America has sadly become a dysfunctional society, run by politicians who are borderline functional illiterates. For many people now it has become an Orwellian nightmare.
We now have a government-imposed centralized medical plan whose obvious purpose was to wreak havoc so that the masses would beg for even more central planning. And a Chief Bureaucrat who rubber-stamped such an atrocity by incoherently referring to the plan as a “tax.”
And then there was the young lady who testified before a congressional panel on the issue of mandatory insurance coverage for contraception. That was to show the rest of the world that “feminism” now means women being dependent on others to subsidize their lifestyles rather than standing on their own two feet and budgeting their own priorities.
“Hear me roar, I am strong, I am invincible”? (I think not.)
There have been so many examples of Americans’ dysfunctional behaviors and discourse, I am overwhelmed.
For starters, a recent survey asked 1,058 teens and young adults various questions under the subject of sexual violence, and, according to UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, the results showed that 10% of the youths admitted to committing an act of sexual violence, and 5% had “attempted or completed rape.”
However, as Prof. Volokh explained, because of the misleading wording and inaccurate definitions of “rape” and “sexual violence” in the survey, “… 80% of the reported ‘rape[s]’ involved neither force nor the threat of force, and 59% involved only ‘guilt’ or ‘arguing and pressuring victim,’ with no use of force, threat of force, or even alcohol.”
So the results of this survey claiming that more teens are violent now are not examples of America’s decline, given the wildly exaggerated numbers. What is an example of America’s decline is the lack of communication and reading comprehension amongst the teens, and the survey researchers as well.
So there are two problems here, in my view: one, that more recent laws may be reflecting the confused public on what actual acts are and what they are not; and two, that as the culture and literacy have declined in America, so has the idea of personal responsibility. Innocent people may be getting arrested and in some cases convicted for “crimes” which aren’t crimes, and there are false “victims” who don’t want to take responsibility for their decisions or their inability to say “no.”
And I may very well get emails from people who will misunderstand that last sentence. But that will be yet another result of our society’s decline in reading comprehension and how the Orwellian government-controlled schools distort the meaning of words and concepts as they concentrate on their indoctrinating students to relinquish control over their lives to the State.
And that applies to the schools’ teaching that self-defense is a bad thing, as in gun-related zero tolerance policies.
You see, if only those damn government bureaucrats would stop disarming women by law and let them carry a firearm — openly as well — then chances are that a would-be rapist would think twice about attacking his would-be victim.
But noooo, our authoritarian society today seems to want only the government to be armed but not the civilian population. The schools are teaching the kids to be defenseless and to submit to authority — in essence, let the government commit its crimes, sexual and otherwise, and get away with it.
And then there’s this same-sex couple in Washington state who are suing a florist because she wouldn’t provide them with flowers for their wedding.
Like she’s the only florist around, and you couldn’t go to someone else? Talk about selfish and self-centered.
And worse, the ACLU is on the couple’s side! I guess freedom of association, freedom of conscience and freedom of religious practice (i.e. much of what the First Amendment protects) are not among the civil liberties defended by the American Civil Liberties Union. (But enslaving a florist to serve you against her will, is.)
The Washington state attorney general is also suing the florist on behalf of “consumer protection” laws. But these bureaucrats just don’t understand that protecting consumers doesn’t mean giving them the power to enslave business owners. He might try to protect these consumers’ right to choose a different florist when the first choice will not serve you. That’s what’s known as the American way. You know,freedom?
But really, in today’s newspeak language, “tolerance” means having the power to force someone to do labor for you. Even conservativediscussions of other similar cases, such as the New Mexico photographer refusing to work at a gay wedding, centered around free exercise of religion but not what to me are the core issues: freedom of association, and freedom from involuntary servitude. The right to not be forced to do labor for someone for whom you don’t want to do labor. For ANY reason.
And there is another recent example of how our society has declined in literacy, and understanding of free association, freedom of choice and personal responsibility. According to GWU law professor Jonathan Turley, two girls, 12 and 14, have been arrested and charged with “stalking” in their supposedly “bullying” another girl, 12, and allegedly causing her to commit suicide.
