Conservative Fiction

What I've been saying for YEARS about the culture being the important thing to change, not the politicians, is bearing fruit in the form on an explosion of fiction that takes the Conservative or Libertarian point of view.  Here are some examples:

Fiction

What I Saw at the Coup.

Alas, Brave New Babylon

The Alienork Way - VERY powerful, very prescient.

Liberty Island (serialized novels and short stories)

NOT Fiction

When the Music Stops

A Potpourri of Random Links

I started to post on Facebook about one of these links, then realized that I had a LOT of other links that I wanted to spotlight.  So, in no particular order:

• From Maggie's Farm, the question of Why People Loath the Successful.  Here is a post on a similar theme, about Bernie Sanders and his supporters frothing hatred of the rich.


• Why Freidrichs v. California Teachers Association may be a game-changer in education.  It could not only change individual schools, but also the power of the teachers unions to influence politics.


• Wouldn't we all like to have EVERYTHING we wish for?  Maybe not.


• These go together - One, Two, Three, and Four.  They are all about having the things you want out of life, and understanding the price.


• After reading this, I will never see or read Age of Innocence in the same light.  BTW, one of the few movies that lives up to the book.


• Want to read the summary of the Left's Endgame?  Here it is.

 

Where Does Your Personal Space Begin?

That is, from the outside, where does your sense of personal boundaries begin?  For many people, it is at least in the immediate perimeter around their person - their body.  As long as you can keep your personal space from being violated, you are secure.  With family, that is generally at the level of the body exterior.  With less close relatives/friends, that may include an invisible, but real zone around your body.  Inside that zone, only invited people may enter.  Hence, the personal outrage of the children who find that "Great-Aunt Whoever" ignores that zone, and insists on hugging and kissing.  Their outrage is that she ignored the boundary, on the pretense that she is a close relative.

But, that personal zone is NOT the ideal, when it comes to strangers - those who have not established trust with you.  For them, they need to stand further away - the less trusted, the further away they need to be for you to feel safe.  The size of the zone varies among cultures - Mediterrean cultures generally have smaller zones.  In Muslim cultures, the interrelatedness of the kinship group (coursing marriage being common in such cultures), means that they are more comfortable with a smaller personal zone.

How does that relate to the Migrant Crisis of Europe?

But consider personal safety. I have good locks on the doors of my house, so I don’t need to lock the doors of my individual rooms, the way I would have if I couldn’t secure my front door, or if members of my family found it fashionable to invite drifters in to spend the night with us.

If I lived in a gated community, I wouldn’t need to lock my front door at all, but I don’t, so I do.

In other words, I can have liberty of movement at some geographic scales, as long as I have security at some other level.

Merkel is trying to shrink the personal zone to a space that the Native Germans are NOT comfortable with.  She did this unilaterally, based on her political philosophy.  She triggered the "unsafe" feeling in the Germans, and they are pushing back.

This is beside the fact that the New Europeans are, in too many cases, acting boorishly and with complete disregard for the cultural and social norms of their host countries.  Some of the migrants expect that an unaccompanied woman, as well as one with a Euro man, has no expectation of boundaries.  They feel justified in ignoring ANY boundary, including the exterior of that woman's body.  It is such an expectation that permits them to touch, grab, and rape with no expectation that there will be consequences.

Conventional Wisdom

One major aspect that is wrong with American Life is that minority viewpoints use our basic desire to compromise as a way of "pushing the camel's nose into the tent".  What is that?  Here is one example of the story:

One day an Arab and his camel were crossing the desert. Night came and the temperature became colder. The Arab put up his tent and tied the camel to it. The Arab went to sleep.

The temperature became slightly colder and the camel asked the Arab if he (camel) could just put his nose in the tent to warm up. The Arab agreed that the camel could just put his nose in, because the tent was small and there was no room for 2. So the camel's nose became warm and after a while the temperature went down even more.

The camel asked the Arab again, if he (camel) could just put his fore legs in because they were very cold. The Arab reluctantly agreed that the camel could only put his fore legs in and no more. So the camel moved in his fore legs and they became warm. After sometime the camel asked the Arab again that he had to put in his hind legs or else he won't be able to make the journey the next morning with frozen legs. So the Arab agreed and once the camel moved his hind legs in, there was no more room in the tent for the Arab and the Arab was kicked out.

The concept of conventional wisdom is always defeated by an entity determined to get its way, first asking for a "harmless" concession of a tired opponent, then, incrementally, continuing to push to achieve its long-term goal.  Just keep that in mind next time you're asked to make ONE TINY compromise.

Hold firm.

In other news:

P. J. O'Rourke has gone out of his mind.

He is foaming at the mouth about Ted Cruz.  Yes, TED - Blanking - CRUZ.  According to P. J., having Cruz as the Republican candidate would be THE Ultimate Worst Thing (I assume that he is patenting the phrase).

Why?

Because Ted is not fervently in favor of SSM (Same Sex Marriage) and legalized marijuana.

Really.

That's it?  One of the most qualified Republicans - one that ACTUALLY held the line when the Dems tried to push their agenda on the Senate - and the problem he has with Ted is that he thinks we ought to not upset a socially-recognized marriage tradition that has lasted for all of recorded history.  Oh, and, that, absent GOOD - not anecdotal - scientific evidence that pot is worth legalizing, we shouldn't change its status.

Really.

Now, many disagree about the SSM thing.  I do understand that.  From my perspective, I'd rather the government get the Blank out of the marriage endorsement altogether, and just institute Civil Unions.  Those who WANT to get married, can - assuming that they can find a minister, Internet-ordained person, Cultic Leader, or other person that can persuade a religious/spiritual/frankly-nutty-offbeat-organization to handle the ceremony.

No - absolutely NO - pressure on churches/temples/mosques to marry people against their principles.

Got few problems with that.

Oh, and, if someone has a preferred title - Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Supreme Leader, whatever - let's accept that addressing them by that title is optional, not mandatory.  Most people will go along.  Some will have objections.

Let's just decide that "Citizen" is the acceptable alternative for those with philosophical objections.  As in, Citizen Cruz.  Citizen Clinton (either).  And, Citizen O'Rourke.

And, the pot thing?

Listen, I've taught for many years.  Before that, I often encountered people under the influence of Wacky Weed.  Including one of my roommates, and her friends.

I can assure you, with absolute confidence, NOT ONE of those so impaired was in any way smarter, more rational, or having razor-sharp reflexes.

In fact, there was little to distinguish them from someone born Lazy, Mentally Slow-Processing, and, to be honest, Dumb as Dirt.

NOT what I want to see as the norm for American Citizens.  Nor, for that matter, those under the age of 18.

Oh, but, legalization will only affect those OVER 18.

Right.

Sure.

Of course, the fact that buying or using pot by a minor will be against the law will TOTALLY stop them from doing it.

Just like the fact that it's illegal now stops them.

/sarc