Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Virginia’s New Incivility

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

Hate the man, hate his children.

A month ago Fox News television host Tucker Carlson was dining at the Farmington Country Club, just outside Charlottesville, with two of his children and family friends. In a tweet yesterday, he described the following incident:

Toward the end of the meal, my 19-year-old daughter went to the bathroom with a friend. On their way back through the bar, a middle aged man stopped my daughter and asked if she was sitting with Tucker Carlson. My daughter had never seen the man before. She answered: “That’s my dad,” and pointed to me. The man responded, “Are you Tucker’s whore?” He then called her a “fucking cunt.”

My daughter returned to the table in tears. She soon left the table and the club. My son, who is also a student, went into the bar to confront the man. I followed. My son asked the main if he’d called his sister a “whore” and a “cunt.” The man admitted that he had, and again became profane. My son thew a glass of red wine in the man’s face and told him to leave the bar, which he soon did.

Immediately after the incident, I described these events to the management of the Farmington Country Club. The club spent more than three weeks investigating the incident. Last week, they revoked the man’s membership and threw him out of the club.

I love my children. It took enormous self-control not to beat the man with a chair, which is what I wanted to do. I think any father can understand the overwhelming rage and shock that I felt seeing my teenage daughter attacked by a stranger. But I restrained myself. I did not assault this man, and neither did not son. That is a lie. Nor did I know the man was gay or Latino, not that it would have mattered. What happened on October 13 has nothing to do with identify politics. It was a grotesque violation of decency. I’ve never see anything like it in my life.

Once upon a time, Virginians prided themselves on their civility. But many today deride the virtues of courtesy and self-restraint as tools of social oppression created by privileged elites. It’s nice to know that at least the Farmington Country Club is willing to enforce basic norms of behavior. Had the incident occurred anywhere else, I doubt the man would have been chastised in any way.

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43 responses to “Virginia’s New Incivility”

  1. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    I’ll be interested to see if Virginia media cover this incident and what they might add to Carlson’s account.

  2. V N Avatar
    V N

    Probably not. The VP got outed by me for the protecting the city rulers in power. I’m sure they’ll hide it and I’ve seen nothing at all about it so far.

  3. Steve Haner Avatar
    Steve Haner

    Jim, there is a direct line relationship between the breakdown in behavior that has you so concerned in the schools (below) and the incident described at that club. For that to happen at Farmington CC tells you all you need to know about the breakdown of civility in every community, in every social strata. It certainly would be expected today on “the grounds” a couple of miles away. Just pathetic. So glad he was ejected.

    1. James A. Bacon Avatar
      James A. Bacon

      Well, I do agree with you that there is a broad, society-wide breakdown in civil behavior. Would you agree that schools might be contributing by defining deviancy down?

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        you bet…. every one of these mass killings is done by a black guy who acted up in school…right?

      2. Steve Haner Avatar
        Steve Haner

        Nope, the behavior is learned at home, on social media, in mass media. The schools are merely a mirror, Jim. That’s a big point you are missing.

  4. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Anyone who has listened to Tucker on FOX would be hard-pressed to call his behavior “civil”!

    There is no excuse for the kind of behavior he and his family received but in
    many ways if you spout the stuff he does to millions of people – there are going be folks who want to “meet” you in person! I’m actually surprised that he does not have a body-guard to be honest.

    And no.. this is not a “liberal” thing… we got all kinds of crazies and wackos out there these days… some of them toting weapons.

  5. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
    Reed Fawell 3rd

    Why should we be surprised, given the events at Charlottesville in the spring and summer of 2017, how the whole truth, one entire side of it, was covered up, despite the fiercely honest Hunton & Williams report. So now we got Antifa for members at Farmington. Wonder if he was a professor, even law professor? It would not surprise me in the least, given recent events in Charlottesville.

    Why do we think we can pick and choose what we confront, and what we hide? Nothing can ever be hidden away. It always resurfaces where and when you least expect it. And it is most always the innocent who suffer the consequences of our cowardice.

