When Fashion Disguises as Science and Leads to Policy – Bullying
Hugh Hewitt > Blog
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Alright, before I dive in, the airspace at the center of the U.S.- Mexico border is closed for ten days. “Security reasons” is all that we know. The use of lethal force is authorized to enforce the closure. Something is brewing, don’t know what, but something…. [NOTE 2 HOURS LATER: The airport is reported as reopening.] OK – on to the topic at hand – an interesting set of unrelated stories that are connected by a single factor – “consensus” without evidence leads to bullying.
The New York Times argued that it was “time to acknowledge reality” and “admit” that the United States has a “marijuana problem” in a new editorial admitting that the legalization of weed in most states has had a wide variety of adverse consequences.
Any sober person, admittedly hard to find in the weed legalization crowd, knew this would happen. But fashion overrode common sense – like the viral challenges on the internet that land people in the hospital we confused popular with good and the results were not good.
Then there is this: (HT: Instapundit)
Sometimes it feels like the climate change crusaders are oblivious to everything going on around them. For decades, they’ve been resorting to the same tired strategies to convince us that doom and gloom are just around the corner if we don’t change our ways. What they ignore is that their tactics aren’t working – more people than ever are tuning them out.
The key phrase there is “oblivious to everything going on around them.” It is an obsession that long ago overrode the evidence and commonsense.
And finally this: (same hat tip)
Anybody remember Richard Sander? He was a law professor who proposed the “mismatch” theory of racial preferences in school admissions….For this theory he had his life ruined. He was metaphorically crucified in the public square as a “racist.”…America owes Richard Sander a huge apology.
Same basic story with hideous consequences. The story is reminiscent of about a thousand teen targeted movies where a kid is deemed unpopular for some absolutely stupid reason and driven from school society like a leper in Christ’s day.
I think these days they call such behavior “bullying.”
And then – covid. I could carry on for hours about covid. Living in California where the restrictions were ridiculous I could tell several tales of bullying – literally being yelled at, and in one case shoved, for wandering inside someone’s social distancing perimeter, or leaving a mask down just a second too long when taking a drink.
Bullying is what people resort to when they must preserve the social order they desire against all reality. The first signs of this policy bullying probably were climate change – when proponents started declaring “consensus.” In the end how is that any different than, “No one is wearing that this season, so you are obviously stupid?” In the world of science you do not need “consensus;” the data speaks for itself. And if the data is unconvincing, you go back to the drawing board and collect more data until it is convincing, or you change your mind.
This public policy bullying goes a long way to explain the vehemence and polarization in our politics. There are only so many times people who are not racist will suffer being labeled as such before they push back, usually very hard having controlled themselves for so long while under such unrelenting derision. There are only so many times a person will stand in line for way too long while the stoner in front of them struggles to pay for his or her purchase.
It also explains why Trump is so despised. People don’t just acknowledge his faults and balance them against the good, no they turn him into a monster – incapable of good. Mostly because he is inserting reason and reality into their world of fashion and fad. Bullying is all they have.
