Rough Men Stand Ready
Have we lost our understanding of the need for and value of violence?
"You will find love; you will have many children; you will live in a house, with a nuclear reactor in the basement and two flying cars in the garage; you will eat the steak; you will build amazing and beautiful things; you will own your own life; you will be happy; and your grandchildren will go to the stars." - John Carter
“NAS member Bruce Gilley’s article, ‘The Case for Colonialism’ went through double-blind peer review and was published in Third World Quarterly in 2017. It provoked enormous controversy and generated two separate petitions signed by thousands of academics demanding that it be retracted, that TWQ apologize, and that the editor or editors responsible for its publication be dismissed. Fifteen members of the journal’s thirty-four-member editorial board also resigned in protest. Publisher Taylor and Francis issued a detailed explanation of the peer review process that the article had undergone, countering accusations of “poorly executed pseudo-‘scholarship,’” in the words of one of the petitions. But serious threats of violence against the editor led the journal to withdraw the article, both in print and online. Gilley was also personally and professionally attacked and received death threats.” - The Case for Colonialism
“Notice that finding all possible angles of victimhood—searching for them, making sure that none are missed or forgotten—and embracing them, as well as positioning herself in the hierarchy correctly, are core to Ernest’s thought process. This is a demonstration of Woke virtue and of the correct way to be a friend to Nora: to look for and acknowledge all aspects of her victimhood.
One character has a “queer platonic partner,” which is a “non-romantic intimate partnership.” In other words, a close friend. But in the Woke world of everything being labeled and categorized according to power dynamics, this requires special nomenclature.” - Holly MathNerd
“Those who abjure violence can do so only because others are committing violence on their behalf.” - George Orwell
“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” - G. Michael Hopf
We are a self-centered society. As a country whose main language is also the lingua franca of the world and the home of the global reserve currency we tend to assume that the rest of the world is a kind of mildly varied different America (different shades, different holidays, different food). We’re a large and ecologically varied country with boundless opportunities within our borders. Our urbanites and our cultural elites often cultivate a kind of unspoken condescension toward rural Americans, yet they are the ones who are unable to grapple with the fact that other cultures are often deeply racist or sexist. Try to introduce to them the idea that Palestinians are often saturated with hatred for Jews (rather than just nobly fighting for political sovereignty) and you will see what I mean. The core of the modern Left (by which I mean: college graduates and Twitter/X users and nonprofit employees, raised in privilege, mostly living in cities, and subscribing to many of the narratives of Critical Theory) tends to romanticize and ennoble any culture which is brown or indigenous and this sometimes seems cosmopolitan, but it’s actually the exact same error as the one committed by xenophobes and chauvinists who detest all foreigners. It’s just an error in the opposite direction. Instead of believing that white America is much better and nobler than any other culture they believe that it’s inferior to all others. Both positions betray a deep ignorance about the world and the varieties of human culture. I’ve actually never met an immigrant who believes in the precepts of the modern Left (that capitalism is evil and should be radically reformed, that America is especially patriarchal, that merit and racially equal policies are actually white supremacy). This should tell us something.
I state all this because there is no area in which our deep and pervasive parochialism is more dangerous than in foreign policy. President Trump absolutely had his drawbacks in this area but challenging the parasitic tendency of other countries to rely on America to defend European sovereignty or police the open ocean (80 years after World War II) were not among them. It appears that the Biden administration has a different set of deficiencies, and they are predictable to anyone who understands the cultural assumptions made and taught on college campuses these days.
A rosy view of other cultures - anyone who believes in gay rights should deeply oppose Hamas. That’s evident to anyone with any knowledge of the world. Anyone who believes that American women are disadvantaged such that their struggle should be elevated above that of their Mexican or Iranian sisters is profoundly ignorant about the world. The ideas that the US is especially tolerant or free or happy (which are all more or less objectively true) are completely baffling to many recent college graduates. The Biden administration seems to believe that Iran can be placated and shouldn’t be engaged in direct conflict, as if the IRGC is a particularly annoying donor or activist group, rather than a group of fanatics who are determined to destroy us if we don’t destroy them first.
A distaste for use of hard power - the president is our executive. In this country that makes him a figurehead, a kind of spokesperson for the United States, and also our chief decision-maker in dealings and conflicts with other countries. A primary component of that is considering the use of military power but the idea of this is deeply offensive to people on the Left. We exist in our current state and flourish because of wars that have been fought (not genocides… wars). Our borders and the safety and property of our citizens are kept secure with an immense backstop of military power, but while they enjoy these benefits the Left doesn’t want to acknowledge this. This is very similar to having well-paid professors at lavish private universities who fulminate against capitalism, or living in a safe and well-policed neighborhood while simultaneously condemning the idea of police. In other words, luxury beliefs.
A naivete and misunderstanding of history - all people, through history, have tended to prioritize their own groups and often victimize others. Safety and prosperity has come at the cost of enormous bloodshed and the violent and dark impulses which underlie these myriad acts are innate to human psychology-they are just as much a part of our cognition now as they ever were. The acts may now be rarer, but that’s because of a thick crust of development and civilization. Without that economic development the violence and disorder rises to the surface and this is the case in every region and every culture and every period. This is a fact that the Left doesn’t want to grapple with. It’s more emotionally satisfying to them to pretend that these impulses are rooted in capitalism or patriarchy or white supremacy. In fact, capitalism and ‘patriarchy’ (by which we might mean the competitive and aggressive instincts of men and their suitability for fighting in groups for causes or homeland) are the only things which have granted us, in the West, a reprieve. If we weaken ourselves and abolish masculinity and property we’ll simply be opening the doors to more aggressive and vigorous civilizations… who will not share the delicate sensibilities of our modern young progressives, unfortunately.
An ignorance of our sources of strength - certainly technology and wealth and the immense blessing of our two oceans strengthen us. Certainly our allies support us. All of these factors, however, are perched atop a solid foundation: young men (raised to be men) who have the vigor and aggression and impulsiveness to risk their lives for an idea, and for their buddies on the line next to them. Our society values the independence of women and the pursuit of comfort and the ‘virtue’ of passivity but if we value these elements too much and erode the foundation of our collective safety we will be overrun. We need women to have babies and we need a certain number of these babies to grow up to be hard and capable men willing to die for their country. No country can survive without these elements, and a kind of cultural discomfort at this truth does not lessen that truth.
I watched the Biden administration make drastic miscalculations which led to a disastrous withdrawal operation in Afghanistan. From what I’ve read this was largely due to State Department intransigence and a baffling decision to completely abandon Bagram Airfield and stage our outgoing flights near Kabul. I understood that Afghanistan is a tricky and dangerous place at all times and so I withheld judgement. Hopefully, I thought, the administration would learn the error of letting State make militarily important decisions.
I’m not even going to broach the topic of immigration here but suffice it to say our policies (or lack thereof) around our Southern border haven’t reassured me that we have capable adults at the helm.
Now I’m watching them intentionally avoid the hundreds of flagrant provocations made by Iran and her proxies from Libya to Oman, and I’m confused, and angry. I certainly hope that the delusional and saccharine ideas spread in our colleges haven’t influenced policy but if they’re not now will they will eventually. Privilege never helps a person grapple with the world. Wishful thinking never helps her truly understand it. Academic theories almost never help a person act judiciously and decisively-especially in a jungle as dark and perilous as international relations. We need men and women who have seen the cost of war and understand the sources of our strength. We need people in the administration with the will and wisdom to act. Where are they?
