What Our Fellow Citizens Are Saying

Reading for a Sunday afternoon

The comments sections across websites focused on current events have become battlegrounds for the keyboard warriors of America. Take the heated topic of illegal immigration - here's a small sampling of the digital abuse being hurled about by the armchair revolutionaries:

"The crisis will only expand unless state governments and the public step in and take matters into their own hands."

"Looks like Sedition 101” (from where I'm sitting behind this glowing screen)

"Treason! Burn it all down! (The cry from a La-Z-Boy bunker!)

"It's high time we roll through and bankrupt every last employer hiring these illegals.” (I'll get right on that...after one more rerun of Gunsmoke.")

"Shut the entire goddamn government down if that's what it takes! Cut off every cent of funding until this border breach gets permanently locked down tight and every last one of those trespassers is physically deported!" (Orders from the civilian commander-in-chief from the Cheetos-dusted trenches of his smoke-filled man cave.)

"A deliberate destruction of the USA as we know it is afoot!" (Nostradamus lives!)

"Public hangings are the only answer left to deal with such treasonous snakes!" (Feisty! You go first, Rambo.)

"State police should mobilize and arrest anyone caught so much as looking crossways at the border fencing. It's destruction of state property, after all!" (The good old Police State will cure everything!)

"Send in the National Guard with orders to open fire on this entire invading force, especially their armed cartel escorts!" (Statist? Neocon? Tyrant-in-Waiting?)

"THE ENEMY IS DOMESTIC AND AMONG US! TIME TO TAKE UP ARMS AND ACT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, FELLOW PATRIOTS!" (Dr. Samuel Prescott rides again!)

(Italics mine)

Reading such frothing bluster, I can't help but chuckle at the absurdity. These self-proclaimed revolutionaries need picture diagrams to operate a universal remote to change TV channels, yet they scream bloody sedition like it's the only solution left.

They demand the mass arrest and imprisonment of Biden and his entire administration...but clearly don't comprehend that the deeply corrupted Biden Justice Department has zero intention of ever enforcing laws against their own cronies.

They insist their local sheriffs and police should step up and start making mass arrests to defend the sovereign soil...yet these same impotent complainers have reliably voted against every single tax increase that could better fund and staff those very law enforcement agencies.

They cry for their state governments to intervene with extreme prejudice against the illegal influx...but have these beacons of civic engagement ever attended a single town council meeting, political rally, or candidate forum to voice their concerns and make their demands known?

Have any of them picked up a phone and actually called their mayor's office, governor's office, congressperson, or U.S. senators to firmly but respectfully encourage a pro-freedom, pro-sovereignty vote on related legislation?

Doubtful, as that would require putting down the game controller and stepping away from their echo chambers for a few minutes of constructive action.

They plead for local police to establish roving patrols and stop this blatant invasion immediately. How many have ever organized or participated in a local neighborhood watch program? I'm betting approximately none.

"LET THE CIVIL WAR BEGIN!" they scream into the ether, sweat beads forming on their furrowed brows. But have any of these tough-talking guerillas even fired their daddy's 12-gauge shotgun in the last decade or two? If they own a single box of ammunition, it would be a miracle akin to the loaves and fishes.

"MOLON LABE," they grunt while thumping their chests...yet they'd be the first ones sheepishly and meekly turning over their so-called "arsenal" to the BATF agents who politely dropped by for a little chat after the latest Red Flag report.

Sure, they all bravely marched to the municipal offices and proudly obtained their shiny new concealed carry permits. But how many have that cool-looking 9mm pistol readily accessible for self-defense? More likely, it stays locked up uselessly in a closet or gun safe, with the magazines and ammo stored separately in another room for absolutely zero practical purposes.

Not one of them has taught their children about gun safety and firearm usage by taking the whole family to the range for instruction and hands-on experience shooting real firearms. More often than not, the kids have never even seen Dad's pistol because, y'know, that's dangerous and stuff.

Speaking of kids, has a single one of these hyperventilating online extremists taken their children on a good old-fashioned hunting excursion in the last few decades? Doubtful, but they all ensured little Dakota and Brayden each got the latest $1,200 iPhone model for their previous birthdays.

"Public hangings!" they demand from behind their mobile meat suits, likely permanently damaging their keyboard's ';lkj' key cluster with such frenzied pounding.

Lord help us all if any of these LARPing rebels were somehow put in charge of an actual revolutionary militia offensive. Their "force" would be routed by the first stray final zone camper spotted vaulting over a mesh fence section.

On the rarest of occasions, one can witness a nearly coherent but still largely uncivil exchange attempting to transpire amongst the internet trolls:

Bob: "I am fully aware of what is right/wrong, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, etc. Being a realist doesn't make me a cuck. Being an overly emotional simpleton, completely unable to analyze nuanced situations and weigh the pros/cons of specific approaches to solving complex problems? THAT makes one an idiot. These issues cannot be resolved with narrow-minded, simplistic platitudes. You're advocating for actions better suited to impulsive emotional children, not rational adults. I would much rather see diplomatic solutions pursued versus immediately escalating to outright conflict that will undoubtedly result in the law-abiding being made examples of by the system."

