Goofiness is defined as an executed action or idea which is stupid, silly, ludicrous, foolish, inane, mindless or idiotic. Most of us can agree that something that is goofy should not be at the forefront of our national discourse. But there are several subjects that obviously meet the goofiness test and are talked about at the highest levels of government, society or the media. And they are discussed without the people doing the discussing, laughing. Three of the subjects that come to mind are: Animal Rights, Reparations for Slavery, and Censoring Offensive Speech.

I'll start with "Animal Rights." A right is something that is unalienable, bestowed on man by his creator. It exists without the need for government's sanction and is obtainable without anyone else's effort. Speech, Press, Religion, Assembly, Privacy, etc. These are conceptual entities. They require a mind that has the ability to take facts and refine them into abstractions and concepts and to vocalize and act on those concepts. There is no right to anything someone else has to provide. Animals are incapable of such conceptualizing and cannot grasp the notion of rights and certainly are incapable of acting to free themselves to the point where they can act on them. People have an obligation under the precepts of a civilized society to treat animals in a certain way, but there is no right bestowed on the animal that prevents that animal from being used to benefit humans as humans decide. Hence…..Big Macs.

The creepy people who think Rover has rights have been seen lurking near elementary schools telling little kids that milk is bad for them. They have been known to use violence, breaking into medical research laboratories and releasing lab animals infected with 'God knows what' out into an unsuspecting wild rodent population. They had been seen standing out in front of fur store throwing red paint of ladies wearing fur. Of course what should happen is that the lady whose fur has been ruined should remove her animal skin spiked high heeled shoe and proceed to beat the assailant to a bloody pulp.

Next comes the idea that people who live in the 21st century should be forced by the government to pay people who were never slaves, reparations for slavery which ended in the 19th century. Never mind that the vast majority of the current people are descended from people who never owned a slave and a large majority of them are descended from people who fought to end slavery. Never mind that the race enslaved in this country in the centuries preceding the 19th are much better off than their cousins living on the home continent. Never mind that there are a lot of middle class and wealthy black people whose taxes would be used to pay themselves reparations. The remarkable thing about this silly idea is that there are people who will look at you with a straight face and tell you they are in favor of it. One or two of these people are probably even educated.

Now the favorite tool to rebut the critics of this asinine idea is to immediately brand them as racist. I would like to point out that I not only disagree with the stupid people of color who seek reparations, I also disagree with the stupid white people who agree with them. I provide equal opportunity disagreement and disdain for anyone idiotic enough to either think this is a good idea or even worse, thinks it will actually come to fruition.