An Embarrassment Of Riches

I hardly expected to wake up this morning:

1. Half a pound lighter than I was on Thanksgiving Day morning;
2. With so many articles to cite and write about.

And you, Gentle Reader, will be the ultimate beneficiary.

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1. The Multiplicity Of Dividers.

Tom Maguire pens an interesting headline...and then fails to exploit it. The headline itself:

When Pundits Just Don't Get It, Part Forever

But the subsequent post fails to address why “pundits just don’t get it.” Maguire does make one pithy statement at the very end:

At the state and local level plenty of politicos from both sides of the aisle will ensure their fundraising success and continued power by promoting division rather than reconciliation. At the Presidential level only one of the strategies can succeed, but if the losing side is competitive and can envision success in the next cycle, the politics of division can continue for quite a while.

Isn’t it quite clear that “pundits,” and the media organs that employ them, have learned to emulate the politicos – that they, too, promote division as a tool for securing a loyal “base?” Once that’s recognized, doesn’t it become immediately clear that such a strategy is far more likely to be deliberate than accidental?

The syndrome isn’t confined to voices on the Left. Few op-ed writers with substantial followings haven’t “chosen a side” and resolved to promote and defend it regardless of all other considerations. And no matter which way your politics incline and which pundits you favor, that is not a good thing. But there I go, trying to talk sense again.

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2. It’s On, The Continuing Saga.

Jerry Pournelle cites an interesting development:

At least one black leader, a State Senator, has declared that we are now in a race war, blacks and their sympathizers vs. everyone else. She has no authority to declare any such thing, and she certainly does not speak for anything like a majority of African Americans, nor, I suspect, for anything like a majority of liberal intellectuals, but it is an astonishing thing to say.

Actually, it’s only astonishing because it was said by an elected official. The truth of the matter has been plain for some time, though American Caucasians have been reluctant to confront it and to respond appropriately. However, Pournelle is as race-shy as most white opinion-mongers:

We are not in a race war, but there are similarities to a barbarian invasion. We have a barbarian culture within the United States. The most common cause of death of black males is to be killed by another black male. There are other sub cultures in which homicide is common. Generally the barbarian culture does not interact with the majority of the middle class, but in so-called ghetto areas American citizens cannot avoid interactions with the barbarian culture. They live there, and they can’t avoid it.

If it’s not a race war, why are nearly all the thugs Negroes, and why are other Negroes so protective of them? Moreover, Pournelle’s take on the distribution of the malady varies from mine. It’s most definitely escaped the urban ghettoes and penetrated the bastions of middle-class America, though it’s left its pretense of “poverty” behind. But Pournelle makes an important observation:

The cure for barbarians within the gates is to educate the barbarian children. Humans are not born civilized. They acquire civility by living in civilization, and they learn it as they grow up in it....American citizens act civilized because they are civilized, not from fear of apprehension and punishment.

Say rather that American citizens once acted civilized because they had been civilized at the earliest stages of their lives, whether by the schools or by their parents. But we’re not quite finished here:

But the way to civilize barbarians is to do it in the schools, from the earliest grades on: enforcement of discipline, being polite, respectful deference to authority – not cringing fear, but respectful deference. But those values have to be instilled, and enforced.

And how, given the Left’s near to absolute control of American education from kindergarten to graduate studies, are we to bring that about?

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3. Barbarism.

The redoubtable Mike Hendrix moves from Pournelle’s piece to other fascinating citations. Here are the ones that knocked me for a loop:

Bosnian immigrants respond in the comment section of this post (which, you’ll notice, is oh-so-careful not mention the race of the black savages who perpetrated the attack):

Ok, Bosnian businesses in St. Louis, it’s time to show who’s in charge. Let us chase the animals away from our neighborhood. No tolerance. None whatsoever. You mess with us? You mess with genocide victims? You don’t stand a chance. We will wipe you out! No EBT cards accepted at any Bosnian businesses from now on. Bevo Mill neighborhood is our land now. We will use our language and we will do as we see fit. All are welcome, yes, this is America, the land of many peoples, but we will not tolerate any more of this nonsense. If any suspicious African-American woman or man comes onto Bosnian businesses, you will most definitely be stopped and questioned. Every single last one of you. You will be questioned and you will have to answer to us. You will be interrogated. If you do not keep up your properties, you will be forced out. If you do not pull up your pants, we will pull them up for you. It is now time. We are cleaning up the south side. No tolerance.

Another:

That’s it. Five Bosnians now have been murdered by black men. That’s the last straw. No mercy for these animals. We will drive them out of the neighborhood. Our Bosnian economy is getting stronger. We will not speak English to them in our stores. We will not rent to them. It is over, folks, completely over. We have suffered genocide and we will not suffer it again. I am a person who is very considerate. I love Croatians, Serbians, etc. I have friends from everywhere. But for those who will destroy us, I will not be friends nor will I give them my business. We will drive them out. We Bosnians will drive these animals out. I hope the media will take note. Because we will discriminate.

In Tom Clancy’s first, blockbuster novel The Hunt For Red October, Clancy has Jack Ryan muse, en passant, over the possibility that it would take immigrants attracted to America by American ideals -- not by America’s opulent standard of living – to keep those ideals alive and well defended. Perhaps the Bosnian immigrants who penned the above comments are part of such a defensive cadre. We shall see.

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4. The Rationalizers.

Fourth, have some observations and thoughts from the indefatigable Sara Noble:

“Demon” and “aggressive” are racist terms and whites don’t see black children “as worthy of being alive”. The problems affecting black society stem from slavery of their ancestors. All this is according to one liberal black writer and one has to wonder how many others believe exactly as she does.

Stacey Patton, in an article in The Washington Post last week, presented a bizarre piece to justify the violence and criminality we see in Ferguson and elsewhere.

Patton is a pretty, smart, accomplished black woman who made her own way out of dismal circumstances and came to the conclusion that slavery and white people are to blame for what ails poor black communities. Ferguson and Michael Brown serve as examples of police brutality and mistreatment of blacks in her mind.

Not once does she or anyone mention gangs and drugs when they discuss Ferguson but it is gangs that are destroying black communities.

Her premise is that whites, particularly white police officers, don’t see black children as children, they see them as threats. It is the reason they are disproportionately represented in prisons, it is the reason for much of their problems, according to Stacey Patton.

The reality is that absentee parents, drugs and gangs are destroying black youth.

Please read the whole thing.

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5. Polymath.

The novel is taking longer to complete than I first thought it would, because the final segment, which (for the first time since I first embarked on a novel-length project) is intended to act as a bridge to a sequel. Making it sound for both purposes – i.e., as a story in its own right and as a segue piece – is costing me considerable effort.

Yes, there will be further novels and stories in the Onteora Canon. Christine D’Alessandro, Malcolm Loughlin, Kevin Conway, Todd Iverson, and Stephen Graham Sumner will all be back. I hope you’re happy about that.

And yes, I really, truly do intend to finish the novel based on “The Warm Lands.” Honest Injun.

Have a nice, non-fattening Cyber Monday.

(Cross-posted at League Of Outlaw Bloggers.)