While everything from the pandemic to the election results seems to leave us with less than usual to give thanks for, we can at least be thankful that we\u2019re still here. The Evil Princess and I wish a peaceful and fulfilling Thanksgiving to all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One recurring theme of this holiday seems to be, \u201cHow do we avoid unpleasant arguments at family gatherings such as these?\u201d Well, we can give thanks for the fact that a \u201cZoom Thanksgiving\u201d at least gives us a \u201cmute\u201d option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some time now, the gun prohibitionists have been urging their followers to \u201cengage in conversation\u201d about this issue at family dinners, despite the long-standing conventional wisdom about avoiding religious or political debates at friendly get-togethers. Unfortunately, most prohibitionists\u2019 idea of \u201cnegotiation\u201d is \u201cHow much of your rights and property can we take away from you to make us feel good and enhance our virtue signal?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, in the criminal justice sector, the latest buzzword of the clueless is \u201cde-escalation training for police.\u201d Those of us who have actually done <\/em>police work tend to find this wryly amusing, since cops have been the masters of de-escalation the whole time. You see, we\u2019d rather talk angry, raving people down from their rage than have to roll around with them in the gutter while they\u2019re punching, biting, gouging and head-butting. For generations now, George Thompson\u2019s concept of \u201cVerbal Judo\u201d\u2122 has been part and parcel of police training. It works well, but not perfectly, simply because reasoning with the unreasonable is a contradiction in terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n