Thursday, June 4, 2020

Your Future

This is for the younger folks out there; I'm an old guy so it doesn't matter for me.

Pay close attention to this scene from The Lives Of Others, one of the finest movies ever made.

Note this exchange:
You think we imprison people on a whim?

No.

If you think our humanistic system capable of it, that alone would justify your arrest.


And also observe the checkmark the Stasi instructor (1) places against the name of the student who asks whether it is inhumane to keep the prisoner awake for 40 hours.  If you are ever in a corporate training class on diversity, sexual harrassment, inclusion, or whatever trendy thing is on the agenda, remember to keep any negative thoughts or questions to yourself or just speak up to enthusiastically endorse whatever the presenter is saying.  They will be making checkmarks.

It's important to know who really holds the power.  As Kevin Williamson observed:
“If you want to know who actually has the power in our society and who is actually marginalized, ask which ideas get you sponsorships from Google and Pepsi and which get you fired.”
To help you along, here are some key terms and definitions you may find useful in order to succeed in your future:

Tolerance - the willingness to tolerate people and ideas you agree with.

Diversity - the willingness to accept all people as long as they agree with you.

Dialogue - the willingess of people to listen and follow your instructions as to what they should believe.

Problematic - ideas you don't agree with that require the silencing of those who express them and getting them fired from their jobs.

Justice - the result of treating people as group members and holding them guilty or praiseworthy based upon their immutable characteristics.

Speech - the equivalent of violence if you disagree with it.

Violence - not-violence if you agree with the cause.

And remember, the government of China is in the process of instituting Social Credit scores, rating its citizens on whether they fit harmoniously into the government's standards for society and using it to determine access to jobs, housing, and other everyday aspects of life.  A version of it will be coming here if 21st century progressives have their way.  So be on your best behavior.

Look at the bright side, your future may be a world of stultifying conformity but you'll do just fine.  Or at least okay.  Or at least survive.  As long as you know your place.  A place that will be determined by others. 

A few years ago I might have written this as satire.  It no longer is.

Sincerely yours,

From a guy who was a liberal back when we believed in freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, due process and equal treatment under the law.

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(1)  The actor playing the Stasi instructor lived in East Germany, where he was a member of an acting company, until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.  When the Stasi files were opened he discovered several of his fellow actors were informing on him to the Stasi.

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