You’ll get this in a minute. Or two:
“I’ve never understood it, and it speaks so poorly of you.”
It’s important first to understand why that quote matters. Why it matters to have something speak poorly of you. Seriously. We’re in a world where wrong is relative. I want to scream just typing that. Wrong is relative. Wrong is not always the same. Wrong depends on circumstance. To depend upon something means to be determined or influenced by it. In a world where wrong depends on circumstance, there can be no honesty. Because honesty needs – honesty depends upon – consistency. Honesty is determined and influenced by consistency. But to a relativist, right and wrong depend upon circumstance. Every time a circumstance changes, a thing that is wrong has the capacity to become un-wrong. Everything that is wrong has the capacity, depending upon circumstance, to become right. This cannot be considered consistent, and therefore cannot be considered honest. And so we’re back to the quote:
“I’ve never understood it, and it speaks so poorly of you.”
In a relativist world, whether something speaks poorly of you depends on circumstance. Which, as I’ve established, means that it can’t ever matter. What does that mean, anyway to have something speak poorly of you? It means that through your actions, you’ve created a sort of signpost that you hold in front of yourself that says “liar,” or “jerk” or “hypocrite.” It means that you carry indignity before you wherever you go. If you’ve been told that something speaks poorly of you, you can bank on the fact that you’ve done something wrong. However, we’re still in this world where wrong can be right, humiliation can be dignity, and shame can be pride. You can be told that something speaks poorly of you, but you don’t have to care. All you have to do is say so.
In nearly every educational facility in America, they are saying so.
I know, I’m the conservative you haven’t unfriended on Facebook yet. The conservative who doesn’t “constantly post that Republican crap.” I’m posting that Republican crap right now. Please understand, when someone has a lot of posts that are not in agreement with you, that does not constitute hostility. It is exactly what you are doing, so please be a little more generous. Do you have any idea, any idea at all, how many slaps in the face I endure every day from your untethered “likes” of Huffpo and NYT and (oh God, save me) John Oliver links? Do you get that? And by untethered, I mean that you don’t do anything except click the “like” button. You never explain yourself, never lay claim to any sort of thinking you have done on the subject. You’ve just clicked ‘like’ in the social media equivalent of “so there.” Please explain yourself, because guess what? Most of the time, I click on those articles and read them. I do you that favor. But it’s not a favor, at all. A favor is defined as “an act of kindness beyond what is due or usual.” For me to read the articles you like is not beyond what is due or usual. It is exactly what is due and usual. I owe you that as a matter of course. We owe each other that as a matter of course. But if you don’t care what’s right and wrong, that doesn’t matter much.
Having said all that…
There’s not much to this post, but watch the two minutes (less, actually!) of video. It’s video! YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ ANYTHING!
Steven Crowder has gotten plenty of play for his rant at UMass during this presentation about political correctness gone mad, because it has that “epic smackdown” kind of feel to it. But after watching this, I think it’s more important to give less than two minutes to Milo Yiannopoulos, the Catholic Greek Conservative who also happens to be queer as a three dollar bill, while he gives a very level-headed summary of the campus virus. The video should start right up at 44:16. Give it a listen from there until 46:10.
Andy Havens 