Friday, May 16, 2008

It's All About Us: The Dangers of Liberal Egocentrism

Mort Kondracke Fox News

Sadly, as we observed on tonight's edition of Fox News (May 16, 2008), even that most likable and unusually rational liberal regular, Mort Kondracke, apparently suffers from that dangerously contagious congenital leftist affliction: liberal egocentrism.

In discussing Obama's now-disastrous remark about sitting down and talking with our enemies, such as our friendly Mr. Ahmadinejad or Hezbollah's charming Nasrallah, Kondracke revealed all the classic symptoms of this serious judgmental disorder. He spoke enthusiastically of Obama's opportunity to cash in on President Bush's obvious failures in foreign policy initiatives. In particular, he focused his criticism on Bush's fateful refusal to communicate with the likes of Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Ill. Then -- and herein lies the core of the sickness -- he confidently attributed our lack of success in 'reining in' these tyrants to this lack of chat.

Why is this particular illness so dangerous to our national health? What's wrong with this idea?

Surprisingly perhaps, I'm not going to discuss the obvious fallacies involved in this historically discredited idea. Even though they themselves cite the Kennedy/Kruschev meeting as an example of this successful diplomacy. I won't bring up the fact that this was in reality a diplomatic disaster -- for us. At a time when our two competing military forces were almost at parity -- or, indeed, perhaps even more heavily weighted on the side of the Soviets -- all that this much-touted sitdown accomplished was to make us appear weaker in our enemy's eyes.

And, let us not forget for one moment, that they definitely were our enemy, an enemy determined to "bury" us. In what way did this pow-wow deter Kruschev? Did it deter him in his European aggressions? Or in his subsequent near-calamitous Caribbean adventures?

Likewise, I'll not bring up that shameful but somewhat shopworn specter of Chamberlain visiting Herr Hitler, hat in hand. I'll also avoid mentioning that awkward little historical fact that, as Hirohito's bombers were in the air on their way to Pearl Harbor, we were engaging the Japanese Diplomats in diplomatic niceties at our State Department. No, I'm not going to even go there. Despite the fact that these inglorious episodes -- and many others like them -- irrefutably prove the uselessness -- no, the utter insanity -- of negotiating with fanatical tyrants; this is not what this essay is about; this is a discussion of that eminently deadly and spreading leftist disease called Liberal Egocentrism.

OK, so just what is Liberal Egocentrism?

In a nutshell, it is simply a self-centered, myopic view of this world we live in. It is the unstated belief that all of the many complicated gears and levers of this world are powered by the enormous generator of our own omnipotent egos. We are the Prime Mover in this political universe. What happens or what doesn't happen is a direct result of our actions or our inactions. Although these fundamental principles are not written down in any document or manifesto, nonetheless, they are the primary governing principles of our liberal politicians.

Our friends and our enemies do not act according to their own agendas; but, in the skewered view of our Liberal Egocentics, they merely react to our agenda. According to this unspoken principle, we are the single most important factor in the global equation. An Ahmadinejad, or a Kim Jong Ill, or even an Osama bin Laden do not have a well-thought-out plan of their own, they are just waiting to see what we will do.

Having accepted the fact that we are the Prime Mover, then it necessarily follows that if things aren't moving in the direction we would like, then we must be doing something wrong. Ahmadinejad is acting the way he is because Bush didn't talk to him. Same with Castro, and Chavez and Kim Jong Ill and Putin and Nasrallah -- If we had just sat down with them for a few hours and talked...

My friends, every single one of these vicious brutes wants the same thing: power. Power and more power. Most are driven by their own monumental egos, some are also driven by horrific apocalyptic visions, straight out of Revelations. But each and every one of these bloody tyrants have their very own personal agenda, over which we hold little or no influence. To not understand this basic fact, to utterly ignore this undeniable truth, as our Liberal Egocentrics are presently doing, is putting our very lives in jeopardy -- in terrible jeopardy.

The Liberal Egocentrics have an untreatable deafness. They cannot hear contrary voices speak. Liberal Egocentrics are immune to the effects of logic and are blind to the light of reason. They refuse to understand that our friends -- and especially our enemies -- have ambitions and desires that have nothing whatsoever to do with them. That all of their empty rhetoric and their grandiose posturing have little or no effect on these actors. Our friend's and our enemy's intricate gears and levers are functioning quite well without the benefit of the power of their omnipotent egos.

In summation, to save ourselves, to save this wonderful but vulnerable nation, we must first defeat these delusional ideologues, these dangerous Liberal Egocentrics. We must pop their balloons and deflate their egos. We must learn how to listen to our enemies once again, we must learn to take them at their word. When they promise to destroy us, we cannot misunderstand or purposely manipulate their words. They are not promising to destroy us unless we sit down with them and talk. Our Liberal Egocentrics are hearing these comforting words, but our enemies are not speaking them.

Once again, we must fight the battles that are there, not the battles that we wish were there.

God help us to regain our strength and purpose. God help us to see this world clearly, and not through the distorted vision of our pacifist desires. - rg

20 comments:

  1. Well said my friend...well said.

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  2. You hit it dead on. The left will talk themselves into the grave. Only those with the willingness to fight against the injustices that threaten the world will prevail.

