Hatred
Peace Rally
I was watching coverage of the anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., on the O'Reilly Factor last night, and heard the vacuous ramblings of Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Jane Fonda.
I'm paraphrasing, but when asked about the 3 million people who died when America left Vietnam, Ms. Fonda said that America caused their deaths by going there in the first place. In other words, we, America, forced the Viet Cong to murder their own citizens. This kind of anti-America thinking was on display throughout the protest.
Also, this morning, on Fox and Friends, I saw an American Iraq War vet, Joshua Sparling, who had lost his leg to amputation, who described his experience when he went to the rally to protest the protest; in other words, to support the war in Iraq. He got a get-well card from one protestor that on the inside said, "Die soldier, die!" Hundreds of protestors gave him the finger,
screaming, "You should have stayed in Iraq," "You're just a murderer," "You have blood on your hands." Police had to intervene when several in the crowd gathered clubs and were going to jump him. Others were spitting on him, cursing.
This is your typical pro-peace crowd. You can even see the hatred in the eyes and faces of the main speakers.
Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate
I could pick any number of tenets to debate with this crowd, but I want to focus today on one central myth that they believe. See also my post, The Usual Suspects Smell Blood.
Countries are People Too
The peace at any cost crowd believes that countries behave like human beings. This leads them to imagine that negotiation is always the best policy when dealing with anyone, including expansionist, totalitarian, fanatical nations.click to show/hide the rest of the post
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Every War is Vietnam
The left have long memories. Every year, to them, is 1972. Every war is Vietnam. The solution, for them, is to march on Washington and spit on the flag. They will go on demonizing America, idealizing evil, and minimizing the results of American withdrawal from the world. Just let them sit and drink their lattes while bashing America and planning their next hate event, and they'll be happy.God bless them, for, literally, they know not what they do.
Rock
(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)
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Negotiating with Hitler
The classic example of their kind of philosophy in action was when Neville Chamberlain, fearing Hitler, went to negotiate with him. Hitler was all smiley and back-slapping, and gave in to Chamberlain, promising he would not wage war against Europe—in exchange for one minor concession, the bloodless annexation of the nation of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain was ecstatic. He came back to England claiming he had achieved "Peace in our time." Then, Hitler, having digested Czechoslovakia, went on to gobble up the rest of Europe.A Negotiating Success
Can the personal touch ever make a difference? Yes, rarely. The shining example of negotiation working was when Jimmy Carter, by dint of will, forced the Israeli's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat to make peace, following the 1978 Camp David Accords, in the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty; with Israel returning Egyptian lands, and Egypt pledging not to attack Israel. This peace has held, no matter how chilly relations have gotten between Egypt and Israel over the years.The Differences
Self-Interest
Why did Neville Chamberlain fail while Jimmy Carter succeeded? The answer is that it was not in Hitler's Germany's perceived self-interest to honor the negotiation with Chamberlain. It was, though, in Sadat's Egypt's perceived self-interest to honor the peace treaty with Israel.Hitler was intent on conquering Europe, and perhaps then, the world. Negotiation, for him, was part of a chess match, where he knew he had duped his opponent into surrendering pieces without a fight. No amount of backslapping, good cheer, sincerity, or making nice would have gotten any different results. Hitler was going to try to take over Europe, period.
Sadat, however, was tired of losing every war with Israel. This was not only humiliating, and emasculating, but also disastrous to the Egyptian economy. Sadat got peace, 3 billion dollars in American aid a year, and he was able to save face by promoting the positives of the whole thing. If he had known he would be assassinated for his trouble, perhaps he would not have gone through with the treaty. On the other hand, he seemed like a courageous fellow, and was well aware of the danger. He may have done this thing truly as an act of heroism for the sake of his people.
Negotiating with Good, and Evil
Notice, too, the differences between Hitler and Sadat. Hitler was a monster, a raving fanatic. Sadat was a good man.You can negotiate with a good man. You cannot negotiate with a monster.
The monster will, by his very nature, be looking to use the negotiation for his own sordid agenda.
All People Are Good
Except Americans
Which leads to the left's other mistake, when speaking of the power of negotiation. They believe that all people are good.Of course, this does not, for some reason, include America, nor anyone on the right, nor even those in their own party who are not left enough.
So, to them, George Bush is evil. America is evil. Corporations are evil. Capitalism is evil.
Russia, China, Cuba, and Venezuela, though, are de facto good. Hugo Chavez is marvelous. Fidel Castro is wonderful. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just has an anger management problem. Terrorist bombers are exactly like you and I. Merely sit down and talk with them and they will give up their arms. After all, it was America that made them into killers. The most murderous KGB member was just a regular guy underneath. Why, if you'd have given the peace crowd the chance, they could have charmed Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Pol Pot, you name him, into giving up their nasty behaviors and joining the world community. All it takes is face time. A smile. A cocktail or two.
Model for the Peace Crowd
The ultimate plan for peace with the peace crowd is the Tibetan monk's model, nonviolence in the extreme. This is the Richard Gere strategy for world peace. These docile ascetics, according to Buddhist principles, did not resist the violent takeover of their nation by communist China. Instead, they negotiated. They chanted and prayed, burned incense, and smiled a lot. They were nice to the Chinese. They made them wonderful vegetarian dinners.
The result? They were slaughtered in the hundreds of thousands, and Tibet remains occupied and ruled by a foreign power.