Please America, Try NOT To Miss a Roger Kimball Brain Article

The Appeal of the New Totalitarians

It’s easy to understand and reject the horrors of totalitarianism. It is much less easy to grasp its inexorable logic or its seemingly implacable attractions.By Roger Kimball

April 3, 2021

Iam not a follower or a fan of baseball. But I understand that it is, or has been, an important national pastime, beloved by many, not least, as Andrew McCarthy observes in a recent column, because it offered its acolytes a respite or oasis from politics, an arena where our differences of opinion could be redeemed or at least temporarily forgotten in the benign if intense partisanship of fandom. 

It is for this reason that, impervious though I am to the charms of the sport, I regard with disdain the decision on the part of the woke commissars who run Major League Baseball to abandon Atlanta, Georgia. The reason they gave was that Georgia had passed new voter rights legislation requiring, among other things, that voters present valid identification in order to be eligible to vote. They called that a violation of “fair access to voting” when in fact it is legislation, very similar to that in effect in many other states, whose chief effect will be to make elections fairer. You need an ID to board a plane, check into a hotel, enter most urban businesses, but not to vote? 

I see that Delta Airlines has also joined the woke brigade by taking a public stand against the Georgia legislation. How will the airline respond if you refuse to show a valid identification before boarding? (After Delta finished with its woke high horse, American Airlines borrowed it to present its own little exhibition of politically correct grandstanding with respect to similar legislation in Texas.) 

This is all just business as usual in what more and more seems like the twilight of the republic. The cultural critic Stephen Soukup has anatomized the phenomenon in a new book that we just published at Encounter called The Dictatorship of Woke Capital: How Political Correctness Captured Big Business. Quite apart from its illuminating historical analysis, the book is a plea to turn away from the politicization of everything that stands behind such phenomena as sports concessions and airlines—to say nothing of Hollywood, the media, and the fount of it all, academia—insinuating politics into every dimension of life. “The choice here,” Soukup writes in his conclusion, “is simple.”

If we, as a civilization allow even the spirit of capitalism to become part of “the political” and part of the total state, then we will have order—for however long that lasts. If we resist the politicization of business and of capital markets, however; if we determine for ourselves that disorder and depoliticization are the preferable options, then we not only preserve liberty but also preserve the spirit of innovation and expression that harnesses liberty to create wealth and prosperity.

I think Soukup is correct, and his analysis of the way the totalizing process of the politicization of everything has proceeded in other situations should give us all pause. 

Political correctness has always had a silly as well as a minatory side. The silly side is evident in its juvenile narcissism. It is so obviously a product of a rich and leisured society that it is hard to take its antics seriously. There is a reason that it had its origins in the academy. Those privileged eyries could afford to allow their charges to prance around whining about how oppressed or “triggered” or offended they were since they occupied the coddled purlieus of a place apart—apart from the serious business of everyday life and in this country, anyway, apart from the less forgiving imperatives of genuine want. 

But as the spirit of political correctness has leached out into society at large, its antics have assumed a more threatening aspect. This is something that Rod Dreher put his finger on in “Elites vs. America,” his column that takes off from the embarrassing behavior of Major League Baseball to consider the progress of woke ideology in America circa 2021. It is not a cheery tale. 

What is the America against which the elites have pitched themselves? It is the America articulated in the Declaration of Independence: a polity founded on the proposition that “all men are created equal.” Where are we today? Dreher quotes the governor of Vermont, who a few days ago tweeted the news that “If you or anyone in your household identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC), including anyone with Abenaki or other First Nations heritage, all household members who are 16 years or older can sign up to get a vaccine!” So, all men are created equal, but some are more equal than others. 

Dreher began his column with an arresting quotation from Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism. In a section about the “temporary alliance between the mob and the elite,” Arendt observes that “The members of the elite did not object at all to paying a price, the destruction of civilization, for the fun of seeing how those who had been excluded unjustly in the past forced their way into it.” 

“The destruction of civilization.” It’s a melodramatic formulation, to be sure, but it was entirely apt for the situation Arendt was analyzing. That was the price the elites did, in fact, pay. We are living at a moment that is both increasingly fissiparous and increasingly dominated by a totalizing ideology, the ideology of racialist wokeness and radical sexual exoticism. 

