Bullying people into enlightenment: The illogic of the new left.

Can anybody out in the interwebz who happens to visit this blog tell me of a time when they were bullied and shamed into changing their views or actions for the better?

I ask this question in all seriousness. Because seemingly this is the goal of protests on university campuses in North America are all about.

Have you ever changed your mind for the better after someone screamed and blew an air horn in your ear? How about after spraying pepper spray in your face or setting your hair on fire? Have you ever changed your mind for the better because someone branded you with an inflammatory label like Nazi or Fascist?  Have you ever changed your mind because someone stopped you from speaking it, without actually holding a dialogue with you to help you to actually understand why your thoughts are illogical and fallacious in the first place?

And to those who think that this makes sense: Do you really think that these "Nazis" and "Fascists", whom you obviously believe to be ignorant and unwilling to listen to reason to begin with, are now going to swing over to your side by shaming them and shutting down their ability to speak? And is the irony of trying to shut down someone's right to free speech whilst calling them a "fascist" truly lost on you?

And I guess all of these people on the left were just born thinking "the right things." They must have never ever had an illogical, erroneous or transgressive thought in their brains, which is lucky for them, because had they not been thinking "the right way" from day one then they probably would have been bullied into silence and completely marginalized and isolated without getting a chance to test their "wrong" views against the "right" ones and seeing for themselves how they don't hold up.

And I guess that although all of the "racists", "misogynists" and "fascists" (who are so "inept", "unenlightened" and "uneducated" and who have obviously ignored the lessons of history) are somehow going to become more educated by being run off of a post-secondary campus, right?  It's not as if this will cause them to double-down on their cognitive biases as some studies have shown actually happens.  It's not as if these "idiots" aren't going to retreat into chat-rooms, meeting halls and crisis bunkers with those who think like them.  It's not like it's going to instill even more anger and hatred and reinforce their own stereotypes of the "race-traitors", "libtards" and "snowflakes" that they hate, right?

And I guess the campus thought police must actually believe in the physical and emotional abuse of children, right?  They must believe that forcing your child to stand out in public with a sandwich board that says "Do not trust me. I will steal from you as I am a THIEF", really is a great way to educate your child about why it's not okay to steal from others, and that making them suck on a bar of soap really helps them to understand why it's not okay to say certain 4 letter words, and that slapping your child now and then to get them to fall in line is perfectly okay if it is to teach them the "right lesson." It's not like there have been studies that have shown that spanking (i.e. physical abuse) and punishment by embarrassment (i.e. emotional abuse) actually results in long-term negative repercussions for the victim, even though it may stop the unwanted behaviour in the short-term.

We all know that emotional and physical abuse is always okay as long as it is done to people over the age of 18 for the "right" reason and as long as the recipient of such abuse stops their unwanted behaviour. We all know that there will never be any negative and unforeseen repercussions as a result of their abuse – like turning to causing injury to and/or shaming and humiliating people that they go on to disagree with or see as the "enemy." After all, we all know that the ends always justify the means as long as the ends are "right".  We also know that two wrongs really can make a right. Amirite?

And I guess as we look at some of these protestors, who obviously have their own cognitive weaknesses such as a propensity for overeating, we can all agree that they just haven't been shamed enough into thinking and acting in their own best interest.  And even though those who overeat haven't found a way to control their own selves enough to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle, somehow these "ignorant fascist pigs" are actually stronger people than them and are obviously better able to control their own brains, otherwise the new left wouldn't berate them for not changing their beliefs and actions.  These "ignorant fascist pigs" should be able to have this magical moment of clarity whereby they are suddenly able to see their own views from an objective third party perspective and have this "aha" moment where they completely change the narrative that they have been building for themselves over their lives thus far.  But I guess those of us who overeat (and I do say "us" because I too am one of them) just don't have that same level of mindfulness and cognitive fortitude as a racist fascist.  Holding someone you look down upon as "lesser than" to a higher standard of critical thinking than one holds ones own self totally makes sense, right? 

Just ask MLK or Gandhi: Obviously the best way to change minds and bring revolution is to resort to threats and violence. It worked for them right?  ...Actually, I'll admit that that's a bad example, because obviously MLK and Gandhi were not up against nearly the same amount of oppression as we in the Western world face today.  Amirite?

But in all seriousness folks, while I have obviously already explained in posts over the years that I no longer believe in this left-right paradigm and that I feel that statism is illogical and have therefore divorced myself from the left, I still nevertheless believed that the left was by-and-large better educated and at least acknowledged the importance of critical thinking and civil discourse, but as the years wear on it appears this is becoming less and less true.  It would seem that being "educated" no longer means learning disparate points of view and deciding for oneself what is "right"; it now means simply repeating what your educators and colleagues tell you is right without having to even consider stepping back for a moment and trying to take an objective third party perspective to test ones own thoughts.  After all, questioning narratives is akin to "trolling."

It's not like people following those who claim to have well-meaning ideals, without question, has ever ended badly in history.  It's not like clamping down on free-thought has ever hurt anyone.  It's not like any enigmatic leaders with questionable intentions have ever stepped-in and taken advantage of the peoples' good intentions and used the peoples' feelings of hatred and righteousness as tools towards their own sick agenda, right?

I suspect that this is not going to end well, but hopefully the leftists are correct in their belief that causing trauma to others really does help them learn the truth because then they will also learn from the trauma that their own actions are causing and will come out the other side as "better people" too.