Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Profiles in intellectual bankruptcy

My friend and Northern Alliance Radio Network colleague Mitch Berg, per usual, says it best about the political left when it comes to their "discourse."

Dubbed "Berg’s Sixteenth Law of Cognitive Dissipation," it reads as follows:

The percentage of “progressives” outside of academia who can make it to the second round of a debate without running out of “facts” and having to switch to deflection, ad hominem and straw man arguments is within the statistical margin of error.

That essentially means there's a 95% or better probability that vapid arguments from "progressives" will crop up in a debate.

I'll come back to that. 

Over the past several months, Minnesota state representative Nick Zerwas (R-Elk River) has been touting legislation to increase criminal penalties for excessive civil disobedience (eg. blocking freeways, access to airports and public transportation). While we all (including and especially Zerwas) agree that speaking out against our government without fear of retribution is a bedrock of the First Amendment, there has to be a line drawn over the disrupting (and even endangering) the lives of others. That's the goal of Zerwas's legislation, which is to attempt to dissuade protesters from such excesses with fear of harsher penalties for already illegal behavior. 

Recently, Rep. Zerwas appeared on Vice News to discuss his unapologetic perspective.





Upon posting this video on his personal Facebook page, Zerwas received hundreds of comments, including several from vacuous leftists who disingenuously claim that he's attempting to undermine First Amendment rights.

As validation of Mitch's law which I cited earlier in this post, leftists were out of ammo pretty much from the get-go. A prime example of this is brought to us by a guy named Brett Von Schlosser, who couldn't even be bothered with any cognitive dissonance. Brett's first response?

very surprised an alcoholic like yourself has so much such concern for highway safety. you disregard the law and take people's lives in your hands every time you get behind the wheel.

This was in reference to a DWI for which Zerwas was cited (and to which he plead guilty) in 2014. He made zero excuses for this error in judgment, yet in Mr. Von Schlosser's world it somehow disqualifies Zerwas from doing the job for which he was elected. Definitely an ad hominem attack, not to mention a complete non sequitur. Besides, having too much to drink one evening does not an "alcoholic" make.

After it was pointed out to Brett that Zerwas's mistake had nothing to do with the issue at hand, the lefty troll doubled down on his personal attacks.

His voice sounds like a drunk's to me. drinking and driving is a serious crime. he violated the law.thus rep Zerwas is just a common criminal.why didn't this sluring mumbling drunk get locked up? I don't trust people this two faced. I just hold my elected officials to higher standards than that of the racist blithering hayseeds of elk river.

Wait, proggie Brett doesn't know why Zerwas's voice sounds abnormal? The reason is cited in the very Strib story he linked to regarding Zerwas's DWI. After being born with a defective heart, Zerwas had several surgeries before the age of seven in an attempt to repair the issue. One of the surgeries accidentally damaged his vocal cords, thus resulting in his raspy voice. Oh, and at the risk of conveying an oft repeated talking point, Brett's condescension towards the residents of Elk River is indicative of the attitude which led to the election of President Donald Trump.

Alas, the leftist troll didn't know when to quit.

Ha ha, vocal cords paralysis from childhood heart surgery? Just keep telling your self that. I used to live on a block with a sober halfway house and all the recovering jobless guys sounded the same way as zerwas.. But gee I guess all of them also must have had vocal chord paralysis due to childhood heart surgery too..

In the end, the trolling prog comes off as a deranged loser.

Maybe your (sic) right, I went too far and wasn't fair. There's a whole Lot of things can take a serious toll on the vocal chords. Looking at nick's page. I have to wonder if maybe it's the excessive police officer boot licking? Think about what the average peace officer's boots go through here in MN. all that road salt and blood and other grime, plus when it comes to polish some of those officers buy the cheap stuff. Who knows what chemicals are in there. Rep zerwas cleaning all those boots using only his tounge (sic) has Got to do a heckuva job on the mouth and throat area. I ought to send him some nice wild cherry ludens cough drops.

Rep. Zerwas has been taking a lot of heat over this legislation and was shouted down in committee hearings over it. No way was his proverbial tree going to be shaken by some two-bit keyboard commando.

To his credit, Zerwas had only one response to the frothing kook.

Brett, I have a paralyzed vocal cord from my third open heart surgery, when I was 7 years old. I am so blessed that in my seven subsequent open heart surgeries I didn't suffer any further vocal cord nerve damage. (Otherwise I wouldn't be able to speak)

I know my voice is a little rough. Some find it kind of grating. Trust me if I could improve it I would. Never in my childhood did I imagine I would be elected to represent people in government and be their "voice" in the Minnesota House of Representatives. I am so unbelievably blessed to have this honor.

You are not the first person to make fun of my voice. I have been dealing with school yard bullies since I was in second grade.

Please know you don't hurt my feelings, but you damage your credibility.

I know Nick Zerwas personally and consider him a friend. Given he wasn't supposed to live past the age of seven (he's now 36), he looks at everyday as a gift. So if anyone thinks they're going to bully, shame or berate Nick into backing down from something in which he believes passionately, they're more delusional than Brett the leftist troll.

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1 comment:

jerrye92002 said...

If, as Brett claims, there are no limits on the exercise of Free Speech, then I suggest he duck the next time someone wants to "speak" upside his head.