married a 2d cousin; her great-grandfather Edward Vii married a stranger. Where is the in-breeding?
Art Deco,
3d cousin… 2d cousin…. Sounds just like my family. Oh, wait. It doesn’t at all.
Princess Victoria Melita married TWO(!) different 1st cousins. George IV married his 1st cousin. It’s a tangled mess of arranged marriages, extra-marital affairs and bastard children all the way back. I think Prince Harry looks a lot like James Hewitt, but Hewitt denies being his father. Hewitt does, however, admit to having an extramarital affair with Harry’s mum. And of course Charles, Andrew and Fergie were/are all paragons of chivalry and virtue. Henry VIII didn’t marry any 1st cousins, but he did have 3 or 4 of his wives killed (I lose count).
“No clue… from whom they have stolen.” That line is so hilarious I’m just going to let it stand without a rebuttal.
It is a sincere mystery to me why any U.S. citizen, the beneficiary of a great nation rightfully wrestled by force and tremendous bloodshed from an abusive British King, would have anything but distain for the British monarchy. But many, many Americans revere the “Royals.” I honestly do not get it.
Re: Royals…
Rufus T. Firefly:
I know I go on about tribalism and pack animals, but monarchy is a common leadership pattern among humans. It’s not based on rational decisions. Status and hierarchy are built-in to our nature. There is much pageantry and ceremony involved. Those at the top are effectively worshipped.
Americans into the Royals aren’t running their feelings through a filter of what happened with Mad King George a few centuries ago. We don’t have royalty. We try with the President and Hollywood without scratching the itch. So some turn to our old mother country for it.
Gays in San Francisco went crazy when the Queen visited the City in 1983. (Let’s skip the tasteless jokes.)
That said, IMO Queen Elizabeth II has acquitted herself admirably and made a contribution to her country and the world by her example.
huxley,
I don’t mean this derisively, and you know the Left better than I, but I don’t think the Left views the Nigerian brothers as “blacks.” They are African. That’s a different thing to the Left. I don’t think any leader on the Left has a problem with Smollett defaming a couple of African body builders in order to grift the U.S. judicial system.
Yes, Harris distanced herself from Smollett when it was expedient, just as Obama did with Reverend Wright and his own grandmother, but those were words, just words.
huxley,
I know most humans want to put some person or group of people on a pedestal, and I agree Hollywood is a substitute for many, as are musical entertainers.
But I feel any educated American citizen should have derision (or at least a healthy skepticism) for royalty; inheritance by birthright. It is the opposite of our nation’s ideals.
Our Presidential retinues nauseate me. All those huge, black armored SUVs and limousines. Vehicles manned by armed men and women closing our highways so the President can get to Air Force One. Yuk. A nation with the energy, resources and independence of America should be able to keep their leaders safe with clever and cunning. Maguffins. Red Herrings. Body Doubles…
Rufus:
Well, again, we differ.
Nigerians don’t become non-blacks to the Left because they are from Africa. I can’t think of any examples. As a Leftist you don’t say anything bad about any blacks from anywhere … unless such blacks are conservatives.
I suggest we wait and see what sort of future life Jussie has. Tawana Brawley and Crystal Magnum aren’t living large since their false charges against white men.
It doesn’t take much to be an American. Someone crosses the border for whatever reason and drops here, be it sooner of later, and voila a new American appears.
You think that all their ancestors were putting bullets into that son of a bitch Patrick Ferguson? LOL
As someone said, “yes he’s an actor but he’s also awfully dumb”.
DNW:
I’ve run into various numbers of American support for the Revolution. Wiki cites:
____________________________
According to Robert Calhoon, between 40 and 45 percent of the white population in the Thirteen Colonies supported the Patriots’ cause, between 15 and 20 percent supported the Loyalists, and the remainder were neutral or kept a low profile.
____________________________
I’m a bit surprised support was that high. Historically, people have put up with much worse treatment than the American colonists. One could well say today’s Americans are worse off at the hands of our own government.
