The problem with pragmatists is they will mask their underlying emotional triggers with “common sense” or “science” and pretend that their actions are rational. This makes them very frustrating to deal with when it comes to solving big-picture problems…that is, what I’m, ahem, rationally more afraid of than what I read in the media.
Take a trip in your mind all the way back to the War on Terror, which was used as an excuse to bring in the unconstitutional and totalitarian Patriot Act. Pragmatic conservatives agreed with it because it made more sense to have one’s genitals groped and suitcases searched by government-hired goons than possibly die in an airplane explosion. It was useless to tell the pragmatists that one can’t wage a war on an emotion, that a war of that nature will never end because there will never be an end to terror. Even I suffer from fear — see first paragraph — because I’m afraid of giving way to a totalitarian state. Fear is a natural emotion. A government can’t wage a war against it; in fact, the government and the lying media will go out if its way to create terror and then come in like a swooping hero and use words like “patriot” to reassure us that we’re all going to be all right. They will take care of us good old-fashioned Fighting American Patriots like the honorable Uncle Sam that they are.
Gag and more gag. And now our government is at it again, whipping everyone into a frenzy over a virus, no less, and stepping in with the answer: lockdowns, masks, and vaccines. Of course, we’re not alone in fighting totalitarianism. It is happening in all the western nations. I used to think Americans cared about freedom, though, more than their European friends. Perhaps I was wrong because I see more pragmatists around me, willing to speak pragmatically about science and how we need to just do this one thing to get back to normal (the one two-week lockdown; the one wear your mask for two months and it will all be over; the one vaccine; the one ring to rule them all.)
Do you remember Peter Jackson’s LOTR? Do you remember the Men of the West speech? I do because my husband listened to it on auto-repeat 10,000 times. Go listen to it. And then reconsider your pragmatism. There is nothing particularly pragmatic about fighting against the forces of totalitarian evil. It’s a hard gig and takes a lot of grit. But unless we want to go gently into that good night as nations, we need to do it.
Lastly, I’m anti-pragmatist because pragmatists don’t understand me when I tell them I’d rather die in an airplane explosion than allow my government to surveil, search, or grope me. This last year and a half, I’ve given the same answer: I’d rather die of Covid than continue down this totalitarian path. Speaking of airline companies, what is it about them that loves to give way to the totalitarian schema? I’d rather die of Covid, you see, than live in a world where airline companies arrest parents because their toddler won’t keep his mask on. No, I don’t want to just “get along.” I will never just want to get along.
Jill Domschot 