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  3. I may have been just a lad but I remember my dad pointing to a ship in Providence Harbor during WWII which was full of scrap iron. I believe the ship laid in the harbor for the duration of the war but what do I know, I was just a kid. But what I do know is that scrap iron was being sold to the Japanese right up to the start of the war. So we were selling and they were shelling...this was all part of the trade agreements of the time only the bureaucrats in Washington (mostly Democrats) had no clue that the Japanese needed metal for the manufacture of shell casings.
    I say all this because the selling of scrap metal was all done with diplomats talking...and talking, and talking...just like Obama...then they shot us in the back (Pearl Harbor).

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  4. Thanks Norm and Findalis.
    And that last comment was terrific Norm. You should write about that. I'll happily post it.
    rg

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  5. I am a Warrior. I am a Son of a Warrior. My son, now home from Iraq, is a Warrior. We Warriors despise - loathe - diplomats because we fight the wars they start while they sit back and bitch about how we fight the wars they start.

    Screw them all. They are ALL Wimplomats.

    Diplomacy does one thing and one thing only...it delays the inevitable. Thanks to Wimplomats, my brother was KIA in SE Asia, Quan Tri Province in April 1968.

    Damn them all to hell.

    Very well written Roger. I swiped some Snippets and linked back.

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  6. Thank you Snooper. Your encouragement means a lot to me.
    rg

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  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  8. To Anonymous -- Even though your comment was in agreement with the article I can't make exceptions. Radarsite will not accept anonymous comments, even nice ones. - rg

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  9. To Norm - re:iron sales to Japan.
    There was a poem about this subject -- something to do with taking down the Third Avenue El. The iron was sent to Japan and used for weapons that killed our GIs. Any remember it?

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  10. Roger,
    Your noble comment on this 'Liberal' water-treading by Kondrake is dynamic; with economy of words, you've presented a vast resource of thoughts. I must admit to a bit of jealosy for you higher-than-artful tact. As I've written above; "noble".
    Now I'm going to enter a notion (Snooper, fellow HUMINT'er, hold a second.).
    Many of us, who challenge those we call 'Liberals' keep getting hammered as though we're driven by some form of atavistic blood-lust.
    I maintain that from its first battle at Lexington and Concord, America is fundamentally 'Liberal'. It has fallen upon us, we who are the disdained 'Conservatives', to ensure that.
    It is the group that are "Warriors" (Snooper, your family, others who cammpaign in uniform, word and speech, my family members (brother and sister who served in uniform..(and if I may humbly suggest myself), who keep these ideals fresh.
    Leftist contagion has affected 'Liberals' as any predatory disease effects illness upon those who overindulge. The idea that a "spoonful of sugar" will make the medicine go down doesn't cut it when we recall embassy takeovers, barracks bombing, subversive infiltration and 'machtlust' of Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Russia and their sympathizers right here in our city councils, state legilatures and Congress.

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  11. Good points, as usual, Shawmut. Thanks.
    rg

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  12. Very well said. I would send this to all of congress for they are in much need of a history lesson.
    I only wish they'd start worrying about America like they do our enemies.
    I also hope & pray that someone would learn from history. and not repeat what was tried and failed.
    Roger, you hit this one so right.

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  13. I can not express how much I am enjoying your blog. Thank you for your voice!!!

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  14. Thank you Jungle Mom for your exemplary life.

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  15. Great post. I think this is also the reasoning behind welfare states: that a liberal government alone has the power to make unproductive people successful. Of course it fails, but then another branch of government or society is blamed.

    Anyway, I have no idea where this comment is from:


    We Warriors despise - loathe - diplomats because we fight the wars they start while they sit back and bitch about how we fight the wars they start.


    I know many patriotic members of the foreign service who manage the relationships that don't require war. And most of them don't have illusions about the tough stance we have to take against evil countries. Anyway, if we only listened to the state department, then the US wouldn't be stuck in the Iraq disaster and there would be no Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan or Iranian resurgence in the Middle East or sky high oil prices.

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  16. Hello again Johnson and thank you.
    Good points about welfare states.

    I could be wrong but that quote sounds like Snooper to me.

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  17. One thing i'd like to propose is that, alright let B. Hussein Obama have his chat with Kim and Ahmad and sip tea and waffle about fabrics. If their chats and kumbaya sessions do not work, then we get to whip the skin off their bums. I have a feeling there won't be many takers for these policies they insist will work under my conditions.

    I agree 100% Roger, it's foolish to pursue stupid policy that has failed in the past, and it costs lives. I don't know for sure what it is, perhaps it's a mental problem these idiots have.

    I am working my way through a book about the old Roman days and apparently they sometimes used to hold large banquets for people they didn't really like and if there was advantage in it, they would slaughter the lot of them. Perhaps sending Ahmad back to Iran with a baked apple in his mouth might send a clear message. Perhaps too obvious, how about a freak accident on his return trip, no?

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  18. It's funny- my first year of college- I took a class that was all about racism in schools. The book was one long rant from some guy getting off on his own self righteous "ashamed to have white privilege" identity. I had as of yet to delve into the way liberals think, but I knew something didn't feel right about his book. It was the beginning of my quest to figure out why liberals are the way they are. Why is our national security not an imminent problem, but "global warming" is? Why should we dump money into gay rights, when gays are more celebrated than our troops? Why are the very same pro abortion people calling our troops "baby killers?" Why do they believe in "government conspiracies", yet trust the government can do a better job with healthcare? Since when did the term "capitalism" go from signifying free trade and consumer choice, to "corporate greed?" Yea, I guess something is slightly flawed with their whole line of logic, if you can even call it that.

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  19. metalguitarist22 --
    Great comments. Thank you and welcome to Radarsite. Come back often.
    rg

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