One of the ways I go about criticizing a suggested government program or change in law is to simply ask questions of the proponent. Things like, “explain to me in very simple terms why you think this program will work?” And “what evidence is there that this proposed government program or change in law will make things better?” Through a series of questions, I can usually expose the flawed assumptions behind the proposals, peeling back the onion and get to the core rationale of most of these ideas, where an exasperated policymaker throws up their hands and says, “well, Paul, we have to do something.” And there it is. — Paul T. Martin
It’s an interesting point of view. I’m watching a local community melt down because the school system screwed up in a big way and is $5mil in the hole. They all want someone to DO SOMETHING!!! Except that there’s very little to do, and it must be done in a very orderly fashion. In other words, they ARE doing something. They’re just not doing it at the speed the people in the community want.
There was a shooting. Now everyone wants guns banned (again) to “stop school shootings.” Except it wasn’t a school shooting, it was a church shooting, and the people calling for disarmament are people who don’t have any skin in the game (ie they have no guns)… and the shooter was part of THEIR community, not ours. But it doesn’t matter, someone has to DO SOMETHING!!!
This happens all around us. People assume that because we have information (true and otherwise) at the tip of our fingers, that a) it’s true, and b) we can act at the same speed as we can research. Both those points are incorrect. Between general lack of knowledge and the influx of deepfakes and AI writing, telling truth from fiction is difficult right now. And we cannot possibly act at the speed at which we’re reading. Not only is it physically impossible, it’s also stupid, because we have to take time to figure out what the right thing is to do.
I often find myself asking, what would they have done in the 15th century? the 18th century? the 40s? the 80s? I ask myself this because there’s this assumption that we now know better than we did in the past (not entirely inaccurate, I might add), but we can only put that into practice if we look at today’s problems as a reflection of the past. For instance, there may be many ways to handle the local school problem(s), and they are REAL problems, but rushing around like chickens with our heads cut off does nothing. The folks that are pausing to regroup, to find out where the mistakes were made, are harkening back to the 40s IMO. What happened? How did it get so bad? What are the three most likely successful paths forward? Of those three, which would the public prefer us to take, and why? THAT is how one moves forward with stuff like this, because “the public” doesn’t have a clue as to how this stuff works. Right now they’re crowing happily over their only competent board member choosing to resign, because “it’ll save them money!” That means the bulk of them don’t know that board members don’t get paid. That’s … a good example of why the current mess happened.
“Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.” This quotation is often attributed to the philosopher George Santayana, but it’s actually a misquotation. The actual quote is, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The misquote assumes people learned the history in the first place. In today’s world, I suspect it’s assumed people didn’t learn history, or at least not truthful, accurate history.
What can people do when things like this happen? When a community melts down over something (real or imagined) there really isn’t much to do. You can throw your two cents in, but unless you’ve got special traction, it’ll likely fall on deaf ears. What you can do is hunker down, check your perimeter, and keep your head on a swivel. If you’ve got kids in the mix, move ’em somewhere else. Yes, that might mean schooling them at home (though at least in NH, that doesn’t mean you’re on your own, because VLACS is pretty bad ass, and I’m sure that other states have similar programs). It might mean tough times. Guess what? That’s life.
And therein is the difference between “them” and “us.” They will cry and scream and have temper tantrums, lay blame, point fingers… and do nothing. We will go in with possible solutions, and if the public solution doesn’t work, we’ll move on to the private one where we take care of our own. It doesn’t matter if it’s tough. It doesn’t matter if it strains us. We’ll do what’s right by ourselves and our kids, BECAUSE it’s right. And that’s enough to motivate us.
in liberal land taking guns away from those who will never do harm to innocent people is the WHOLE agenda.
the cry to “do SOMETHING “ is just that
a cry with zero rational thought behind it.
disarming EVERYONE except THEM is the goal.
i always ask anti gunners if they know someone killed in a car crash which of course they do. so why aren’t you calling for the banning of CARS??
making a law, putting a sign in front of a building, does nothing to fix the problem…. but its SOMETHING..
if remington can be held liable for the actions of criminals then EVERYONE can be held liable for everything. liberals let some criminals out on $10 bail and they kill?? prosecute everyone involved in the case…
but until We the People say no it will continue.
remember kids- just like every communist country and every screaming liberal they want us unarmed and vulnerable so they can rule us.
fuk em. bring friends I say..
As usual Lady, well said and well reasoned
Carry on, You’re doing Very Well (Brit sitcom TV quote)
what would they have done in the 15th century? the 18th century? the 40s? the 80s?
“Round up the usual suspects”
However, that is something I was trained up to do in engineering school.
If you are not sure what to do with the problem, do something… anything… start trying to solve the problem, and if you choose the wrong path, you learned it was wrong.
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Good advice in college where you are working on a piece of paper and the only impact is a loss of a few minutes.
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Really bad advice when lives are on the line.
And therein is the difference between “them” and “us.” They will cry and scream and have temper tantrums, lay blame, point fingers… and do nothing.
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To expand on this, one of the primary differences between “them” and “us” is that everybody recognizes that “something must be done,” but “we” figure out what we can do for ourselves and then do it, while “they” assume their solution works for everyone and expect SOMEONE ELSE to do the work.
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For example: We hear after every mass shooting, “We just need to confiscate all the AR-15s.” (Whether or not an AR-15 was used.) Yeah? Who’s going to go door-to-door on those raids? Who’s going to lead the stack of people breaking down those doors to take the guns and arrest the non-compliant owners who didn’t voluntarily turn theirs in? Never the person saying we need to do it; they always expect someone else to assume the risks and do the hard stuff.
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More broadly, it’s the sense (or lack) of personal responsibility and accountability that makes the difference. To quote a song, “It’s hard to light a candle, easy to curse the dark instead.” We try to find and light the right candles for our individual situations, they curse the dark and expect someone else to light the candles — the same candles for everyone regardless of their individual needs and desires — and then congratulate themselves for “doing something.”