I speculate that it was as much early Americans’ hard-won natural independence, having carved out their world from the frontier, as exploitation by the Crown, which led to the American Revolution.
There are better historians here who might weigh in.
3d cousin… 2d cousin…. Sounds just like my family. Oh, wait. It doesn’t at all.
Marrying a 6th or an 8th degree relation is not what is meant by ‘in-breeding’ and most people have only a sketchy understanding of who their 2d and 3d cousins are. You know that, of course.
Princess Victoria Melita married TWO(!) different 1st cousins. George IV married his 1st cousin. It’s a tangled mess of arranged marriages, extra-marital affairs and bastard children all the way back.
George IV was the current Queen’s great-great-great-great uncle. Scrounge much? George III married a stranger and George II married a stranger. Queen Victoria’s parents were strangers. Out of the entire Hanoverian line from George I to Prince William – 11 generations in all – just two married first cousins.
That line is so hilarious I’m just going to let it stand without a rebuttal.
In other words, you have no clue.
You talk rot. You should have the integrity to quit waving your hands and doubling down on the rot.
I think Prince Harry looks a lot like James Hewitt, but Hewitt denies being his father. Hewitt does, however, admit to having an extramarital affair with Harry’s mum.
Hewitt met Diana in 1986, a date attested to by a member of her security detail. Quite a tour de force for him to have conceived Harry in late 1983.
It is a sincere mystery to me why any U.S. citizen, the beneficiary of a great nation rightfully wrestled by force and tremendous bloodshed from an abusive British King, would have anything but distain for the British monarchy.
You’re given to making an obnoxious exhibit of yourself and you fancy that’s normal. Real normies aren’t bothered by foreign heads of state or their relatives.
Art Deco:
Good grief. Must you make your disagreements with others so personal and vicious?
Do you ever consider what exhibit you make of yourself?
huxley,
“I’m talking about embarrassment as a pragmatic blow to one’s social position.”
I understand that, yet my assessment of Harris remains. Harris has repeatedly demonstrated a decided lack of the amount of self-awareness necessary to fully contemplate a “pragmatic blow to one’s social position”.
She’s a third rate political whore, who is willing to sell herself to whomever can advance her ambitions.
jon baker,
The ‘Nigerian Branch’ of the KKK… ROFLOL
Rufus T Firefly,
“Look at the Brits. For centuries have they supported an inbred, murderous family of frauds and larcenists because they hide behind the pomp and circumstance of ermine and horse drawn carriages.”
I but follow them distantly and only when they make the news but I think that you paint them with a bit too broad a brush and hold their ancestor’s behavior against them, when that was the norm.
I hold Prince Charles in contempt and Harry as well.
Whereas, Queen Elizabeth, her late departed consort husband Philip and Prince William and Duchess Catherine appear to have consistently conducted themselves with the dignity that their figurehead position requires. Nor as others here pointed out has inbreeding been a recent problem.
“I feel any educated American citizen should have derision (or at least a healthy skepticism) for royalty; inheritance by birthright. It is the opposite of our nation’s ideals.”
Until recently, America’s celebrities were our royalty. I would suggest that it’s how they conduct themselves that determines their worthiness for the position.
Human nature requires its heroes and princesses for they embody what we all wish we embodied. Horatius at the Bridge. Lionidas at Thermopylae. Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch. Joan of Arc, Olivia de Havilland’s Maid Marian and Melanie in “Gone with the Wind”, Jean Simmons portrayal of Julie Maragon in “The Big Country”… it matters not whether an actor actually embodies those archetypes, what matters in the larger scheme of things is that the archetypes deeply resonate with humanity. And that’s why the monarchical form of governance is the oldest.
Geoffrey Britain,
Hereditary monarchies are what I loathe, and, again, the concept seems anathema to the very idea and principles of the United States. Men and women are born equals and should be free to pursue and achieve through personal industry, desire and ability.
No American should admire a system that requires one to bow or curtsy before another by dint of a surname.
Of living British royals I’ll agree that Elizabeth and William seem decent and picked competent spouses. That’s not a great batting average when you look at the rest of the current field and history doesn’t paint a rosier picture. A twist of fate and we could easily be in the 3rd or 4th decade of King Charles’ rein. God save the queen, indeed!
