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Sunday, March 21, 2021

The Great Delusion

 


Friends, no one can deny that hate and violence motivated by hate are real and extremely upsetting and frightening to people who may be targeted (and to plenty who may not be), but that doesn't change the fact that the recent media narrative about anti-Asian bigotry and violence is factually deficient in a number of ways.  A)  There's insufficient proof of a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, and such crimes are in any case very rare by any objective standard; and  B)  the media's consistent implication that hate crimes are invariably committed by whites is grossly inaccurate; and C) Asian-Americans are much less likely to be victims of any kind of violence than are members of other racial and ethnic groups.  Ergo, to fetishize "Asian hate" (committed by "white supremacists") is to to construct a narrative that explains very little of the violence in America, and very little of the violence and hate experienced by Asians themselves.  It does, however, advance the Left's master narrative, which demands the demonization of whites and the utter disregard of hate and violence perpetrated by anyone else.


This brings up a larger and more vexing question: how does one even begin to have a dialogue with people whose perceptions of the world and its problems are fundamentally at odds with the facts, and whose delusions are nurtured and sustained by a media that exists for no other purpose?  The "conversation" about "Asian hate" currently pursued by the mainstream media solicits one and only one response from the public: concurrence.  To question the narrative of "Asian hate" in any way would be, of course, to perpetuate "white supremacy", even if that narrative was deceptive and flawed to begin with.  The BLM movement was sustained by similar "logic": it was easier for almost everyone in America to nod knowingly and express sympathy for black Americans victimized by the police than it was for them to use their powers of critical thinking to question the idea that the police are really the problem.  The truth is, therefore, that the reality of hate and violence as it is experienced by Asians, and by non-Asians, in America is irrelevant to how leftists perceive it, which will always be in stark "antiracist" and therefore anti-white terms, not to mention in alarmist terms, despite the society-wide reduction in violence over the last several decades.  Until we change the media itself, and its agenda of fearmongering and race-baiting, we will never have a fruitful dialogue about how to reduce hatred and violence in this country.  Quite simply, the Left has poisoned the well, and anyone who drinks of it will be poisoned too.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/protests-across-us-call-for-end-to-anti-asian-violence/ar-BB1eNeOM?li=BBnb7Kz

 

https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/when-the-narrative-replaces-the-news-9ea 


https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv19.pdf

 

In other news, the Trump Train is about to get rolling again!  President Trump has decided to build his own social media platform, and I for one eagerly await it.  I assume it will become an instant sensation on the right, and we desperately need an alternative to the Big Tech platforms, because it would appear that the wind went out of Parler's sails after Amazon's infamous efforts at sabotage.  Bring it on, therefore, President Trump!  The sooner, the better. 


https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-new-social-media/2021/03/21/id/1014600/

 

Well, it looks like the Biden administration's policy of denying the existence of a crisis at the border is crumbling under the pressures of (gasp!) reality.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that Biden intends to "fix" the problem of migrant detention by no longer detaining them.  That's right: in future, the Border Patrol will be a revolving door -- a processing agency only -- that exists to usher migrants to wherever they wish to go.  That will ease the troubled consciences of AOC and her ilk, whose hearts bleed for the detainees, but it will also accelerate the flow of migrants and assure them that illegal immigration is promptly rewarded in the USA.  In other words, things are about to go from bad to worse.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/03/21/exclusive-biden-begins-immediate-catch-and-release-of-migrant-families-without-court-dates/ 


Lastly, I know some of you don't care for these coronavirus vaccines, but personally I'm glad to have received my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine and I look forward to my second.  There's still a lot we don't know about COVID, but one thing is clear: it's better NOT to have COVID than it is to have it.  The vaccines seem to do a good job of protecting people from that specific threat.  Be that as it may, the Biden administration is claiming credit for the increasing availability of COVID vaccines, but the fact is that the Trump administration laid the groundwork for their development and production on an industrial scale and at "warp speed".  We will soon, in all likelihood, be in a position to get back to "normal" in this country, and it will be as a result of the leadership of Donald Trump and Mike Pence when we do.  Despite all the media naysaying, the United States handled the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic better than many other countries, as Europe's current agonies amply prove.  We might be justified, therefore, in giving ourselves a tentative pat on the back.  While we're at it, let's tip our hats to DJT as well.


