Fifth Rate Men . . .

There is an aphorism: “First rate men try to surround themselves with first rate men. Second rate men try to surround themselves with third rate men. Third rate men try to surround themselves with fifth rate men.”

If you have ever wondered what kind of people a fifth rate man tries to surround himself with, follow the news about the current administration.

Petition Against Charlie Kirk

As a preface, let me say that I am no great admirer of Charlie Kirk. I have received mailings from Turning Point USA in which he expresses his opposition to socialism, and urges me to contribute to his organization on that basis. As an opponent of socialism, I might do so, if Mr. Kirk and his group were also anti-fascist, but no, they support Trump.

There is a group, Change dot org, which lets people circulate various petitions, and I’m on their mailing list. Sometimes I sign petitions; I’m dubious of how much good this accomplishes, but at least I can try to do my bit. Sometimes, I wonder whether, for example, someone’s father or friend really is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, or fully guilty of the crime for which he is imprisoned. And sometimes, I very much disagree with a petition.

A young lady (I presume she’s young) named Olivia included this in her explanation of a recent petition: “Charlie Kirk, a highly polarizing figure, does not align with the core values and ideology that Utah State University strives to epitomize. As a university deeply committed to promoting diversity and inclusion, it stands at odds with the messages frequently associated with Charlie Kirk and his platform. Allowing him to speak on our campus would not only misrepresent the values we hold dear but also create an environment where divisive rhetoric could flourish.”

I was not swayed by Olivia’s DEI boilerplate, and did not sign her petition. She wants a speaker with whom she disagrees to be silenced or at least kept away from her university, and tries to justify her desires with rhetoric about diversity and inclusion, although she demonstrates her intolerance for a diversity of ideas, and wants some people not to be included. Anyone outside the current magic circle of inclusion can be accused of “divisive rhetoric.” I wonder whether it would occur to Olivia that her own rhetoric is divisive, in that some people surely disagree with it.

If I could have a chat with her, I would tell her that she and others like her should develop thicker skins, and continue with their lives and their studies, even if someone like Charlie Kirk is speaking in a nearby lecture hall. Or they could attend, treat the visiting speaker with minimal courtesy (no shouting him down), and then ask him some hard questions during the Q&A. I might ask him, since he’s against socialism, what he thinks of Donald Trump’s nationalizing a chunk of Intel, and other ventures into dirigisme. I might ask him whether he sees no enemies on the right, or whether he believes that loyalty to the Constitution and American traditions should lead a true conservative to oppose Donald Trump and the alt right’s Dark Enlightenment. His answers might be illuminating, or if he avoided giving straight answers, people could draw some conclusions from that.

Also, I did not sign the Change org petition asking Chipotle to cook with beef tallow instead of seed oils. I would not even if I were not a vegetarian myself; cooking with lard or tallow is likely to raise the rates of atherosclerosis and heart disease.