Whether it’s a religious leader (like Moses) or a military leader (like Washington) that gets the reins of a nation it is rare that he doesn’t engineer things so power stays with his lineage. To borrow your quote, that’s why the monarchical form of governance is the oldest. Incredibly, the United States of America broke that tradition over 200 years ago. It is no coincidence that what followed was the growth, development and expansion of the freest, most prosperous nation humanity has seen and most other nations now emulate that structure.
When Putin or Xi or the Kim family rewrite laws or reengineer elections to hold power we all seem to agree they are corrupt. Yet we cheer when the Windsors do it.
I do not get it.
Geoffrey Britain —
I’m with you on the royals: Liz and Philip, William and Catherine, the late Queen Mum and George VI, all do or did their part with honor and dignity, that part being to be a symbol and rallying point that stands for the nation and above messy politics and trendy pop culture. Charles and Harry and Andrew and sundry other royals do not.
huxley, Art Deco —
I only briefly remember seeing him speak at Diana’s funeral (and boy howdy was he angry), but I always thought that Harry looked a lot like Diana’s brother. I think I look a lot more like my maternal uncle than my father, so this was not surprising to me.
“Whereas, Queen Elizabeth, her late departed consort husband Philip…”
Which is PRECISELY WHY Her Majesty’s Royal Physicians are doing their absolute darnedest to keep her alive (in light of who is he who is expected to follow)….
It does help that she has wonderful genes—from the maternal side….
Yes, she’s admirable indeed (her beloved corgis—i.e., those who are left—less so, perhaps), though the beloved, dashing, royal consort, while certainly heroic was more than a bit of a card and a loose-ish sort of canon if with a “bold” (some might say “refreshing”…IOW less than reverant, even buffoonish at times) sense of humor…but then more power to him(!)—though her latest jag about the need, before time runs out, to tackle global warming seemed quite a bit out of character, inappropriate and a bit too much, even shocking, for some…. (might one assume that SOMEONE must have put her up to it…most likely the “next in line”…?.)
The long and short of it is that for those who cherish the royals or merely respect the throne, ER II must be kept alive at all costs. (And she herself well knows it!)
– – – – – – – –
Regarding George III, some of you may have come across a heady, if sober— but fascinating—“reassessment” of the man and his policies that definitely goes against the grain and against the received wisdom of several centuries (in fact not a few would label it “revisionist”):
https://spectatorworld.com/topic/americans-misunderstand-king-george-iii/
(But a most worthwhile read…)
H/T Powerline blog.
File under: Now, Gods, stand up for…George III…!
…even if it might in any case bring to mind…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXWCaQPXE_0
Rufus,
Admirable and impassioned…
Some view the Royal Family—that is, the institution as opposed to its members, some of whom are well, royal fools, if human—as an anchor, providing solidity and promoting solidarity in tumultuous (and even mundane) times.
Or perhaps this might be the answer?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqFDzLbuPXU
(If it doesn’t quite convince, I suppose one can always try substituting… “INERTIA!”…)
Barry,
I love that song from “Fiddler.” I have shouted the title with a Russian accent many times when my kids questioned why they had to get dressed and presentable for some function or another.
I’m all for tradition, custom and honor… when they are voluntary. Peerage, a caste system, the house of Lords, Dukes, Duchesses, Earls… Very un-American. Anti-American, actually.
That meal plan, created by health nut body builders, include midnight runs to Subway?
Rufus T Firefly,
“Men and women are born equals and should be free to pursue and achieve through personal industry, desire and ability.”
Absolutely. And when free to pursue and achieve, the cream will rise to the top. Along with the driven and unethical.
I offer you our Congress as proof that a representative democracy is only better than a monarchy because of its feedback mechanisms, i.e. the voters. Though the last election cycle demonstrates otherwise.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of monarchical forms of government. I just understand the motivations that lead to them. As for monarchy’s poor track record, ego is the great enemy of noblesse oblige.