  6. CrazyJD Avatar
    CrazyJD

    If it’s not a liberal thing, why don’t we hear about incidents in public where leftist commentators’ families are verbally assaulted like Carlson’s was. You may be failing to consider the influence of Saul Alinsky on the left.

    “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Anyone who has a TV show where they overtly target others is going to make themselves a target – liberal or conservative and if they think they can continue to mingle in public without consequences – they’re living in LA LA Land.

      No.. it’s not right but it’s pretty predictable and you DO make that choice when you decide to attack others in front of millions of folks.

      Anyone who has seen Carlson in action on FOX who is “shocked” at this – Good LORD! He’s has got to be one of the more obnoxious, hate and invective spewing folks on the planet so yeah … big shock he’s got enemies without scruples also…

      1. Steve Haner Avatar
        Steve Haner

        No excuse for the behavior, and then you excuse it.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          No I do not. I just say no matter who the speaker is – if they behave like that – they’re going to make themselves a target in public… no matter what their politics or speech is.

          It’s not a question of excusing it – it’s a question of consequences – no matter whether those consequences are “right’ or not.

  7. musingsfromjanus Avatar
    musingsfromjanus

    The warped, twisted thinking of one of the correspondents here is at the root of the problem. It merits attacks and bodyguards if it comes from Fox or is conservative.
    The attack on Tucker and his show is completely erroneous.
    If you want to hear really vile attacks with vile allegations and innuendo and extremely personal smears and lies, listen to Morning Joe, any late night comedy, all CNN punditry, most of the Hollywood self-styled moral guardians of our culture and a fair number of Democrat politicians.

    1. James A. Bacon Avatar
      James A. Bacon

      When you demonize your opponents — not just the far-out fringe but almost all of them — as fascists and racists, then this kind of behavior is inevitable. After all, how could one justify being polite and tolerant to a Hitler or Mussolini?

      At the same time, we have to keep watch for the rhetoric on the right. The letter-bomb guy and the recent crazy right-wing shooter adopted extreme rhetoric from the right side of the aisle. They went beyond mere incivility to actually killing (or trying to kill) people.

      Since the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, however, the most extreme behavior here in Virginia has come from the Left.

      1. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
        Reed Fawell 3rd

        musingsfromjanus is completely justified. You can never solve a problem when you cannot muster the courage or conviction to state its name. I am with Lindsey Graham, enough is enough, lets start speaking plain. That’s not demonizing people. It’s trying to save a nation.

    2. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
      Reed Fawell 3rd

      Tucker Carlson’s speech is intelligent, informed and articulate free speech.

      It is also free speech that our growing numbers of newly branded faux leftists typically disagree with. Carlson’s free speech scares them. They can’t counter it intellectually, or honestly. Every night on his show they try, and the great majority fail, and miserable so in public, in front of millions.

      What’s a faux radical leftist and his or her complicit enabler to do?

      Given these chronic ongoing failures, and their often total lack of self-awareness, these angry people or their minions lash out at Tucker Carlson, his home, family, and friends in hateful, spiteful, ignorant, self embarrassing ways. And their enablers cheer them on, covertly if necessary, often openly, including in the halls of the US Congress, and classrooms around the nation.

      This is very typical of incompetent and fearful people. Its been going on for a very long time, this sort of witness ugly behavior. Witness the Klu Klux Clan. Or those clownish so called “White Supremacists” in Charlottesville. And now we got the angry witness ideologues on the left peaking up into uglyness after five decades of childish, inappropriate and irresponsibly behavior.

      Now, unable to make competent and effective counter arguments to Tucker’s Carlson’s free speech, these losers on the left, and their complicit enabling political allies, now project instead their own misbehavior onto Tucker (and whoever else they disagree with), much of it their own hateful, arrogant, disrespectful, rude and snide smear tactics tossed at Tucker, whether they try to act as serious leftist radicals which they are not, or as groupie followers, or as rank opportunists whether professor or senator, these angry ideologues become complicit with one another, cowardly and/or cynical as that may be.

