The Culture of Imminent Danger and the Left
Nov 14, 2014 15:56:51 GMT -5
Post by schwartzie on Nov 14, 2014 15:56:51 GMT -5
The Culture of Imminent Danger and the Left
by KEITH KOFFLER on NOVEMBER 13, 2014, 12:17 PM
Fear is gripping the land. And it’s a good thing. For the Left, anyway, which has the perfect palliative: the warm, comforting embrace of government.
Did you now, a new threat to students has been identified by school district officials in Eau Claire, Wisconsin? Veterans. Veterans trying to teach kids about patriotism and sacrifice.
As part of a Veterans Day program for the schools, the former service members traditionally fire a 21-gun salute using blanks. The tradition reportedly goes back to the 1930s.
No more.
“It’s getting harder to be able to do our veterans program.” said Kay Wilson of the Eau Claire Patriotic Council. “It’s really hard to tell those veterans they’re not able to bring those rifles in. The only purpose is to honor our flag and our country and to teach the kids, and the schools just don’t want our rifles in anymore.”
I’m sure the 21-gun salute was also the best part of the whole event, one many kids would remember the rest of their lives. But some parents and school district officials felt uneasy about it.
I took the FBI building tour in Washington when I was a kid. What do I remember most clearly? The gun demonstration. I wonder if they still have it for kids. I wonder if they still show children, as they did me, the top ten most wanted criminals. Probably not, because maybe one kid in a thousand’s poor, fragile psyche would be traumatized by the sight of a real, live criminal.
I wonder, how many school shootings have involved veterans staging 21-gun salutes? I guess it could possibly happen. I suppose if the Eau Claire school district continued the practice until the year 3750, one veteran might go berserk and shoot the place up.
The veterans decided the 21-gun salute was too important to be shunted aside, so they weren’t at the school this year.
You see, this is the thinking liberals like President Obama want taking root in this country. That there are dangers everywhere. That some small chance of a mishap is magnified into something imminent just waiting to happen to the next sucker who risks stepping outside their home.
Many people, for example, don’t let their kids play outside anymore because, these days, they might get kidnapped. But kids actually aren’t any more likely to be abducted by strangers than they were 40 years ago. And even amid the current “plague” of school shootings, the chances of one at your local elementary school are infinitesimal.
But as the culture of imminent danger takes hold, the government is there to lend a hand. Afraid of risk? Government can handle that for you. It can drum the risk right out your life and give you the pleasant, floating sensation of a fully lobotomized existence.
Scared your kid is going to get shot? Lets regulate guns out of the reach of average citizens.
Frightened you might lose your job? Your government has got non-sunsetting unemployment insurance and a bountiful picnic basket of eternal welfare benefits for you to choose from.
Scared the warming weather will bring the sea into your kitchen? The man from government has a carbon reduction program that will cool the oceans.
Paralyzed by the thought someone might be insulted? Let’s talk about what you can’t say.
Dreading that a branch might fall on your head? We’ll write a regulation on where people can plant trees.
Worried that capitalism might leave you in the losers column? Well, we’ve got a solution for that too.
The psychology of risk-fearing that is taking hold in this society serves the ends of the Left quite well. It’s reached well beyond the liberal coasts and deep into the heartland. And so this year, the veterans of Eau Claire presented their lesson in duty and honor not at the school, but at the local Burger King.
link
by KEITH KOFFLER on NOVEMBER 13, 2014, 12:17 PM
Fear is gripping the land. And it’s a good thing. For the Left, anyway, which has the perfect palliative: the warm, comforting embrace of government.
Did you now, a new threat to students has been identified by school district officials in Eau Claire, Wisconsin? Veterans. Veterans trying to teach kids about patriotism and sacrifice.
As part of a Veterans Day program for the schools, the former service members traditionally fire a 21-gun salute using blanks. The tradition reportedly goes back to the 1930s.
No more.
“It’s getting harder to be able to do our veterans program.” said Kay Wilson of the Eau Claire Patriotic Council. “It’s really hard to tell those veterans they’re not able to bring those rifles in. The only purpose is to honor our flag and our country and to teach the kids, and the schools just don’t want our rifles in anymore.”
I’m sure the 21-gun salute was also the best part of the whole event, one many kids would remember the rest of their lives. But some parents and school district officials felt uneasy about it.
I took the FBI building tour in Washington when I was a kid. What do I remember most clearly? The gun demonstration. I wonder if they still have it for kids. I wonder if they still show children, as they did me, the top ten most wanted criminals. Probably not, because maybe one kid in a thousand’s poor, fragile psyche would be traumatized by the sight of a real, live criminal.
I wonder, how many school shootings have involved veterans staging 21-gun salutes? I guess it could possibly happen. I suppose if the Eau Claire school district continued the practice until the year 3750, one veteran might go berserk and shoot the place up.
The veterans decided the 21-gun salute was too important to be shunted aside, so they weren’t at the school this year.
You see, this is the thinking liberals like President Obama want taking root in this country. That there are dangers everywhere. That some small chance of a mishap is magnified into something imminent just waiting to happen to the next sucker who risks stepping outside their home.
Many people, for example, don’t let their kids play outside anymore because, these days, they might get kidnapped. But kids actually aren’t any more likely to be abducted by strangers than they were 40 years ago. And even amid the current “plague” of school shootings, the chances of one at your local elementary school are infinitesimal.
But as the culture of imminent danger takes hold, the government is there to lend a hand. Afraid of risk? Government can handle that for you. It can drum the risk right out your life and give you the pleasant, floating sensation of a fully lobotomized existence.
Scared your kid is going to get shot? Lets regulate guns out of the reach of average citizens.
Frightened you might lose your job? Your government has got non-sunsetting unemployment insurance and a bountiful picnic basket of eternal welfare benefits for you to choose from.
Scared the warming weather will bring the sea into your kitchen? The man from government has a carbon reduction program that will cool the oceans.
Paralyzed by the thought someone might be insulted? Let’s talk about what you can’t say.
Dreading that a branch might fall on your head? We’ll write a regulation on where people can plant trees.
Worried that capitalism might leave you in the losers column? Well, we’ve got a solution for that too.
The psychology of risk-fearing that is taking hold in this society serves the ends of the Left quite well. It’s reached well beyond the liberal coasts and deep into the heartland. And so this year, the veterans of Eau Claire presented their lesson in duty and honor not at the school, but at the local Burger King.
link
