Inverted Victimhood

Worse, arguably, is people who've not been harmed receiving money - via the "government" -  extracted from the hides of those whom the "government" claims have done them wrong.

Mercedes-Benz being the latest inverted victim of this dirty business.

The German automaker stands convicted of passing government "emissions" testing.

Its Bluetec diesel engines - like VW's TDI diesels - were "clean" enough to be "certified" for sale in the U.S. and Europe.

All of the foregoing words in air-fingers quotation marks to indicate the disingenuous way these terms are always used by the government and its lampreys, including those in the "media."

"Clean" means compliant. It does not mean that a not-"clean" engine is dirty; i.e., that it generates extravagant or even significant pollution. The difference between a "clean" and a not-compliant engine can be (and is) defined by fractions of prior fraction, according to "Tiers" and "Bins," which are the government regulatory apparat's obscure and largely meaningless - in terms of anything meaningful as regards pollution - hopscotch categories defining compliance.

"Certified" means the government approves. Which means the government allows. That which is "certified" may be manufactured and sold; that which is not "certified" is illegal to manufacture and offer for sale. "Certified" means nothing insofar as fitness for use, though the government would like it very much of people believed it does. Many, unfortunately, do.

"Emissions" means whatever the government says they are. It used to mean objectively harmful byproducts of combustion - and in sufficient quantity that the "emitting" resulted in something objectively harmful, such as smog. It currently means harmless byproducts of combustion such as carbon dioxide, which is said to cause the "climate" to "change." An assertion with as much scientific foundation as the recent assertions that "masks" - anything will do - "work."

Anyhow, Mercedes (and VW) committed the sin of passing the "certification" tests by adjusting the software that controlled the operation of their diesel engines in such a way as to do just that. A horrible crime - insofar as it provided the government the excuse it needed to punish both.

The "cheating" - as it was presented by the "media" - enabled the government to portray these automakers as nefarious no-goodniks without any bother about having to show evidence of harm caused. It was sufficient to imply it.

To equate it - with "noncompliance."

Many - probably most people - having been conditioned to a kind of thoughtless stupor that reflexively produces the desired reaction whenever the government squeals that someone "cheated" it.

As in "tax cheat," for instance.

There is an element of truth here, of course - in that the government was "cheated" out of its ill-gotten gains (as regards "taxes") and its Auctoritas threatened. The italicized word is an old Roman word and it meant the dignity - as well as authority that flowed from it - of . . . authority. The Roman Caesars valued their Auctoritas above everything else, for they knew well that everything else depending upon their Auctoritas.

Modern Caesarism - which is no longer embodied in an individual but rather institutions used by Caesar-ish individuals, such as those burrowed within the regulatory apparat of government - cannot abide its Auctoritas being affronted, either.

And that was Mercedes' (and VW's) true crime. They affronted the Auctoritas of the government.

Both were punished for it - disproportionately, as no harm was caused by either to anyone (outside of government). Billions had to be paid - to the government. And millions of people were deprived of the high-mileage vehicles they would have been able to buy, which they are no longer permitted to buy. This has harmed millions.

No compensation is forthcoming, of course.

But it is coming - from the victims - again.

Mercedes is now being sued by lamprey-lawyers who feed off the government's "compliance" regime to force the German automaker to pay the people who bought its diesel-powered cars sums of money for harms its cars did not cause and who were not harmed by their cars. In fact, they were benefitted - by excellent fuel economy, which saved them a lot of money.

The only harms caused them having been caused by the government, which - via its hue'ing and crying over the trampling of its Auctoritas - has caused the market value of diesel-powered Mercedes (and VW) vehicles to decline.

That being the only actual harm caused.

Nevertheless, some 330,000 not-victimized people who bought diesel-powered Mercedes vehicles are poised to be "compensated" for the harms they weren't caused, to be paid out by the company that did not cause them any harm - by the government that did.

The "core allegation," according to the chief lamprey-lawyer, is that Mercedes "manufactured and sold vehicles with defeat devices in breach of the emissions regulations." 

Note the absence of even a claim that harms were caused by this.

Instead, the claim is that " . . . the use of defeat devices that reduce the effectiveness of emissions control systems is generally prohibited." 

It is not unlike questing the "effectiveness" of "masks" - and refusing to wear them or oblige others to wear them. Also for a time considered a punishable offense by the very same government. The same one that continues to tout the "effectiveness" of the "vaccines" it also punished people for not taking.

All of this is what ends up happening when it is no longer necessary to prove that someone has been harmed before punishing someone for doing it. When punishment follows when the Auctoritas of authority is affronted.

. . .

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