"Do you not see what happened to so many on Jan 6th for merely occupying a building they have every legal right to access as American citizens? Did that ill-conceived spectacle truly help anyone's cause in the long run? Of course not. And it wasn't even an 'insurrection' by any objective measure! Yet look what the tyrants did in response to such tame civil disobedience. Wake up and pull your head out of your echo chamber for once."

Ray: "So in your mind, Leonidas should have simply laid down arms and surrendered the Spartan city-state to Persia without a fight. The small garrison at Gonzales should have obediently handed over their cannon to Santa Ana's forces. The Alamo should have surrendered to Mexico without firing a shot in its own defense. And, of course, Captain John Parker at Lexington Green would have been wise to politely show the British troops exactly where our military supplies were being stockpiled rather than resist."

"I can go on and on listing historical examples of free people boldly defending their sovereignty when outside oppressive forces arrived with ultimatums and threats of subjugation. In every one of those examples, the patriots and defenders did NOT initiate or instigate the violence - the tyrants and invaders did by issuing their unlawful demands backed by force in the first place. You believe the proper response is to meekly acquiesce and file an appeal with the oppressors? That's the very definition of cuckery."

"I'm sorry you don't seem to grasp the principles of self-determination and the responsibilities of free people to actively reject unjust authority by simply saying 'No' and refusing to comply. Having to utter that one-word denial of tyranny should not automatically be interpreted as some revolutionary call for violence. But when the enforcers inevitably show up to make an example out of dissenters - as they always do - then defensive actions become justified and necessary."

"We've patiently tried your nebulous 'plan' of diplomacy and compromise for over a century. And where has that gotten us outside of increasingly boiled frogs? Nowhere but a slow-motion erosion of every fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution's Bill of Rights. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to look to the past for inspiring examples of how to face down autocrats and oligarchs hell-bent on depriving you of life, liberty, and property. Not by initiating any offensive actions or 'attacks.' No, by simply rejecting their presumed authority and being willing to defend one's natural rights by any means required when the tyrants attempt to use force to regain compliance."

Bob: "You're nothing but a delusional, wannabe keyboard cowboy LARPing out militant fantasies from your mother's basement. If you believed any of the drivel you're spouting about what people 'should' be doing right now, you'd be walking the walk instead of sitting behind a screen talking tough. You criticize others for inaction yet opt to push more level-headed folks into taking ill-advised risks and making rash moves while conveniently failing to lead by example yourself."

Ray: "There shouldn't be any 'risks' involved; that's precisely the point you seem to be missing. Merely saying 'no' to governmental overreach and tyrannical mandates should not put one's life and liberty in peril in a truly free society. Quite the opposite - such peaceful non-compliance should be a citizen's universal right."

"You mistake my vigorous encouragement of others to rekindle their passion for liberty as some call for offensive violence or insurrection. On the contrary, in every historical example I cited, it was the forces of oppression that initiated violence and bloodshed against those who merely wanted to be left alone to govern themselves. I'm imploring people to wake up and realize they possess an enormously powerful weapon against authoritarian overreach simply by withdrawing their consent and refusing to be ruled by unjust laws and unlawful edicts."

"Your position effectively advocates for a voluntary descent into obedient serfdom. Just go along with whatever crumbs and scraps the oligarchical nobility decides to grant you. Don't rock the boat or make waves, citizen. After all, they possess all the guns, money, and muscle - who are you to defy your supposed betters and sovereign rulers? Well, I categorically reject such a servile, cowardly mindset. Liberty means being willfully disobedient to those who would dominate and subjugate you without any legal authority to do so. If that monumentally principled act is too risky or extreme for your sensibilities, I can't be bothered concerning myself with your self-imposed shackles any longer."

On that note, the admittedly heated exchange was an impasse between the willfully blind obedience advocated by Bob and the impassioned civil disobedience championed by Ray. With both sides having firmly dug in their ideological trenches, the conversation was fated to go no further in any productive direction. But it is an excellent example of the rage bubbling in our polarized society. While not everyone everywhere is railing against the exact specifics, Rage is fueling each side of every contention.   

And then there's this.
“The true measure of a person's worth isn't what they say they believe in, but what they do in defense of those beliefs. If you're not acting on your beliefs, then they probably aren't real...I don't want to be a person who remains afraid to act in defense of my principles.”     

Edward Snowden

“No Place to Hide”

BW

Thanks for reading this far.

If you have a response to Ray, Bob, or either ‘argument,’ please post it in the Comments sections below. It is a discussion worth having—with fewer ad hominems - as irresistible as that may be!

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