On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked a very simple question and that simple question was answered with all the confidence of a seasoned politician…who didn’t want to answer the question at all.
As my colleague Bonchie reported, Pelosi was asked at a presser if “an unborn baby at 15 weeks” was “a human being.” Pelosi dodged the question by answering it with what she perceived as an authoritative position.
“Let me just say that I am a big supporter of Roe v. Wade. I am a mother of five children in six years. I think I have some standing on this issue,” responded Pelosi.
REPORTER: “Is an unborn baby at 15 weeks a human being?"
PELOSI: "Let me just say that I am a big supporter of Roe v. Wade. I am a mother of five children in six years. I think I have some standing on this issue.”pic.twitter.com/gil3ZeX6pp
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 17, 2021
To be clear, one doesn’t have to be a mother in order to know a baby is a baby. Her being one makes no difference as to this simple fact. I don’t need to own five cars in order to be able to authoritatively say whether or not an engine is an engine.
Regardless, for some reason, Pelosi thought that was sufficient enough of an answer to not have to actually give a yes or a no. It wasn’t, and really what the dodge did was highlight the elephant in the Democrat’s room.
Democrats have some very interesting thoughts about authority and the questioning of it. If someone, as Pelosi did in her response, positions themselves as speaking from a place of authority, they believe their word should be taken as gospel. No questions or need to question. If their position is X, they need not explain the ABCs of how they got there.
You’ll see this mentality throughout various parts of the left. One of the most common phrases you’ll hear from social justice advocates is “it’s not my job to educate you” when asked to elaborate on their position. Whose job it is also never elaborated on. The bottom line is that they’re an authority on the subject and so you should just shut up and fall in.
However, as Pelosi demonstrated, this claim to authority is a ruse; a method of distraction from the very obvious fact that they themselves lack the necessary information in order to debate, or worse, they know their position is wrong but have a vested interest in keeping the illusion afloat.
The endgame is to make sure an over-exposure of information never happens that could reveal certain truths, viewpoints, angles, or facts that are unapproved or inconvenient to the leftist’s narrative. As Dennis Prager once noted, one bit of information could undo years of narrative driving and could weaken or collapse and entire movement:
That is why universities are so opposed to conservatives coming to speak on campus. One articulate conservative can undo years of left-wing indoctrination in a one-hour talk or Q and A. I know this from personal experience on campuses. You can, too. Watch the speeches given by any conservatives allowed to speak on a campus — many of these talks are still on YouTube — and you will see large halls filled with students yearning to hear something other than left-wing pablum. Look at their faces, filled with rapt attention to ideas they never heard that are clearly having an impact. Universities are entirely right to fear our coming to speak. We come with the pin that bursts their $50,000-a-year balloon.
Notice the difference between the two ideologies. Conservatives want to bring forth knowledge. The free exchange of ideas, public debate, and the weighing and measuring of concepts isn’t just a societal necessity, according to conservatives, but it’s also a fun pastime.
Leftists avoid the free distribution and consumption of information as much as possible. According to leftist thought-leaders, you can never be too careful about the books you read, the shows you watch, or the people you talk to. Debates are out of the question and declinations to debates should come with claims to being too high an authority or misrepresentation of your opponent’s intentions. You could accuse them of “catcalling” for instance, or just brush them off by saying “the science is settled.”
To the wise, this is a very obvious indicator that they don’t have a defense for their positions or, like in Pelosi’s case, know their position is wrong but are too deep in. Pelosi knows a good chunk of support (i.e. cash) comes from abortion groups who have made an entire institution out of the practice. Admitting that a child at 15 weeks gestation is human would collapse entire narratives and cause a severe disruption in the money flow that the issue brings to her party.
Thus the only answer she can give is “I’m a mom, shut up.”
Conservatives should capitalize on this obvious weakness of the Democrats. Drag their ignorance, or their refusal to tell the truth, kicking and screaming into the light by continuing to press the question. They can only dodge it for so long before they either have to straight-up deny common sense and science or admit that they were wrong all along.
Moreover, do it publicly where onlookers can see them squirm and dodge. It may awaken the sleepers or help the undecided decide. Once this pattern is established, you’ll see narratives break as fast as they can create them.
