At Sotomayor Hearings, Some Like it Simple

"I will not vote for, and no senator should vote for, an individual nominated by any president who believes it is acceptable for a judge to allow their personal background, gender, prejudices or sympathies to sway their decision in favor of or against parties before the court."
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), at the Sonia Sotomayor hearings

I am truth.
I am certainty.
I am facts -- facts as they are, not as some might wish them to be.
I am objectivity personified.
I am White Guy.

When I see things, I see them clearly, and without distortion of any kind. I see all things, and hear all things, and I overlook nothing. I assign each thing I see, each thing I hear, the importance it deserves -- neither more nor less. My judgment in these matters isn't judgment at all -- it is the simple recognition of reality. Any judgment that differs from mine, to the extent it differs from mine, does not reflect reality.
I am White Guy.

My knowledge is total, and has no gaps. If there are things I seem not to know or fully comprehend, it is because these things are not worth knowing or comprehending. I have exactly the knowledge one should have, exactly the comprehension one should have, to make my way in the world. The rest is extraneous.
I am White Guy.

"Call it empathy, call it prejudice, or call it sympathy, but whatever it is, it's not law. In truth it's more akin to politics. And politics has no place in the courtroom."
Sen. Sessions

The rules and practices that appear to benefit me as White Guy are the only possible rules and practices. When I benefit from them, it is because I deserve to, by dint of dedication or hard work or innate talent. When others press for other rules and practices, it is only because they expect that somebody will cut them a break. This conclusion is too obvious to require further explanation.
I am White Guy.

Because I already know I have no prejudices, it would be a complete waste of time to consider the possibility that I might. Because I have no prejudices, I am confident that my judgments are the only possible judgments. My brain plays no tricks on me. Neither does my heart, or my gut. My experiences are universal experiences, and the lessons I take from those experiences are precisely the same lessons that any reasonable person would take.
I am White Guy.

"This 'empathy standard' is another step down the road to a liberal, activist, result-oriented, relativist world where laws lose their fixed meaning, unelected judges set policy, Americans are seen as members of separate groups rather than simply Americans, and where the constitutional limits on government power are ignored when politicians want to buy out private companies."
Sen. Sessions

"Empathy" is feeling what others feel. Since reasonable people in any circumstance feel exactly what I feel, I already know what others feel. Empathy is superfluous. So is sympathy.
I am White Guy.

I hate when questions are raised about the way things are done -- especially when the way things are done is the way things have always been done.

Instead of going down that dangerous road of complain and criticize, we should stick to our familiar path, and be thankful that the familiar path has been so helpful to so many of us for so long
I have had it up to here with all the sore losers.
I am White Guy.

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Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist. You can write to him at [e-mail]

Comments

[violettefemme]

Absolute perfection.

[wandering girl]

it's pretty obvious that those who will vote against her already had their minds made up day before yesterday. no amount of interrogation will satisfy their prejudices.

[hyperpolitik]

Brilliant!

Jeff Sessions = Plato minus any semblance of logic

too bad Jeff, because now we know that psychology, culture, and a host of other influences in fact make up who it is that we as individuals "are." The sooner we get rid of this "there is one Truth and I've got it" mentality the sooner humankind can start making some 21st century progress. Personally, I too hope that a wise Latino woman can make more informed opinions than a white male who has not had that experience.

[oncethere]

Right on. What Sotomayor was suggesting today, but Sessions did not pick up on was this: It's not personal experiences and personal feelings that can get in the way of decisiom-making; it's the absence of self-awareness, of one's prejudices that is hundred times more harmful to the decision-making process.

[suegar]

I actually wrote him yesterday on exactly this point.I know...but it felt really good to communicate that to him as directly as I can as a female citizen of Jewish ethnicity...