After the victim transferred to a different school, the other girls continued to relentlessly “bully” her online.
Now, the way I see it, “bullying” involves physical contact, pushing someone around or hitting, etc., or the explicit threat of violence. I know, in today’s world many definitions of certain acts have expanded to mean something they are not.
But now merely calling someone names is “bullying.” When I was growing up — you know, way back in the Dark Ages — what is now referred to as “bullying” used to be called “teasing,” or “hurting someone’s feelings.” Even if it involved several other kids relentlessly teasing another kid.
And while the updated legal definition of “stalking” refers to “causing substantial emotional distress,” including by use of computer or electronic communication, it is not referring to being teased, insulted, humiliated or tormented by others, but really referring to causing someone to be in fear for her life.
More disturbing is that the sheriff who arrested the two girl bullies stated that his reason was this comment on one’s Facebook page: “Yes ik I bullied Rebecca nd she killed her self but IDGAF.”
So this is an example of a case in which non-incriminating speech is being considered as confessing to criminal “stalking.”
However, the 12-year-old victim had the control to banish or blacklist those “cyber-bullies” from her Facebook page. But rather than the individual web page owner or moderator utilizing that control, a tragic suicide has occurred and unnecessary arrests of children are made.
Hmmm. I wonder where such pathologically mean and nasty kids get their pathological meanness and nastiness from?
Sadly, such mean kids manipulate the obvious vulnerabilities they see in their more sensitive peers. Some adults are themselves pathologically overprotective as they shield kids from “feeling bad,” by not letting them be the “losers” in a ball game, or not even letting them play ball or on playground equipment because they might get hurt.
And thus the society is forming into one of vicious aggressors and monsters versus the hypersensitive milksops, as encouraged by the authoritarians and sadists who support the growing police state.
And, as Laurence Vance recently noted, the same conservative Christians who believe that “Thou shalt not kill” and who want the Ten Commandments posted in courthouses are the ones most bloodthirstily supportive of the U.S. government’s vicious wars of aggression and sanctions against foreigners. These warvangelicals’ Orwellian euphemism for their moral relativism is “American Exceptionalism.”
So nowadays, many people’s feelings are hurt by the slightest words. That is why we now have what is known as “political correctness.” That is also a part of the general nanny-state over-protectiveness of children we have now.
And more and more we have calls for censorship of the Internet, such as bureaucrats sticking their noses into websites/blogs comments sections.
Some bureaucrats are going way out there with really loony-tunes anti-bullying laws, such as the one in New Jersey signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie. That law bans a lot of harmless speech, initiates students to become little snitches, and paves the way for the snitches, teachers, administrators and police to be the real bullies.
And another disturbing aspect of the aforementioned bullying-teen suicide story is the victim’s mother stating, “I just didn’t want to have her not like me, so I wanted to give her access to her cellphone so she could talk to her friends.”
Huh? Afraid her child wouldn’t like her unless given a cell phone? Do a lot of parents think that way now?
Now, if I had teenaged children at this time, I wouldn’t even let them have a Facebook page. “You want ‘social networking,’ ‘friends,’ and ‘likes’? Then go out to your friends’ house or make some new friends at the mall.” Case closed.
You know, require them to participate in real life stuff, and be in the presence of real people.
And I wouldn’t let them have a cell phone either. Talk about a distraction that kids don’t need and shouldn’t have at that time of life.
Excuse me for being such an old-fashioned fuddy-duddy stick-in-the-mud.
But have you seen those youngins out there these days? Walking along the street obsessively holding their cell phones and staring like hypnotized zombies? That’s America’s future now. Future ObamaCare doctors. Ugh.
And it isn’t just the young having to hold onto their electronic baby rattles.
In fact, Infowars had a reporter get people to sign a petition to require people to wear helmets just for walking. And quite a few people signed the petition.
Is there any hope at all for America?
