Undercooked

Defending various amendments.

By

Charles C.W. Cooke, Jonah’s go-to Remnant cheap date, makes an unplanned return to the program today due to a scheduling snafu. (No interns were harmed for their incompetence in the making of this episode.) With another tragic mass shooting in the headlines, Jonah and Charlie take the opportunity to discuss how such incidents can be deterred and whether it’s possible to stop them through legislation. In light of recent controversies, they also offer a few philosophical musings on free speech. And no, Charlie doesn’t have a cough drop lodged in his throat.

Show Notes:

Create a free account
Access additional articles and newsletters for no cost, no credit card information needed. Continue ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
By
Comments (25)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Mary Stine

    I could listen to Charles C.W. Cooke forever! Not just because it's so refreshing to hear The King's English beautifully enunciated, but also because it's inspiring to hear his Brit insights.
    Please tell him this left of center person agrees with his analysis.
    This is a problem primarily of mental and emotional breakdowns. That is where the emphasis should be. If we put the emphasis there we can also help prevent other suicides and gun deaths.
    The questions that we need to answer involve prevention of those:
    Should we be training more students, teachers and community leaders in conflict resolution?
    What can we do to prevent/ disarm/ stop school bullying, or online bullying?
    What can we do to best provide mental health assistance on the community level that is both affordable and effective? Is group therapy a good option?
    Should we build more temporary lockdown facilities for mental health emergencies, rather than overloading hospitals and jails?
    What can be done to help students begging for help who are being ignored or shamed by their parents?
    What can be done for families struggling with out of control kids who refuse mental health help?
    I am frankly appalled by my fellow Dems who think gun control will solve this problem. Like a full ban on abortion, it may reduce the bloodshed on the fringes, but it will not be a full solution, because underlying issues remain untouched.
    If we say we truly care about ALL individual lives, then we need to make LIFE, in it's fullness, our focus. And that would include a plan to disable an active shooter, not just kill them. It would mean a plan to emphasize cherishing human life, even that of criminals, over execution. It would mean teaching our children to cherish their own life, and the lives of others by being kind, thoughtful and careful of their actions even toward animals. Nonviolence should be taught as a wise choice, not a weak choice, because what our kids are seeing and learning online and in the street is the opposite.

    Collapse
  2. LucyTrice

    Re the inability to deter the behavior of people who do not intend to survive the event:

    Thank you for saying this! For this reason, we should be developing a way to take shooters out without killing them. Yes, it will be horribly difficult to do without endangering the lives of others.

    Creating a situation in which there is a very good chance the shooter will survive to endure the consequences will have some deterrent effect. But even if it doesn't, it will result in a lifetime to learn about the shooter and the things that motivated him/her, and maybe discover paths to intervene in future cases of at risk individuals. Particularly at risk youth.

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    I, for one, would be ecstatic about Jonah moderating a Mad Dogs and Englishman reunion on the Remnant!

    Collapse
  4. Joe1776

    Jonah the problem with changing free speech laws so they are less of a bright line test are numerous.

    1) Prosecutorial discretion. Everyone is arguing that political actors are instigating violence. BLM, Antifa, January 6 etc. So When republicans get in office they start prosecuting democrats and Democrats are in power they prosecute republicans. In the mean time our institution takes a huge credibility hit. Why isn't Donald Trump going to be prosecuted? Well if he were then they might have to prosecute Biden (even before it was found out Pence may have handled classified.) So there we are saying the quiet part out loud. This discretion will be used for political gain. Therefore we need a bright line test - that is one not subject to discretion. If it is political speech it is off limits.

    2) The chilling effect on speech. Having a situation where people are afraid to voice their political views is a horrible situation for any civil society. People will remain ignorant because they will not be willing to express their own views and thus won't have them challenged. And people who hold views of the majority will have unjustified belief in the justice of their position. This can lead to over reach and many other problems.

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    Theirnscott

    Yep, Charles had a lisp, of sorts. It was a slight distraction for a while as I tried to recall if this was normal. My wife's was a speech therapist before she retired. She taught me some basic diagnosis and it sounded at times like a w for r substitution. I'd never heard audio distortion like that before.

    That anomaly aside, the conversation was very goodl.

    Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    Ken in MIA

    Yeah, Charlie sounded weird. Not bad, just different.

    Solid conversation, though.

    Collapse
  7. Avatar photo
    Mkapnick

    I would appreciate a philosophical conversation about whether the second amendment has outlived it’s usefulness.

    I understand politically it’s not likely to be repealed anytime soon. That’s said, while I can appreciate the need for the second amendment when the country was founded and the decades following, it seems to me to have morphed into a mechanism for homicidal maniacs to get weapons to go on killing spree‘s.

    There seems to be plenty of other countries around the world without a constitutional right to bear arms, that don’t have much of a problem maintaining basic liberties for their citizens.

    Collapse
  8. Krogersok

    Great episode. For the record, I thought Cooke sounded fine.

    Collapse
  9. Avatar photo
    OJFL

    Mr. Cooke's voice was indeed different for me too. I loved the disagreement at the end about when someone should be charged of a crime as well as crime prevention in general.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Toog

      I noticed the unusual lisp too, before Jonah mentioned it. He wasn't imagining it.

      Collapse
  10. Avatar photo
    Tawnya K

    This was a great conversation and has definitely given me new insight into attempts to resolving mass shootings in schools.

    I’m going to encourage my husband to listen.

    Collapse
Load More