Victor Davis Hanson // American Greatness
A transgendered Tennessee mass shooter this week executed three adults and three nine-year-old children at a Nashville private Christian school.
Supposedly she left behind her a manifesto justifying her mass murdering. As of this writing, law enforcement officials have declined to make the document public.
Yet in about a nano-second after the news was disclosed, the left-wing activist machine kicked in, led by politicians, entertainers, and the media.
Three predictable themes surfaced.
The first was led by none other than Joe Biden. He lectured that guns were the cause of the mass deaths, not the free will of a psychopathic killer.
Few noted that the shooter illegally purchased firearms by hiding her documented record of emotional disorders.
Second, America was told that it would serve no purpose to publish the shooter’s manifesto. Apparently, this exception to the usual practice was due to fears her manifesto would hurt the transgender cause.
Third, some in the activist media claimed that, while such murdering was regrettable, it was also understandable—given supposed Christian, conservative America’s intolerance of the transgendered. In our sick society, the targeted victims became the political victimizers.
Did the transgendered shooter anticipate that violence for her “correct” cause would be either contextualized or blamed on the weapon rather than she who used it?
Likewise, at about the same time, a transgendered activist entered the Texas Legislature and physically fought with the sergeant-of-arms.
Just days after the Nashville shooting, a trans advocacy group decided neither to cancel, nor to change the name of, their long-planned “Trans Day of Vengeance” protest in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.
It was recently disclosed that federal authorities did little or nothing last year when pro-abortion mobs traveled to the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices, yelling, and disrupting their neighborhoods.
That mobbing was in clear violation of federal laws prohibiting protesters from swarming the homes of justices to influence their opinions. Yet, mysteriously, Attorney General Merrick Garland demurred from prosecuting the lawbreakers or beefing up security.
Amid this environment of general chaos, a would-be assassin of Justice Brett Kavanaugh turned up near the justice’s home, but was convinced by his own sister to surrender.
In March 2020, then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had all but called for violence against the justices, when he threatened two by name before an angry pro-abortion crowd protesting at the doors to the court:
I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh—you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.
What did Schumer mean by “whirlwind,” “pay the price” and “what hit you”?
On a recent episode of ABC’s “The View,” octogenarian actress Jane Fonda reentered controversy by boasting that women were not going to retreat on abortion rights. And if their marching and protesting were not enough, Fonda smirked, “Well, I’ve thought of murder.”
Recently Wayne State Professor Steven Shaviro posted his views on free speech on campus: “Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.”
Shaviro apparently was referring to the mob at Stanford Law School that shouted down U.S. Fifth Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, who had been invited to speak by the campus Federalist Society. Students prevented him from delivering his lecture, apparently for his past refusal to change the pronouns of a convicted pedophile.
Among the many obscene taunts that were leveled at the judge by Stanford’s future lawyers, one law-school protestor shouted that he hoped Duncan’s daughters would be raped.
U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), House Majority Leader Steven Scalise (R-La.), and former Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin have all been the target of vicious politically driven physical attacks.
Most Americans decried the illegal entry into the Capitol on January 6 by protesting Trump supporters. Over 1,000 have been charged, or are in prison, with hundreds more facing indictment.
Yet none in the Capitol were armed. And the only ones to die violently that day were among the protesters themselves.
No so in the summer 2020. Then the vast majority of the Black Lives Matter and Antifa-led violent protesters who rioted, burned, and looted for 120 days—injuring 1,500 police officers and causing over 35 deaths—were either not arrested or released.
For that matter, what do Johnny Depp, Snoop Dogg, Kathy Griffin, George Lopez, Moby, Rosie O’Donnell, Mickey Rourke, and Larry Wilmore all have in common? At one time or another they alluded to various ways of imagining Donald Trump’s violent death.
What do Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Robert De Niro have in common? They all bragged of their desire to physically assault or beat up Trump.