      Hence they become themselves mirror images and clones of the very things they complain about, and they themselves become the problem we all face in this nation. This noxious behavior, rampant now, plagues most all our institutions, the US Congress, mainstream media, our colleges and universities, UVA’s Law School in action on the streets of Charlottesville in 2017, and now today most recently even at Farmington Country Club. BY A MEMBER OF FARMINGTON COUNTRY CLUB NO LESS.

      If you can no longer hide from a plague, you must turn and deal with it.

    3. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Anyone who is a public figure these days has to consider bodyguards. Even entertainers and sports personalities do. You may recall, for instance, a fella who was called Killer Diller on FOX News that got whacked or for that matter John Lennon, Louis Farrakhan and a host of others who either have or should have had bodyguards. Those poor folks in Pittsburg who were killed because they were supposedly helping the “invasion”.

      But if you consider what is said on Morning Joe to be on par with what Tucker does – every single night – nonstop – compared to what you hear on Morning Joe – then that’s on you guy. I don’t excuse it for anyone – but I also do pay attention to who and whether that is basically their whole schtick. Tucker purposely invites people on his show virtually every opportunity he can get them to accept – to do battle with, to verbally assault them and expect it back – and it’s obvious some love it.

      You can’t do this and expect to walk in public without repercussions – and once more – it don’t matter who you are – if you present yourself as a combative personality on TV – you’re are going to incite others – no matter your politics. Professional wrestlers who play the “bad guy” have to have bodyguards even though it’s an act.

      What I hear here is that a person should be free to do this – to exercise their “free speech” and others can do nothing about it because it is your “right” and they cannot stop you.

      You do have that right but you cannot control other people either. And some of them are going to be just as aggressive and ugly and come back at you and others with you are, in their eyes, fair game. It’s not right -but it’s pretty predictable.

  8. djrippert Avatar
    djrippert

    I can think of any number of liberal politicians I can’t stand (along with some I actually respect). If I saw one of the politicians I think needs a comeuppance on the street or in a restaurant I wouldn’t do anything to him or her. I wouldn’t allow anybody with me to say or do anything either. If somebody I didn’t know tried to harass the politician I would defend him or her, verbally and physically if need be. I’d also be happy to help the employees of the establishment throw the harasser out on his, her or their asses.

    While this was an example of a patron behaving like an ass the infamous Red Hen Restaurant incident from last June was an example of proprietors behaving like asses. At the least, Virginia should join DC, Seattle and the US Virgin Islands (hardly three examples of conservative places) in making discrimination based on political affiliation illegal. The law should further require that proprietors of Virginia businesses call the police if other guests at their establishments start harassment based on some other guests’ political beliefs.

    I suspect that a night in the local jail would have done wonders for the genius at Farmington Country Club’s sense of decorum.

  9. Steve Haner Avatar
    Steve Haner

    With You Know Who all over Twitter spewing bile I don’t think anybody on the Right can doubt the guilt for the current tone of discussion is at best equal. Anybody who fails to see deep fault on both sides is wearing blinders. The question is, how do we back out of it? (I will give SNL some credit for letting the wounded vet Congressman on the air this weekend and letting him serve some well-deserved crow. When I first saw what SNL did mocking him I was as furious as is possible.)

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      The first step is to stop escalating. If you don’t like Trump’s comments on social media then reply via social media. The second step is to stop conflating the actions of politicians with the actions of their subordinates or supporters. Bill Clinton was somewhere between womanizer, harasser and rapist. That doesn’t give me the right to scream at George Stephanopolus in a restaurant.

      Having just passed the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI the Guns of August should be required reading for all US elected politicians. Bad tone in discussions is troublesome but escalating from tone to confrontation to violence is the real worry.

  10. Acbar Avatar
    Acbar

    Of course it is the polarization of our politics today that makes some toadies think they can win approval from their peers by their arrogance and incivility. Of course this was over the top, inexcusable, and dealt with appropriately; but now what? Tucker Carlson has, to my mind, been over the top himself at least by the basic standards we used to expect in journalism: fact checked, balanced reporting where balance is due, a minimum of ad hominem characterization, and with factual reporting versus opinion clearly indicated. None of these requirements seems to trouble Carlson or Hannity or Ingraham, to name a few on the right — which makes me wonder why we continue to treat Fox News as though it was a journalistic endeavor. The extreme left gets no by from me here either. Yes, T. C. is entitled to his free speech, but not to claim he is a proper journalist; and as for what happened at Farmington: civility is not something that applies only when convenient; “You reap what you sow.”

