Ace is my go-to blog.

Lots of thoughtful posts, not just quick-hit reactionary stuff.

Anyway, he posted this yesterday, and damn if it doesn't ring true.

Link to article.



Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum -- Again

It is imperative we begin emulating the left in its tactics.

A couple of years ago, I suggested a completely different strategy: I wanted to pursue a kinder path. I wanted an end to the speech wars and social media mobs and boycotts and all the rest of it.

But that path has been tried, and it has failed. Passive resistance -- moral resistance -- can only work when dealing with opponents with morality and honor, or who, at least, see you as more than subhuman.

Gandhi's tactics would not have worked had India been colonized by, say, China.

Many on the right, or even liberals who lean to the left but who still hold to classic liberal traditions, have called, endlessly, for an end to the Speech Wars.

That failed.

We've been trying this for years. Two or three years in my own case.

Has this sweet music of reason had any positive effect of soothing the passions of the beast?

Well, watch this video of the Empowered Mob demanding more firings at Evergreen college last week, and tell me the path of merely condemning mob lunacy is having any effect at all.

The Empowered, Privileged Mob demanded -- demanded! -- that white people absent themselves from their space, and this is what happened to those who said, "No, that's racist, and teaching class is my job."

Embarrassed by their own repulsive behavior, the Privileged Mob is now demanding -- demanding! again, like emotionally unstable toddlers -- that this video be taken down and that consequences be visited on whoever "stole" it.

This is not working.

People calling for an end to the Speech Wars have a good end in mind -- most people would just love it if not every single minor consumer transaction were not politicized, if not every single public faux pas were not a call to the Social Justice Wolves to come and feed -- but the current strategy, championed by most who want to get to this end-point, is not working.

The dispute I have with them now is not over their preferred end-state -- I deeply desire the end-state they seek, where people actually have freedom to think and speak as they want, and not every fucking mundane movie-ticket purchase is either a Cause or a Crisis -- but the current policy of "unilateral disarmament, and hope that the Monster Babies will learn from our example" is a total, dismal, catastrophic failure.

In order to learn at all, it is required that someone first believe that he has anything to learn at all, and we know that progressives do not see conservatives as people from whom anything can be learned -- they see us as subhumans to be re-educated and reconstructed into civilized savages who at least won't embarrass them as we tend their gardens.

Leftist students cannot be taught anything -- they now routinely scream at professors (you know, the people they're allegedly paying to learn from) that they must SHUT UP AND LISTEN. They come to the university already knowing all there is to know, and in fact are only present to teach their professors; one wonders, then, why it isn't the students being paid, and the professors paying tuition to learn their collective, shouty, expletive-filled wisdom.

(By the way, don't be fooled: None of these people will pay the massive debts they're acquiring while passing time at university; you will.)

The most we are "winning" is not losing as much: We chalk it up as a "win" that USAA has been counter-pressured to resume buying ads on Hannity, overlooking the fact that nine other companies were protested by the left into boycotting him, and remain in full boycott.

We overlook the fact that corporations routinely -- some might say "eagerly" -- join Social Justice War-Bands to curry favor with them and to improve their "brand image" in the eyes of the progressives, which make up about 20% of the country, but seem to be the only demographic that matters.

Rather like the Brahmin class of India. But more on that later.

We don't seem to notice that we are always defending, and even the best possible outcome for our attempts at defense only means that we have avoided harm -- for a month.

Then they start up again, demanding this corporation boycott this public commentator, demanding that this writer have his advanced canceled, demanding that this Random Citizen of No Particular Public Interest be fired for the crime of giving spoiled, stupid Monster Babies something to #Occupy their shriveled brains for a morning.

But they never stop. And why would they?

Just as the best possible outcome for us is that we avoid the harm they intended for us for one short month, the worst possible outcome for them is they will not get This Twitter Cycle's Designated Scalp -- for now.

But there'll be another scalp ripe for the tearing in a few days.

In short, the worst penalty they suffer is not being able to make anyone else suffer-- for a short period.

They are never made to suffer themselves.

Thus, they have absolutely no incentive whatsoever to ever stop.

If you're a sadist, and an insecure individual with little credit to his name, you can build yourself up into a Social Justice War-Fighter by constantly attacking others and making them miserable and afraid.

The worst outcome is that you don't get your scalp -- this time.

But you have in fact caused your enemies to fear you, and to always worry what might upset you next.

