I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about the preponderance of “peaceful protests” (read angry mobs) since Donald Trump was elected. My friend is an intelligent and well-informed woman. She said of them “They are great. They are what democracy is all about: the masses standing up for what is right and having their voices heard.” And the violence? “There really hasn’t been that much violence, but sometimes you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet.” As a friend, I could not very well smack her in the face with a live fish. Plus, that would be violent. Could I make a fish omelet? No. I decided instead to try to educate her. I tried, first to use the words of others:
Since civil war memorials are all the rage right now, I decided to use Abraham Lincoln “There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.” No effect. “He is from a different time.” I was told in no uncertain terms. Apparently, the man who freed the slaves and guided us through civil war cannot fathom the problems of snowflakes melting on statues.
Ok. Time to go more modern. Bobby Kennedy, paragon of the left said “an uncontrolled or uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people.” … and nothin’.
Ok. How about a female perspective? Ayn Rand wrote “Rights are not a matter of numbers – and there can be no such thing, in law or in morality, as actions forbidden to an individual, but permitted to a mob” Boom! Right? Nope. Apparently, Ayn Rand doesn’t count as a woman because she doesn’t represent what the average woman thinks. WHAT THE F#CK?
Ok. Now it was time to go all out historical on her liberal ass…umptions. I first explained that we are not a democracy while we do have democratic elements. We are, indeed, a representative republic. In fact, there have been relatively few pure democracies in the history of the world. To be honest I could not and cannot now think of one deserving of the name.
“But Whiggy!” You say. “What about the cradle of democracy? What about ancient Athens?”
Stop calling me Whiggy. We aren’t close enough for that yet. Ok. Ok. I will concede. The Athenian “democracy” was about as pure of a democracy as the world has known for any country and/or city-state. (Calm down small-town USA with your cute little town meetings. You’re too little and inconsequential to count.) However, Athenian “democracy” did not include all or even most residents of Athens. In fact, less than 20% of the populace could legally take part in democratic endeavors. Women had no right to vote. Foreigners had no right to vote (pssst – they had a wall). And…. wait for it … SLAVES had no rights! Let the moral outrage begin! Time to ravage all Greek ruins! Destroy all Sororities and Fraternities. To hell with you baklava! I think the Greeks added a few other things to society as well. They must all go! But I digress.
I further explained to my dear liberal acolyte friend, the founding fathers (get over it, they were all white males) feared the mob. They understood that checks and balances needed to be in place to prevent t
he mob mentality of the day from prevailing on the liberties of the minority. If you have any question, read the Federalist Papers, particularly #10 by James Madison. Do you think it accidental that the citizens have no direct vote on any law? No. The framers understood that the masses were apt to let passion and the movement du jour rule their behaviors. For our nation to succeed, those things needed to be held in check and tempered. We are a country of laws NOT of the passions of men.
Even with all this, she refused to budge. “These protests are important. They stand for social justice. They are changing our history!” Now it was on!
We discussed the Occupy movement. Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Atlanta. Occupy L.A. Occupy Seattle. Occupy your mom’s basement. What the hell was it about and what did it accomplish? I was told it was about abolishing corporate greed and advocating for income equality. My retort? “Well that worked. Corporate greed is gone and everyone’s income is equal! Halleluiah and praise justifiable trespassing and vandalism.” Apparently, my sarcasm is not appreciated by everyone. She seemed to be happy that these things were now part of the social discourse. Because, no one has ever mentioned them before in all of history. “Any city, however small, is on fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another” – Plato. We agreed that we would move on from the Occupy Movement…
Next, I brought up the Million Vagina March at which she was present. I asked how protesting a legal election wearing a vagina on your head helped stand for social justice and how it brought about change. I was told it was giving voice to the millions of women who felt disenfranchised and victimized by Donald Trum
p. Now, believe me friends I struggled with my next words. Do I respond with eloquence or do I go all Whiggy on her? Seriously, was there ever a question? I explained, with a devilishly charming smirk on my face, that I had never heard the voice of a vagina expect that one time in college but, in fairness, I was drunk and I’m pretty sure the girl was a ventriloquist. As a testament to why we are friends, she laughed and did agree the hats and costumes were sophomoric. I corrected her. They were moronic. I inquired how anyone who actually voted could be disenfranchised. “It a feeling.” How were they victimized? “It’s a feeling”. Uh Oh – feelings. I fell into the trap. I asked how she would have felt if I wore a vagina costume and a cigar costume sewn together while wearing a Hillary ’16 pin. We agreed to move on from the Million Vagina march…
We started on a conversation about the more recent protests or what I like to call … History: The Stalin Method… We agreed to move on from History: The Stalin Method.
So, what did I learn from this conversation? Nothing. What did she learn? Nothing. Why did I share? Two reasons:
- You’ve all had similar conversations. You are not alone. I there with you. Well, not literally but in spirit and watching through hidden cameras.
- Because I had to share the talking vagina story. It’s actually true. She asked for Devil Dogs and Cherry Garcia Ice Cream. I went and got it. I’m not an idiot.
First of all, you are a much bigger person than I am, Whiggy, because I would have lost my patience with this person who, obviously, is devoid of common sense and an understanding of history. Now, this doesn’t mean I don’t WANT to have civil discourse with the social injustice crowd, it’s that every polite attempt I’ve made to point out the facts ends up in me being called the usual litany of unwarranted names, with “racist” always coming first to the surface.
But don’t give up on your friend (after all, a liberal and a conservative actually being friends is a miracle in itself). There is always hope they can be saved from themselves.
Blessings!