Our Nation Of Effete Status Seekers

Bill Clinton spoke of “the right side of history” almost two dozen times while president. Some say the phrase can be traced to 1984, when race baiter and Democrat Jesse Jackson used it to describe the rise of the Marxist Sandinistas, who were destroying Nicaragua. But the expression was supercharged by Barack Obama. Since, we’ve had a deluge of status seekers eager to align themselves with The One to show they’re on “the right side of history.”

Except they’re not. But they are on the right side of inconsequence.

Americans have advanced far beyond the subsistence lives so many lived a century ago. We have become so prosperous that millions are able to spend hours on social media and taking part in marches hoping to convince as many as possible of their moral goodness.

For instance, in what other nation and at what other time could a meathead such as Rob Reiner have time to tweet a maniacal string of inanities? He’s known to reverentially reference “our democracy,” which is a factually impaired assertion and a dog whistle for progressives who’ve made a mockery of constitutional restraints; has irresponsibly accused Donald Trump of mass murder; claimed with a baseless certitude the country will survive only if “Trump, and the corrupt party he leads, is decisively defeated in 2024”; and huffed over the possibility that Elon Musk was going to reinstate Trump on Twitter, where he would “lie and spread disinformation to try to overthrow the U.S. Government to return and continue his criminal activity.”

His “signature” closing is “That’s it. That’s the tweet,” as if that somehow makes his sophomoric rants even more profound.

What does any of this add to the debate? Nothing. Yet millions lap up the nonsense, lean on it to validate their own hysteria, and retweet it as unassailable truth.

We use Reiner as an example of the emptiness of much of our public discourse. He’s a talented moviemaker, yet he spends time screeching at a keyboard. But he’s hardly alone. This country, really the industrialized West, is lousy with expositors who are almost invariably wrong yet never in doubt.

We’ve seen this in the pro-Hamas and BLM protests, vanity-driven exhibitions in which the demonstrators know nothing about the “grievances” they’re marching against.

Case in point: The oft-repeated chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Many of the protesters don’t even know which river or which sea. They carry signs and banners made by someone else with words arranged in ways they don’t understand. They haven’t bothered to look at, much less study, the history of Israel and its neighbors.

But ain’t it cool to show solidarity with the “right people” and run up those social credit scores?

Of course they are simply parroting the latest leftist talking point and grasping the most recent progressive trend, such as harassing Chick-fil-A customers, shouting down speakers who challenge the progressive narrative, blocking traffic because it’s hip to fight for the climate, taking over public spaces, practicing BLM intimidation, setting social media on fire by verbally slurring the “wrong people,” savaging pro athletes who dare stand up for their beliefs, and in general making a nuisance of themselves for no reason whatsoever other than seeking a place at the table of elite prestige.

Today’s status seekers beg for outside approval because they’ve been set on cruise control by their personality disorders. No, we’re not mental health professionals but we are rational observers, and it’s painfully obvious that many Westerners have a deep need to boost their low esteem and will go to infinite lengths to do so, even though their actions poison public discourse.

But then maybe they do have a use after all: They daily give others lessons in how not to behave.

— Written by the I&I Editorial Board