A Conservative Tumblog

Jan 21 2012 ∞

disdainfullyyours asked: sorry for being ignorant, but what IS a factor in morality, and therefore rights, if not the sentience of the being?

Don’t apologize.  As long as you’re still willing to learn, you’re still miles ahead of most people.

I’ve written about it before if you need me to go from the beginning, but for now I’ll stick to the brass tacks.

Rights come from rationality. That’s not to be confused with emotions or consciousness or the ability to feel pain—but rationality. The ability to reason. The ability to perceive the world around us and not just identify it, but to understand what it is. And when it comes to the Living World, human beings are the only rational creatures on the block. The only ones. We are the only ones with rights—with a “dignity” that is capable of being morally infringed. (And please, spare me the “plenty of humans are irrational” argument. It’s nonsense. There are plenty of humans who act in an irrational fashion. That does not make them non-rational beings.)

Humankind transcended the animal kingdom—because we ceased to be bound by the natural world. We can do better. Instead of the letting the world define our parameters, we defined our own parameters for the world. We don’t have full control yet—like, we can’t stop a hurricane (yet!) but our crops aren’t dependent on the rain for water, our homes aren’t dependent on the sun for heat, etc etc. Animals can be trained and domesticated—but that’s only thanks to our intervention. Plants can be grown in an underground lab, devoid of sunlight or natural air, because we can control its atmosphere. And that—all of it—is thanks to our rational capacity. A capacity that every other creature on this planet lacks.

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disdainfullyyours asked: would you mind outlining, roughly, why you think animals have no (or should have no) rights? i've not seen many arguments from that side of the debate and am not entirely taken with the pro-animal rights arguments, so felt i needed a differing-from-the-majority opinion

Animal rights ideology holds that moral worth comes with sentience or the ability to suffer. Thus, since both animals and humans feel pain, animal rights advocates believe that what is done to an animal should be judged morally as if it were done to a human being. This is, of course, false. Morality has nothing to do with sentience, emotional capacity, suffering, or the ability to feel pain. Nothing whatsoever. This is the common misunderstanding that most people have with regard to morality in general—not just as it applies to animal rights.

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The Tale of the Swine

Once there was a tribe of wild pigs who lived in a remote area of the woods.

As anyone who’s spent time around pigs will tell you, they are by no means the most unintelligent of animals, and these pigs had learned to adapt quite well to their circumstances. They had fashioned dens and had gradually learned to piece together a tribal law that allowed them to work as a group when necessary to ensure an adequate if not overgenerous food supply, care for their young, and defend themselves against any natural predators. In their little corner of the woods, they were pretty much the dominant species, and were reasonably content.

One day, a pig named Andy went missing. The others searched for him throughout their part of the forest, but they were unable to find him no matter where they looked. Andy’s fate became a major topic of conversation among the pigs. It was totally unheard of for one of them to simply disappear like that.

The pigs didn’t quite keep track of time beyond the seasons, but still, by their reckoning, it was some time before, to their astonishment, Andy reappeared as the leaves were turning color.

The pigs were ecstatic to see their lost tribe member returned to them…and, even better, in what appeared to be rip-roaring good health.

Most of the wild pigs tended to lose some weight as the weather started to turn colder and food became scarce and harder to find, but Andy was sleek and fat, and he obviously had been living, if you’ll pardon the expression, high on the hog. His bristles and hooves were clean, his eyes shone brightly, and he was as happy as a pig in — well, you know. And much to the other pigs’ surprise, he had a pretty red collar around his neck — something none of them had ever seen before.

“Wherever have you been, Andy?” the other pigs asked. “We looked everywhere for you.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to tell you,” said Andy. “I’ve discovered something wonderful.

“You know, I was chasing down some berries I smelt by the oak trees over by our eastern border…you know the place. Well, I ended up going a little past our bounds, and what bad luck! I wasn’t paying attention and got my left rear trotter lodged in a tree root.

“I tried and tried, but I couldn’t get free, and I thought I might die there. But then the most marvelous thing happened. A man heard my squealing, came through the underbrush, and set me free.”

Now, the pigs had heard of men before, but only in their pig legends that dated long before they had moved to their present remote home. Some pigs wondered if men even existed. And now, here was Andy, telling them he’d actually seen one!

