Assorted…But Not Really

     I fear that the day looming before me will be a trying one, Gentle Reader. I hope the following brief collage of links and observations will tide us both over until the storms have passed.

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     “People are never more sincere than when they assume their own moral superiority.” – Thomas Sowell

     I would suggest a small addendum to Dr. Sowell’s insight. I would note that people are equally sincere when they proclaim their own moral superiority. Nor need such a proclamation be explicit. Indeed, the most common form is what has come to be known as virtue signaling.

     Virtue signaling is a common practice. The Left is widely known for it, but it also occurs among persons of other political alignments. It most often manifests itself as a pronouncement of negative judgment upon others’ actions or preferences. The case I castigated here is a good one for study.

     Virtue signaling can be a purely tactical matter; that is, it can arise from a desire to claim the moral high ground in some argument. However, it can also express a need to feel superior to others that has nothing to do with any controversy.

     American public life is full of virtue signalers. Which of them are straining to win arguments? Which are exalting themselves out of an internal need? And which are doing so “on advice of counsel?” One can never be perfectly certain, of course…but oftentimes the evidence will compel one conclusion and permit no other.

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     Here’s today’s forest of interesting links:

• Obnoxious reporters ruin the Monday briefing on coronavirus
• President trending as ‘racist-in-chief’ after he fends off attack by female ‘reporters’
• China Calls for Global Media Takeover by ‘Belt and Road News Network’
• Is Obama’s Long History of Playing Dirty Finally Catching Up With Him?
• BREAKING: U.S. Officials Have Declassified List Of Obama Officials Who Were Involved In ‘Unmasking’ General Flynn
• Why Did Obama Tell The FBI To Hide Its Activities From The Trump Administration?
• Transcripts: James Clapper May Have Lied to Congress About Briefing Obama on Flynn-Kislyak Calls
• President Obama Declares “There Is No Precedent That Anybody Can Find” For The Flynn Motion

     I hope you’ll at least glance at those stories. There’s a lot of virtue signaling – in several cases, outright lying as well – going on among the persons they cover. I leave it to my Gentle Readers to sort them into the appropriate tactical / psychological / “on advice of counsel” pigeonholes. I don’t think you’ll find it difficult.

     As I said in the previous segment, such behavior is common in our public life. But I would have you ask yourself: Ought we to tolerate it as we so often do? Surely not when it involves an outright lie, as in Barack Hussein Obama’s “no precedent” mealy-mouthery. (That was a particularly clumsy lie: as one of the last acts of his presidency, Obama pardoned a general who had been accused, tried, and convicted of lying to the FBI.) At other times it might be no worse than obnoxious, but how much more tolerable should that be?

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     Of the seven virtues closely associated with Christian allegiance:

• Faith,
• Hope,
• Charity,
• Prudence,
• Justice,
• Temperance,
• Fortitude,

     …the one that has eluded me most often, and most maddeningly, is temperance:

     Temperance is defined as moderation or voluntary self-restraint. It is typically described in terms of what an individual voluntarily refrains from doing. This includes restraint from retaliation in the form of non-violence and forgiveness, restraint from arrogance in the form of humility and modesty, restraint from excesses such as splurging now in the form of prudence, and restraint from excessive anger or craving for something in the form of calmness and self-control.

     Not to put too fine a point on it, I’m an exceedingly intemperate person. Both my enthusiasms and my animosities are supercharged, and always have been. As an old friend once put it, I yell loud and I kiss loud. It’s one of the biggest reasons I’ve become an isolate. There’s no justification for disturbing others’ peace as I am wont to do…as I seem incapable of not doing.

     So instead of socializing, I write. That puts the burden of choice on the potential consumer. If he enjoys immersing himself in the fulminations of a raving Irish-American lunatic, so be it; if not, he can walk away unscathed. And with relevance to the thrust of the previous segments: Might the world be a better place – a more peaceful, less stressful place – if our public virtue-signalers were to adopt a similar course?

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     “Remind me,” Jubal told her, “to write an article on the compulsive reading of news. The theme will be that most neuroses can be traced to the unhealthy habit of wallowing in the troubles of five billion strangers. Title is ‘Gossip Unlimited’—no, make that ‘Gossip Gone Wild.’ ”

     [Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land ]

     Indeed. Among other things, such wallowing is a stimulus to virtue signaling by oneself. Just sayin’. Anyway, back to our Swedish movie.

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     Finally, a semi-relevant observation about the Kung Flu / Wuhan Crud / Lung Pao Sicken / Bat Soup Flu. It has now been established that we didn’t know anything about this virus when its spread began. All the predictions have been confounded. All the advice has been battled over, contradicted, argued and reargued, and we still have no idea how to avert further damage from it. Accordingly, everyone who’s made a strident, hyper-confident factual assertion about this disease should be viewed with skepticism forevermore. A proper respect for “the ignorance of experts” (Richard Feynman) demands it…to say nothing of the salutary effect it would have on our equanimity, by dampening our public virtue-signalers.

     Have a nice day.