Add Insufferable Condescension, Hypocrisy, and Stupidity to the List

Some French MP has demanded the US return the Statue of Liberty to France:

French MP demands the US 'give us back the Statue of Liberty'
?? https://t.co/OA2Px6vhlr pic.twitter.com/zGiUPPC2hA

— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) March 16, 2025

“We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty,'” he told cheering supporters.

“‘We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,'” he added.

As we say in Texas:

No? OK then. Fuck off like a good little froggy.

The insufferable condescension, hypocrisy, and stupidity here is off the charts.

For one thing, that was gifted by France in the 19th century because the US was a unique beacon of freedom in the world, not because the US intervened to stop tyrants abroad–most of whom were European, by the way.

In fact, that was an era when the US still largely adhered to John Quincy Adams’ dictums: “The United States goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy,” and that if the US did so, “She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.” Arguably, the erosions in freedom that the United States has indeed experienced in recent years is directly attributable to attempting to remake the world. And those attempts–notably Iraq and Afghanistan–failed miserably in their object.

For another, where is the limiting principle? If we are to confront Russia because it is ruled by a tyrant, why not China? North Korea? Cuba? Venezuela? And on and on and on. There are many monsters abroad. Indeed, arguably most of the world is monstrous.

And as for the hypocrisy: as J. D. Vance bluntly told it to your Eurofaces, Europe today is anti-freedom. Anti-free speech. Anti-personal liberty. Anti-economic freedom. Matthew 7:5 is more than apposite here: “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

As for science and scientists, uhm, U.S. government scientists being fired are hardly (to put it in your language, Frenchy) la crème de la crème. And they were not fired because they stood up for scientific freedom. They were fired because they were not producing anything of value.

Indeed, their main lament is that they are unemployable outside the U.S. government. If they are so wonderful (a) you should be overjoyed because you will soon be blessed with brilliant ex pat science brains, and (b) well no, actually, because they could easily find employment in the U.S. because of their alleged brilliance and the moribund nature of European innovation. Many of these scientists specialized in what they chose because of the demand from government, demand derived from political forces not intellectual or commercial ones. Our money went to paying for their “freedom” to do useless research.

The words of another American ex-president, Eisenhower are also very apposite here:

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

Eisenhower’s warning was ignored, much to our cost as a nation. The current culling is merely a start at undoing the damage caused by the government dominance of science that has occurred over the last 70 years.

Today is the 5th anniversary of Trump’s (much to his discredit) imposition of a 15 day (hah!) lockdown to “stop the spread.” THAT is what government science has given us. We were told to shut up, and “follow the science.” The government science that was a lie from start to finish. The government science that, almost certainly, caused the outbreak in the first place. As the British and German governments concluded at the time (as we are only finding out now).

So yes. The less of that science, the better.

A large part of America, the majority in fact, has no use for lectures from condescending European nitwits and hypocrites. You have no right or reason to judge us. And your diatribes are all the more reason for us to be shed of you, and leave you to your own pathetic devices.