Degüello

I think the first time I noticed America’s political class divide when I was doing my first talk show, at KSTP, way back when. I made the, um, profound observation that while the American Left had always sought a “class war” in which they – or at least the garden variety of “they” – saw themselves as the little guy revolting against the Leviathan, in at least one contest, the gun control “debate”, they were in fact the patricians, trying to keep the plebs in line.

I was young and naive. Literally every cultural argument breaks down on those lines, down to the rhetoric Big Left uses.

And that class war’s biggest flashpoints in recent years were Brexit in Europe, and Donald Trump in the US. The Big Government response to Covid was an extension of that skirmish.

Which brings us to this weeks’ most interesting story, the argument over the case for or against Amnesty for the culture-war criminals.

Speaking to the case against “Covid Amnesty”, I present this piece from Unherd. Or rather, one part of a huge case for, not “amnesty”, but truth and reconciliation.

It was a salvo in the class war – America’s patrician class’s way of getting the plebs back for Brexit and Trump.

One of many “money” pullquotes:

Public faith in objectively shared political ground was already dissolving while my daughter gestated. If the Virtuals have a problem now, it’s that their counter-volley to Trump and Brexit consumed the last vestige of trust in that shared political ground: our faith in science. And the notion that such ground exists is the sine qua non of Virtual political legitimacy in its current technocratic form.

In this light, Oster’s call for amnesty can present itself as an effort to rebuild the neutral space of shared political endeavour after a period of conflict. But it reads as a continuation of now-familiar efforts to weaponise the appearance of such neutrality and common purpose, in the interests of one side of that conflict.

We all knew every pandemic policy would come with trade-offs. The lawn-sign [the “In This House…” mob – Ed.] priesthood forbade any discussion of those trade-offs. I don’t blame the class that so piously dressed their own material interests as the common good, for wanting to dodge the baleful looks now coming their way. But no “amnesty” will be possible that doesn’t acknowledge the class politics, the corruption of scientific process, the self-dealing, and the self-righteousness that went to enforcing those grim years of lawn-sign tyranny.

The whole thing is worth a read.

14 thoughts on “Degüello

  1. But no “amnesty” will be possible that doesn’t acknowledge…

    And what will “ackowledgment” accomplish? Will it bring back the loved ones? Will it make kids smart again? Will it cure the mental issues? And why would anyone of a sound mind, after all the lies, believe ANYTHING these monsters have to offer?

    Tar, feather and quartering is the only punishment these tyrants deserve. Every action must have commensurate consequences. “Amnesty” is just another word for “Ppppffffttttt…. next time we will double down so we won’t get caught”.

  2. I posted this on Facebook a few days ago when I shared an NR article about the Amnesty “proposal.”
    —-
    “Emily Oster, writing at the Atlantic, asks whether we can all just forgive and forget about what we said and did to one another during the Covid-19 pandemic. On the question of masks, school closings, and the efficacy of this or that vaccine, some people got it right, and some got it wrong. But litigating this forever is a waste of time, she argues. The headline is ‘Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty.’ ”

    While I may be willing to forgive mistakes made in good faith, I repeat may, the prerequisite of forgiveness is an admission of error and a request for forgiveness.

    But we don’t have have that. Instead, we have partisans that are spinning and gaslighting at the levels fit for 1984. “Democrats have also been in support of reopening schools while Republicans have done everything they can to keep them closed” is something I’ve heard even while school districts under complete Democrat control remained closed, even into the current year. That’s the kind of chutzpah that deserves a job as White House Press Secretary…oh wait.

    Even if we can’t reach a consensus on the proper government response to Covid, I’m an advocate for Federalism after all, I’d settle for an acknowledgement and agreement that using the power of government coupled with the gatekeepers of Big Tech to quash debate and silence dissenters, no matter their credentials was, to put it charitably, damaging to the public good.

    We are no where near that minimum, and therefore I’m no where near forgiveness. No matter what, I have no interest in Amnesty.

  3. Forgiveness can only start from heart-felt repentance. If, individually, someone came to me and asked forgiveness for the abuse heaped on me and my family, and their endorsement of this, I could likely find Christian compassion to forgive. It would be the Christian thing to do, unlike all the things they told me were the “Christian” thing to do. This forgiveness could be extended to those who were caught up in the uncertain times and honestly tried to make the right decisions, from the best motives.

    Those who knew they were wrong and willfully grabbed power while “othering” others, however, have every pillory coming to them and should not be released until the last full measure of their perfidy has been cleansed and scoured with salt. For the benefit of future generations, this is the only way to restore trust to the community, by exacting a price as great as the one they inflicted on others.

  4. When shit is dripping down their legs while they hang, I’ll be i n more a forgiving mood.

    Probably not, though.

  5. First step would be to review the ability of governors to extend emergency declarations indefinitely.
    In MN, the state supreme court allowed this. In Wisconsin, the supreme court said “no.”
    After the governor’s order expires, the state legislature may meet, debate the issue, and issue its own emergency declaration if it passes legislative muster.

  6. Very cryptic title… took me a bit to figure it out. And I learned a new Spanish word (degollar).

  7. I know that I keep saying this, but do not for a moment believe that our elites are intelligent and that they are capable of carrying out some clever plan of social dominance that they have worked out at the WEF or Bilderberg or wherever. They are the equivalent of middle managers who have achieved their position by marrying the boss’s daughter.
    The error signal that they are most sensitive to is not “I was wrong and innocent people suffered as a result of my being wrong.” It is “I have lost status among my peers.”
    Social status among the elite is a currency (or maybe capital). The more you have, the better off you are. Also, like currency or capital, the more you have, the easier it is to make more of it.
    You can also gamble your social status away in search of greater social status, just as you can gamble money away in search of more money.
    Bear with me, here.
    Years ago I read a biography of Disney by a guy named Neil Gabler.
    The biography was very good, it was praised by critics, won a few awards. It was a well-researched work and it was the first important Disney bio that had been written since the ’70s.
    Later I read an essay by Gabler in some some current events periodical like The Atlantic or the New Republic. This essay was about how he (Gabler) was broke. He had maxed out his credit cards, he had $400 in his checking account and he was terrified that the old car he used as his only means of transport would require an expensive repair that he could not pay for.
    At this point Gabler was in the mature/late stage of his career as a writer.
    Gabler was honest about he found himself being a socially upper middle class guy with an enviable career, yet with no actual money and little hope of acquiring more money.
    When Gabler explained how he had gotten himself into this position, it was obvious to the reader (though maybe not to him) that he had constantly over extended himself to achieve greater social status. He sent his kids to expensive private schools. He bought homes based not on their potential investment value, but on their prestigious addresses. Gabler sold books with buyers numbering in the hundreds of thousands, but in the future, he assumed he would write books that would be bought by consumers in their millions.
    I found Gabler’s essay. It is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secret-shame/476415/

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  9. Excellent point about status, Mammuthus.

    I can only add that nothing says it better than Meghan and Harry giving up royalty for celebrity.

  10. Oh man the ‘IN THIS HOUSE’ people are just the worst. Detest them. I know some, but do not really engage them much. Old friend of mine (whom I never woulda guessed would go left) was wearing a hat with that stupid crap on it. Just saddened me to see this good guy be so naive on so many things.

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