“And Jiffy, thanks for managing to drag the war and the economy into a thread about an entertainer dancing in the street in a film made 36 years ago. Way to contribute!” Traffic Cop, don’t you know that EVERYTHING’S WRONG ALL THE TIME?!?! A fact which we would not know if people like Jiffy didn’t tell us every chance they get.

Everything being wrong, everything being political, and all discourse being hateful and reductive is what drove me to conservatism. I also find myself disagreeing with liberals the minute they start talking, simply because they’re such obnoxious boors. And bores.

And Jiffy, thanks for managing to drag the war and the economy into a thread about an entertainer dancing in the street in a film made 36 years ago. Way to contribute!

Sure, every once in a while they get to say “I told you so” but that’s not because they are being constructive and helpful. They suffer from schadenfreude; they are the people who cheer when a person tries and fails.

The saddest thing about them is that they have taken to their philosophies out of fear. They are afraid that, if they personally try and fail, they will not be able to live with themselves out of shame. Well, they should learn from Babe Ruth who was not only a record holding home-run hitter but he also struck out more than any player in his era.

The following quotation from Teddy Roosevelt says it all quite well.

Teddy Roosevelt – To the Man in the Arena
It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. — Theodore Roosevelt, 1910.

Why don’t you read any book and open your eyes? Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot — the forces of “Utopia” have killed nearly 100 million people in the 20th c.

The world needs more cynicism, not less. Read a history book. It’s always the people with good intentions, who think they embody positivity, idealism, and decency, who are screwing everything up.

And yes, I’m talking about all of you people.

Squares won WWII and put a man on the Moon. Hipsters have accomplished nothing except the decline of society in all areas.

I recently posted an item over on The Book Den (http://thebookden.blogspot.com/2008/12/again-with-schmaltz.html) that defended the same point (I used the word “schmaltz” rather than “corny” but incorporating the same things: wholesomeness, heart-stirring emotion, fortunate coincidences, happy endings, talent, etc.) In particular I declared devotedly against the cynical, unobservant snobs who argue that such pleasant things do not exist in real life.

They do.

It is only in modern art (literature and music included) that “schmaltz” has died. Everywhere else, at least for well-balanced people, it is alive and very well. Indeed, if your life occurs outside the pages of Hollywood cynicism or the angst of Philosophy 101, then it’s clear that schmaltz is occurring all around you: in your travels; in your love life, in your interactions with children and animals and nature; in many of your everyday experiences.

So why be embarrassed to admit you like a little schmaltz in your movies and novels too?