What Would You Do?

                                                                What Would You Do?

                                                                 by Marco M. Pardi

“All mankind is divided into three classes — the immovable, the movable, and those who move.” Arab proverb

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All comments welcome.  To those readers who have been hesitant to comment or ask questions, please be assured you may do so freely. In recent days several new people have signed on as followers, enabling them to comment freely, and it is hoped they will. All previous posts are open for comment by clicking on “uncategorized”. Reader participation keeps this site vibrant. MMP

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I am sure each of us has, at some time, known of or even been present when someone embarks upon an action which we are certain will have negative consequences.  Those of us who are parents have perhaps been called over-protective at times or, as is currently popular, helicopter parents. I am aware there are often two sides to these issues: Let them learn through their own mistakes – a plea I sometimes made in childhood; and, experience brings responsibility for those not so experienced.

Sometimes simple “common sense” is enough even when actual experience is lacking.  I remember an incident involving a freshly minted 2nd Lt. who had no field experience preceding his assignment to our unit.  As part of our perimeter defenses we routinely set trip flares hidden in the scrub brush.  A small stake with a metal ring was hammered into the ground and one end of a small gauge wire ran through the ring and out a few meters to anchor on the next stake.  The end of the wire passing through the ring went down to a slightly buried 60mm mortar parachute flare. This flare is topped by a small folding metal parachute, like a closed umbrella, which, as the flare reaches top altitude of a couple of hundred feet, deploys and holds the flare aloft as it burns bright as the sun for a couple of minutes.

As the Lt, I guess eager to show his superior skills and experience, inspected the set up he loudly pronounced a stake as being crooked (which didn’t matter in the least).  Before anyone could say anything, or so it was claimed later, he kicked the stake to straighten it.  Well, in doing so he tripped the flare next to it.  The front half of his boot, with much of his foot, went flying and he fell to ground with a badly shattered ankle and broken leg. Nobody laughed – at least not then, as it was necessary to stop the bleeding and get him to where he could be e-vaced to a surgical unit.

That was dumb, but aside from the inconvenience to the rest of us he was the one who paid the major price.  On the other hand, I listened to a guy laugh about being home on leave and intending to go on a hunting trip with his father’s dogs.  I should say I never saw this guy sober.  As he told it, he put the two dogs in the trunk of his car, then got so drunk he and his buddies forgot the trip and, when he awoke the next day he had to pull the bodies of the dead dogs from his car trunk. The dogs died miserably. He laughed.  Where’s a flare when you need one?   

There have been times I’ve assessed the likely outcome of an action as limited and not serious, thus taking no counter action.  Let them learn.  But I do take action in cases involving non-human animals, children, the disabled and the elderly. Seven days a week I receive several dozen email petitions, falling broadly into: Environment; non-human animal welfare; energy & conservation; and, socio-political issues including women’s rights, reproductive freedom, etc.  I have no problem risking carpal tunnel syndrome in pounding out responses, writing letters and signing most of these petitions.  I’ve also probably worn out my welcome by forwarding many of these to others.

But, bearing in mind that I do strongly differentiate ignorance (not having the information) from stupidity (having and understanding the information but rejecting it), I do pause for thought over some of the petitions to counter or stop actions or proposed actions emanating from elected officials.  I can’t help thinking about who elected these people.  Clearly, in my opinion, many of these actions and proposals are stupid and even deadly to the people who put these officials in power. We know with certainty the Trump administration came to power through the votes of the “under-educated, economically disenfranchised White” population.  I think that’s kind.  I would say the “stupid” population, crossing all demographics.  An inner voice counsels me to sit back and let these people reap the damage they will bring upon themselves.  This phenomenon is so well known it is the subject of analytical books such as Why Voters Vote Against Their Own Best Interests (my recall of the title may not be entirely accurate, but the message is clear).  I do not engage with people I hear espousing the “Alt-Right” philosophy, considering from experience the likelihood of changing a view.  So, is signing a petition or writing a protest letter – if they succeed, enabling stupidity?  That is, if the petition or protest succeeds in stopping the action does not that merely prevent the damage without addressing the stupidity which would have wrought the damage?  My mind tells me those voters will just snarl and grumble while dreaming up the next stupid proposal.  Let them bring their dwelling down around their ears.

A common mantra today is the Trump administration came to power because people were sick of inaction from politicians.  But, wait.  How did that inaction come about?  In the Congressional election cycles following the first Obama presidential election what we used to call “rabble rousers” inflamed ethnic, racial, and religious fears (He’s Kenyan, he will bring Blacks into power, he’s Muslim) to put forward a cadre of freshly minted Tea Party 2nd Lieutenants to take over Congress.  Needing to immediately prove their bona fides they began finding what they deemed to be crooked stakes, all the established ones. They brought the government to a standstill such that Obama repeatedly had to go around their power drunk bodies through executive actions.  Meanwhile, government was dying in the trunk of the car. These ignorant – or stupid – fools played directly into the hands of the lying-in-wait American Fascist Party.  This is truly the United States of Amnesia.        

But as I ponder this I realize the collateral damage that will ensue from failure to speak out.  As a parent and grandparent I think of the children and the world they would have to live in, if they can.  As a living being I think of all the other living beings on this planet, and their inability to participate in the decisions which affect their lives.  And so I rattle on with the petitions and the letters. My in-box is beckoning to me as I write this.

If you have read this far and choose to not respond, I get it.  Some people tire of my rants.  But please do me the courtesy of forwarding this to someone who might. Perhaps all those people you dislike?

I have a pretty good idea of what I would do.