The Washington Examiner offers an extensive catalog of the “media’s bias-fueled failure fest” that was 2017. Perhaps a resolution to adopt more of a Joe Friday (“just the facts, ma’am”) approach would be appropriate this year.
That won’t happen, though. Instead, as a prominent internet pundit puts it, “Social Justice Warriors Always Double Down.” Which means 2018 is probably already telling 2017 “you ain’t seen nothing yet…”
Buckle up.
The United States has enjoyed a century and a half with no broad-scale combat taking place within its borders. That said, I’m far from being the only one who sees those days may be coming to a tragic end:
Sinisa also pointed out that most civil wars start after a loss of trust in the government, particularly law enforcement: “One of the defining features of any state is a legitimate monopoly on the use of violence.” In other words, if we trust the police to handle bad guys better than armed groups of vigilantes, we’ll probably trust the government more than armed groups of insurgents.
“And if police are not seen as doing their job … I think that certainly has an impact.”
Colonel David Couvillon, a Marine Reserve officer who governed the Wasit province of Iraq after the start of the occupation, pointed out that insurgents can win without convincing anyone that they’re “right.” It’d be enough to push most Americans into the “both sides are evil” camp, which … isn’t an unfamiliar place for most of us to be…
And that no doubt feeds the fact that Americans bought enough guns on Black Friday this year to arm the entire United States Marine Corps.
I’m increasingly of the opinion the United States will not survive my lifetime in its present form. When it breaks up, it’s going to be a bloody, confusing mess of various factions. Over the past 10 years, I’ve been taking steps to prepare my family for this eventuality.
You need to be doing the same, because we may not have another 10 years.
Jake Tapper gives a professional lesson to fellow journalists… and good advice to all of us:
I choose to make it my job to not automatically believe what the U.S. government says just because the government says it… In fact, it’s the exact opposite of my job to take what the government says at face value and say this is the truth because the government says it, and the government never lies.
This is particularly important with regard to government pronouncements these days, as they have demonstrated unfitness for the benefit of the doubt. In a larger sense, however, this skepticism is appropriate in general — merely substitute “company,” “Republicans/Democrats,” or “organization” for “U.S. government” in the statement above, and the wisdom is just as appropos.
We forget to our peril that human nature is fallen, and because of that very few institutions remain bastions of integrity over time. Yet all of us have sources of information that we tend to subject to less scrutiny due to overconfidence in its fidelity. The quote above was given in the context of discussing Edward Snowden. So perhaps the final part of The Atlantic’s article says it best:
“…some of us are inclined towards whistleblowers and others to support the official line. The skeptical approach that Tapper counsels would be good for us all.”
Indeed. As the old saying goes, “the truth is out there,” but one has to pursue it to truly find it. That usually means listening to more than one voice, and that the chorus isn’t just singing your personal tune.
A True Progressive 