March 20, 2008
Does Liberalism Create Wimps?
The question is basic chicken or the egg. Does contemporary leftism make one a wimp or are natural born wimps naturally attracted to contemporary leftism?
 |
I got to wondering about this when reading about the death a few weeks ago in Great Britain of RAF Squadron Leader Bertram James, who had been shot down by the Luftwaffe in June 1940 and subsequently captured by the Germans. During his five year imprisonment, James (called “Jimmy”) tried to escape thirteen times from a number of different stalags.
His boldness was legendary. His first attempt simply was to walk through the main gate in a disguise when the lights went out. On another occasion, he started a tunnel while in solitary confinement. He finally wound up in Stalag Luft III, the camp immortalized in the film The Great Escape, where he was in charge the tunnel called Harry. One of many who managed to escape, he unfortunately was re-captured in Czechoslovakia fourteen days later and brought to the Sachenhausen death camp, where he quipped that the only way out was “through the chimney.” Nevertheless he escaped again but was recaptured. In May 3, 1945 he was liberated by the U.S. Army as he was being marched with other prisoners to Dachau.
Five years of resistance, of valiant determination to foil the enemy, five years of never giving up! To what should we attribute his remarkable courage and persistence in the face of death? What forged the mettle in a man like this (and his many cohorts)?
I tried to imagine many of today’s prominent leftists in such a spot, a spot they probably wouldn’t be in anyway because they’d rather talk than fight, explain rather than do, appease rather than take a stand. They are the gallant soldiers of the “Conflict Resolution Division,” the “Can’t-We-All-Just-Get-Along-Batallion,” the “Who-Are-We-To-Judge?-Squad,” or put crudely, the “Grab-Your-Ankles-Platoon.” They believe the pen is mightier than the sword as long as the sword isn’t at their own necks.
 |
 |
Were I a prisoner of war and looked around for eager escape enthusiasts, who among today’s leftists would I want in my stalag? Frank Rich, straight from twenty or so grueling years writing theater reviews? Paul Krugman, fingers worn to the bone from all that university training and column writing? Tim Robbins, after years of suffering in Shawshank Prison? Alan Alda, toughened by years of sensitivity training? the super-sized Michael Moore, who couldn’t fit through a tunnel anyway? or somebody like Bertram “Jimmy” James?
 |
 |
Were Krugman or Rich my camp partners, they’d probably tell me that “we shouldn’t have been in the war in the first place,” or that “we were misguided and lied to.” Alan might remind us that the enemy thinks they’re on the right side, too — “your terrorist is their freedom fighter.” Tim Robbins might tell us that we’re wrong, wrong, wrong and deserve to be there. Most of them would say that the strongest statement we could make to protest the treachery and injustice of our own government is to resist our captors by doing nothing. Some might even pose for pictures with the enemy. All of them would spend most of their time trying to reduce the camp’s carbon footprint.
I think Jimmy James would just tell them to bugger off and ask where the shovels are. He’s who I would want in the bunk next to me.
I don’t know much about Bertram James’ politics and he could have been as liberal as they come. If so, my guess is that his liberalism was a point of view, a philosophy about social policy and culture, separate from the primary obligation, duty and responsibility of being a citizen — protecting and defending his country.
Even were he a flaming liberal by today’s terms, I doubt that he would have hated his country or government with a fervor that found fault with everything it did. If so, he probably wouldn’t have struggled so hard to get home. I doubt that his liberalism would have identified his “Englishness,” as today’s American liberals use their warped, radical leftism to define their “Americanness.” To them, being a patriotic American means unremitting criticism of the country in which they live and make a nice living in. Let’s not forget the nice living part.
The question of wimpage isn’t a matter of who’s stronger or who packs a punch, or who’s willing to brawl. It’s larger than that. I’m sure a lot of these guys play a wicked game of golf or racquet ball and might even be very competitive at a Saturday shirts-and-skins hoops session. They might also risk big bucks at weekly celebrity Texas Hold ‘em gatherings while their wives or “significant others” are at Starbucks. No question a guy like Sean Penn or Ben Affleck isn’t afraid to start a fight. But would they fight for their country, even when the stakes aren’t clear-cut as, say World War II? In short, what comes first — me or my country?
