In the movie industry, I dare say, it is those qualities of impulsiveness and improvisation that are rewarded, so it’s not unusual to find actors all showing signs of “epimetheanism” in their work. Picking up that “prop” gun – which is a real gun, despite the seemingly innocuous notion of it being a prop – with no foresight into the well-regarded discipline needed when handling a firearm, is thoughtless and negligent.
The 2020 Antifa and BLM riots around the country cannot be excused by “high-sounding words” like “peaceful protests” and “just reparations.” Rather, they are violations of some of the basic mores of our society and they rend the fabric of that society apart. But those behind these riots are ideologues who have rejected the “tuition” of the church, and other value-laden institutions within society, and are without restraint.
Working from the bottom up, folks learn how to address problems within the context of their own community’s traditions and values. Think Edmund Burke here. And as the problems they confront grow larger they can draw on their own experience of what actually works in the real world to address these larger problems. But always knowing there are tradeoffs.
I have fond recollections of the National Cathedral from my youth. And though I knew nothing of the history or reputation of St. Albans at the time, I included the school as part of my fond memories of the place. That has changed after reading this article about the threat to expel politically incorrect students for the merest contrarian “expression, act, or gesture.”
The precedent of protecting constitutional rights was affirmed, though, and that was the great takeaway from the episode. And as anguished as many of us were at the time – who the hell wants to support a bunch of Neo-Nazis, after all – we relished the work of lawyers at the ACLU in protecting all of our rights.
Then there is a large undefined middle class made up of a variety of souls who constitute the generic citizen. An important attribute of this middle class is that it is not beholden to or controlled by the “elite,” at least not yet. Wanting mostly to be simply left alone to pursue their own life goals, they are becoming a threatened class.
The Afghans rejected the “woke” agenda being force-fed to them by know-it-alls who intruded into their lives with no regard for what they thought and felt. Indeed, there is a very sizable segment of American society who react similarly to the cultural dictates of the institutional powers-that-be. Will they ever listen? Will they ever? Can they even hear?