They Just Don't Get It At The Nation
While cruising through a recent copy of the left's flagship publication "The Nation," I crashed into a nub of a poem written by Calvin Trillin titled, "George W. Bush, The Lion of Baghdad, Demands That Syria Withdraw From Lebanon." It reads:
"You must withdraw, since nations can'tThe moral equivalence that Trillin draws between the U.S. and Syria exemplifies the infantile level of geopolitical analysis prevalent at The Nation.
Install their troops in other places
To change regimes that they don't like.
Except, of course, in certain cases."
Given the fact that the Left cannot distinguish the "good guys" from the "bad guys," it is no wonder that its post-9/11 slide towards obscurity continues unabated.
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This post (the one about the Nation poem, not that bizarre thing from 'tery') hits the nail right on the head.
Whether one is pro-America or anti-America is more and more clearly correlated to one's ability to determine the good guys from the bad guys (no use of quotes INTENTIONAL).
America has been the guy in the white hat for over a century, if not since our inception as a "Nation". Until recently, mainstream social criticism from within generally operated under this assumption, which was constructive, healthy, and patriotic in many ways.
But the standard rantings of the Left today are predicated on the assumption that we are no more virtuous, and in many cases far less virtuous, than our rivals and even our stated enemies.
The root cause of this perception is flat out Ignorance (I hate to use this word, which is so often misused by the Left as a substitute for reasoned debate, but in this case it fits).
The author of this subject poem and his ilk are ignorant of true hardship, true oppression, true violence, and true assaults on human rights and dignity. Had they even the most cursory understanding of what REAL suffering actually is, they would see that America is the first, best, and last bastion in favor of humanity against these historical constants of suffering.
If you can't tell the difference between America and Syria, you are not qualified to speak on other comparative subjects, such as wet vs. dry, dark vs. light, up vs. down, or your ass from a rolling donut.
orangeducks
Baghdad
Thanks to the loopy left, we're stuck with a large number of foolish people practicing situational ethics, as exemplified by Bill Clinton's tortured legalese obfuscation about what the meaning of the word "is" is. In that squishy, elastic, centerless realm, good vs. evil becomes a major debating point.
orangeducks wrote: The standard rantings of the Left today are predicated on the assumption that we are no more virtuous, and in many cases far less virtuous, than our rivals and even our stated enemies. The root cause of this perception is flat out Ignorance ... of true hardship, true oppression, true violence, and true assaults on human rights and dignity.
We can only marvel at the ability of the modern mind to allow theory to cloud perception. But grudgingly we must accept the fact that the tendencies behind the Left's absurdities will long survive its hoped-for marginalization.
In other words, those on the Left may well become vanishing breeds who truly fail to see the relative quality of human rights between Syria and the US, and/or those who cannot see any merit to Sharansky's analysis of the inherent danger of oppressive regimes. But other misconceptions won't be so quick to be quelled.
Looking at the poem, we see the denunciation of a nation deciding to change a regime somewhere for the mere reason that it doesn't like it.
I agree to the extent that the step of changing a regime by violence requires a great deal of moral clarity. To my mind leaders of nations must ultimately care more for security, for survival, than in possibly corrupt peer processes. The lack of consensus on the moral clarity of the Iraq invasion was a reflection of postmodern decadence tending to pacifism. Those who have not yet succumbed to that decadence will be vilified.
The Left has a mental image of a one-world socialism where international law decides these things. In their commitment to this vision, they may even be willing to see the world endure some hardships while we "get the kinks out of the system."
In this vision the USA is just one nation out of many. If it has such right on its side, then it should have been able to win full support of the UN for the invasion of Iraq. And even if it did have right on its side, but failed to win support, events should have been allowed to play out so that the negative results instigate the international rule of law to fix itself.
prowlerneedsajump wrote: "The lack of consensus on the moral clarity of the Iraq invasion was a reflection of postmodern decadence tending to pacifism."
The decision to invade Iraq was a complicated one, and I do not dismiss out of hand thoughtful, reasoned criticism of it. I had (and still have) reservations about that first step. But once taken, the path forward must be deliberate and complete, and that’s why I’m here.
The main beef I have with those such as the author of that poem is their complete lack of judgment and reason as demonstrated by casual comparisons and remarks that turn the screamingly obvious upside down.
A simple glance at the last century would be enough to inform a chimp as to who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Has America made mistakes? Sure. Overreached? Occasionally. Demonstrated some arrogance? Sometimes. But compared to whom?
America is not necessarily blessed by Divine Providence. America is not necessarily endowed with perfect intent and flawless methods at every turn. America is, however, simply the best hope for human progress and dignity that humankind has ever come up with.
There’s plenty of room for criticism and debate. But how do you explain Beethoven to a toad? How do you explain Shakespeare to a poodle? How do you explain America to any organism that apparently hasn’t the capacity to understand the difference between George Bush and Adolph Hitler?
One quick point of disagreement: Decadence to be sure, but the modern Left has little if anything to do with pacifism. True pacifists are a very rare breed.
The hard Leftists characterize themselves as peaceniks or pacifists or as ‘concerned for the troops’ in order to convince themselves and everyone else that their anti-American actions are legitimate. But those opposed to America in a time of war are typically only opposed to American triumph against any adversary.
True pacifists never choose sides in a violent conflict. But I haven’t seen a lot of press from Lefties admonishing Arab terrorists in Iraq, Gaza, or anywhere else to throw down THEIR weapons.
"True pacifists are a very rare breed."
That's quite true. I only ever met one, back in my campus protest days. He was a local "organic farmer," and he'd be out having a vigil against nuclear weapons at the courthouse every friday afternoon.
He protested against every kind of warfare, regardless of who was in office, or what for. I may not have agreed with him in all respects, but I could respect his principles - they didn't bend back on themselves.
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