If you give a bum a dollar for “food,” well, you’re just wrong and maybe a little naive. But if you give a bum a hundred dollars because he tells you he will come back soon and give you a new iPhone in return, you’re not just wrong or naive. You’re stupid. S-T-O-O-P-I-D stupid!
H. L. Mencken referred to the common people as “the booboisie” and observed “No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.” I genuinely used to think that he had overstated his case. The last three weeks have convinced me otherwise.
I know that you haven’t read Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds; it’s too long, and people don’t read long books any more. But the title itself points out a certain fact well enough: when a crowd gets moving, there’s no limit to the delusion they can undergo.
Great masses of Americans are standing by quietly while mobs tear down statues of honored heros, burn cities, loot stores, assume control over six blocks of downtown Seattle, and spout Marxist nonsense through bullhorns. Instead of stopping the criminals, millionaires and corporations are throwing billions of dollars to them and crawling on their knees, begging the thugs to forgive them.
The criminal activity, the non-criminal protesting, the billions in tribute, the slander, and the apologizing are all based on lies — easily exposed lies. That millions of people believe these lies reveals that there is a deep undercurrent of stupidity moving the masses. I cannot solve that problem. I can only expose the lies for the sake of any non-stupid reader who could benefit from the lesson.
Trayvon Martin was rightfully killed. He jumped George Zimmerman and was beating his head into the concrete when Zimmerman managed to shoot him. The jury acquitted Zimmerman because he had acted purely in self-defense and had done nothing wrong. See here.
Eric Garner (“I can’t breathe”) was not choked to death by a cop. The cop held him by the neck, but didn’t choke him. We know he didn’t choke him because Garner can be heard speaking on the video. A person being choked cannot say anything. If he can say “I can’t breathe,” he is breathing. Garner weighed 400 pounds and had a heart attack because he was resisting arrest, even though he’d been arrested thirty times before and knew the routine. That’s why the Grand Jury didn’t indict the cop. The Department of Justice decided to conduct an independent investigation, and the investigators also decided that no charges should be brought.
Michael Brown (Hands up, don’t shoot) was rightfully killed. Brown was attacking the policeman and trying to get his gun. He did not raise his hands and plead “Don’t shoot.” Those who intone this motto are repeating a lie.
Ahmaud Arbery was not ambushed by white gunmen. He wasn’t shot for “jogging while black.” He got shot because he charged a man, grabbed the man’s shotgun, and thought that he could take it away. One may question the wisdom of the white men for confronting a suspected burglar, but their actions were legal. And what choice do you have when a suspect is trying to snatch away your shotgun — give it to him?
George Floyd was not choked/strangled by a knee to his neck. Pinning an opponent with a knee on the back of the neck is a well-known grappling move. It doesn’t choke the recipient. Just like Eric Garner, Floyd was speaking while he was being held. In fact, he was using the now-nearly-ubiquitous plea “I can’t breathe” while still standing, before he ever began resisting and struggling against being put into the squad car. He died of a heart attack, a man with severe health problems and a user of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and marijuana. And yet, everyone left and right says without the slightest hesitation that he was murdered. When someone called for restraint and patience, the response was that there was no need for investigation because we already know everything. In other words, they favor lynching.
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The claim that police are mistreating blacks is a lie. The statistics are readily available and show that whites are actually treated a little worse than blacks. If it looks like blacks are getting a worse deal, it is probably because blacks commit crimes at a profoundly higher rate than other races. See here.
Without this tissue of lies, the rationale behind the mayhem disappears. I suspect, though, that the rationale is unimportant. Mayhem and indignation and power are intoxicating, especially to sick twisted freaks whose lives are otherwise fit only for the dumpster.