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I imagine an “Extremist Liberal” (not you or I) thinking the reason for the old 12-mile limit, for territorial waters, was that countries had calmly, from a sense of fairness, agreed on what would be a proper limit for lobster traps, fishing stocks and so forth—Nonsense! The range of a shore defence cannon was 12 miles. As if cannons were nine tenths of the law.
Such Liberals remain ignorant of the past by never having felt a need to weave together a personal sense of how history reveals human nature. Suppose Nation A launches an incursion into Nation B. Suppose I converse with a Liberal: By the time I’ve educated the Liberal on fascism and force, peacekeeping and practical law… I’d be all tired out. The topic of today’s incursion would have to be left for tomorrow.
If they are ignorant, then how could Liberals decide about innocent Ukrainian soldiers losing limbs on their way to Kursk? How could Americans decide whether to write to their congressperson to propose that supplies to Ukraine be held up? Which happened, of course—not the letters but the holdup. I wonder if Liberals have already forgotten how many months their holdup lasted? Or how many children lost their limbs and lost their parents during that holdup? I won’t ask.
Here’s my theory: It’s as if what Liberals see before them is blasted into their brains, as if the sight shocks them into living in an eternal present—Like an animal.
What makes me gnash my teeth is not any specific issue, such as of whether we should be guilty of enabling an incursion by giving the Ukrainians free antibiotics and petrol; my concern is whether a Liberal, in general, lacks any sense of history—and any sense of flowing time.
A humble example of being in Nowtime involves a cinema in England. That British theatre was perhaps a stand-alone single-screen building, with timid teenage staff and no security guards nearby.
The issue: Some bold, big-bodied, close-minded patrons had brought their own food, drink and popcorn.
Next: The police went into the theatre to deal with the situation.
The response: A Liberal, in her newspaper column in The Guardian, cried, “Shame!” at the poor cinema staff.
I don’t know the facts since that column didn’t say, but I do know I would get tired out trying to teach that Liberal some perspective:
Perhaps I could tell about how back in the 1960s, with our hippie friends, we had ignored how businesses need a profit; I could sympathize with folks sincerely “not giving a care” about businesspeople while explaining that “no-money, no-rules” had been tried in the Holy Bible by some Christians attempting to have a commune in the Book of Acts; I could advise friends that British cinemas absolutely require selling food, not just tickets, to cover their cost of doing business. In a sense, ongoing capitalist profit is a cost.
What makes me grind my teeth is not those selfish cinema patrons supposedly ignorant of Economics 101; rather my ire is for that Liberal who is smart enough to be a journalist writing for The Guardian, smart enough, with her British education, to know the “Kantian test,” but who nevertheless is being foolish enough to live in a bubble of Nowtime.
Kant was a philosopher. His test, whether applied to a Ukrainian dropping an atom bomb or to invited members of the public walking past a ticket counter carrying food (right underneath the legally mandated health certificate on the wall) is simple common sense: “What if everyone did that?”
A regular person cannot be stuck in Nowtime, if answering the Kantian question honestly, but must imagine the coming weeks. Such as Russians defending themselves by adding to the atmospheric radiation count, or more customers bringing in their homemade food, their unsanitary hard-to-clean-off-the-seat-cushions food, and people just outside the cinema setting up food carts with low, low prices the cinema simply cannot compete with. In time, the theatre would close down.
It’s hard to converse with an Extremist Liberal because living in Nowtime (crying ‘shame!’) feels good, like a troll enjoying glee, outrage and, on campus, feeling superior to non-students.
A former student, Bill Maher, currently has a book out where pages 35-40 details some history, taught on campus, that student protesters, camping on the quad, conveniently ignore.
I implore you: Please don’t be a timeless beast, and don’t be a snob: A liberal arts student who closes his eyes to history has no advantage over a non-student.
Meanwhile, as an oral learner typing out today’s theory about Liberals, I’m still trying to learn about human nature in Nowtime.
… …
… …
Sean Crawford
August
Calgary
2024
Footnotes:
Disclosure: I may have overly high expectations for The Guardian because they are a (non extremist) liberal paper and I send them money every month.
A Bill Maher Youtube polemic\
It took me a while to get the joke: Maher’s book has social media “buttons” on the cover, and the title mocks click bait: What This Comedian Said Will Shock You.