Which is a major psyops victory in itself -- the best, and easiest, form of censorship is self-censorship, and if you've put your enemies into terror of being the next to face the mob, they will self-censor, and they will become, against their will at first, but then according to their habit as time goes on, your personal censorship enforcers, patrolling their own minds for thoughts the mob has deemed impermissible.

The second-best outcome in war is to take an enemy out. But the very best outcome is to Shanghai an enemy to be one of your own marines.

The worst outcome for them is basically... the best outcome for them.

Do they ever actually suffer for their own choices? Do they ever experience a setback larger than just not getting their way, this week?

No.

And it's time for that to change.

If a sadistic, insecure, submediocre individual enjoys tormenting those he deems enemies, like a child who enjoys pulling the wings off flies, he will not stop -- ever -- unless he is made to feel the same pain himself.

If he subscribes to a racist cult that says all outside the cult are Fair Game for abuse, and abusing them is actually a sacrament -- how can he be made to stop?

If you're in a fight with someone, and you never do anything but parry blows and dodge, you can at least hope for him to tire himself out.

But he'll have regained his endurance by the next morning. And, as he actually enjoys just throwing blows at you, and you've done nothing to convince him this is a counterproductive idea -- he will be back.

If you never actually hit him right the fuck back -- when is he ever going to learn that fighting is not a good idea?

Many of us -- and I blame myself here -- have been pushing an idea of unilateral disarmament in this arena, hoping they would just learn how awful and venomous they are.

But they don't. I think they take a rather different lesson from our passive resistance than the one they intended.

We intended that by passively resisting, they would see us as showing moral courage and would learn from us that ceaseless violence and bullying and collectivized political campaigns run against everyday citizens pursuing no public office are wrong.

But they didn't learn that.

What our self-restraint has taught them is quite the opposite--when we refuse to fight back, they take that as signalling that deep down, we know they're right and that we are the monsters, and thus, our refusal to engage them in the fight they've started does not prove our moral rightness, but instead our moral corruption.

We think: We are showing them a better way by acting in a manner that is morally superior.

They infer: They are submitting to us as if they are our inferiors, therefore they must know that they are in fact our inferiors.

We cannot keep deluding ourselves into pursuing a course of action which, while appearing morally righteous and principled on paper, is in fact bringing more suffering upon ourselves and only encouraging the behavior we thought our peaceable approach was actually discouraging.

This path is not stopping the Social Justice Warrior Cult of Racist Hatred -- it's fueling it.

We shall have One Law in this country, or none at all.

If these tactics are permissible -- and effective, as they certainly appear to be -- then they are permissible for all, not just a special privileged group of Empowered Snowflake Warriors.

If it's permissible to pressure corporations into firing people and cancelling appearances for leftist groups, then surely it is permissible for the right to do likewise.

Only when they start seeing themselves blacklisted for employment will these morally senseless people learn that blacklisting is bad. They do not have moral sense, but I trust most of them are not so stupid that they don't possess a basic practical regard for their own self-interest.

If you want the Culture of Ceaseless Social War to stop -- which i dearly do -- then I propose it is necessary to engage in it ourselves, until they sue for (at long last!) peace.

We must insist on equality before the law -- and before the media, as well.

The progressives are in the final stages of a decades-long campaign to make us a Lower Caste, with fewer rights and privileges than the Ruling Caste (and the sad courtiers to the Ruling Caste, who hilariously believe themselves to be members of that caste).

When we demand that the "rules," such as they may be, must be enforced equally as to all, this is no minor cavil: If a social order exists in which some groups labor under additional legal and social burdens than others, then that social order is, by definition, a caste system.

If we accept this caste system, and we accept that we belong to a lower caste by submitting ourselves to the special burdens reserved for those of our station, we confirm our place in the lower caste and we also confirm the special privileges of the higher caste.

It is social codes like these that make a caste. In England, back when it was more class-stratified (and who knows, maybe today), a "gentleman" could refer to a commoner just by his last name, or his first name. Tom. Upton. Whatever.

But the commoner was expected to only refer to the gentleman as "sir" (or "ma'am,") or, if named, with the title of dignity "Mister" (or "Miss").

Anyone who followed that convention was confirming his own place in the hierarchy.

Another man can only tell you you belong to an inferior caste.

But when you begin acting like you're part of an inferior caste -- following his rules and his preferences, substituting them for your own -- then you actually are now part of that inferior caste.

The man posing as a lord only asserts you are a serf. When you begin bowing to him, you confirm his claim.

The same rules must apply to all, the same laws. The same dignities.