https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/544175-getting-the-facts-right-on-operation-warp-speed

17 comments:

  1. Talk about border security without real border security, is utter bullshit, period. Let's do a reality check. The current border situation goes back to 1993, when then President Bill Clinton had a 13 mile long fence built between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California. Approximately 700 miles of border fence and wall sections were built during the terms of President George W. Bush and President Obama in keeping with the provisions of the 2006 Secure Fence Act. President Trump originally promised and
    proposed the building of a concrete wall along the border while he was running for President. However, most of the border has remained unfenced, especially along The Rio Grande River, half of which is in Mexico. With that said, it would be interesting to have some honest figures of exactly how many immigrants legal and illegal have come across the border at least since 1993 if not before. One must also keep in mind that 1994 was when The North American Free Trade Agreement kicked in. And don't forget that NAFTA was, is probably remains, a favorite among most of the cartels, north and south of the border, not to mention all those politicians who are well paid to keep it open. Clearly the power and expansion of the cartels has greatly increased since 1993, who are now in the lucrative immigration business. This is a multi-billion dollar industry (probably trillion) that profits astronomically from exploited humans, drugs, illegal weapons etc. etc. It is a criminal enterprise par excellence, and proves that crime pays, and that corruption, total depravity and evil are real.

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  2. What would a really secure U.S.-Mexico Border look like if it ever exists? Frankly I doubt it ever will. Too many people are getting paid to keep it open. Even with a fortified and militarized border, the Ports of Entry (unless closed) would be where immigrant tidal waves could be and are processed under "normal" conditions anyway. A fortified and militarized border would have to be accompanied by a 5 to 10 year freeze on immigration from anywhere in the world, except in extremely special cases. Clearly, such a border would have to be solid from The Pacific Ocean to The Gulf of Mexico. It would be a permanent 24/7 operation. Such a border would not stop all illegals from entering but it sure would slow things down. If a militarized/fortified border sounds harsh, that's because potential new pandemics, terrorists, and gangs are also harsh.

    1. Regular armed patrols that would include military vehicles with machine guns, as well as mounted and dog patrol units with orders to shoot to kill after sufficient warnings. Aerial surveillance would also be appropriate.

    2. Watch towers with machine guns, floodlights and sirens at regular distances.

    3. Two lines of very high barbed wire steel mesh fences, electrified, with lots of warning signs of course, raked sand strips in between, with land mines and booby traps in certain areas.

    4. Anti-vehicle ditches and roadblocks in some areas.

    Does this sound cruel? Maybe that's because the cartels are cruel. I'm sure the assholes who run them would be sending their stuff across the Gulf Of Mexico, etc. etc. with all the more reason to beef up our Coast Guard.

    Will any of the above ever happen? Hell No! Because "vested" interests north and south of the border don't want a secure border. This includes people who make you think that they want a secure border, when in reality they don't.

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  3. With regard to your blurb on having a dialogue with The Left, you know very well that there has never been a dialogue with the people who adhere to a Marxist/Socialist/Communist ideology. The Left is a religion in itself, and its followers are just as fanatical as any religious zealot ever was, if not more.

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  4. Brothers in Rational Discourse,

    As the son of a Korean Immigrant, I have found it endlessly entertaining to set leftists of all racial stripes into apoplectic fits by insisting on using, "Oriental," in place of Asian, try it some time!