Are they constitutionally and morally wired to resist anyone or anything that threatens their way of life, who believes enough in something to put up a fight to protect it? When duty calls, we should go … and all that, as did our grandparents, the greatest generation that Tom Brokaw wrote about so effectively while relaxing in his comfortable penthouse while dispensing contemporary liberal bromides? I don’t know. But I don’t think so.
Incidentally, I shouldn’t be so cavalier about Brokaw. In a recent New York Times ad I read that “the Committee to Protect Journalists will honor five brave journalists.”
It seems that in conjunction with the Knight Foundation, the CPJ launched “a global campaign to combat impunity for the killers of journalists. Murder is the ultimate form of censorship.” Their ad continues: “Working with our colleagues around the world, we must now break the cycle of impunity.” So, who are the “five brave journalists .??.??. who have fought for freedom” that the Knight Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists choose to honor? Dmitry Muratov of Russia, Mazhar Abbas of Pakistan, Adela Navarro Bello of Mexico, Gao Qinrong of China, and Tom Brokaw of the United States.”
Bravery! Wow. Didn’t realize reading the news was so hazardous.
 |
If I were to look around today, I’d pick any number of brave men and women, Americans who’re serving our country. I’d be happy to see any one of them in my prison barracks. Most recently, this young soldier, Monica Lin Brown.
A 19-year-old medic from Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second woman since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest medal for valor.
Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said.
After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away, the military said.”
I have no idea what Monica Lin’s politics are. I bet she’s not a hard-core liberal, though. And I’d bet the house that she’d help dig a tunnel to get home, as many tunnels as it takes. Bertram, meet Monica. She’s your kind of soldier.
John -
This is quite probably the worst piece of shit I’ve ever read in my life.
And that’s saying something.
Congrats!
Arthur
I guess you still haven’t a job and need to stalk here for some kind of personal neurotic need.
Tell you what — seriously — I’m going to be in L.A. next Tuesday for six days to sign a contract. How about you pick a spot somewhere in the Valley — Studio City, is good — and you can tell me to my face what you think of me and I can tell you to your face how low I hold you.
Then you can go your way, I can go mine.
Whaddaya say? You can PM me on the other site.
Remember … I simply asked you a long time ago just to go away, but you didn’t. There’s some kind of sickness there …. but I’ll tell you all that when I see you.
And your complaint: “I posted the link to this crap because I wanted to provide a peek at the sort of puerile behavior that goes on here (e.g. calling someone “ugly” and a “freak” and knowing he can’t respond,” is disingenuous at best. From the beginning I said I didn’t like you and didn’t want you on the site, but you kept coming back and I kept deleting you, which I TOLD you I would do. But you kept coming back for more deletions and now you say you’re frustrated because you can’t respond.
Don’t come. Anyway, the meet will be:
My treat.
John,
A well-written piece….that I fervently disagree with!
OK amigo, I am a tree-hugging, left leaning, liberal from way back and I do love my country…I would gladly pay the ultimate sacrifice for her, and as you know, I served in the military for 21 years and in three combat zones.
It’s never easy to paint a fine line with a broad brush, and that’s the trap you fell into here. Are there liberal assholes who would rather abet the enemy than aid a soldier? Sure. Conversely there are many right-wing assholes that gladly espouse their love of God and country while safely seated behind the news desk at Fox news or in the Congress, cheating on their taxes, getting blowjobs from dudes in airport bathroom stalls, or “having other priorities at the time” instead of going to Vietnam.
Were my comments above fair and accurate for all conservatives? Of course not. And by the same token I would say your broad brush missed the mark in the same manner as it pertains to us liberal believers.
OK John, my longtime friend–know that I am an avid reader, a fan, and someone who would gladly serve by your side in any foxhole (are you listening Artie you freak!), so take my mild criticism for what it is.
This liberal Airman stands by his tree hugging ideals with great pride and the knowledge that some folks just don’t get us liberals and that is 100% OK because there is room for everyone!
Go Giants!
