RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com

Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Theodore Roosevelt’s rebellious daughter, is supposed to have quipped: “If you haven’t anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.” Regardless of the quote’s validity, most of us were taught that “speech is silver, but silence is golden” and that “love conquers hate.” However, Vanessa Van Edwards, the behavioral scientist and author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People, says her research suggests that Alice may have been on to something. People form stronger bonds when they talk about someone they hate rather than someone with whom they have positive feelings.

Hatred, often coupled with tribalism, has been prominent throughout history and has led to millions being killed. Hatred of Native Americans, as well as desire for more land, was a motivating factor in opening North America to European settlers. Hatred for blacks in southern U.S. states led to an estimated 4,400 of them being lynched between Reconstruction and World War II.

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/20/why-the-right-not-to-be-offended-is-offensive/

This is the last of our series about the worship of false idols and how these secular religions are eroding the fabric of our society. (The previous columns appeared  here, here, and here.) Climate obsession, the concept of ensuring equal outcomes as opposed to equal opportunity, and the unmooring of gender from biology have profound implications, but these generally do not have as pervasive effects as the imaginary “right not to be offended” and its progeny, self-censorship.

Claiming to be offended has become a weapon to exert control over others that is neither justified nor deserved. It is, itself, offensive, to say nothing of annoying.

For instance, a recent study conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found, among other perceptions of a stifling environment, that more than two-thirds of students feared for their future if they said the wrong thing. This is hardly an isolated example of fear about hurting somebody’s feelings. Looking back, many of us laughed at “participation trophies” in everything from athletic competitions to spelling bees, because they made a mockery of genuine achievement. The concept was rooted in the belief that those who did not possess exceptional skills should be sheltered from disappointment – despite the near certainty that they were well aware of their skill level and limitations.   

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/21/bidens-ukraine-trip-an-inspiration-for-more-of-his-lies/

President Joe Biden made a “surprise” visit to Ukraine Monday. It doesn’t take a cynic to wonder how many tales from the trip he’ll come up with to pad his already bursting catalog of self-aggrandizing lies, which the media has mostly ignored for decades.

We can imagine Biden in the coming months telling audiences that “we were shot down twice” as the Air Force Special Air Mission jet approached the Rzeszow airport in Poland near the Ukraine border, and then while visiting the front, the Ukrainian forces “let me shoot some of their artillery,” which was particularly rewarding because “I know I killed bunch of Russkies and took out Corn Pop, too.”

“It reminded me,” he’ll say, “of when I was storming the beach at Normandy in ’44.”

All too much? Not even Biden would go that far in concocting some outlandish fables to make himself look better than the dolt he is? Of course he would. That’s what he does. Remember when:

Biden lied about how “his plane was fired upon” while he was flying in the Balkans, and below “bombed-out homes with snipers inside could be seen”?
During a speech he told the audience he knew “where Al Qaida lives” because it was “the area where my helicopter was forced down with a three-star general and three senators at 10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains,” but failed to mention the flight had to land due to snow and there were no terrorists around?
He told mine workers that “I am a hard coal miner,” and another time said his ancestors were coal miners, when of course he wasn’t and they weren’t? 

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/20/did-bidens-trove-of-classified-docs-jeopardize-u-s-national-security-ii-tipp-poll/

Recent revelations that President Joe Biden kept classified government documents at his two namesake think tanks, his Delaware home and even his garage have largely been treated with a yawn by big media. But average Americans are paying attention and worry that Biden’s careless stewardship of classified documents endangers U.S. national security, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.

In our national online I&I/TIPP Poll of 1,358 adults, taken from Feb. 1-3, we asked Americans two questions, the first being: “How closely are you following the story about classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as Vice President found at his former office and home?”

As it turns out, Americans are paying pretty close attention to the story. Among those responding to the I&I/TIPP Poll, which has a margin of error of +/-2.8 percentage points, 60% said they were “closely” following the developments.

Among those following closely, 26% said they were following “very closely,” versus 34% who said “somewhat closely.”

Meanwhile, just 36% of Americans said they were not following the news closely, with 22% saying they were following it “not very closely” and only 13% saying “not at all closely.”

So it’s definitely a topic in the public eye.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19430/joyce-kilmer

Amidst the unrelenting stories of carnage, corruption and incompetence comes a reminder there is good news if you look long enough to find it.

And it should come as no surprise that this reminder comes from Brooklyn.

Generations ago, the New York City Department of Parks took a triangular piece of park property along Kings Highway in Midwood and renamed it “Sgt. Joyce Kilmer Square.” It lies along a historic Indian trail that became a major thoroughfare for European settlers traveling between rural communities called Flatbush, Gravesend, and New Utrecht.

In time, New York City would acquire the parcel as the arrival of the automobile required the realignment of many Brooklyn streets, resulting in this modest triangle. It was dedicated as parkland in 1934, and named “Sergeant Joyce Kilmer Square” in 1935.

Today it is lined with benches shaded by large oak trees, with a flagpole along East 12th Street. It is a respite for local neighbors seeking a moment’s relief from the challenges of the day.

It is a modest tribute to a giant of an American – and he likely would have had it no other way.

Kilmer was born in New Jersey before the start of the 20th Century and educated at Rutgers University and Columbia University, from where he earned his degree. Kilmer married and had four children. After teaching Latin for a year at Morristown High School in New Jersey, Kilmer began his career in 1909 as a dictionary editor with Funk & Wagnall’s Company. In 1912, he served as the Literary Editor of The Churchman, an Anglican newspaper, also contributing freelance articles and poems to several other publications. On the eve of World War I, he joined the staff of the New York Times and subsequently converted to Catholicism.