  11. Peter Galuszka Avatar
    Peter Galuszka

    What’s fascinating about this tome on “civility” with liberals as the bad guys is that there is absolutely no mention whatsoever of Donald Trump, Boor Number One and the most vulgar president in American history. I cringe with every insult. But no mention on Bacons Rebellion. It is amazing how Trump does not exist on this blog.

    1. James A. Bacon Avatar
      James A. Bacon

      As a matter of fact, I have frequently referred in passing to Trump’s boorish and vulgar rhetoric. When that rhetoric becomes a Virginia story, not a national story, I will call him on it in a separate blog post.

      1. djrippert Avatar
        djrippert

        With all due respect, the twin questions of tone and escalation came home to Virginia when Republican Congressmen practicing baseball in Alexandria were shot. It arrived again with the Red Lion incident. From a reporting perspective it might be hard to draw a straight line from Trump to these incidents. However, from an editorial perspective it seems pretty easy.

    2. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Well, I did say “You Know Who” when I meant the Tweeter In Chief, but you know that’s who I meant, Peter…Of course he has been a major contributor to the tone.

  12. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
    Reed Fawell 3rd

    Steve and Acbar, you can criticize the Fox all you want, or me for expressing my opinions here as well, your perfect right, but lets hope you speak up a bit more plainly and directly when people are harassed, beat up and smeared in the halls of Congress, and private clubs and restaurants, and in the public streets expesssing their political opinions, and for exercising their rights of free speech, including for expressing their opinions without concern for others’ opinions and snide comments as is done everyday and called news by their writers, not opinion in Carlson case, on the front pages of the Washington Post and New York Times. You can’t have it both ways, just cause you disagree with one, and agree with the other. That’s what is over to top in my book.

  13. TBill Avatar
    TBill

    We need to realize words can kill too, just in a different way.

    Although hatred based on race/religion is terrible, that does not imply that other hatreds, not-based-on-race/religion, are somehow morally superior forms of hate.

    Can I say that, above?

  14. NorrhsideDude Avatar
    NorrhsideDude

    I love the he’s on Fox News and he isn’t nice so his daughter and he deserve to be accosted in public and people can beat on his front door attitude.
    This isn’t going to end well folks. One side has been declared righteous by the media and can use nasty tactics… what happens when it starts to get real? Things don’t look so rosy when someone breaks your nose… I speak from experience, mine has been rightfully punches more than a few times.

  15. musingsfromjanus Avatar
    musingsfromjanus

    I would like to think that Haner is correct that the fault is equally on both sides.

    What’s an amazing leap of logic to me are those who think Trump is responsible. Does anyone remember that from the moment he got on the escalator, the media and about everyone else in the country started a tsunami of ridicule, salacious characterizations and inferences, smears, insults, lies, misquotes ad finitum through the election and until the present?

    Does anyone think the tone would be different if he did not tweet or whatever ?

    Does anyone remember the media and academia’s treatment of Reagan the dumb actor and the Bushes?

    From Trump’s inception academia, liberals, the media et al went into overdrive resistance filling the airwaves and print media with divisive stuff about Trump and then use all the divisive stuff they have generated to say Trump is divisive. The difference between Trump and former Republican Presidents is that he has given some back in the style he has been treated, although nowhere near the kind of viciousness of Morning Joe or Maher.

    And for Liberals who are so disturbed by Trump’s style, you should have some empathy for the idea the millions of Americans who every day feel diminished and insulted by liberal rhetoric, moral superiority, and behavior toward them, their values, their religion, etc. have taken a little satisfaction in seeing someone stand up against the smugness and arrogance of today’s Liberal spokespeople.

    I think if Trump suddenly went smooth and warm and cuddly or whatever would mollify those who don’t like his style–the media, the comics, the academics et al would eviscerate him for changing his style.