Dave
(are you listening Artie you freak!)
Yes, Dave. And I still think you’re being far too kind, because I think equating opposition to the war with “wimpiness” is sick and repugnant and is the sort of nonsensical attitude that got us into this unspeakably tragic disaster of a war - with its countless and constantly increasing thousands of casualties on both sides and the incalculable havoc it will wreak on our economy for generations - in the first place.
If that makes me a freak, so be it.
Artie–in deference to my friend John, I will address you exactly this one time.
There is a ton of room on both sides of any discussion, and stating those differences is both healthy and helps engender debate.
You, on the other hand, have slipped into the realm of what I’ll politely call disillusioned psychosis. You have take steps that are beyond what any rational person would do. You stalk. You berate. You have unhealthy rants and take some sick pleasure in stalking a very good and decent person.
In short you are legitimately sick. I would seek help if I were in your pitiful shoes. I would look in the mirror and ask myself what kind of person stalks another….think about that.
You have obvious mental issues, and your lack of intelligence and ability to live in the world of reality prevents you from acting positively on these sick urges that possess you. Please help yourself.
So that’s my opinion on a stalker. Stalkers have killed. Stalkers have enacted harm on others. Stalkers don’t have enough of a life to think rationally.
You are a stalker.
I suggest you stop.
Others will stop you.
Dave -
Ah, okay, sorry. Never mind. I didn’t realize you were insane.
John -
You see what sort of conclusions people draw when you attack me and delete my attempts to defend myself? Now you’ve got Dave here going from me trying to post some critical comments on this blog now and then to me being obviously a stalker which means I’m obviously a psycho which means I’m obviously a murderer. Or something.
What flavor Kool-aid are you serving these people?
Dave …
I’m really sorry you got mixed in with Arthur.
As for your other comments, yes, you’re right. They are generalizations and certainly do not apply to everyone who considers themselves liberals. That’s what comments are for — to state what you just stated and for me to understand where you’re coming from and acknowledge the flaws and faults in my piece.
But that’s the nature of blogging, I think. Someone — me — makes an observation, sometimes overreaching, but one that attempts to make a point and that is I think that the breed of liberals who are most prominent today are people I wouldn’t want near me in a crisis.
It would help me, at least, if liberals like yourself and compatriots could be heard more in terms of believing and defending this country. I know you do, but the “snake get all the lines” as the joke goes and to me the “snakes” are the leftists and defeatists, the Bill Keller’s of the New York Times who reveal phone taps that could be useful to catch terrorists. That goes beyond wimpage — I’d be thinking treason and betrayal. But we don’t do that anymore. But it’s those people who get the most ink, unfortunately.
Arthur, for example, is exactly the kind of guy I’m talking about and, again, Dave, I’m sorry you had the misfortune of exchanging posts with him.
He carries over his mean-spirited attacks on me to the other side, which is comprised of those who should be my colleagues, some of whom have been. Incidentally, Dave, many of those bright, thoughtful liberals who’ve begun to appreciate conservativism in way less government and the free market, for instance, have left this other site. Gone! They don’t come back! They’ve sent me private e-mails bemoaning Arthur and his ilk.
But … he sticks like bad gum on a good shoe. The beauty is that he doesn’t realize how much power I have over him, the control I exercise on his neurotic psyche. I write — he dances.
All my best, Dave. I’m getting a pod plug to put up the DC films …. and others.
Go Giants.
John
John,
Well said!
As a lib I truly feel like there is a lot of goodness on the conservative side…my main issue is the “practice what you preach” part of the Right that seems to have forgotten the “practice” part. I am all for a smaller, more efficient government and economic care taking that befits all citizens–that’s what governments do–but when I see out of control spending on both sides, and the largest spending coming from the right, I have to think that the rules each side like to state as their platform are nothing more than ideological bullshit designed to play to the masses that favor that particular way of thinking.
But enough of politics for now!
John, there’s an old African saying that I’m quite fond of: “the biggest trees gather the most wind”…you Sir, are a very large tree! Ignore those ill winds…he blathers; you write…a huge difference.
Looking forward to your next sojourn north!
Regards,
Dave