The Infantilization Of The American People

   “Oh my gosh! This is terrible! Why doesn’t somebody DO something?!”

   Good question... except for the “somebody” part.

   Unfortunately, that “somebody” part is an all-too-common reflexive inclusion in expressions of dismay and concern by modern American men and women in regard to bad — and even appalling and unforgivable — behavior by the United States. Even when not said in so many words, the “somebody” is nonetheless present whenever, “This is terrible!” is not followed by, “I’M going to do something about this!”

   Such expressions are meant to repudiate and denounce the state’s actions while deflecting personal responsibility and any moral duty to act in regard to the evil acts onto a nameless “other.” Unless made entirely for crass and hypocritical virtue-signaling purposes, these expressions reflect an infantile superstition that simply feeling bad about something and saying so amounts to positive remedial action.

   The follow-on to the first dodgy expression is this, more-or-less: “I’ve told everyone within earshot that I disapprove!  I even wrote a letter to my congressman!  What else can I do?”  The cold translation reads: “I cried and I cried! What else can I do?”

   WELL ...

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