For the radical Left, ideology exempts its political violence. The result for everyone else is an open-season and the end of deterrence—and frightening days ahead.
Twitter
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Parler
are we there yet?
As I noted on January 20, 2017, after witnessing the choreographed histrionics of the fascist left in response to Trump’s inauguration, “it’s only gonna get crazier.”
Hello professor Hanson,
I highly value your efforts at inquiry into left-liberal ideology. I’m writing to share suggestions of works, in case you are not familiar with them, that you can refer to and which can aid people in their efforts to fathom, and effectively respond to, our current crisis.
Inquiry into the philosophic grounds and history of the crisis in the West needs to be incorporated into our efforts to defend Western culture. Who are we? How did we get here?
The following suggestions are works that can aid in this inquiry and which exemplify the spirit of inquiry now in eclipse. I follow with by a brief reflection on Arthur Lovejoy’s insight.
‘The Great Chain of Being’ (1933) by Arthur Lovejoy
‘The Meaning of the “Common Man”’ (1949) essay by the great 20th century moral and political philosopher Aurel Kolnai, in his ‘Privilege and Liberty and Other Essays in Political Philosophy’. (Kolnai’s classic essay is prescient and penetrating on the nature of left-liberalism and the ideological affinity/bridge between egalitarian democracy and communism that “makes many of us integrally incapable of being anti-communist’.)
‘The War Against the West’ (1938) by Aurel Kolnai
‘An Intellectual History of Liberalism’, ‘The City of Man’, and ‘Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy’ by Pierre Manent.
‘Suicide of the West’ (1964) by James Burnham
Any effort at reform of the university, and the culture generally, should in it’s details, inquire into and refer to the origi
Face it: the crazies are in control of every major institution in America. The question is: will citizens be ALLOWED to vote them out in 2024? Look to AZ.
Bruce,
I, too, lay awake at night wondering if it’s still possible to vote this insanity out of office.
You provide excellent examples how the left threatens and intimidates those who have opposing viewpoints. They no longer want to engage in civil discourse and debate. Violence from left wing thugs is not condemned by the media, and is even encouraged by the elitist leaders of colleges and the left-wing politicians. I am concerned about the safety of those who stand up to these evil people. Be safe.
Bring it violent Liberals, your time is near.
As usual, Prof. Hanson, you are spot on! There is no intolerance like the tolerant Left.
Regarding the Covenant School murders: can you imagine if it had been a “right-winger” who had burst into an elite, progressive Episcopal school and slaughtered three children and three adults, including the Headmaster (oops, sorry, only “Head of School” now allowed, no “masters”). The media would be demanding the immediate release of the perpetrator’s manifesto. Let us see the Nashville shooter’s manifesto, replete, no doubt with the animus and disdain you so succinctly address above.
D. Paul Thomas
For more on the Covenant School shooting, see “Trans Madness” at enteringstageright.substack.com
So what?
What are we prepared to do about it?
What works?
Clearly there are many more of “us”, who would like to preserve civility and fairness in American society, than there are of them. But does that make any difference when they have figured out how to control us through lies, omission of facts, and outright use of force?
The available options for conservatives are few, mostly anemic and wishy-washy, and tend towards abandonment and retreat, rather than causing meaningful change.
My Christian friends tell me to “look to Christ”. Really. Is that all we have left in the tank? Are they saying that we mere mortals can’t possibly do anything to combat this scourge of venomous ideology and harmful behavior?
What are we prepared to do?
Probably nothing. We can talk about it and write about it. But we will do nothing except move to a Red state and send a few dollars to a candidate we hope will represent our views.
Sometimes the truth hurts. The J6 orchestrated activities were designed to compel inaction amongst conservatives. The masterminds behind it did a bang-up job.
That’s why there is no strong and united collective response to the atrocities listed in VDH’s article.
We are all afraid to act. Gotcha!
