Not Just Idiots, but Blithering Idiots

H.L. Mencken said: “So long as there are men in the world, 99 percent of them will be idiots….” [Letter to Upton Sinclair, 14 Oct (17), The New Mencken Letters [1977], edited by Carl Bode, p.76]

When one of these idiots goes to a university and gets a degree he doesn’t recover from his idiocy, he becomes, instead, a blithering idiot, often one that writes political columns.

As evidence I present the recent Huffington Post article written by their Washington Bureau Chief, Ryan Grim, “Dear Islamophobes: Your Racism Is Putting Us All In Danger.”

I do not know if there are really any people afflicted by a clinical case of fear of either Islam or Muslims. If there were it might be called Islamophobia, I suppose. That is not what Mr. Grim means by the word. There is a certain class of idiots who identify anything some people disagree with or criticize as a “phobia;” for example, “homophobia.” As if anyone is actually afraid of queers.”

What Mr. Grim means by Islamophobia is the view of anyone who realizes that Islam is a stupid religion that oppresses its women, rejects all advanced cultural achievements, and is characterized by followers who do horrible things in the name of that religion. In Mr. Grim’s opinion, the only people who are not islamophobic are those who are too gullible or ignorant to see what a backward superstitious religion Islam is and have no idea what is going on in the world.

Speaking of blithering idiots, Mr. Grim’s article is in response to President Obama’s December 6th, Sunday night address, in which he said:

“It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It’s our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim-Americans should somehow be treated differently.” He spoke a lot of other drivel as well.

Who is “we?” I do not know a single individual who has anything to do with who can or cannot come to this country. And who is the “our” who has the responsibility to determine how anyone else is treated. It does not include me. I treat everyone as an individual and according to the kind of individual they demonstrate themselves to be. Beyond that, I do not need anyone’s instruction about how to treat others. Doesn’t a president have anything more important to do then tell people how to treat their neighbors? [In truth, of course, he has nothing important to do, and the less he does, the better.]

Most idiots are harmless enough, only harming themselves. It is the, “dithering idiots,” who cannot ever learn to keep their mouths shut and mind their own business that are the trouble makers. Ryan Grim provides the perfect example:

“But … even Obama felt the need to say a few lines about the Muslim community’s responsibility to reel in radicalism. It’s a trope that many find offensive, as Christians are rarely asked to condemn violence by Christians, or white men to condemn an attack carried out by a white man.”

I have never seen a news story about a violent crime committed by a white person that has not been broadly condemned by every decent person of every color, including white. The reason “white men” (not women?) are not asked to condemn attacks by white men is because they already do condemn them. As for Christians, when was the last time Christians gang raped a girl to death in front of her mother who was forced to watch it, or lined up non-Christians to systematically shoot or behead them, or captured non-Christain women to sell into sex-slavery, or took over a school and raped little girls and murdered many of the other children, or murdered homosexuals by throwing from the top of buildings, or entered a public building and murdered and wounded as many people as they possibly could? When Christians start doing those things, they will be condemned for it, by Christians.

Since this idiot made the comparison between Christianity and Islam let’s look at that in the context of his own absurd advice:

“Even if deep in your gut you harbor deep fear or suspicion of people you think might be Muslim, do the rest of us this favor: Keep it to yourself. Don’t spread that fear and discrimination in the name of patriotism, if only because it is guaranteed to backfire. Your racism is putting all of us in danger.”

Reread the paragraph, but replace the word “Muslim” with “Christian,” or “Jew,” or any other religion. As stupid as it might be for someone to have a “deep fear or suspicion of people they think might be” Christians or Jews, one’s expressing such irrational view would not result in any kind of danger. Why is it only offending Muslims puts us in danger?

What Should We Do?

Those who know the truth know this is a joke. “Who is we?”

The truth is none of this really matters, except that it will give those who are not idiots another way to discern the environment in which they live. Islam, even in its worst manifestations, is no real danger to the moral individual. One must always be aware of what is going on in the world, especially in their own neighborhood, but otherwise, none of it has to be taken seriously. Just enjoy the absurd circus the idiots, that is, the politicians, put on for us.

—(12/07/15)