The Other McCain

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‘Puerile … Progressive Hackery’: @BrianBeutler and Our Moral Superiors

Posted on | August 25, 2013 | 63 Comments

Donald Douglas at American Power:

Brian Beutler’s more recent piece on “the right’s black crime obsession” is one of the most puerile pieces of progressive hackery I’ve ever read. Beutler’s simply yapping incoherently in the mode of holier-than-thou leftist claptrap.

Please read the whole thing, because Dr. Douglas is not just a blogger but an honest-to-God Ph.D. and yet, to borrow a phrase from Marvin Gaye’s “Trouble Man,” he came up hard, babe.

He did not travel the smooth path, and has an appreciation of exactly how wrong this “holier-than-thou leftist claptrap” is. The mentality of the Left is an obstacle to achievement and upward mobility. If any man wishes to overcome hardship, he must reject bad doctrine.

Also, “puerile” is one of my favorite words. Having been taught Latin diction in the classic manner, I know that the word puer (“boy”) is pronounced poo-air or pwehr. When I subsequently encountered the word “puerile” (boyish, immature, juvenile) in written text, it seemed to me it should be prounounced poo-air-ile or pwehr-ile. So then I pronounced it that way in a discussion and had someone correct me, saying it was pronounce pure-ile.

To hell with that. Miss Dismer taught me Latin, and I am her student still. You don’t get to tell me how to pronounce that word, son.

As for Beutler, certainly his “argument” was childish nonsense. Here is the fool being made welcome on CNN:

Brian Beutler is hailed by his fellow liberals as a genius — a man of brilliant insight — for exactly one reason: He is a liberal.

And he expects us lowly mortals to be impressed.

 

Comments

63 Responses to “‘Puerile … Progressive Hackery’: @BrianBeutler and Our Moral Superiors”

  1. rmnixondeceased
    August 26th, 2013 @ 9:48 am

    .50 = Deadly Serious.

  2. rmnixondeceased
    August 26th, 2013 @ 9:51 am

    Planned Parenthood AKA “Ghetto Birth Control” or the “Sanger Solution”

  3. Badger Pundit
    August 26th, 2013 @ 12:14 pm

    Stacy, two quick reactions:

    1. I’m a bit concerned about your “not just a blogger but an honest-to-God Ph.D.” observation. I’m a great fan of Douglas’s work, of course, and his particular academic qualifications are impressive.

    But do you seriously think that, in general, if someone received a Ph.D from an American university during the last few decades, that person is likely to be a MORE credible blogger than an average person? It would seem to me that a Ph.D generally is LESS credible, because most Ph.Ds are leftists who have little idea how the world works.

    For example, Erik Loomis, Ph.D:

    http://theothermccain.com/2012/12/18/hes-a-lumberjack-and-hes-ok-the-wobbly-scholarship-of-erik-loomis-ph-d/

    And Deandre (“Stomp on Jesus”) Poole, Ph.D:
    http://thebadger14.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/stomp-on-jesus-top-florida-democrat/

    Perhaps I’ve overstating it, but it seems reasonable to conclude that someone’s possession of a Ph.D (at least outside the hard sciences) is prima facie evidence that the person should be ignored (at least outside his or her narrow field of expertise).

    2. “Puerile” is a great word, but I’d say “putrid” better fits here. Great work on Beutler.

  4. Quartermaster
    August 26th, 2013 @ 4:09 pm

    Kinda hard to shoot a .50 BMG from a handgun. You can get the Desert Eagle chambered in .50AE, or a Thompson Contender for the .45-70. The TC, however, will hurt when you shoot it for that large a bullet, and you will be lucky if the pistol is not imbedded in your chest with a .50BMG. So the deadly part might be mutually assured destruction.

  5. Quartermaster
    August 26th, 2013 @ 4:14 pm

    Much depends on their political philosophy. If they hold a PhD in left handed lesbian gender studies, then you can probably safely ignore them (it would prolly be unsafe to NOT ignore them). Someone like Jerry Pournelle I’d say is well worth listening to (dual PhDs in Psychology and Poli Sci).
    Unfortunately, someone like Cornell West who holds a PhD in math, iirc, is well worth completely avoiding except as a horrible warning. There are a lot of STEM degree holders that aren’t worth listening to. Krauss down at ASU falls into that category. He’s OK if he sticks to his knitting, but he usually can’t. Dawkins is worth crossing an ocean to avoid. Krauss and Dawkins are proof enough that people with STEM degrees can be credentialed morons.

  6. rmnixondeceased
    August 26th, 2013 @ 4:45 pm

    .50AE of course, I should have been clearer. Carried the DE in Iraq when I was a contractor there.

  7. Juliette Akinyi Ochieng
    August 26th, 2013 @ 5:31 pm

    Sanger Final Solution.

  8. tlk244182
    August 26th, 2013 @ 6:35 pm

    Yes, of course. How stupid of me. Thanks.

  9. Steve Skubinna
    August 26th, 2013 @ 7:35 pm

    I have to admit to pronunciating it wrongishly myself, but as of this moment the wrongitude ends.

  10. Quartermaster
    August 26th, 2013 @ 7:57 pm

    I like the idea of the DE, but not sure I would have carried it in the ME. Mr. Browning’s creation for the Army has suited me well and functioned very well in dusty/sandy environments. Of course, the Israelis live in that sort of environment as well, so my concerns may be misplaced, although I readily admit my bias. The 1911 has done so well, for so long, it’s hard to wrong with it.

    I figured you meant the .50AE if you knew the difference. Now I know you do, and the round is a good choice, if just a bit over powered.

  11. Quartermaster
    August 26th, 2013 @ 8:05 pm

    I used to work with a guy who was an Air Force medic at Wilford Hall at Lackland AFB. At the time Wilford was the only hospital on the SW part of San Antonio so they would get the trauma cases. He said they often saw people shot with the .22 long rifle and almost always recovered the bullet when they actually tried to patch the people up. More often than not, they could be patched up. The light low velocity lead bullet could be deflected by a rib and most often they would bounce around inside the chest cavity and rip everything to shreds. He said better then 80% they simply closed and did their best to make them comfortable until they died. That usually didn’t take much since they usually came in failing anyway.

    OTOH, while .22 will kill, it usually won’t stop a fight. .45 acp was adopted by the Army because of the .38s they used to replace the SAA revolvers just before the Philippine Insurrection. The George Patton Museum used to have a pic of an insurgent with three nice holes in his arm who did not seem to be at all uncomfortable. The Thompson-LaGrande study of 1905 was conducted afterwards by the army to determine the factors that were important for stopping power. It was found that caliber was, by far, the most important factor. Velocity, and bullet shape or material had little effect by comparison.

    Understand, that the Thompson-LaGrande study was for pistol class cartridges. Rifle velocities are so high, by comparison, than terminal ballistics is different.

  12. Fishersville Mike: Puerile piece of progressive hackery
    August 28th, 2013 @ 11:33 am

    […] Douglas at American Power gets the better of Brian Beutler's lack of thought on crime. The Other McCain recommends it highly. Posted by Mike at 10:16 PM Email […]

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