For everyone.

Or else you have a hardening caste system.

What do I want? I want a world in which angry mobs do not form up and begin screaming at people or pressuring companies to fire people just to fill their empty, pathetic lives with something shabby and mean they can pretend is grand and noble.

But we're not in that world. We're not in that world of Social Peace.

And refusing to acknowledge that we are in a state of Social War does not bring Social Peace any closer; it just encourages the Monster Babies to wage even further war, making more demands, demanding more submissions, concessions, and ritualized confessions.

If you want peace, prepare for war.

You may not be interested in Social War, but the Social Warriors are deeply, deeply interested you, and bringing you to heel, and making you confess that you are indeed a creature with fewer rights and privileges than they possess.

No one's ever going to put them in a position of authority over others -- which is why they desperately need you to accept they have authority over you.

I didn't particularly want Kathy Griffin fired -- but it was necessary.

I actually envy her lack of inhibition and total feeling of freedom. She felt she could do whatever she wanted, so long as it broke no laws.

I'd like to feel that way. But I can't.

I can't feel that way, because I know the progressive mob is always scalp-hunting, and that I am not free to say or think as I might like.

They rule part of my brain -- my very fear of them limits my thoughts, creates inhibitions and limitations in me which I did not choose for myself, but were forced upon me from without.

I have become, partly, a recruit in the Social Justice Warrior army. Their dicta, their demands, their fury is always alive inside of me.

I know to fear them. And so I must self-censor.

My fear of their power makes part of my own brain their appointed warden for the rest of my head.

So a big part of my anger is in seeing Kathy Griffin act as a totally free spirit and free agent, able to do what she likes just because she thinks it's funny, or "edgy," or whatever.

It makes me angry to see her living a life where she can just do something without fearing the consequences -- but I can't.

And neither can you.

My hatred of Kathy Griffin isn't a hatred of her -- it's a hatred of the vicious caste-based system which says she has more rights than Sean Hannity, and more rights than you, and more rights than me.

If keeping some of my diminished amount of freedom means that I have to thuggishly begin taking it from others -- so be it.

I didn't make the rules.

I'm just trying to survive them.

I don't want her to have less freedom -- but the only way to make sure I keep the limited, constantly-eroded freedom I currently have is to insist that I am not a serf, and I will not be held to different laws than the Lords.

As I cannot accept that -- and as I will not accept that -- I must insist she pay the same cost I would be expected to pay if I were to do what she did.

Otherwise, I'm saying Sir/Ma'am to the Ruling Caste, and confirming that I accept my lower position.

Hillary Clinton called half of the country "The Deplorables."

It's really not so different from the lowest caste in India -- the "Untouchables," is it?

They're not even attempting to turn us into serfs covertly any longer -- it's now just pretty much out in the open.

No more.

No more.


posted by Ace at 06:27 PM

A lot of words, but he actually makes no suggestions on what we are to do. I'm not starting a twitter campaign; I won't be dressing in all black and masking my face in order to beat people with different ideological views (although it does sound kind of enticing). I can't go to HR and complain my coworkers should be fired because they are fuckwit morons. If I write my senator (Tim Kaine) I get a non response, then he tells me how progressive he is (actually happened).

Tell me what to do and what time to show up, I'm game. Just don't know how to start. No matter the amount of logic and reason we bring to the table we are over shouted, or told by their greatest ally MSM how wrong and dumb we are. Or worse case beat nearly to death for believing in free speech and the other founding principles of this country.

Guidance please.

you cant "fight" someone else until you stop fighting yourself.

The guidance is simple. No more "Oh, I'm not going to stoop to their level". No more "Oh, how is that going to look if we use the same tactics". No more "Oh, we can out class/out reason/out think them".
When you get punched in the face, you punch them back. For far too long, conservatives have not been willing to do that, for a number of reasons. Mainly because we have been at work, but other reasons as well. Even in the GOPe, they've claimed to want to "outclass" the left, to not stoop to their level. Bullshit. You fight a junkyard dog with a bigger junkyard dog.

The guidance? Spend you money wisely. Buy from organizations that support us. One of my biggest bitches is people that live in an occupied state that has really oppressive gun control laws...and they bitch about how bad it is....but they continue to fund the very anti-gun machine that hates them through taxes and local spending.

Follow the money. It's all about money. Do some companies really give a fuck about SJW causes? Some do. Most don't. They are just bowing to pressure of social media, email, etc. For too long, the left has dominated this tactic. Time for us to let them know that A) we are the ones with jobs and B) knock that shit out or we'll take the money elsewhere. Follow the money. And it's always about money.