“I was still injured, so the man took me back with him to an amazing place called a Farm. I couldn’t believe what I saw there. There are fields loaded with food and grain, and all kinds of different animals living there in peace and plenty. I lived in a large, warm den called a barn, with straw for my bed and the very best of food. No sleeping out of doors for this pig! And do you know what I had this morning? Apples! And corn mash! You can’t believe how good it tastes compared to the berries, roots, and acorns we live on here — and free, every day, without me having to go out and find it.

“The man — I call him my Dear Farmer — gave me this red collar and made me his pet. He knew I came from a tribe of wild pigs in the area somewhere, and I overheard him say to one of the other men that he was going to let me go near where he found me to see if I would be able to lead him to the other pigs. He wants us all to come live there on the Farm! Can you believe it?”

Needless to say, the other pigs were astounded. And as they began discussing this on their own, various differences emerged between them on what they should do.

“What makes you think he wants us all to come live on this farm thing?” one asked Andy.

“Why else would he send me to come and look for you?” replied Andy. “Why, the Dear Farmer loves pigs! He said so. He probably wants our manure to help grow his crops. This is a time for us to move on and progress now that we have a golden opportunity to have a better life for ourselves.”

The pigs debated this at length. A number of them, particularly the sows with young piglets, were all for going to the Farm. Winter was coming on, food was getting harder to find, and the prospect of a warm barn to sleep in and ample food was very enticing. And all of it in exchange for a little manure!

One faction, headed by an old boar named Ronaldus, was adamant in arguing against the move. No matter how glowingly Andy painted a picture of progress and plenty, Ronaldus insisted that there was no guarantee of the Farmer’s true intentions and that, more importantly, they had no guarantee that the food and lodging would continue. “If the Farmer can give you these things and you come to depend on them, the day may come when he takes them away. Better we stay in the forest and depend on ourselves.”

“You’re old-fashioned and afraid of the future, Ronaldus,” responded Andy. “This is all about change…there are plenty of animals already living on the Farm, and it works out well for them. It’s an animals’ paradise. Why should it be any different for us? I tell you, I’ve been to the Farm — I’ve seen the future and it works.”

With that, the majority of the pigs voted to follow Andy to where the Dear Farmer was waiting and begin a new life on the Farm. Besides, as Andy explained, if they didn’t like it, they could always leave and return to their old life in the woods.

Once they reached the Farm, the pigs saw that it was very much as Andy had described it. The Dear Farmer seemed pleasant and genial, and the Farm had many animals living in it and looked peaceful and prosperous. And there, just as Andy had said, was the nice warm barn!

The pigs spent a couple of nights in the warm barn, and even if the food wasn’t quite the way Andy had described it, it was still delicious and plentiful.

But on the third day, the Dear Farmer and one of his men herded the pigs into a fenced enclosure — all except Andy, who continued to be allowed to stay in the barn and to roam free during the day. The pigs heard the Dear Farmer refer to their new quarters as “the sty,” and while it wasn’t as nice as the barn, it was still sheltered and warmer than some of their old dens, and the food was still much more plentiful than back in the forest.

Some of the pigs had a few misgivings. Some of them noted that now that they were in a fenced enclosure, there was no chance to return to their old life in the forest if they wanted to. And they noticed that only Andy, with his red collar, still had the freedom to roam and still slept in the nice warm barn.

“You’re being unreasonable,” some of the other pigs replied. “The Dear Farmer is providing for all our needs here. This sty is far better than our old dens in the forest, and the food is better and comes without our having to hunt or do anything for it. And besides, why shouldn’t Andy run free? Isn’t he our leader now? And since he’s the Dear Farmer’s friend, so much the better for us.”

Life for the pigs assumed a day-to-day routine. The Dear Farmer or one of his men came every day and continued to make sure that the pigs were fed and watered regularly and that their needs were taken care of. Some of the pigs noticed that Andy had ceased coming around, although they spotted him roaming the farm occasionally. When some of the pigs questioned this, the others responded, “How can you criticize Andy like that? Look at all he’s done for us! He’s probably working hard with the Dear Farmer to make sure we get what we deserve and are taken care of properly.”

Many of the pigs, you see — especially the younger ones — had largely forgotten the old days in the forest and felt they were entitled to food, shelter, and good treatment just because they were pigs

One day, an unusual thing happened to break the routine. The Dear Farmer and two of his men came into the sty, picked out a couple of large hogs and a couple of piglets, and drove them out of the sty towards another building over by the other side of the Barn — one the pigs heard the Dear Farmer refer to as a “smokehouse.”