More and more, the disciples of that species of “politics-is-everything” determine the lineaments of our social life. Give obeisance or leave your job. Mouth the platitudes or forgo admission to college. Carry the placards or risk ostracism. To those who are lucky enough to have found a niche on the sidelines apart from the machine-like demands for loyalty (“silence is violence”), the whole process can still seem faintly comical or at least absurd. 

But there is a distinctly malevolent aspect to what is unfolding, as Arendt saw with brutal lucidity. It’s easy to understand and reject the horrors of totalitarianism. It is much less easy to grasp its inexorable logic or its seemingly implacable attractions. It was part of Arendt’s genius to grasp and explain that side of the phenomenon as well, the “irresistible appeal of the totalitarian movements’ spurious claim to have abolished the separation between private and public life and to have restored a mysterious irrational wholeness in man.” It’s what makes the effort to transform politics into God so appealing to susceptible souls, and so dangerous for society as a whole.TwitterFacebookParlerShare onTwitterFacebookParler

About Roger Kimball

Roger Kimball is editor and publisher of The New Criterion and the president and publisher of Encounter Books. He is the author and editor of many books, including The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia (St. Augustine’s Press), The Rape of the Masters (Encounter), Lives of the Mind: The Use and Abuse of Intelligence from Hegel to Wodehouse (Ivan R. Dee), and Art’s Prospect: The Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity (Ivan R. Dee).

But, Canada, our Minnesota neighbor, Has Been Dancing with Crooked Fascism for Three Decades Already!

How not to cower before the COVID police

By Andrea Widburg at American Thinker:

One of Jesus’s last acts before his crucifixion was the incident we know as “the cleansing of the temple,” when he thew the money changers out of the Temple in Jerusalem for defiling God’s house. That image came inexorably to my mind when I saw the video of a Canadian pastor, through sheer force of will, sending eight COVID cops, many of them armed, out of the church.

Visually, the video is simple but compelling. The church is on the second story of a building with a stairway leading directly from the front door up to the place where the congregation assembles. A masked female spokeswoman has climbed all the stairs. Behind her are seven police officers, in uniform, and all heavily armed with guns, cuffs, safety vests, and the ubiquitous and useless cheap paper masks.

The woman is trying to speak but there is a voice from behind the camera that thunders “Get out!” No matter what she says, he tells her some variation of “Out! And don’t come back unless you have a warrant.” The police stand quietly watching their spokeswoman as she is repeatedly prevented from saying her COVID shtick.

Every time the woman tries to speak, the man is clear. “I don’t want to hear anything. Out of this property immediately. I don’t want to hear a word. Out! Out!”

He doesn’t get physical. He doesn’t threaten her. He doesn’t waste too many words. She backs down a step. And she backs down another step. And the policeman who climbed the stairs with her starts backing down too.

When they move too slowly for him, the man begins to call them “Nazis” and “Gestapo.” Now, normally, I’m opposed to the operation of Godwin’s law which holds that, sooner or later, every argument devolves into one side calling the other something to do with the Nazis. (The law is directed at internet arguments, but it applies generally to the world today.) However, what we see in the video is heavily armed police invading a house of worship during Holy Week. Moreover, they’re doing so as part of a year-long complete denial of civil liberties. What makes the loss of civil liberties even more serious is that the experiences of Florida versus New York, and of schools demanding masks versus those that do not, show there’s no serious evidence that masks make a difference.

My suspicion is that the masks worsen things because people keep handling them. What really matters is that people wash their hands more and keep them away from their faces – the same as always when dealing with a virus.

But back to that man. Eventually, the police sheepishly retire, completely bested by his refusal to be intimated. In the second video, the man, tells everyone watching that all free people must stand against this tyranny. He describes how Germany has completely given itself over to the vaccine passport madness and says that, if Canadians don’t fight back, the same will happen there. He knows he may get arrested (indeed, in Canada, will probably get arrested), but he’s willing to take a stand nevertheless. 

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/04/how_not_to_cower_before_the_covid_police.html

It’s Time to Battle Dem’s Fascist Programs!

 BY PAUL MIRENGOFF at PowerLine:

TRUMP CALLS FOR BOYCOTT OF WOKE ENTERPRISES

Donald Trump is encouraging people to boycott companies and organizations that cave to, or do the bidding of, the left. He mentioned by name Major League Baseball, Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, ViacomCBS, Citigroup, Cisco, UPS, and Merck.

Trump said:

For years the Radical Left Democrats have played dirty by boycotting products when anything from that company is done or stated in any way that offends them. It is finally time for Republicans and Conservatives to fight back—we have more people than they do—by far!

