Some interestingly different information and perspectives and some tiresomely quasi-PC attitudes about Eurocentrism and the "moral taint" that accrues when the Western Allies adopted the desperate tactics they did in order to win. Am I supposed to feel bad because Marines on Iwo Jima or Guadalcanal had unflattering racial stereotypes about the Japanese, or killed prisoners or took trophies? Let's put Professor Ferguson there and see how he feels then.
One of the most disingenous moments was his moral astonishment at the Serbian attack on Muslims as the old multicultural and multiethnic Yugoslavia fell apart. "Simple because they were Muslim." Even I, who am not a Harvard history professor, know that the only reason there are Muslim populations in the Balkans is that a chunk of them decided to cast their lot with the invading and conquering Turks who subjugated the native Christian populations for 500 years --with charming institutions like the devshirme. A Serb Christian looking at a Serb Muslim saw one who betrayed his people. Think that might have something to do with it, Professor?
Moral autopsy is one of the major formats of our contemporaries, whereby they dishonestly and cheaply imagine themselves ethically superior to people from the past by critically dissecting their distant deeds from the safe vantage point of the present. Reminds me of hubristic teenagers who look down on the parents who support them because they earn their money in ways that the kiddies find un-cool, not "Earth-friendly", "soulless" or "corporate." (To my shame, I was guilty of this for a time at that age, too. But I grew out of it.)
Whites are The Most Foolish People On The Planet (c). Why? Because they can be snookered into holding on to untethered and highminded ethical attitudes --always of their own creation-- when their enemies consciously and laughingly use these attitudes to unman them and bring them down, the Reb Saul Alinsky Rule #4.
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3 comments:
One of the signals that my connection with the Church was fraying was an essay by Mark Shea that condemned the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima as the illegitimate killing of civilians, and then tossed out the usual lines about Allie planes strafing civilians in the West. Never mind the fact that the Japanese people were prepared to fight to the death if Allied forces landed on the main islands. Never mind that compared to the animal savagery of the Russians as they raped their way through East Europe (I am here because of it) makes misconduct of American forces look inconsequential in comparison. Instead he sat in the ivory tower of moral superiority and shook his head at the "moral pretzels" conservatives twist themselves into to "justify their moral failings."
His comments that conservatives wanted to turn the country into a "garrison state" through easy gun access infuriated me. Astounding how easily Catholics assume the innate virtue of humanity, considering the harm the Church has suffered at the hands of humanity's "virtue" in the past century alone. God must truly be watching out for them; they would have trusted themselves to death long ago.
-Sean
P.S. Your comment about your teenage leanings reminded me of Churchill's famous quote. I have never been tempted to liberalism. The only time I deviated from conservatism was a week I thought I could be a libertarian. Then I realized that I could never not pass judgment on the stupidity of a person's action.
-Sean
Amen.
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