The pigs were quite surprised at this, and they spent much time debating over what had happened and what it meant. Some of them thought that perhaps the Dear Farmer felt that their sty was getting too crowded, and that the “smokehouse” was simply another sty. “It’s just another example of how the Dear Farmer looks after us.”

Others theorized that the hogs and piglets had been promoted and were going to join Andy in assisting the Dear Farmer in looking after the other pigs, and that they would soon be seen wearing pretty red collars, too. Still others thought that they had disobeyed the Rules of the Farm in some fashion, were being punished, and would be returned to the Sty shortly.

The next day, some of the pigs noticed Andy walking by and called out to him, saying they needed to talk to him. To their surprise, Andy approached the sty at a brisk trot. “Hello, my fellow pigs,” Andy said. “How goes it with you?”

“Andy, we need you to find out something for us,” one of the hogs said. “Yesterday, the Dear Farmer took two of the hogs and couple of piglets out of our sty. We’ve been wondering what happened to them.”

“Oh, I know all about that,” Andy said. “This is probably an excellent time for us to talk about what being part of the Farm really means

“You see, being part of the Farm is not about the individual — it’s bigger than that. Here, we’re all part of the Farm. And to keep the Farm going, everybody in the Farm is going to have to sacrifice something, accept change for the greater good. Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game.

“That means that we pigs also have to sacrifice. We have to be about the good of the Farm, and all the animals on it — not just say ‘hey, we’re doing fine’ and not worry about the rest of the Farm.”

“What do you mean, Andy?” asked one of the pigs.

“I mean that the pigs you mentioned are helping the entire Farm, including all of us pigs, by performing a special role in keeping the Farm going. That’s why they’re in the smokehouse. As the Dear Farmer taught me, from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”

The pigs mulled this over for a bit. Finally, a sow named Dinah asked, “Andy…I understand that maybe it might be necessary for some of us pigs to go over to the smokehouse to help the whole Farm. But if that’s our role, where do you fit in? Are you going to be going to the smokehouse too?”

Andy chuckled. “Not quite Dinah. The Dear Farmer gave me other duties to perform for the Farm. I’ve already been able to tell another tribe of pigs in the forest near the south part of the Farm about the animals’ paradise here, and some of them are in the Barn as we speak. They’ll probably be in a sty over in a different part of the Farm tomorrow, enjoying all of the benefits we have and doing their part to keep the Farm going just like we are.

“Not only that, but I also help them get the things they need and deserve from the Dear Farmer, just as I’m helping you. You need me to intercede with the Dear Farmer because I understand his ways. I’m the…community organizer for all the pigs on this farm!”

“Wait a minute, Andy,” said another of pigs, an older hog named David. “I don’t like this one bit. Look at what we’ve come to. We were told that if we came here, we’d live in the nice warm barn and get free food, and nothing was going to be demanded of us except a little manure. Now it seems like things have changed. We’re not in the Barn, the food’s not quite what we were told, and it looks like a lot more is being asked of us than just manure. I want out of this deal. I want to go back to the forest.”

“I see,” said Andy. “Because things aren’t exactly the way you want, you’re willing to jeopardize the entire community for your own selfish needs. Let’s say all of us abandoned the Dear Farmer the way you want to. What do you suppose would happen to the Farm? What about the piglets? You want to deprive them of food and shelter, too? Remember what I said about us all needing to have some skin in the game?”

“Yeah,” yelled Dinah and some of the other pigs as they glared at David. “Isn’t it time we thought of the piglets?”

“I couldn’t care less,” replied David. “I want out!”

Andy looked at him a second, and then said very quietly, “Fine, David. If you want to put yourself ahead of the piglets and their needs, ahead of the whole Farm, that’s something I guess you’ll have to live with.”

“How do I get out of the sty?” asked David.

Andy looked at him for a long moment. “David, its one thing for me to listen to you outrageously putting yourself ahead of every animal on the Farm. It’s something else for you to expect me to help you do it. I’m fighting for the average pig, the little porker, not the greedy one percent who don’t want to give so we all can enjoy peace and plenty.”

He then trotted away, listening to the other pigs applaud him and shout out his name. And as he went, Andy made a note to himself to talk to the Dear Farmer about moving David to the smokehouse the very next day.

