I’m Secretive…

I had an interesting interaction today (I wrote this on Tuesday, July 23). An acquaintance posted this:

Now, I don’t know that much about Vance. I knew he was a vet, and that he wrote a really popular book, and that he was very against Trump until relatively recently. Being me, I went and looked this up. Is Vance selling out American farmland to foreign investors?

The short answer is, sort of. The long answer is, not really. In my reading, I found out that there are a few properties in Ohio that have gone to foreign investors, but that those properties come with a price. It’s a real price – very high taxes which go to support US owned farmland in Ohio. Now, my understanding of what I was reading is that Vance wants to keep all American property American, and he’s suggested bills in that vein. But being unable to enact those bills NOW, he’s doing the next best thing and making foreign ownership of Ohio farmland very expensive, and lucrative for Ohio farmers.

I shared a couple of articles (one from DNT.com, and another from ocj.com) that explain Vance’s opinion on farmland, and what the Ohio people think of him (since he’s from there, and those are the people most likely to know him well). I got some fascinating responses. The original poster said that Vance was using AcreTrader to make millions of dollars off of foreign investors (untrue… AcreTrader doesn’t sell to foreign investors at all). Essentially, what I got from her responses was that if someone is making money off of something, then it doesn’t matter if it’s good for the environment, frees the slaves, or ends world hunger… it just doesn’t count.

Other people chimed in. The OP asked if I supported Vance, and I responded that I didn’t really know yet, as I hadn’t done due diligence in investigating him. I didn’t bother explaining that it doesn’t really matter if I support him or not, because I don’t get to dictate VP choices to the Republican party. I didn’t think it would matter. Check this out:

Money, power, hubris, and self interest. I found that one interesting. I don’t see the problem with money or power, and I have a health self interest myself, so I can’t really complain about it in others. I don’t know Vance well enough to say if he’s engaging in hubris, but that’s one of those things that usually takes care of itself over time. Then the random insert: Kyle Rittenhouse.

Now, I DO know about Kyle. I like the kid, and I feel like he had to go through an awful lot in a very short amount of time. He was underage, and he probably shouldn’t have been there. As a parent, I would not have allowed my kids to go to what I knew was going to be a riot. But that’s me, and his parents are doing their thing, and considering how polite and well spoken Kyle is, I guess they’re doing pretty well. The kid apparently was putting out dumpster fires and rendering first aid to people before he was attacked and forced to defend himself with deadly force. His attackers played stupid games, and won stupid prizes. *shrug* Regardless of everything else, Kyle was acquitted on all counts. He was found not guilty. The same court system found Trump guilty, and the Left is okay with that finding. But they’re not okay with Kyle’s finding. Me, I want to see more Kyle’s in the world. The kid had more calm and focus that night than most adults in that situation.

I was not about to explain why Kyle wasn’t a bad person to this group. I reported one comment and blocked the person who made it (it isn’t reflected in the above screenshot because I reported the comment for encouraging violence and I guess FB took it down). I realized this was not a place where I was going to convince anyone of anything, so I just walked out the door.

That’s when I discovered the secret to making Leftists go absolutely ape shit. I swear, guys, I didn’t do this on purpose, but here it is.

I left. I said “hey, we’re talking at cross purposes, I’m out of here.” No drama, no messing on other people’s walls. I think that’s crass and there’s no reason for it. If it had been grievous enough, I’d have moved over to my own wall to talk, because that’s *my* virtual living room, and I can say what I want. I don’t mess in other people’s virtual living rooms though. That last commenter in the screenshot above? He paged me because I didn’t answer him.

He asked in PM to explain what there was to like about Kyle. I encouraged him to do his own research and form his own opinions, and reiterated that I wasn’t there to attempt to change his mind. I had only gone there to present facts, not opinions. He started to get irritated because I wouldn’t engage. Apparently, my not pushing my opinion down his throat was me “being secretive” and “unsure of the basis of my own stance.” I returned to my original statement, that he was welcome to his opinion and that he should form it himself based on his own research, and stated I was not interested in political debate with anyone. It had nothing to do with secrecy and everything to do with not engaging in fruitless arguments that only leave people feeling grumpy.

I’ve been watching the little dot indicator that says he’s typing something. It’s been flickering on and off for a while now. I think maybe his (her?) brain is circling down the drain…

So, if you want to cause a Leftist to break, simply don’t engage. I’m actually kind of enjoying watching the internal meltdown. Does that make me a bad person?