John Calvin returned to Geneva on September 13, 1541, after three years of exile. His subsequent work in church reform and theology became known as Calvinism, and profoundly influenced the course of European and (eventually) American culture, including several concepts of servitude and liberty.
On the same date in 1989, Desmond Tutu led South Africa’s largest march aganst Apartheid.
But to anyone who’s looked online at the cruel comments, jubilation, and sick jokes about the murder and about Mr. Kirk, the idea that Democrats are of one mind about the corrosiveness and injustice of killing ideological opponents just because you disagree with them falls to pieces. One popular thread included jokes of the sound the victim made after being shot in the neck, a lot of talk about Kirk’s gun control opposition (and the “irony” of him being shot), and the like — but when I went back to look, the posts had been taken down.
Thankfully (?), the UK’s Daily Mail collected some of the most egregious:
People have always been like this, I remind myself: partisan hatred and mockery are as old as politics. Yet, on the Internet folks too often don’t even hesitate to shout their darkest thoughts as if they were gems of wit and righteousness. This leads to . . . well, “Violence leads to more violence,” as respectable Democrats said.
Too many activists and “influencers” seem heedless of the consequences of ideological brinksmanship, of taking the nastiness in their minds and spewing it to the masses.
It’s horrific, but maybe we, as individuals in a culture at a perilous moment in history, should acknowledge what horrors always hide in the dark. Now made visible.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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The honorary degree is a way of honoring a pompous ass. No honest person would accept a degree he hadn’t worked for. Honorary degrees are suitable only for realtors, chiropractors and presidents of the United States.
H.L. Mencken, as quoted by Alistair Cooke in a speech before the National Press Club, October 8, 1986.
On September 12, 1848, Switzerland — known by endonyms Schweizerische Eidgenoßenschaft (German), Confédération suisse (French), Confederazione Svizzera (Italian), Confederaziun svizra (Romansh), Confoederatio helvetica (Latin) — became a unified federal state with a constitution limiting central government powers and providing decentralized state (canton) power patterned on the U.S. Constitution.
In 1880 on this date, H. L. Mencken was born. One of his earliest books was a debate with a socialist, The Men versus The Man (1910); his greatest lasting contribution was probably The American Language (1919) and its supplements (1945, 1948). His work has been collected in numerous anthologies, such as Alistair Cooke’s Vintage Mencken (1955) and the author’s own Mencken Chrestomathy.
Murder was once a private matter, in the sense that the perpetrator, hoping not to get caught, does his or her horrific deed away from cameras and prying eyes.
Public murder is different. The provocation in killing someone in full public view, with many witnesses, is almost inevitably terroristic in nature. And just so, many of the mass shootings and spree killings of recent years are indeed classified as terrorism.
The stabbing of the young white woman on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, by a black man in view of other commuters, does not seem quite political even if possibly racially motivated. The terror of it is there. But is the -ism? Did Decarlos Brown really do it to change opinion or policy (that is a major determinant of terrorism)? No. It was expressive.
Of racism or hateful madness — one or both.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk is more obviously terroristic. Mr. Kirk was speaking on a university campus fielding a question about the rise of violence by trans people. And then came the bullet ripping through his neck, in view of his wife and children as well as the audience.
Both persons detained by police earlier today have been released — so, as I write this, the evil person who assassinated Charlie, in what smacks of a professional hit, remains at large.
There is something additionally ugly and troubling here. Kirk was always open to debate and dialogue. He held no political power, but he had a voice — often that of reasonableness. This was a direct terroristic attack on free speech.
Charlie Kirk’s. And yours.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Talking endlessly is what humankind has most on its mind.
Proverb from the city of Nippur (Nibru), a major ancient Mesopotamian city.
On September 11, 1789, Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.
The date marks quite a few other, perhaps more memorable, events, too. But few Cabinet selections were more consequential to United States history than President George Washington’s appointment of Hamilton.
Those days may not be gone forever. But it sure must feel like it to the owners of the Hideout Arcade Bar & Grille in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
The restaurant refused the request of a man, what news reports call a “biological man,” who wanted to use the woman’s bathroom at the restaurant. His reason was that — well, I’m not sure his exact rationale matters. Anyway, the restaurant said no, doubtless feeling that it had a right to protect the sensibilities of the women using its bathrooms and to establish rules for their use.
He must have complained, because the Delaware Human and Civil “Rights” Commission got involved and, ignoring any common-sense defense the restaurant offered, has fined the restaurant $2,000 and imposed “anti-discrimination training” — i.e., reeducation — on its employees.
No word on whether they’ll be forced to wear dunce caps, as were some unfortunates during China’s Cultural Revolution.
Commission members might say they’re merely following the law — they just work there. Delaware enacted an Equal Accommodations Law mandating that “All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are entitled to full and equal accommodations, facilities . . . regardless of . . . sex.”
Notice that the law did not say “heedless” of sex, however.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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The voice of the frog is the glory of the marsh waters.
Proverb from the city of Susa, a Mesopotamian city; Shush now exists on the site of ancient Susa. Frog illustration courtesy of Alexas Fotos on Pixabay.
On September 10, 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld gave a speech about an “adversary that poses a serious threat to the United States of America.” Describing it as “one of the last bastions of central planning,” he said it “governs by dictating five year plans” and that “with brutal consistency it stifles free thought and crushes new ideas.”
The adversary? “The Pentagon bureaucracy — not the people, but the processes.” And he went on to state that the Pentagon could not account for more than $2.3 trillion.
The next day, the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell, along with Building No. 7 of that complex, after those two major towers were hit with commandeered jet airliners. And the Pentagon was also hit with a major explosion. It just so happened that Rumsfeld’s big news was drowned out by the story of terrorism.