    My embarrassment at this recent fabrication is compounded by the fact that it isn't merely my countrymen, Americans, engaging in the illusory hysterics, but those of my racial extraction as well. I had hoped to avoid all such associations, but so much for the model minority, the deviousness and Machiavellianism of the Oriental cultural heritage rears its ugly head again.

    Shameful.

    -Lee

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    1. Lee

      As the son of a Korean Immigrant (and if you have not already read it) you might be interested in a book titled "Strangers From A Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans" by the late Dr. Ronald Takaki, the son of Japanese Immigrants. Takaki was probably (in my opinion) the most distinguished historian of multiculturalism in our country. Probably his best known work is, "A Different Mirror, A History of Multicultural America". Both books have revised and updated editions.

      Speaking of "apoplectic fits" telling any Leftist (especially white ones, who are in abundance) that there ancestors are European Americans turns them almost purple with rage. They can't accept the fact that White (except in cases of mixed race, Obama is a good example of this) means European. It also means that they might have been slaves in the Roman Empire, since most slaves in that empire were "White". Very few Black slaves under Rome. No reparations for European Americans. Sorry. Anyway enjoy Takaki's books should you be interested. In the end however, we are all members of the human race, aren't we?

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  5. Dr. Waddy et al from Jack: The left is ever on the lookout for potential "revolutionary classes" to be used and then, upon leftist acquisition of secure totalitarian rule, discarded. I have had much association with Asian Americans ;in my experience it is among the young, who lack the harrowing experiences which drove their immigrant parents, that leftist America hate sometimes finds fertile ground. those who left S.E. Asia, Korea and China for this understandably intensely strange land were not stupid. Imagine those of us native to America emigrating to those lands. The utterly amoral left is eager to make of this tragedy a perception of consummate, vicious prejudice against Asians in America. Marked Asian American success in America and the respect this engenders in a (gasp) just America belies this leftist lie.

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  6. Dr.Waddy from Jack: One thousand and one one hundred% dittos to you in celebrating President Trump's brilliant management of the effort to develop a vaccine in America. As a canny businessman he knew when to take a hand and when to let free enterprise bustle! Imagine Queen Hillary in that situation.A plague on those who doubt his hand in this!

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  7. Dr.Waddy from Jack: A Trump media platform is VERY much to be welcomed! We of the both politically and morally right can trust him to stand for us! And this can provide a substantial boost for his return, to dethrone the by then thoroughly discredited national government captured totalitarian left.

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  8. No matter what, a few months from now, most Americans won't remember much of anything about these shootings in Atlanta. Sad! If you asked the average adult American where the High School shootings were out in Colorado, back when, most would not be able to tell you. Sad!

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  9. Ray, your prescription for a truly secure border sounds a lot like the Berlin Wall. And let's face it: the Berlin Wall WORKED! It kept the DDR humming for an extra generation. My view, though, is that the border itself has always been an irrelevance. If we effectively prevented illegals from working, and if we efficiently repatriated illegals when they fell into our hands, no one would come, period. The border could be left wide open, and illegal immigration wouldn't be an issue. Drug smuggling, maybe, but that's a separate challenge.

    Ray, it's true that leftism has always been akin to a religious faith, in some respects, but I would suggest that dialogue with leftists WAS a lot easier, once upon a time. Back before the late 60s, the lefties didn't control any major institutions. They were still obnoxious, sure, but they didn't have the luxury of yelling "Shut up!" at everyone who disagreed with them. They had to play nice, or else they wouldn't get to play at all. Now they treat us with contempt because they know they can. Much has changed.

    Lee, there's naturally nothing inherently derogatory about the term "Oriental". Speaking of which, one assumes that eventually the Left will decide that even the term "Asian" is tainted with white-supremacism. What will its replacement be? The mind boggles!

    Are most Asian-Americans duped by the current hysteria over "Asian hate"? Maybe, but I suspect most are wise enough to understand that it isn't a white monopoly... The vast majority of Asians vote Democratic, in any case, which means their legendary intelligence isn't always backed by common sense.

