What I've been thinking about is the attitude and thoughts of some of the activist types who do things like threaten the careers- and sometimes lives- of researchers who refuse to follow the 'consensus science' point of view, and the animal rights activists(to use a polite term) who do things like this. I'm not going into the 'a rat is a dog is a cat is a boy' crap of the extremists; they've got a severe mental problem and that's a whole 'nother thing.
I'm thinking of what someone wrote a couple of years ago about terrorism, and how for some of the bad guys it's 'terrorism as theater': something that, even when they know it'll not have the result they want and may even cause very bad things to happen(think WTC attack = special ops troops whacking Taliban) they have to do it anyway because that's what their image demands. Whether it actually accomplishes what they want doesn't matter, it allows them to see themselves as fearsome soldiers of Allah and that's what really matters.
I think that, to a lot of these people- the activists- it doesn't really, in their heart, matter if they actually change someone's mind; they want to
A. Get up in front of everyone and make a spectacle and
B. Force other people to do what they want. They don't care if you actually believe or agree with them, they don't care what the facts(any fact that doesn't agree with what they want is either wrong or simply to be disregarded) are; it's "I'm one of the superior beings, I think this is right, and you will do what I want."
Both are connected, but in some(maybe many) cases, I think A is more important.
Read that passage at Classical Values. This clown specifically sets out to be as offensive as possible, as threatening as possible*, as disruptive as possible without going to far as to be arrested. He dares people to beat him up, and- because they're civil, and not so stupid as to do it- he acts like he's actually braved danger. This jerk may actually care about the deer, but far more important than that is the theater, his theater. He has, in his mind, become the most important actor in that room and that's what really matters.
I'm wondering if this would explain some of the "Ban the evil guns!" activists. I have no doubt some are totally sincere, they've decided these objects are responsible for many ills and all we have to do is pass 'one more law'(Kevin's 'magical thinking') and All Will Be Well. But a good many of them seem to care at least as much about being in front of a crowd(preferably involving lots of cameras) and being seen as a Truly Caring Person as they do about actually accomplishing something.
No, that's not quite right. They DO accomplish something: they play their part in their theater. They have their time on stage and are seen in the manner they prefer. And if they actually do help to gain more control over other people's lives(for everybody's own good of course, and For The Children), that's a standing ovation and bouquet of roses for a fine performance.
Need I even speak of politicians?
Makes you wonder, just how much nanny-state bullshit is based, down inside, on someone playing out their self-made part on stage?
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