An apology for the Mantle's behavior

By the Crown

Well, hello everyone. As you remember, the Mantle published a ferocious article attacking Zebra as an idiot. This was in response to an article by the Portvalatvian Times, which can be found here. Of course, Zebra is proud of being an idiot, and that is the centerpiece of his campaign. But it is still insulting, if you believe the Portvalatvian Times. So, here is an explanation for it.

First, you must understand the situation. The Mantle went hunting last Tuesday, and he didn't get any sleep. Being rather tired, and about to go to bed, suddenly there was a knock on the door, and the mailman delivered the Portvalatvian Times at 11:00. The Mantle was very angry indeed, but more so when he saw the top headline, which was about Zebra's speech. When he saw the speech, he was so blown away by its alleged stupidity, that he simply had to publish an article on the Midnight Dagger for it. In that article, he ridiculed Zebra's beliefs as stupid and ridiculous. He also ridiculed the policies as pointless. So, we, as the Editorial board of the Midnight Dagger, apologize for his overly fierce behavior

Now that I have explained the Mantle's actions, and hopefully apologized for his aggressiveness, let me reiterate that I still agree with everything he said, though I would have said it in a calmer fashion.

Let me offer support for the center ideology of Bear's coalition. Merit and personal responsibility. We believe that people should try to better themselves as much as possible and be rewarded accordingly by their managers.

Let me start by saying that I have sympathy for people who are stupid or lazy, and I wish all the best for them. But I do believe that the suggestion that stupid people are helpless to better themselves strips stupid people of their dignity. They are not just products of their environment, but rather people who can make their own decisions. We have seen many times when people who were disadvantaged rose above their difficulties by means of hard work and perseverance. The Mantle is one of them. Another example is Porcupine. He once was a lowly hedgehog but was able to save Animalary Village through his ingenuity.

In contrast, we have seen many times what happens when Zebra's idiological policies take place. People start believing that they cannot fix their situations, and they rely on government support. Furthermore, Zebra's policies harm the very people they try to support. Stupid people are very much harmed if people make them believe that they cannot get ahead and need to stay behind and rely on others to care for them. Look what happened in Port City, where Zebra's policies took full effect. It was a disaster. People stayed home and progress was delayed.

What's worse, Zebra's movement seeks to make "stupid" an identity. The idea that you are either stupid or smart is purely ridiculous. Stupid people can become smart, and smart people can become stupid. People are not confined to their disabilities. Anyone can rise above their environment.

With all of that said, let us dive into the specific problems of Zebra's policies. The Mantle offered a good refutation of these, but still, let me just reiterate some responses.

1. Job guarantees for stupid people. Here are my responses: 1. Stupid people are not a category. We should not make any decisions based on occupation within the "stupid" category. 2. It won't help. Smart people will still be hired more. And I am not sure if subjecting "stupid" people to more lenient standards will help. We want to encourage intelligence, not stupidity. We do not do this because we hate "stupid" people, on the contrary, we are doing all of this for their benefit. We want them to rise out of this unintellectual madness.

2. Tax raises on smart people. Again, treats "smart" and "stupid" like two different immutable categories. Such categories don't exist. Smart people become stupid and stupid people become smart all the time. And also again, it won't help. After all, I note that we are raising taxes on the smart people, not lowering them on stupid people. This won't help at all. Also, it does discourage people from becoming smarter.

3. Reformation of the justice system to make stupid people get arrested less. In this case, he means that we will let criminals go, so long as they are stupid. My response is that stupid people should not be let go if they commit a crime. The worst insult that you can give to a person, and the most undignified, is to call them "stupid," claim that they are helpless and cannot change, and then let them go free because they are "too stupid to do anything about it." We believe that "stupid" people have dignity and should be subject to the same rules as anyone else.

4. Mandating that everyone has their IQ displayed on their passports. Basically, this solidifies the distinction between "stupid" and "smart" people and divides the population where it should not be divided. I have even heard from some reporters that Zebra plans of writing either "stupid" or "smart" on everyone's passports and keeping it there permanently. There is no better way of making people feel helpless than writing "stupid" on their passport.

5. Banning private organizations from measuring IQ. Seems rather unnecessary, and it is also infringing on liberty.

6. Right of way laws for stupid people. My response, other than the aforementioned fact that "stupid" is not a category, is that the solution to bad driving is to teach people to drive. I do not know why this still must be mentioned, but apparently it does.

7. Stay at home laws. Bad idea. The result of letting people stay at home, still getting government money, is that people will stay at home, receiving government money. Whenever you legalize anything, and encourage it, usually you should expect that it will happen more frequently.

8. Stupidity directed welfare. Again, as mentioned before, stupidity is not a category and never was. Giving people money based on their IQ is really not helpful, and it harms the very people it should be helping.

9. Funding scientific studies that support Zebra's position. Basically, Zebra wants more money to be given to studies that attempt to prove his ideas. A very one-sided ordeal.

To conclude, Zebra's policies harm those who he is trying to help, divide the world into meaningless categories of "stupid" and "smart," and discourage responsibility and growth. Therefore, I ask you to reject his policies, and not vote for him next election. Or, on second thought, vote for him, and draw off votes from Mr. Nekro.

This article is an opinion piece. It probably expresses the opinion of the Midnight Dagger, but, since there is a small chance that it does no, we still don't take any responsibility for it.