I'll admit to being a bit surprised that the Atlantic caved to outside agitators and fired Kevin Williamson, the talented, prolific, and oft-misanthropic writer most recently at National Review. Williamson's sin was believing abortion to be murder—a statement generally treated as a platitude—and playing that idea out to its logical conclusion. For having the bad taste to state such things out loud (things I personally disagree with!), he was accused of, among other things, wanting to lynch an eighth of the American population. (This is, it should go without saying, nonsense.)
My surprise stems in part from the fact the Atlantic's editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, has himself often been subjected to bad-faith arguments from the left that radically misrepresent not only his positions but also his life story as a result of having lived in Israel and served in the IDF. His (excellent) memoir from that time, Prisoners, has been used in efforts to paint him as a war criminal and a monster, despite it revealing him to be a relative squish on the subject of Palestinian/Israeli relations. Don't even get me started on the treatment of his support for the Iraq War!
Ah well. Kevin will land on his feet. But looking over the dossier of material compiled by leftwing Marge Squirrel schoolmarms in an effort to tear him down—he had the temerity to suggest that Colin Kaepernick was, statistically speaking, a QB in decline and that Hillary Clinton had an annoying voice, quelle horreur!—it did get me thinking about my own character flaws. So to save the oppo researchers some time, I decided to compile my most controversial thoughts in order of their … controversialness. Controversiality? In order of how controversial they are.
- The atomic bombings that ended World War II were not only morally justifiable, they were morally required and something to be celebrated. The bombings resulted in fewer lives lost overall, sure, but also: Imperial Japan was virulently racist and viciously expansionist and, frankly, evil on par with, if not at the same scale as, Germany. The Japanese killed millions of Asian civilians and every day the regime remained in place meant thousands more raped and murdered and enslaved. Ending the war as quickly as possible was good, actually.
- The destruction of Alderaan was good, actually, too.
- The guillotine should be America's preferred method of execution. Gussying up the state's machinery of death by pretending it's a medical procedure is grotesque and counterproductive.
- Brunch is a trash meal for garbage people.
- I think abortion should probably be legal for the first trimester and not after (a position held by roughly one in two Americans according to polling and roughly one in 30 journalists, if I had to guess), but also that Roe v. Wade was the worst ruling of the last 50 years: a disastrous, farcical judgment that severely damaged the legitimacy of SCOTUS in the eyes of many. (The Krauthammerian view, basically.) In other words, I view Roe v. Wade through the same lens that the left views Bush v. Gore.
- Jordan Peterson is right about Frozen's ridiculous treatment of Prince Hans. (For more on this, see Jonathan V. Last.) More controversially: Frozen is not a top five Disney movie. It is not a top five modern (post-Little Mermaid) Disney movie. And that's excluding the Pixar flicks.
- The above about abortion, but with regard to gay marriage. Again, I'm pro-gay-marriage; I just think the idea that there's something in the Constitution that says gay marriage is not only legal but also that every state is required to accept it is totally nuts. That being said, if it (however slowly) starts us down the path to concealed carry reciprocity, well, it may have been worth it.
- Speaking of which: the idea that the Constitution has some hidden provision requiring abortion on demand and that Mississippi has to recognize gay marriage but also that it doesn't protect the right of the individual to own guns is so laughably dumb that I don't quite know where to begin. But these are positions held by a large number of people who think of themselves as serious! What a world.
- Sucker Punch is a good movie. I'm not even sure why this is controversial, but it is, and I'm glad that I've always been on The Right Side of History here.
Updates/Additions: I'm just going to occasionally add more bad opinions as they occur. Allow this post to be a testament to my awfulness.
- KFC, Popeyes, and Bojangles are all basically the same. None of their biscuits are as good as McDonald's biscuits.
- A Quiet Place—a movie in which a woman immediately gets pregnant after their youngest kid is killed despite the dangers that represents and having access to a fully stocked pharmacy—is a pro-life movie. (I have to say, I was a bit surprised by the angst surrounding this one, but, well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
more tk i am sure