Mr. Reynolds, you are correct what you said about inaction. I feel helpless that I follow the rules and vote. but not much effect. We don’t want to be violence, but I would ask the conservative intellectuals to suggest what are the means or actions we should do to push back, like boycott anything that is New York. More importantly, initiate the political movement to move us back to the environment where we could acknowledge the other groups need, debate the differences, and make comprise that both sides could get along with, instead of all or nothing. It is not easy and not perfect, but it is reality.
I think God wants us to be strong and courageous, go down to meet them, and to take our stand. Everyone has a different role to play. Read the story in 2 Chronicles 20. We definitely need to pray to God to make clear what we need to do in our own situation.
The advocates for genocide rarely face punishment on Earth. I pray for their salvation.
my favourite left wing quote is “we will harass and arrest our political opponents until we finally defeat the scourge of fascism”
Allan, that’s good one.
“If you don’t believe in our cause then we will MAKE you believe in it.”
Not much of the “Spirit of 1776” in these sentiments.
We inhabit the same ground as our founders, but that is about it. The principles have vanished, except in the minds of a diminishing few.
And those few have no interest in acting upon those principles. We will continue to read and grouse.
Occasionally, we will pop up our heads and make a public comment. But that is about it.
Cheers!
Dear Professor Hanson
I am not old enough to remember a time when leftist ideology’s contextualization of political violence was not somehow attached to popular culture. As a child I could see in media, striking out at “the man” was considered a bold and perhaps fashionable act by modern popular culture.
Though I grew up around people involved in the civil rights movement, the meaning of “Black Power” was somewhat of a vague term to me. However seeing the catchphrase changed and altered in 1970’s pop culture, IE, “Girl Power”, “Kid Power”, even the muppets coined “Pig Power”. I could gather it was a license for anyone in a perceived subordinate position to “strike out at authority or the establishment”.
I argue today’s “Black Lives Matter” was yesterday’s “Black Power”. Already we have seen the catchphrase “recycled” for anyone to mean whatever they want it to. “LatinX Lives Matter”, “Trans Lives Matter”. I am sure somewhere there is a cartoon or commercial somewhere claiming “Kitten Lives Matter” or something to that effect.
All that is relatively benign however. What I am zeroing in on is that the left toys with militancy like kids playing with matches. It’s a fun and exciting spectacle lighting that small fire but when it starts to burn the house down and kill, it’s a different matter. What concerns me is that the left is failing to realize that they have set a fire to the very house they are living in.
So very well said……sad but so true especially the last line
One might suspect that Mr. Xi eventually will violently remove the left here once he fulfills his ‘promise’ to Putin, namely, paraphrasing his end of visit message just before departing Russia for Beijing, Xi indicated, ‘chill, good friend, the biggest change in 100 years is enroute across the globe.’ Then, within a week, the announcement that China and France signed an agreement using the yuan in lieu of the (formerly) standard US dollar. China,2nd largest purchaser of treasuries behind Japan, is quickly cashing in the billions of US treasuries. The Democrat/Rino $32T US debt may encumber future dollar printing. BRICS is on the move. We have a nincompoop group in the WH with some probability they will find a way to harvest sufficient ballots to win again in ’24.
The narrative-driven bias and hypocrisy are absolutely astonishing.
Where is John Galt?
He’s been reincarnated as Donald Trump.
We need John Galt.
Some years back some citizens in this land had been tormented by a government that had set aside and ignored the “areed upon rules” of operation across this land. Public meetings shut down, unjustified searches, seizures, arrests, unjust taxes imposed, restrictions and curfews, denial of the freedom of assembly and of religion (or lack thereof), seizure of goods “because…”, holding in pr=isin with no trial or legal counsel…. then one fine morning two hundred forty eight years ago a group of them, standing to defend their homes, were ordered to “lay down yur arms and disperse”. They dispersed, but did NOT lay down their arms. Theywere fired upon, eight went down never to rise again. Six more were wounded. The abusers went in down the road, and confronted another group in similar circumstances. This time (knowing nothing about what had happened to their fellows up the road earlier) the aggressors opened fire and were shocked to get return fire. Two ro]unds of the first volley hit the citizens, dropping ine in his tracs, and seriously wounding another. The citizens returned fire.. two vollweys in rapid succession. They took out of action some twenty officers and about as many more enlisted. The aggreeors turned tail and ran, in uter disarray, fleeing fir their lives, the ONLY wise thing to do.
