The entry in his new blog is about words. What they mean and using them in the way they are meant to be used. We've been shifting our words for a long time. Especially in ways that put one side on the defensive. Politically correct. Back in the day we used the word respect. Respecting women, respecting children. Respecting other beliefs. (and if my blood pressure can stand it why Nazis don't count) Respecting people who may not speak your language or be your skin color.
A new one is "reckless disregard for the truth." In the context I've seen it used we are looking at good old fashioned slander and libel.
Remember that oldie but baddie 'law and order." It used to mean nobody was above the law. We were all entitled to our day in court. That an orderly society was based on good laws that treated us all the same. That was the ideal and. Well, we know how far we've drifted from that ideal. Now it seems to be "yeah, we know what the words in the law say, but we'll tell you what they mean and we'll decide who it applies to."
"I was in fear for my life." Oh, is that a good one. When you put on that uniform, strapped on that holster and took the oath to protect and defend you made a promise. And I haven't found a version yet that spelled out who you were supposed to protect and defend. And it was implied that your life was on the line not the life of the guy you thought had a gun or a knife. Or the man or woman who is mentally ill and can't comprehend your orders. Or the kid with earbuds reaching to turn down the volume. Or the man who is just walking down the side of the road.Or the guy selling illegal cigarettes. Or, what the hell fill in the blanks.
We can't have order when people believe that when it comes to them the laws will be enforced differently. We can't have order when you have individuals and small groups who have an out in left field interpretation of the constitution and argue that the law doesn't apply to them. Example the Bundys and the bunch who took over the Malheaur reserve. And the feds fucked up their cases so badly that these clowns are still walking around waving their guns.
And by the way, when the second amendment was ratified there was no standing army worth the name in the newly minted United States. If there was a crisis the states were expected to call out the militia to act as an army. Well, that didn't work very well and we ended up, finally, with the military industrial complex. The militias in the south were also used to keep the slaves in line. And although you won't find much in the textbooks we're allowed to read a lot of those slaves didn't take kindly or peacefully to being slaves.
Well, well, well here we are again. And once upon a time a long time ago if a man or a woman promised to do something and shook on it that was enough. No written contract was required. And if you didn't keep your word everybody in that small town knew it. If you said it was raining someone would probably look out the window to make sure. And that boys and girls is the country we are living in right now God/dess save us because it looks like we aren't going to save ourselves.
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