When idealism runs headlong into reality

In political terms the result of idealism, or perhaps infantile ideology, hitting realism is usually a national disaster.  Alas, the examples are far too many to list but the latest, I suppose, would be Venezuela where a people disgusted with corrupt criminality in their government swallowed whole the notion of a Marxist socialist Utopia.  Anyone know the Spanish for 'sucker'?

At the personal level it can be tragic but, as in theatre, the best tragedies have a comic thread running through them.  This, perhaps is the best description of the recent eye-opening experience of Ms. Maya Dillard Smith, interim director of the Georgia chapter of ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union.  Yeeeeeees, quite, she's black, she's a Liberal, she's a graduate from Berkeley and Harvard and she has worked at the California Supreme Court.  She's so, er, 'right on' (or perhaps that should 'left on') that she describes herself as "unapologetically black".  She is also, judging by this photo, an exceedingly attractive lady and, as it happens, the mother of young daughters.

As an enthusiastic and senior member of the ACLU she has thrown her considerable energies into supporting their campaign to allow transgender people to use whichever public toilets they prefer.  Well, that is, she did, up until she took her young daughters into a ladies toilet and they were followed by:

“. . . three transgender young adults, over six feet [tall] with deep voices, entered,” she wrote.

“My children were visibly frightened, concerned about their safety and left asking lots of questions for which I, like many parents, was ill-prepared to answer.”

Needless to say, Ms. Dillard Smith being at heart an intelligent woman, as well as a mother, has resigned from the ACLU.  As Thomas Lifson puts it in his article at The American Thinker:

The classic definition of a neoconservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality.

I would only add a quote from dear Oscar (such a darling boy!) concerning a scene by Charles Dickens:

One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing.

 

Comments

[Timbo]

Plenty of Spanish words for sucker. Pendejo is one of my favorites.

As we have the Spanish version of Chavism (Podemos) quite well placed for a strong showing in the upcoming repeat of the general elections, there will be plenty of opportunities to use the lot!

[Whyaxye]

Interesting how the transgender issue has become such a touchstone for liberal and "progressive" sensibilities, isn't it? Probably because it represents such a clear case of wanting our reality to be determined by feelings. Those large, deep-voiced young people: they feel female, so that's what they must be, right? It's a funny old world where cocks and balls count for nothing.

[JK]

"Ms. Dillard Smith being at heart an intelligent woman, as well as a mother, has resigned from the UCLA"?

[David Duff]

Thank you, JK, you are now promoted from Chief Archivist to Chief Proof Reader. That means I can blame you when I mis-type!

[backofanenvelope]

"three transgender young adults, over six feet [tall] with deep voices"

What would sort it all out is if she had produced a Glock from her handbag and put a bullet thru' their dangly bits.

[Whitewall]

BOE, damn right!

[jimmy glesga]

Whitewall, men go to the toilet and pull out the willie then pish in the urinal give it a shake in admiration thinking it is the biggest willie in the world. Women go to the toilet to gossip. What those others do is a mystery to me.

[Whitewall]

Jimmy, modesty has always limited me to just a continent.

[JK]

Completely off topic (natch) but Whitewall - have you heard the one about the Louisiana legislator and the standards for strippers?

http://theadvocate.com/news/15832365-154/louisiana-legislator-proposes-strippers-be-21-28-years-old-weigh-less-than-160-pounds-calls-suggesti

[JK]

http://video.theadvocate.com/Louisiana-lawmaker-proposes-joke-amendment-for-strippers-age-weight-30816556?vcid=30816556&freewheel=91089&sitesection=advocate

[jimmy glesga]

Jk, I am glad to see that the USA has retained its sense of humour.

[JK]

Me too Jimmy. Glad to see *some people* at least have.

Hope you could handle Coon Ass (Cajun) accents alright!

[Whitewall]

JK, I don't believe that indignant woman who spoke last was a native of La. No coon ass she.

[TheBigHenry]

Robert,

Which continent? I got dibs on Eurasia (the most populous, natch).

[Whitewall]

Henry, I hear you :)

[TheBigHenry]

Likewise, Robert :)