I’m not sure the last part of that statement is true, but it doesn’t matter. There are more than enough conservatives to inflict a huge amount of economic pain on enterprises that take the left’s side in political and cultural disputes — if conservatives wake up to reality and are willing to fight back.

I patronize two of the entities Trump mentioned — Major Baseball and Coca-Cola. No more.

I turned down the opportunity offered by a good friend to attend Opening Day for the Washington Nationals. The weather is supposed to great, the pitching matchup (deGrom vs. Scherzer) could scarcely be better, and the Nationals will finally be honored for winning the 2019 World Series.

But I won’t be there.

I’ve been drinking Coca-Cola since I was a child. My mother, a wise woman, realized that the stuff is bad you and limited me to half a bottle a week, which I shared with my sister every Friday when we were young. (To minimize the chances of either of us getting one drop more than the other, one of us would pour the bottle into two glasses and the other one would pick his/her glass.)

I’m still my mother’s offspring to some degree. Thus, since retiring from the practice of law, I limit myself to four mini-cans of Coke per week. I look forward to them almost as much as when I was ten.

But I’m done drinking Coke. From now on, it’s sparkling water in its place or, if I’m desperate, an alternative soft drink produced by another company.

I hope millions of conservatives will heed Trump’s call and, to the extent feasible, boycott every enterprise that sides with the left. If only the left flexes its economic muscle, we will lose the culture and political wars in a rout.

Will Fascist DEM-Washington Continue Its Dictatorial Grip on OUR U.S. YEAR of Covid TERROR IMPRISONMENT FRAUD?

BY JOHN HINDERAKER at PowerLine:

HAPPY EASTER! [UPDATED]

Happy Easter to all of our Christian readers!

I confess to feeling surly about the fact that this is the second consecutive Easter on which we have not been able to actually go to church. In many quarters, the covid shutdown persists. I think that our collective reaction to the coronavirus will be studied for many years to come as an instance of terrible public policy, driven by emotion and politics rather than by data and common sense. The closing of the churches is just one facet of that irrational, fear-driven response.

Fear-driven, but obviously welcome in some circles. There is nothing like an alleged emergency to expand the powers of government and constrict ever more tightly the private sphere that once predominated in our culture. Churches closed for Easter–hey, don’t worry, there is a pre-recorded “service” available online!–are a powerful symbol of a society gone badly astray.

UPDATE: The Babylon Bee links Easter and covid in a more amusing way:https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=powerlineUS&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1378708942205771777&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.powerlineblog.com%2Farchives%2F2021%2F04%2Fhappy-easter-11.php&siteScreenName=powerlineUS&theme=light&widgetsVersion=e1ffbdb%3A1614796141937&width=550px

“This Week” Parrot DEM Stephanopoulous Hosts BIDEN voting CRIMES

Chris Christie Causes Pain on ABC News by Pointing out Real Reason Biden Is Attacking Georgia’s Voting Law

By Sister Toldjah | at HotAir:

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

As we’ve previously documented, President Biden and members of his administration including White House press secretary Jen Psaki are straight-up lying about Georgia’s new voting law, so much so that even fact-checkers who are typically friendly to Democrats are calling them out on it.

To make matters worse, Biden’s falsehoods and those of failed 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams have now cost the state the Major League Baseball All-Star game, which was pulled Friday just two days after Biden said he would “strongly support” such a move.

ABC News “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos had a panel of guests on this morning to discuss “the latest fallout” from the law including the MLB caving to woke mobs and pulling the game. One of his guests was former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was clearly incensed by what Biden was doing and set about to point out some inconvenient truths during the segment.

When asked by Stephanopoulos if the MLB “made the right move” with their decision, Christie instead took direct aim at Biden for being a raging hypocrite who promised unity and healing but instead was delivering needless division:

And I hate to come in here this morning to say this because I sat here and listened to the president’s inaugural address. And I just want a couple of real quick points from it.

“Politics need not be a raging fire that destroys everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war, and we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated or made up.”

And Joe Biden’s broken his own rule, 84 days. And now, he’s lying to the American people, George. He’s lying about this bill. He’s lying to the American people about it to cause the raging fire he said he was going to put out. I’m very disappointed.