Lexington then Concord, Massachssetts, 19 April 1775.
The ensuing fight for liberty lasted ten or so years. Te guvernment that rose up out of those ashes was the first of its kind
I see they cancelled the Day of Vengence after “ After Organizers Received A Threat Of Gun Violence Fueled By Right-Wing Anti-Trans Rhetoric.” More likely, lack of participation was the reason. It’s so hard to harness all the hot air blowing around D.C.
Simple rule: If the news comes from the MSM or left-wing politicians, it is most likely a lie.
I have found this to be the most reliable way to determine if something is true or not.
It essentially works every time. If it does not feed the narrative, then it will not surface in those precincts.
If it is not reported on by the same leftie sources, then it is most likely true.
As a young boy, I still remember my mother telling me about the disgusting racial attack of a black Alabama church during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. Four young girls my age had been murdered.
I think this odious event gave the Left the moral high ground. It also convinced many white Americans that something was terribly wrong in the South and of the need to support long overdue civil rights legislation.
Today, the tables have changed and it’s the Right who is suffering from institutionalized tyranny. From the J6 protestors who have been rotting in jail without habeas corpus rights for mostly parading without a license, to the citizens and business owners who watched the mayors and police chiefs of our largest cities contextualize the 120 days of Antifa/BLM rioting, to the Media wilfully ignore the abuses at the FBI, to president Trump’s surreal arraignment at a Manhattan courthouse.
To be blunt: If we can’t turn this around at the ballot box in 2024, then we’re doomed.
We ARE doomed.
Somebody tell me how we get out of this nation-ending predicament.
The Stanford Law graduates will someday be our justices, judges, and lawyers throughout the land.
Nothing much more scary than that.
This is the total paralysis that the old Soviet propaganda aimed at: you didn’t need to buy the BS, you just needed to feel like there was nothing you could do to counter it. “They” want to keep you numb so that you don’t: Move to a state that reflects your values, vote in the local schoolboard election, run for town selectman, start a political discussion group at your local pub, go to a house of worship, give money to Hillsdale, seriously vet Ivy League grads before hiring them at your place of work, get a subscription to several conservative news sites, volunteer to work as vote counter or election worker, start your own blog or podcast, buy local so you can build fundamental life networks with like-minded people, throw tin cans in the trash bin while cursing Al Gore. Progressives don’t just win through power -they win power by uniting hundreds and thousands of nobodies to take action at critical moments. These are the things one person can realistically do -focusing on what you can’t do plays into their hands.
James, I appreciate your go-go spirit.
However, platitudes, feel-good activities and buying local will not thwart, in any way, the powerful and malevolent forces behind the modern left. These people hate decent, law-abiding, hard-working, compassionate and considerate fellow citizens.
What is in your plan that will actually produce a better America? A pub discussion? I have those all the time, though I prefer wine tasting rooms. As you can tell from my writing style, I do not shy away from public discussions on most any topic.
I read plenty of conservative, and non-conservative think pieces and am a student of history. I don’t need any more of that.
I am an engineer looking for a solution. Not a hand-waver like much of the talking class. Put some meat on those bones.
In this forum I make a point to tell people exactly what I am thinking and how I feel about things. If that gets others to think a bit differently, then fine. But it is the subsequent action that I am most concerned with. Or lack thereof.
Action, with the right words. That is what the founders did. They made a difference.
They risked everything.