…and Stick It Where The Sun Don’t Shine!

I’m tired, tired beyond words. I know I’m not alone in feeling the way I do, but that knowledge does nothing to alleviate the overwhelming weariness that bears down upon me like a mountain of boulders. This weariness is does not come as a result of any physical exertion, it is mental and comes from being unable to find people with whom I can hold an intelligent conversation.

I’m not saying everyone in this country is an absolute moron, although there are a great many that do fall into that category. I don’t judge a person’s intelligence based upon how much they do know; rather I base it upon how well they realize that there is a lot they don’t know, but wish to learn.

I’m not the smartest person in the world, yet I’m constantly being told by some that I’m extremely smart, and my rants are shared by others as if they were the words of a prophet. While I appreciate the fact that these rants are being read, and shared, I am no smarter than anyone else; unless of course you consider the desire to learn more the gauge by which intelligence is measured.

The information which forms the basis of my beliefs and opinions is available to all who have a smart phone with a search engine app; all that is required is that people have the desire to go out and find it for themselves.

It seems that American are infatuated with celebrities. We have Reality TV shows that people watch faithfully that chronicle the lives of people who have done absolutely nothing of importance other than having a famous name, or starred in a blockbuster movie. Tell me, if you can, what has any of the Kardashian’s done that has made the world a better place, or brought enlightenment to the masses. If you can do that, I’ll shut up about celebrities.

Yet there is one celebrity I wouldn’t mind meeting, but my desire to meet this person has nothing to do with the films he’s appeared in. This person is actor Stephen Fry, who has appeared in films such as V For Vendetta, Sherlock Holmes, and A Fish Called Wanda. It is not his acting skills, or his choice of films to appear in that makes me want to meet him; it is the fact that some of the things he’s said give me the impression that he can actually THINK; which among celebrities is a rare quality.

One of the things Fry has said that I find relevant to the topic of this discussion is, “Information is all around us, now more than ever before in human history. You barely have to stir or incommode yourself to find things out. The only reason people do not know much is because they do not care to know. They are incurious. Incuriosity is the oddest and most foolish failing there is.”

I’ve heard people hold discussions on the capabilities of a particular football team’s offense which have lasted for long periods of time, yet ask them to explain the organization of our system of government and the specific powers given each branch and they go deathly silent. The only conclusion I can draw from that is that either they don’t want to talk about a dry boring subject like the structure of their government, or they know absolutely nothing about it – which in both cases is foolish, for government permeates into every aspect of their lives.

I can understand their ignorance; especially considering that most are the products of a public education. Ignorance, in and of itself, is not a failing, it is merely the lack of knowledge or information on a subject. However, willful ignorance, or the refusal to accept facts that contradict existing beliefs IS a failing, and a big one.

I’ve been proven to be wrong many times. I could have just ignored the information which proved I was wrong and gone on believing whatever I wanted, but that would have been a character deficiency; a lack of integrity on my part. So what I did was I weighed the evidence provided to me against that which supported my existing beliefs, and changed my beliefs to conform to the most compelling evidence.

That process is the very essence of a debate; albeit in my case it was all done internally without any outward signs that a debate was taking place inside my head. A real debate, or at least an honest one, is one in which two opposing group’s present evidence to support their positions on an issue and the winner is the side that provides the most compelling evidence.

You can become passionate when you are debating someone, but you must never lose sight of the fact that you must be able to provide evidence supporting your position on an issue, or the debate devolves into an argument with one side using logic and the other reacting entirely based upon emotional triggers that have no basis in fact.

You can tell when you’ve lost a debate when adjectives start entering into the arguments of your opponent. For instance, the other day I was debating someone on Facebook about something and, for awhile, the debate remained civil. Then, when the person I was debating had exhausted their supply of supporting evidence they began inserting adjectives into their argument; which were, not intended to counter my arguments, but instead designed to discredit me as a person.