Spend money with politicians that are like minded. War chests win elections. The American's For Responsible Solutions or whatever the lefty gun control group that Gabby "box of crayons" Gifford is now the drooling mouthpiece for is asking for $3 donations. Yep, $3. A sign of desperation? Or really good marketing. Imagine if the portion of the country that voted for DJT had everyone sent him $3. Maybe that is not such a bad tactic. Imagine what the members of SF could do if each of us donated $6 to whoever John McCain's primary opponent is? Or his girlfriend Lyndsey.

No more "Oh, I'm going to vote my conscious" or vote for a third party hack because the candidate isn't far right enough. Pick the best of the possible/probable candidates and support them. Then, when they are up for reelection, if there is a viable candidate that is more conservative, support him/her. Gun control doesn't ever work all at once. It draws attention. So, does change in election cycle. Supporting a more right candidate each time is the way to win.

STOP THE FUCKING DEFEATIST ATTITUDES- This place is the worst. Each time we lost an election, threads were filled with shit like "This is no longer my country" and other gloom and doom. Each time, I posted stuff about fighting. I remember distinctly Monkey was with me and a few others. In each thread, I posted that they could have this country when they pried it from my cold, dead hands. That attitude needs to be contagious. I tried telling people OVER AND OVER that the MSM was lying to them, and DJT had a good chance at being the next President. But, oh no, the hag had to win. I tried telling people that people like me and you were pissed, and the only real fear I had was election fraud. That we had a chance, we just needed to band together.

Bottom line- We can't have a mindset that we are going to "take the high road" or "try to outclass" the left. It is time to fight the war on the fronts that are relevant. Online and dollars.

quote:

Originally posted by Deqlyn:
you cant "fight" someone else until you stop fighting yourself.

Thanks for touching on a core issue that needs to be addressed.

Silent

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Bottom line- We can't have a mindset that we are going to "take the high road" or "try to outclass" the left. It is time to fight the war on the fronts that are relevant. Online and dollars.

This man gets it.

This is what Ace was saying, although he was very verbose.

The leftists do not honor HONOR. They only understand shame, ridicule, and economic pressure.

Instead of riding the high road, it is time to make them play by the same rules. THEIR rules.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
STOP THE FUCKING DEFEATIST ATTITUDES

+1 We're winning. All the noise against is coming from those Small bastions of liberalism. They're vocal but a minority and they know it.

I'm not going to wrestle with a pig- they enjoy it.

quote:

Originally posted by furlough:

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Bottom line- We can't have a mindset that we are going to "take the high road" or "try to outclass" the left. It is time to fight the war on the fronts that are relevant. Online and dollars.

This man gets it.
The leftists do not honor HONOR. They only understand shame, ridicule, and economic pressure.

quote:

Tell me what to do and what time to show up, I'm game. Just don't know how to start. No matter the amount of logic and reason we bring to the table we are over shouted, or told by their greatest ally MSM how wrong and dumb we are.

Guidance please.

We may be in the majority, but we have to hold our own elected officials accountable to the promises they have made. Hold their feet to the fire, on every issue, on every vote. It's not enough to listen to what they say during a campaign, we have to pay attention to what they do. We have to write them, call them, and even show up at events where they are present to thank them when they honor their commitment and to express or displeasure when they do not.

It's not easy to do the right thing when you know the media is going to pillory you. It helps to show your support. But... if they betray us after we elect them... we must pull our support. Primary them.

I know many individuals who have drawn their line in the sand. Unfortunately I think the line is in the wrong place. They've drawn it too close to themselves by stating when the mob comes down my street we will fight them then. 'I got my AR and I'll mow them down.' If this ever happened it will be too late. The way the Left works is to leverage itself with the power of govt. and it's enforcement arm. The longer we wait to resist, the more powerful the Left becomes. Like Venezuela, by the time the people revolt, the Left can actually tyrannize effectively and the people are disarmed.

The fight we need to have is here and now. As jljones writes, we need to activate and discipline ourselves. We need to work within our sphere of influence. The Left snuck in the wire while we were asleep. Now we have to fight them hand to hand.

quote:

A couple of years ago, I suggested a completely different strategy: I wanted to pursue a kinder path. I wanted an end to the speech wars and social media mobs and boycotts and all the rest of it.

But that path has been tried, and it has failed.