    There really are not two sides when one side is determined on destruction no matter what the other does.

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      I agree. Clinton was a perjurer who (at the least) sexually harassed an intern at the government he ran. Bush invented intelligence to start a war. Obama had no problem lying about Obamacare because he felt the ends justified the means. He also mollycoddled the Wall Street bankers who surrounded him despite their obvious culpability (criminality?) in the Great Recession. There was plenty of bellyaching from both sides about each of these three former presidents but nothing like Trump. He’s a typical New York City loudmouth who doesn’t always get his facts straight. He’s pugnacious and sometimes (often?) goes out of his way for a verbal fight when he should just move on to more important things. However, when you look at what he’s done rather than what he said … it’s hard to understand the sustained level of rhetoric from the left. He’s a fascist? Really? Because he wants to enforce the immigration laws which Congress has passed? He’s a racist? Really? Because a lot of the illegal immigrants he’s trying to stop from (illegally) entering the United States are hispanic? Trump is no more of a fascist than Obama was a communist.

      Results? After two years … the economy is humming, our uniquely punitive corporate tax rate has been lowered, the bad international deals of prior administrations have been rolled back, the North Koreans seem to have calmed down and no new wars or even militarized flare ups have occurred.

      The real truth is that Trump is an iconoclast who revels in tearing down the established order. And given the direction the United States was headed … thank goodness for that.

      The established elite from Richmond to Reykjavik hate Trump. The tidy world order where the elites prospered and everyone else suffered is under attack and they don’t like it a bit. Meanwhile, their army of useful idiots are only too happy to run like wildebeests across the Serengeti snorting “fascist”, “racist” …

      1. James A. Bacon Avatar
        James A. Bacon

        …run like wildebeests across the Serengeti snorting “fascist”, “racist” …”

        What an image! Laugh out loud.

  16. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    yeah… when we slide off the speech issue into other “sins” of folks -we know this is more about politics than the specific behavior.

    I don’t care who it is – whether they are left, right, far left, far right – or what – when you go on a media outlet and you spew invective and threatening speech – you ARE talking to the viewers – and those viewers are going to form opinions about you – and this is no different than if you went into a bar and started accosting others with aggressive loudmouth speech and provoke others – this kind of thing can happen.

    The idea that it’s only “liberals” who respond “badly” to this is laughable but it seems to be the refuge of some..

    The POTUS is an effing idiot – a loudmouth who demeans and bullies others.. in public – he tells lies.. he uses dog-whistles… he goes to Europe and pisses off others then returns home and dains to visit Arlington on Veterans Day and yet his defenders love him still… just as they seem to love Tucker for his “speech” and are appalled that there are others who don’t and some who would verbally assault him or people with him – HORRORS!

    You want to speak like a loud-mouth idiot – be prepared to meet others like you who want to return the favor – and again – it doesn’t matter whether you or left or right though I’m getting a flavor that folks on the right believe they have the right to speak this way without getting it back from folks just as obnoxious… You speak hate to others – and they’re going to return the favor. Doing this and then crying “victim” is laughable.

    1. James A. Bacon Avatar
      James A. Bacon

      You can’t do this and expect to walk in public without repercussions.

      Wow, Larry, I hope there aren’t many other mainstream liberals thinking like this. If so, this country is in a big heap of trouble.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        This has NOTHING to do with “liberals” except you folks who are trying to deflect.

        It has nothing to do with Liberal or Conservative – it has to do with how YOU actually conduct yourself in front of others and if you attack others – if you verbally assault others and do it on a personal level -and broadcast it to millions – then guess what – others will return the favor. And they’ll do it no matter it occurs on FOX, or CNN or MSNBC or any other including PBS and C-Span.

        You guys seem to think you can say anything to anyone else at any venue and because you have the free speech right to do so – that others -are being “uncivil” if they return the favor.

        I’m trying to think of folks on TV who do what Carson does – where he actually brings on people to purposely assault them and the closest I can come is Kieth Oberman who actually did not personally engage others of differing views but DID have one nasty mouth … Several others, on MSNBC and CNN have actually been reprimanded and some fired for their mouths but none of them came close to what Carson does almost every night.