Within the course of about 5 minutes I was told I was crazy, that I was a Libertarian, and that I was dangerous. None of those comments had any relation to the subject under discussion; they were simply character attacks upon me leveled by someone who COULD NO LONGER SUPPORT THEIR POSITION WITH FACTS.

This isn’t the first time that has happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Yet it is tiresome arguing with people when they refuse to admit that they might be wrong in their position. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but a person with any amount of integrity will admit when their opinions are wrong if the evidence provided proves that to be the case.

I will gladly debate anyone who comes to the debate armed with facts to back up their position. However, I have decided that I will no longer argue with people who cannot support their position with facts. If I’m talking to someone and they begin hurling insults or emotionally based comments, I’ll simply walk away. If I’m on some social media platform and someone does the same, I’ll simply inform them that I refuse to debate an issue when the person I’m debating cannot provide facts to support their position. If I’m on the phone with someone, I’ll simply hang up on them.

Is that rude? Possibly, but I’m simply tired of arguing with people who cannot provide facts to support their position, or who cannot think critically. I truly believe that Asimov was right about people when he said, “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

Then there is this, from the historian/journalist Hendrik Willem von Loon, “Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession – their ignorance.”

If you’re a passenger on a train and you’re sitting in your seat, or compartment, reading a book, you may be unaware of impending danger ahead of you on the tracks. That is ignorance. Just because you are unaware of the danger does not mean that the danger is not real; it only means you are ignorant of its existence.

The same goes for politics, history, and systems of government. If you are ignorant of the truth regarding those subjects it does nothing to diminish the fact that our government has been on a steady course of usurpation and tyranny since its inception in 1789.

For the time being you are comfortable in your lives; you have a job, a roof over your head; food to eat; and things to keep you entertained. You are ignorant of the impending danger, and that ignorance is fostered and nourished by the government, the media, and the public school systems; fed by the belief that the only choice we have lies in candidates from the two arms of the beast known as government; all while we are indoctrinated into believing that patriotism equates to loyalty and obedience to the SYSTEM.

This system of enslavement has become so pervasive, so effective, that those who have broken free of its control over our minds are given all manner of names by those who are still addicted to the idea of the need for government. We are called radicals, extremists, domestic terrorists, or just plain old conspiracy theorists. None of those names and insults, however, do anything to prove that we are wrong, they are cognitive pain killers for those who are incapable of, or unwilling to examine the truth.

Yet as John Adams said in 1770, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” You can choose to ignore the facts, or reject them when they are presented to you, but the facts will remain the facts whether millions accept them or nobody does.

The facts, the truth, will always be there shining brightly for all enquiring minds to see. The consequences of ignoring those facts, however, will fall squarely upon the heads of those who refused to seek them out, or who rejected them because accepting them might mean they would have to change their precious belief systems and take a certain amount of responsibility for the future of this country.

So go ahead, vote, pay your taxes, and support your choice of candidates to populate the cesspool that is Washington D.C., and many of the State Legislatures; call yourself a patriot if you wish. But, if you reject and scorn those who repeat the words of those who sought liberty back in 1776, then God will know who the true patriots are; and since liberty is His gift to us, I think He’ll make sure that those who let it slip through their fingers pay for it.

As Thomas Jefferson so eloquently said, “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we have removed their only firm basis: a conviction in the minds of men that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

I don’t care who you are or which candidate you support, if you threaten my liberty, or support an entity such as government or law enforcement that threatens it, then you are my enemy and your uninformed opinion means squat to me. So please, do me a favor and keep them safely tucked away where the sun doesn’t shine.

October 17, 2019

~ The Author ~
Neal Ross, Student of history, politics, patriot and staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Send all comments to: bonsai@syix.com.

If you liked Neal’s latest column, maybe you’ll like his latest booklet: The Civil War: (The Truth You Have Not Been Told). Life continues to expand for this prolific writer and guardian of TRUE American history.