The meanest common denominator

It has always been like this.

So what is there to comment on? Should anybody comment? Probably not as far as those making the statement are concerned.

On the 50th anniversary of the I have a dream speech, public discourse explicitly set aside the "It has always been like this" generic argument.

To TheEditor, the "it has always been like this" is at times comforting, at times infuriating. The infuriating occasions can be described with a German word which is worth describing: Totschlagargument. "Totschlag" is second degree homicide, involuntary homicide, to kill something, "argument" is what is looks like. So, it is not a killer argument but an argument that kills.

In discourse, it is used generally to kill a debate. The funny thing about it is that this statement is almost never true.

If you do not agree, substitute the "it" with whatever activity or concept is the topic of the conversation and see for yourself.

TheEditor treats this one as an emotional expression except in very narrow scientific uses.

A pretty mean one at that, and TheEditor will pull all stops on it: that's what slave masters said, that's what men said when they refused to accept women as equal.

Unfortunately, even TheEditor finds it useful to divide people into groups for certain purposes and arguments. But TheEditor is still resolutely focused on the individual because that's where all thought and action starts, that's where the ultimate responsibility lies.

On a packed commuter train anywhere in the world, people walk in and sit on the seats reserved for the handicapped. A person who obviously needs a seat comes in. None of the occupants of the reserved seats gets up. After a few minutes, someone else in an adjacent non-reserved seat gets up and the handicapped person can sit down.

Which of the seated passengers looking at the handicapped person would you rather be?

Which of them actually are you every workday on that train?


It has always been like this.