        1. Izzo Avatar
          Izzo

          Larry, I absolutely agree the Fox News shows like Carlson, Hannity, etc. are really, really bad, but there is no doubt that shows like Rachel Maddow and O’Donnell really twist things. I wish we could go back to the days where you had to demonstrate a strong commitment to news and lack of bias to get a broadcast license (Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley, Sevareid . . .)

  17. salz Avatar
    salz

    While I disagree with confronting people in any manner similar to what Mr. Carlson described, I have to:
    1) agree with LarrytheG that Tucker Carlson brings the anger on himself through his non-stop lies and incivility. And that he should expect to be confronted. (His daughter is another story, however.)
    2) wonder why we, the people, should simply take the word of Mr. Carlson — as Mr. Bacon has — that this event happened the way Mr. Carlson claims when we have plenty of data which indicates Mr. Carlson is willing to lie to the American people.
    3) note that calling Mr. Carlson — and even his daughter — a few names is no where close to the category of using an AR-15 or mailing pipe bombs.
    4) believe that the president has the responsibility of toning down the national mood by stopping his hateful rhetoric.

    I will not participate in confrontational response to Trump’s hate but I can certainly understand why many others demand the right to confront Traitor Trump and his enablers. Indeed, I wonder whether those in 1930s Germany who didn’t confront Hitler and his minions wish they had?

    1. James A. Bacon Avatar
      James A. Bacon

      So… you believe Trump is a “traitor” and that conservatives warrant comparison to “Hitler and his minions.” Wow, Salz, I admire your forbearance in not engaging in public confrontations with such terrible people. But under the circumstances, do you feel that you are selling your principles short?

  18. TBill Avatar
    TBill

    I am not sure everyone realizes Tucker Carlson’s home and wife were in the news a few days ago, it seems recent protesters felt it was appropriate to terrorize his wife at home, and deface his property with spray paint.

  19. Izzo Avatar
    Izzo

    In many cases, multiple positions can be simultaneously true. Mr. Carlson perhaps should expect this type of reaction because of the nature of his rhetoric on Fox News, but it is also true that it is inexcusable behavior to threaten him and particularly his daughter (if that is what happened). President Trump is a boorish bully, but that does not excuse poor behavior from his opponents.

    The reality is this stuff escalates to the point where it spirals out of control. Actions beget reactions. There are many facets to the decline in civility, but if you just look at Congress, you can see this has already been cycling for a long time, at least 30+ years. Frank McCloskey lost his election in Indiana in 1984 per the state’s certification, but the Democrats refused to seat his opponent. This gave rise to bomb-throwers like Newt Gingrich over the likes of the always-civil Bob Michel. The nominations of Bork, Garland, Kavanaugh, and other federal judges and the gamesmanship with the filibuster rules are all linked and will certainly cause blowback in the future. So one can say we expect this behavior to continue, but we all have a responsibility to put the brakes on where we can.

  20. Andrew Roesell Avatar
    Andrew Roesell

    Dear All,

    I think this is a good analysis of the hatred that is the source of the incivility acknowledged by everyone here. The source is Roman Catholic. http://www.tfp.org/the-battle-of-empty-minds-cant-anyone-see-beyond-the-hatred/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Caravans+evoke+differing+visions+for+America&utm_campaign=TFP181113+-+Caravans++evoke+differing+visions+for+America

    Sincerely,

    Andrew

  21. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
    Reed Fawell 3rd

    Andrew – there is much truth in your articles observation. Worth reading. For example, why these people are not serious leftists, but faux:

    “Most observers only see this hatred and call it an ideology. They do not look beyond the hatred and seek out its causes.

    A Non-Existent Ideology

    By calling hatred an ideology, it can be portrayed as a complex system that must be overthrown in a new class struggle. It is a convenient label that lumps together all those who have opposed liberal policies. However, there is no organized ideology behind this grouping. Lonely figures on the fringes of society who commit heinous crimes do not act on their behalf.

    An ideology is a system of abstract principles according to which adherents hope to explain the world and change it. Such systems are coherent and follow rules. Generally, ideologies are methodical, disciplined and structured.