Nothing against the poster but the author lost me on this. If a couple of years ago, you wanted to pursue a kinder path then you've been at least a decade too late to learn your lesson.

Furthermore, I've seen the gist of this article written several times before... by liberals. It's a well-known, well-used template used by hacks on either side.

Maybe I'm just getting too sensitive to people trying to make a buck off the big divide by promoting themselves as champions of the cause for one side or the other without actually being grounded themselves in the philosophy.

quote:

Imagine what the members of SF could do if each of us donated $6 to whoever John McCain's primary opponent is? Or his girlfriend Lyndsey.

That's a really good point, and something I'll participate in.

I completely agree with the OP's post. I don't need to be told what to do, I need to know that there are others out there humping the same ruck I am. If he mis-spoke in a line or two I truly, deeply don't care. The heart of his message is right on the money.

Yesterday somebody posted a Dennis Preager piece; thanks. I periodically need back-bone infusions. This is another.

So you think you can't do anything? Your wrong. Do something, anything, decide who you are. I live in a people's paradise. 'Social Justice' is seen as a common good. I'm also older than dirt and would be perfectly happy not to get my ass kicked, so OMG, what can I do?
One Small Thing. That's all, and then back it up. Maybe a different thing each day or week but do something.

For instance, one small instance, don't allow a civic meeting to go off the rails on SJ without comment. If it continues get up and go and take your committee work with you; then write a letter to the local fishwrap, if it doesn't get published go on-line to the informal sites and call the paper out for bias. Never give up, never give in. It doesn't have to be all out war, 'they' just need to know that if it goes that way, you are on the other side.

It's time to realize it's a war of words.

Fight to win.

Take the fight to them.

I know we don't like Facespace or Twatter, but it's one of the battegrounds.

Below are some things I've learned about left v. right politics and the problems described in the OP over the last several months of listening mostly to Ben Shaprio, Sam Harris, The Rubin Report, and some of their guests:

1.Leftists = ignorant sheep, but with teeth, who don't believe in individual liberty, individual responsibility, free speech.
2.Classical Liberals = reasonable folks who mostly believe in the virtues listed above which Leftists do not support.
3.Empathy usually leads to bad policy because when you put yourself in the shoes of the suffering, you are focused on completely ending that suffering quickly, regardless of the larger, long-term consequences.
4.Compassion usually leads to better policy because you look for long-term solutions, and are more able to recognize the fact that government can't end all suffering. You also are aware of the consequences of bad policy on those outside the group you're trying to assist.
5. The left argues in terms of good and evil, portrays their enemies as greedy, heartless, racist, bigoted, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobes.
6. The right argues in terms of what policy is mostly like to be both effective and fair to all, regardless of their race, sex, financial status, etc.

Here's 5 minutes of Ben Shapiro on the how to debate a leftist.



Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhdUHVJ1F6o

This is almost a full hour of Shapiro on "Practical Tactics for Fighting the Left," including his opinion about when you should do so.




Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL3SQyK7H5E&t=838s

Edit to add: Mentioned above, Dave Rubin (of the Rubin Report), and Sam Harris are examples of Classical Liberals. They're guys who lean left/libertarian but are open to discuss anything, and open to having their opinions changed. Rubin is more politically oriented than Harris. Harris gained much of his fame for being outspoken against Islam, and all religions, to a lesser extent.

quote:

No more "Oh, I'm going to vote my conscious" or vote for a third party hack because the candidate isn't far right enough. Pick the best of the possible/probable candidates and support them. Then, when they are up for reelection, if there is a viable candidate that is more conservative, support him/her. Gun control doesn't ever work all at once. It draws attention. So, does change in election cycle. Supporting a more right candidate each time is the way to win.

Preach it! Best advice ever.

Yes, I agree, I tried passive resistance to bullying as I grew up. Being the smallest boy in my grade, no matter what school I went to, I was a prime target for a bully. When one particular bully would not quit, I had to do something. Telling the teacher, school bus driver(he rode my bus) and the principal did not work. When I told my dad what had been going on, he said that since I tried all other avenues for a solution, I had to stand up to him. He was the biggest kid in my grade and I was the smallest. Well, landing the first punch in the right location really helped.
Seems like we are at that point. It is easy for these young punks, when nobody pushes back. I do not push so easy since then. I was sure someone would have beaten me to death before now. I have grown a lot since high school, never the smallest in the group anymore at 6'1 close to 200.
Still there is the possibility that we would be the ones arrested in such a fight with them.

jljones.....awesome post. Completely agreed.