Consistency

     If we leave aside a single, oft-misquoted and generally misunderstood statement from Ralph Waldo Emerson, there is general agreement that expecting intelligent persons to be consistent in their overall behavior and outlook is itself intelligent. Inconsistency, after all, leads to inconsistent results. One cannot learn from such results. Indeed, inconsistency of method is one of the sources of superstitious behavior.

     Therefore it is reasonable to expect people – at least, people not so muddled as to need minders – to be consistent, and equally reasonable to be surprised when they’re not. That applies to the arrogant and vicious quite as well as to anyone else:

     When news of Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis broke, many unhinged liberals took to Twitter to express joy, and even wish death upon the president.

     It would be nice to believe that unhinged liberals on social media aren’t representative of the whole Democratic Party, but sadly, according to a new Morning Consult poll, they might actually be pretty darn close.

     According to the newly released poll, 41 percent of Democrats are “indifferent” about Trump’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis, while a staggering 40 percent responded that they were “happy” about it. Republicans, however, were mostly “sad” (55 percent) and “worried” (51 percent).

     Thirty-one percent of Democrats actually claimed to be “excited” at the news.

     And of course, the Left’s major mouthpiece organ is openly hoping that COVID-19 will remove President Trump from the presidential race, and thus from office. Charming, isn’t it? (About like Charming, California.)

     This is entirely consistent with the Left’s premise of its own moral and intellectual superiority. A few words from that earlier essay are highly relevant here:

     When the premise is that the person with whom you’re arguing is on a far lower intellectual and moral plane than you, such that you need not grant him the respect due a putative equal, the consequences can be disastrous:

• Persons too stupid to be reasoned with can legitimately be deceived and coerced “for their own good.”
• Persons who lack an adequate moral sense can legitimately be forcibly re-educated, confined, or eliminated “for the greater good.”
• Worst of all, persons who, though assumed to be your intellectual and moral inferiors, turn out to be right when you were wrong, can make you look like a fool.

     I submit that it’s that last possibility that poses the greatest hazard to the body politic....

     Wrap your good right hand around those premises and rip them out roots and all, perhaps as follows:

Miscellaneous Arrogant Leftist: [Insert some insulting statement founded on the “stupid or evil” premise here.]
Offended Conservative: Tell me, do you think I’m your intellectual inferior?
MAL: Well, no, but...
OC: Do you think I’m morally deficient?
MAL: Well, I wouldn’t say so, but...
OC: Because what you’ve just said implies either or both. It’s extremely offensive, the sort of remark that once led to pistols at dawn. As I always assume an adult has said what he meant to say, you can continue this conversation by yourself. [Turns and strides away.]

     Until now the alternative response of fisticuffs has been deplored, but might just be coming into fashion.