It’s been a while since I’ve posted a rant. I’ve had a lot of ideas, but then life, and the fiction writing cropped up, making me feel slightly guilty to be writing political screeds when I should be doing other things. But a recent X exchange with a friend (yes, I know him in real life, and one of these days at a con I am going to make a point of sitting down with him and his wife and having a long conversation over beers). He mentioned that while re-watching Firefly he noticed:
… something that stands out to me is how well they sell the Western genre themes, especially self-reliance, vigilante justice, and the inefficacy of the government. Hard to reconcile with how so many fans can watch and be pro-big government.
The following (very) short back and forth went thusly:
Me: They separate reality & the themes of the show because they don’t believe the Alliance could ever exist in real life. They all also put themselves in Mal & crew’s shoes, fighting “the man.” They fail to see the similarities b/t real big gov’t & the Alliance.
Friend: Yeah, it is just such a profoundly big disconnect to me, the assumption that if the *right* people are in total control, everything will work instead of realizing that *no one* should have that power and authority.
Me: Well, they have the moral authority to do so… at least in their minds. My dad used to say people like that think “how can we be wrong when we’re so sincere?” They believe *they*, unlike the rest of us progs, will wield total authority nicely, fairly, and justly.
The progressive left has this generalized assumption that they are the purveyors of all that is good, right, and light in the world of government and politics. How can they be wrong when they’re so sincere? They fail to realize there are multiple paths to solve the problems we all face today. They also see only one solution to the problem. They find one path and one solution, and that’s the only one they can see, and it’s the only one they want others to see/use.
If you find a different path to the their solution, you will be called a racist, an everything-phobe, and every other name they think of as a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad epithet. Why? Because, in proposing a different path you have clearly shown your failure to truly support the cause. God help you if you propose a different solution. Then you get all the epithets above, in addition you run the risk of getting doxxed, or death threats. At the very least, you will be cut off from anyone you used to associate with or think of as a friend.
Why does the progressive left, and Democrats in general, believe they are the embodiment of all good in the world? The only thing I can think of, aside from amazingly high levels of narcissism and too many participation trophies, is they’ve been convinced that the label “progressive” means they are always making forward progress and that the progress is always, and I mean always, toward some good and moral final goal… like unicorns and rainbows over every house, all of society’s problems solved, and no more hate, war, etc. in the world. We’re all familiar with the mantra.
The big stumbling block for the progressive left (aside from the fact most of us strongly object being told what to do “for our own good”) is they fail to recognize that progress isn’t always toward some laudable goal. They define progress as inherently good no matter where it’s aimed. Remember, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. “Wait. When I said we should do this, I didn’t expect that to happen!”
In Firefly, when Mal was asked, by an Alliance commander, why he named his ship Serenity seeing as how the battle of Serenity Valley was the final nail in the coffin for the Independent Planets, Mal replied: “May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.” He still carries the values he fought for, and one of those is the value of small to very small government. The Alliance is an overwhelming authoritarian government which seeks to control every aspect of the lives of everyone living within its area of control. People can watch that exchange, be fervently on Mal’s side of the discussion, turn off the TV, and go right back to advocating for massive government bureaucracies for all of us. How does that work??
Today’s progressives believe that government, and more of it, is the solution to all the problems we face in the world. Everything from poverty, racism, war… all of it. Anything that causes people to be unhappy should be solved by government. Like my friend, who’s comment inspired this rant, I am very puzzled by this. People, including progressives, complain loudly about the inefficiency of bureaucracies from the DMV to the IRS to the VA to the post office. Why do they think if the government controls more, things will get better?
And more importantly, why do they think they, and those who think like them, are the best people to be solving all the problems we deal with day in and day out? And how do they not see that by declaring disagreement with policies/ideas/solutions to be racist, everything-phobic, and all the rest, they are using those labels as an excuse to then eliminate all who disagree?
If there’s no disagreement, then everything will be perfect, right? Right?!
Who decided the progressive left is more moral and truthful than all the rest of us?
When someone tells you they are doing something TO you for your own good, run in the opposite direction as fast as you can. For your own good.
They don’t have your interests at heart at all. They have their own power at heart. And they will go to any lengths necessary to protect that power.
Nobody, not politicians, not so-called experts, no-bo-dy should have absolute power over you. If you still desire such a strong, controlling government, I invite you to pay attention to China, North Korea, Cuba, the former USSR, Afghanistan, Iran under the Islamic Republic, Venezuela under Chavez and Maduro, Germany under Hitler, Indonesia under Suharto, Uganda under Idi Amin, Zimbabwe under Mugabe, and more. That was not intended to be an exhaustive list. Go find an honest, unedited, history book and see how those governments treat/treated their people. It’s really not pretty.
The “right” or “correct” or “best” people are not usually the ones you want in charge. Think about the stories that portray characters dealing with governments, tyrants, kings, secret societies, whatever, in the books, movies, and TV shows you like the best. And then figure out why you like those stories so much.
There’s your answer about how the “right” people behave when they’re given absolute power.
It’s ugly.
2 Responses
Once had one ask me, as if baffled, whether I did not believe the economy would be better if given some direction by wise officials.
He had openly stated before that he thought he was one of the wise, which was reason enough, but I instead pointed out the information problem with a planned economy. It requires that they know things to plan, but the bottleneck would make that difficult, and their plans would push information channels into carrying their orders and not the information they needed.
Also, there’s just the teeeeny little problem that those “experts” seize every opportunity to enrich themselves even as they preach the joys of poverty at the rest of us.