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quietly-living-life asked: Why be pro-life? I mean, do you know what hyperemesis gravidarum, pre-eclampsia, and ectopic pregnancies are? Do you know how physically hellish pregnancy can be for a woman? Do you know all of the different ways that pregnancy can cause mental and emotional distress to a woman? Do you know how emotionally scarring it can be to give a child up for adoption? Or do you just not care about any of that, which proves that your views on this issue are incredibly hateful?

First off—and I’ve said this a thousand times before—I’m not pro-life. Or pro-choice. I am anti-abortion. Important distinction if you care more about the facts than feeling like part of some silly little social club.

To answer your questions: Yes. Not from personal experience, but yes. Yes. Yes. And, as any intellectually honest person would have to answer to your last question, no, I don’t care. But I think you’re a little confused—since when does not kowtowing to cheap emotional appeals or letting them get in the way of real principles make a position hateful?

This was obviously intended to be some kind of hit-and-run thing, but if you have an answer, I’d like to know. And if you’re at all interested in actually understanding my position (as you obviously haven’t read more than a few sentences on it—at the most), the abortion tag would be a good place to start.

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Dec 05 2011 ∞

Anonymous asked: Damn right. I always like getting my hard hitting analysis of the problems facing the world from a guy who is famous for making boob and fart jokes.I think the first step is to abolish child labor laws . Daddy needs his widgets.

I don’t think there is a first step, Anon. I don’t think it matters what we do at this point. We could fix the broken system all we want—return people’s economic rights and personal liberties; abolish the public mandatory state-sponsored indoctrination camps; gut the federal government; deregulate all the stuff that needs deregulating; take the eyes out of the sky; slash public welfare and social services—I don’t think it’ll help. The problem is ideological.

The problem is that we’ve got two entire generations raised exclusively on collectivist notions, who have been so saturated with them that that no traces of individual rationalism is left; who have been conditioned, almost in a Pavlovian fashion, to emotionally react and automatically dismiss anything that is in any way contrary to it. I mean, look—with your flippant reply, you just did exactly that. And, of course, we see this kind of thing constantly from the more prominent self-proclaimed liberals/progressives/socialists/collectivists on this site.

So, I don’t know man—I don’t think that’ll help. I don’t think there is a solution. Not one that will continue to permit the co-existence of these two fundamentally competing ideologies. Or, in simpler terms (for all you liberals here): it doesn’t matter if you fix a broken blender, when the person using it is trying to make toast.

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Dec 02 2011 ∞

Adam Carolla, in 10 minutes, sums up pretty much everything I’ve ever said on this site (and anywhere else) about: liberals, rich vs. poor, entitlement-mentality, handouts, bailouts, Islamic terrorism, Occupy Whatever, public education, self-esteem programs, trophies for everyone, and why this society has gone to hell. And, frankly, why I think it can’t recover. Why it’ll never recover when we’re saddled with an entire generation (two, actually, if you really think about it) that were incorrectly raised and indoctrinated with a false collectivist ideology.

I won’t spoil any of it for you but to say that what he’s talking about… it is the end result of progressivism. This is what any sane, rational person could see coming a mile away when any progressivist touted their ideology and its practical application. This is it pointed out, in the bluntest terms possible, why progressivism got exactly what it asked for—and why society paid the price for their idiocy.

Careful if you’re at work. It’s loaded with profanity.

(He even used my term: snowglobes.)

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Nov 16 2011 ∞

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Nov 04 2011 ∞

The 99% includes:

  • Communist Party USA (Sources: Communist Party USA, OWS speech, The Daily Caller)
  • American Nazi Party (Sources: Media Matters, American Nazi Party, White Honor, Sunshine State News)
  • Ayatollah Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran (Sources: The Guardian, Tehran Times, CBS News)
  • Barack Obama (Sources: ABC News, CBS News, ForexTV, NBC New York)
  • The government of North Korea (Sources: Korean Central News Agency (North Korean state-controlled news outlet), The Marxist-Leninist, Wall Street Journal, Times of India)
  • Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam (Sources: Black in America, Weasel Zippers, Philadelphia Weekly)
  • Revolutionary Communist Party (Sources: Revolutionary Communist Party, Revolution newspaper, in-person appearance)
  • David Duke (Sources: Talking Points Memo, video statement, davidduke.com)
  • Joe Biden (Sources: Talking Points Memo, video statement, Mother Jones)
  • Hugo Chavez (Sources: Mother Jones, Reuters, Examiner.com)
  • Revolutionary Guards of Iran (Sources: Associated Press, FARS News Agency, UPI)
  • Black Panthers (original) (Sources: in-person appearance, Occupy Oakland, Oakland Tribune)
  • Socialist Party USA (Sources: Socialist Party USA, IndyMedia, The Daily Caller)
  • US Border Guard (Sources: White Reference, www.usborderguard.com, Gateway Pundit, Just Another Day blog)
  • Industrial Workers of the World (Sources: IWW web site, iww.org, in-person appearances)
  • CAIR (Sources: in-person appearance, Washington Post, CAIR, CAIR New York)
  • Nancy Pelosi (Sources: Talking Points Memo, video statement, ABC News, The Weekly Standard)
  • Communist Party of China (Sources: People’s Daily (Communist Party organ), Reuters, chinataiwan.org, The Telegraph)
  • Hezbollah (Sources: almoqawama.org, MailFilterGateway has detected a possible fraud attempt from “almoqawama.org” claiming to be almoqawama.org (2), MailFilterGateway has detected a possible fraud attempt from “almoqawama.org” claiming to be almoqawama.org (3), wikipedia)
  • 9/11Truth.org (Sources: MailFilterGateway has detected a possible fraud attempt from “www.911truth.org” claiming to be 911truth.org (1), MailFilterGateway has detected a possible fraud attempt from “www.911truth.org” claiming to be 911truth.org (2), MailFilterGateway has detected a possible fraud attempt from “www.911truth.org” claiming to be 911truth.org (3))
  • International Bolshevik Tendency (Sources: bolshevik.org, Wire Magazine)
  • International Socialist Organization (Sources: Socialist Worker, socialistworker.org, in-person appearance)
  • PressTV (Iranian government outlet) (Sources: PressTV, wikipedia)
  • Marxist Student Union (Sources: Marxist Student Union, Big Government, marxiststudentunion.blogspot.com)
  • Freedom Road Socialist Organization (Sources: FightBack News, fightbacknews.org)
  • ANSWER (Sources: ANSWER press release, ANSWER web site, Xinhua)
  • Party for Socialism and Liberation (Sources: Liberation News (1), pslweb.org, The Daily Free Press, Liberation News (2))
  • A bunch of self-loathing rich kids.

Just so you know.

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This is socialism.

Haha, who didn’t see this coming? Aww, it’s not as much fun to squat like filthy homeless bums when the temperature drops, is it? Then you really start missing all those evil capitalist products that keep you warm and comfortable, don’t you?

This part cracked me up:

According to an “urgent” alert on their website, OWS is looking for a number of other donations, including waterproof boots, gloves, hats, hand and foot warmers and disposable foot covers among other things. The site says the protesters “are in need of emergency supplies crucial for cold weather survival (and occupation).”

Or, you know, you could just go back to your parents’ basements where it’s warm and safe and you’ll end up anyway, and quit your silly little nonsense “protest” posturing already.

“WE ARE THE 99%! WE REJECT CAPITALISM AND BIG CORPORATIONS! But… y’know, if you could hook us up with some of those nifty hand warmers and waterproof boots, that’d be awesome. NO I DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHERE THEY CAME FROM, JUST GIVE THEM TO ME!”

But yeah, mockery aside there’s something important to take from all this. This is socialism:

It’s a ramshackle tent city filled with useless dependents who will all ultimately starve or freeze to death, wholly dependent on someone else to provide them food, clothing, shelter and warmth in order to survive, unless they go running back to the joys and luxuries that capitalism creates.

I seriously, truly hope and wish that a handful of them die from exposure. It’s a terrible thing to wish on people, but these goddamned morons need to get a clue. And, since people like that always insist on learning things the hard way—let them get a firsthand lesson. Show them the frozen corpse that is the invariable end result of the ideology they are advocating.

Seriously. To any socialist or any liberal jackhole defending these morons, how do you not understand this? You have firsthand proof of what the end result of socialism is. You can see it on Wall Street. It’s this. It’s people freezing in the cold with nowhere to go (without admitting the ideological supremacy of that which they’re “protesting”) who are now literally begging people to take care of them so that they don’t die. Because they cannot take care of themselves. At all.

That’s socialism, folks.

Who here is still stupid enough to continue supporting that ridiculous ideology, now seeing it for what it is in stark naked contrast? Anyone?

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Oct 29 2011 ∞

Anonymous asked: When does human life begin?

Apparently, it begins sometime after people decide to abort.

Funny how that works out for them.

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