Chris Christie calls out Joe Biden for “lying to the American people” about Georgia election bill https://youtu.be/Bd9eTf72W2A










Stephanopoulos then turned to Democracy for America CEO Yvette Simpson, who proclaimed the 17 days that the Georgia bill allowed for early voting was not enough. “I think that, you know, what do we need to do to make sure early voting gets expanded. Seventeen days is not enough early voting,” she said
If that’s the case, Christie wondered, then why was Stacey Abrams praising New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) for allowing 9 days of early voting in his state at the same time she called Georgia’s law “Jim Crow 2.0“?
Well, Stacey Abrams, by the way, Stacey Abrams was in New Jersey, in my state, praising Phil Murphy this week for a voting law where New Jersey early voting is nine days. Half, half of what Georgia is.
Yet she’s on TV in New Jersey — I saw it myself — saying that this is one of the greatest voting expansion bills we’ve ever seen, but this is Jim Crow? I’m sorry, George.
Watch:


At another point during the discussion, Simpson then told the “voters can’t be given water while standing in line” lie, and Christie again fired back with the truth about what the law called for:
SIMPSON: You should ask the people who know. You should ask the people who know. I’ve been doing voter protection for 10 years. Just the idea that you can’t give people water in line. I know people’s babies —
CHRISTIE: No, that’s just not true.
SIMPSON: I have held people’s babies while they go in to vote in order to enfranchise the vote. Do it by — do it by all (INAUDIBLE).
CHRISTIE: You can’t do electioneering — excuse me. That’s — I’m sorry, that’s just wrong.
[…]
CHRISTIE: A hundred and fifty feet, where, in New Jersey, in Chicago and any place else in the country, you’re not — he’s saying partisan groups cannot do electioneering by giving out food and water. And in the Georgia bill says that there can be water provided by the state of Georgia, just not by partisan groups.
Watch:

But the biggest bomb Christie dropped was in pointing out the true motivations behind Biden’s lies about the Georgia law:

This is — it expands early voting in Georgia. The president said it ended it.
Listen, he’s what Joe Biden’s got to live with when he wakes up this morning on Easter morning. He is doing exactly what he sat around in the campaign and the transition and accused Donald Trump of doing. He is lying to cause racial divisions in this country. That’s what he accused Donald Trump of doing and he’s a liar and a hypocrite this morning (ph).
You could see the flustered face on Simpson as Christie pointed out the elephant in the room. Watch:

Christie nailed it. At the heart of the attacks on the law by Biden, Abrams, and other Democrats is the desire to keep Georgia’s newly minted blue status for years to come. Manipulating minority voters, as Democrats have done for decades, is a big part of their plan to do so.
But with Gov. Brian Kemp making clear Saturday that he will not back down from this fight, as well as other Republicans like Christie going into the lion’s den and setting the record straight, the Democrat attacks on the state could ultimately end up backfiring at the ballot box once more Georgians learn that the reason their state lost jobs and money over this law was because those on the left who claim to be trying to protect it from harm were lying about it the entire time.

MAY GOD BLESS OUR AMERICA!

Today’s Americans don’t seem to be able to hear beautiful, stimulating, harmonious, inspiring music anymore.

They lack work abilities, soul, knowledge, understanding and know little truth either at home or abroad. ITS SCHOOLS ARE CORRUPT! Many are on drugs, others are black lives matter and antifa thugs and on Biden! The nation is becoming Godless!

And then, there are our “Zuckerbergs” owning the Dem fascistic Country of our today by hook and crook.

Most Americans LIVE in “Zuckerberg” Dem “urbana” today. Perhaps there’s no longer any profit in selling things, thoughts, feelings inspiring in music, truth, beauty or happiness in America anymore.

THIS what the World of Big Tech and Big Teach, General Business Gangsters, University sales crooks creating today’s CNN, PBS, and MSNBC world AND THEIR Arrogant fascist TEACHERS, where truth no longer has significant meaning.

Beautiful, inspiring music goes from ear to ear, from brain and on to soul to God and Country, especially to the God-fearing, trained American. Nearly ALL American Jews prefer, even are able to demand seeking citizen civility, honesty, kindness and peace, don’t you agree?https://www.youtube.com/embed/SRmCEGHt-Qk?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

BY GLENN H. RAY….merely a typical old fashioned AMERICAN JudeoChristian citizen from that twentieth century American dream devoted to seeking Truth, Civility, Peace, and Knowledge as I was taught to do at Church and Public School alike.

HAPPY EASTER 2021 AMERICA!