    Looking at those who are called nationalist or who have committed crimes, they have no structure. Media assign them ideological labels as a means of demonizing them in known terms.

    However, they did not fit into the old categories. The new “ideologues” are the product of empty minds devoid of reason and compassion. They are anarchic figures who grab onto ideological labels as an expression of their desire to destroy society. They are, however, incapable of structuring their “ideology” into an organized system of thought, unlike the communists of old, for example, who knew their ideology and sacrificed themselves in its pursuit.

    Eternal and Natural Law: The Foundation of Morals and Law

    Contrary to popular belief, the more violent of these individuals are not fanatics drawn to an extremist ideology who see themselves as its foot soldiers. They are souls full of emptiness, inhabiting a world of chaos and darkness. More often than not, they will end their lives with nihilistic fury and flourish.

    The Empty Minds on Both Left and Right

    This rabid hatred is not limited to the white nationalist label so casually thrown about. It can also be found on the irrational left, in which militant members of Antifa and other alt-left hate groups commit acts of violence that shock the American public. It can be heard in the incoherent ramblings of screaming protesters that are likewise the product of empty minds and dark domains.

    Empty minds are not a monopoly of those who have surrendered to political violence. They are also found among all who have wandered astray in this vast cultural wasteland. They are among the 45,000 Americans who take their lives annually. They are present in the 60,000 additional deaths caused by drug addictions. All these individuals, on the left and right, act upon the impulses of addled brains. Their actions represent the death of ideology, not its rebirth.

    Why They Hate

    While splinters of ideology can be vaguely perceived, what people really see is the hatred that exists. Many situations provoke hatred today. People hate when faced with the falling apart of their world. Individuals hate when they feel isolated and alone. Hatred comes from lives unanchored in reality, which are eventually compelled to face painful truths. Others hate because they were never loved and are incapable of loving anything besides themselves.

    However, hatred cannot exist in its pure state. One must hate something. It must be directed against an object. Hate is a means not an end.

    The Objects of Hatred

    The objects of this hatred are found festering deep inside the empty souls of postmodern humanity. The left wrongly frames the debate in class struggle terms. The real issues involve the frustrated search for meaning and purpose in a self-destroying society. The resulting emptiness engenders a hatred that tends to grow ever greater.

    Thus, one cause of hatred is directed against self. When personal lives fall apart, it gives rise to loneliness, violence and self-loathing. People hate themselves when they sense the frustrations of their isolated little worlds. They hate themselves when they cannot find their place in society to quench their strong yearnings for community. Such hatred engulfs self and all around them.

    A second cause is a postmodern society that glorifies human experience, emotions and feelings. This anti-ideological and highly individualistic setting has no structure or social context. Czech poet Vaclav Havel once described postmodernity as a state in which everything is possible, and nothing is certain.

    This postmodern wasteland breeds hatred because it creates a shallow, fake and indecipherable society without narratives and thus frustrates and depresses. People come to hate this jumbled world that promises everything but delivers emptiness.

    An Unintelligible Universe

    However, the greatest cause of hatred involves a religious dilemma of massive proportions. As people distance themselves ever farther from God and the Church, they have no answers to the great Life Questions which address their reason for being and final end. Instead, they face an increasingly unintelligible universe and are told there is no order or purpose to anything.

    This creates great tension in souls. They are tormented by a great void. Many are torn between the frenetic gratification of disordered passions and the confused conviction that there must be something transcendent that can help them make sense of their lives. What they seek is God, their final end. They search for a transcendent order in which they will find rest.

    In their lonely frustration, people all too often revolt against the present order which leaves them clueless regarding the great Life Questions. They empty their minds of heavenly things and explode into double rage against the present order that frustrates them and the remnants of Christian civilization that elude them.

    The real battle is to fill minds with great truths, meaning and purpose. Indeed, without God and His Church, nothing makes sense. The challenge is to return to a Christian order that makes life and the universe intelligible. Until that happens, the hatred will only increase.

    Indeed, the battle of empty minds rages and few look past the hatred to come to grips with its deeper causes.”

