This little anecdote at Steve Sailer’s describes, in a nutshell, why the proudly individualistic Right has been consistently failing for decades.
reminds me of something that happened at jury duty. I was sitting there, trying to figure out how to get out of jury duty, and telling the judge that I had urgent responsibilities, blah, blah..
This was a trial where some young guy had used a gun for to warn off some rivals for his girl, or something. But it revolved around the (non-lethal, in this case) use of a gun. (horrors, I know)
Anyways, the judge was getting clearly annoyed that a few other jurors also didn’t want to participate in the farce. (I’m not a big fan of courtroom “justice” ; )
And he lectured us and then made the mistake of asking a leading question..
(clearly expecting to hear a ‘trial by jury’) he asked the assembled prospective jurors, ‘What is the main right that protects all your other rights from abuses of the government?’
Whereupon I blurted out very clearly and loudly, “The Second Amendment!”
There was a hush in the chamber. A pall had come over the room.
The judge sat for a moment speechless, and then asked the attorneys to approach the bench. There was some serious looking glances and whispers, and then eventually we were all told we could go.
Just like that.
From what I’ve glimmered, I had ‘tainted’ the jury when I said ‘the Second Amendment’. The prosecutor was likely intending to use the gun itself as the crime. And by proclaiming that our right to own guns was the very cornerstone of American freedom, I guess the prosecutor felt the trial was lost before it even began.
[heh]
What a smugly stupid moron! He portrays his self-serving, narcissistic behavior as a triumph of some sort, when in truth it is a disastrous, self-inflicted defeat for both justice and a free society. If this jackass is ever arrested, karma will be well-served if he finds himself facing a jury of avid gun controllers and is convicted on every count. Instead of doing his civic duty and upholding the Second Amendment he cited with such self-satisfaction, he ensured that the prosecution would get a second crack at packing a jury with anti-gun jurors.
The Right’s idolatry of individualism is shortsighted and strategically disastrous. It is the philosophy of the crack addict, the rent boy, the cam whore, and the flytipper. It is the mindset of the parasite and the grasshopper. And it is not compatible with civilization, let alone advanced Western civilization.
Not all collectivisms are equal. Identity politics are not communism. Defending your family and your nation, and working to advance their interests, is not wrong, it is the very sort of normal human behavior that created Western civilization. I could not have created Infogalactic alone. I could not have built Castalia House alone. Arkhaven is a collective effort.
We cannot save civilization by running around like a bunch of headless chickens doing our best to avoid any and every responsibility to others.