    Jack, as you know Asian-Americans are a real conundrum for the Left. Their very success, despite a history of harsh discrimination, belies the Left's claims that minorities are destined to join the American underclass without massive government assistance. Meanwhile, the Left insists on mandatory discrimination to remedy minority under-representation, which ironically often involves discrimination AGAINST Asians. And for some reason, as I mentioned above, most Asians vote Democratic anyway. That's evidence that Republicans and conservatives have really dropped the ball in terms of outreach to the Asian community.

    And I agree: it's tragic how second- and third-generation Asian immigrants forget what a glorious land of opportunity this country was/is, and why their ancestors came here in the first place. Can you imagine struggling to become an American, and then watching your children and grandchildren learn to hate America in the public schools? It must be heartbreaking.

    Ray, yes -- these mass shootings are generally soon forgotten. The Left's response to them is always the same (gun control!!!), and, to their immense credit, the American people have never yet followed the siren song. Long may it last.

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  10. Dr. Waddy et al from Jack: This is speculation on my part: perhaps many immigrants from self effacing East Asian cultures think their success in America is DUE to Dem largesse and not the constructive values they brought with them. Lee, do you think this plausible?

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  11. Dr.Waddy from Jack: I have always had a real concern about a "representative" being truly representative and for most of Tom's career he earned my trust in that respect. I regarded his "problem solvers" as an effort to get us a relatively good deal and perhaps gain political capital to be used for the benefit of the real America both in NY and perhaps nationally. Well, his long term political future is probably finished. The future for our district is uncertain. Redistricting.is coming. Cuomo would no doubt have dictated it but his influence is doubtful now. We have garnered much elitist resentment by insolently rejecting Ithaca radical saviors and the Dems may try to stymie that. But geographically Ithaca is a small island of leftist lala in a sea of common sense and good will .Maybe they just want out; good riddance I say. Assemblyman Joe Giglio might run for Tom's seat and if it remains mostly real America, he would have a good chance. Still think Cathy Young would be ideal.

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  12. Dr.Waddy et al from Jack: Since yesterday I've learned much more about North Country N.Y. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (the North Country in N.Y. is GOD's country, real America!) and she appears to be a good, "in their face" prospect for advancing the interests of the real America minority in our occupied state. New York State is two very distinct regions: Lala land New Yawk and its proximate areas and . . . "Upstate" characterized by the North Country wilderness, farm and forest land and even some Appalachia. Upstate we are captured by New Yawk's electoral numerical power but we would rejoice to be relieved of its dictatorial sway!

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  13. To the great middle America, between the infested leftist ruined coasts: take our NY dilemna as a warning: one of the only things protecting you now, aside from your faithful state governments is, the electoral College, which was designed to limit the power of elitist populace areas. Remember that when that institution is attacked by the radicals who now bustle!

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  14. Dr. Re: my three above: I thought was at your next post.

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  15. Jack, it's plausible that Asian-Americans don't credit their success to themselves, as silly as that sounds. Maybe they think they're beneficiaries of (displaced) white privilege? Or maybe, regardless of their success, they still regard themselves as downtrodden? Never underestimate the ability of a leftist to feel sorry for himself! Or herself. Or itself.

    Jack, it seems unlikely that the Southern Tier would end up in a blue district, but with the Dems dictating every aspect of redistricting you never know. I'd say the most likely outcome is that you end up with another Republican, and probably a more conservative one!

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  16. Dr. Waddy from Jack:A few years ago I volunteered to get petition
    primary signatures for a conservative GOP candidate in the Rochester area.I was given a list of registered Republicans and their addresses. I spoke with a very obviously recent Chinese immigrant on the list and he said: " do I have to? " And I replied, "no sir, you are free to express your choice." I could not help but think he had come from a setting where to exercise such liberty was dangerous. The American left is determined to establish such fear in our country!








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