  22. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
    Reed Fawell 3rd

    Here is an example of why I value Tucker Carlson’s exercise of free speech. Notice how he actually talks about real problems, instead of inventing false problems for political advantage. And for that leftists try to shut him down.

    “CBS News reported Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller may soon issue new indictments. It’s not clear who will be charged, but there are indications of it. Some suggest that political consultant Roger Stone may be on the list.

    Another possible target is a man called Jerome Corsi, a 72-year-old author and Harvard-trained political scientist, who is an associate of Stone’s. Of course, he has said he expects charges soon.

    What for? Well, apparently for perjury. Corsi says he was manipulated into making false statements to Mueller’s lawyers. And if that’s true, well, obviously, it’s not good.

    But let’s put this into some perspective. False statements are everywhere in Washington. That’s what the city specializes in. And not small statements about small things.

    Barack Obama told you your premiums would go down and you could keep your doctor.

    James Clapper told Congress that the NSA was not spying on you. Clapper said that under oath. It was an outright lie. He was never charged.

    So the obvious lesson is, as long as you’re powerful and your lie is big enough, you are never, ever charged in Washington. No one is.

    You can wreck an entire health system, you can take an entire country to war under false pretenses. You can kill American citizens with drone strikes. And you can lie about all of it. Nobody will ever think, for a moment, about prosecuting you.

    But give the finger to the establishment? Mock the people in power? That is dangerous and they’ll get you for that. — Jerome Corsi is learning that lesson the hard way, just as Mike Flynn learned it, just as George Papadopoulos learned it. All three – and others – have been bankrupted and destroyed by Robert Mueller for doing something that virtually everyone does in Washington every day with impunity – lying.

    So what was the point of all this? Why are we destroying all these people? What’s the justification for it? It was supposed to be about Russia! Remember? There were foreign spies afoot, there were dark forces sent by Vladimir Putin to destroy our democracy here in America. That’s what they told us again and again on cable news. That’s how we were sold on the Mueller investigation in the first place.

    Well, two years later we learn it was all fake. There’s no evidence that any of that was real. No plot has ever been uncovered.

    All we’ve really learned is that independent counsels are a handy way to settle political scores and that a lot of people on the left don’t really believe in the tenets of Western justice.

    One of the resident geniuses on MSNBC on Tuesday explained the new legal standard for guilt in this country.

    “When Mueller indicted those Russian military intelligence officers, there was a very big hint in the indictment that there was an American deeply involved,” said former U.S. Atttorney Chuck Rosenberg. “It talked about an American playing a role in that Russian interference scheme.”

    MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace laughed and responded with this comment:

    “I remember the keystroke intelligence and remember thinking anyone emailing with Russians – you’re going to be in trouble!”

    Emailing with Russians. That’s all it takes now to destroy a life.

    It’s been enough to destroy Carter Page’s life. Remember Carter Page? Page graduated at the top of his class from the Naval Academy and served this country for five years as an intelligence officer. Then he made a fateful mistake. He backed the wrong presidential campaign.

    Page soon found himself accused of being a Russian spy. There was never any evidence that he actually was a Russian spy. Page was never charged with spying. He was never charged with anything. It didn’t matter. The ghouls on cable news kept up the drumbeat: Carter Page, Russia! Carter Page, Russia!

    Before long, Carter Page’s life was over, his reputation gone. Who would hire him now? Nobody. Ever. But the ghouls don’t care. They’re on to the next victim. So is Mueller. Maybe it’ll be Jerome Corsi this time, facing a criminal perjury count. Maybe someday it will be you. They’ll make up some official-sounding charge, but don’t fool yourself. What they’re really punishing is disobedience.

    Adapted from Tucker Carlson’s monologue on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Nov. 13, 2018.”

  23. Andrew Roesell Avatar
    Andrew Roesell

    Dear Reed,

    Reading Tucker’s commentary, I am reminded of the Lord’s lament: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee…” Their hearts are hardened, they will not repent; at least not yet. But if and when they do, it will likely be too late to save it from self-destruction.

    Sincerely,

    Andrew

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