Quote of the day—Thomas Sowell

Undaunted by history, the same kind of thinking that had cheered international disarmament treaties in the 1920s and 1930s once again cheered Soviet-American disarmament agreements during the Cold War.

Conversely, there was hysteria when President Ronald Reagan began building up American military forces in the 1980s. Cries were heard that he was leading us toward nuclear war. In reality, he led us toward an end of the Cold War, without a shot being fired at the Soviet Union.

But who reads history these days, or checks facts before leading the charge to keep law-abiding people disarmed?

Thomas Sowell
Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
December 23, 2016
Sowell: Gun-control laws do not make us safer
[To answer the question about facts, there is a good chance that it is like the one admitted Marxist I was having a discussion with about gun control in Chicago (where he lives).

This Marxist told me there were some very dangerous places in Chicago and “you just don’t go there because you will get shot”. I told him that it that couldn’t be possible because guns were banned there (this was before the Heller and McDonald rulings). He told me they got their guns from the surrounding areas where guns were not banned. “Oh! You must be really at high risk of getting shot in those areas then.”, I told him. “No, actually, those areas are pretty safe.”, he replied. I then told him, “Gun control doesn’t make people safer.” He told me, and I’m not making this up, “I disagree with your facts.”

It’s called reality. These people should check it out sometime.—Joe]

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9 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Thomas Sowell

  1. The only response is, “Objectively, you’re a willful idiot”.

    Gun controllers are the flat Earth movement of contemporary self-styled Progressives.

  2. But the facts that harsh their mellow must be denied, because reality is defined by what you say, not what exists independently of your assertion. And if you do not believe that, you are a wrecker, a hater, and an evil disbeliever who must be shamed and destroyed for failure to support the narrative.

  3. “I disagree with your facts.”

    “In other words, you’re admitting that I have facts, and you have opinions. Have a nice day.”

  4. You know, when Adam Savage made that crack about ‘I reject your reality and substitute my own’, he was making a joke. He wasn’t seriously advocating that sort of thing.

    A shame leftists really are serious about it.

  5. joe:

    what you should have said was, “no, you reject your facts.” which, of course, he had. or, he was simply impervious to them.

    john

  6. The useful idiots don’t check their facts, that’s why they’re idiots. They just check the social status of the person talking and either blindly agree (like when Obama says you can get a Glock easier than a book in Chicago) or disagree, like your Marxist.

    But there are plenty, like Michael Bloomberg who know the truth and are diligent on checking their facts.

    Better to craft their lies that way.

    • “Check the social status of the person.”
      That’s true. You put it very plainly to show the error of that attitude. To me that is a very old way of looking at truth, where one obeys and parrots the views and opinions of the king. It is an old attitude that supposedly went out of fashion with the enlightenment and the scientific method. It’s made a strong resurgence today, with such other leftist shibboleths like global warming. It reduces everything to an expression of articles of religious faith and scientism (the forms of science if not the actual thought and process).

  7. Pingback: But who reads history these days | IowaDawg's Very Own Blawg

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