"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest."
Like surveying the (equally silly) "spiritual but not religious" nation he founded, I never know whether to laugh or cry after reading Thomas Jefferson, seeing how he grasped another man's freedom so firmly.
"We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go."
Is it any wonder "I don't care" is construed as a winning argument, today, in the country he birthed?
The country whose citizenry still can't accept "I didn't do anything" as enough to muster a defense, against even internal tyranny, and - still - willingly forces it's citizens to die in it's streets as a result of it?
Questions:
What or who made the wolf "the wolf" back then?
What or who makes the wolf "the wolf" now?
Who was "the wolf" really?
And who was, always, really "the wolf"?
And what is another's freedom, really - to someone lying to himself - but an instrument, invitation (and occasional obstacle) to cultism?
"What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment and death itself in vindication of his own liberty and the next moment be deaf to all those motives whose power supported him through his trial, and inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose."
Yeah, it's hilarious how many, even today, somehow miss that,...
"The wolf" has always been different and many things to different and many people -- that's why it's so easy for a real wolf to paint someone else as a wolf, and then turn a bunch of usually good and decent people into wolves who do the bidding and pay the highest price for the real wolf!
ReplyDeleteSo I think it's pretty hard to recognize who a real wolf is in the present (history and hindsight tend to work better, but only if myth hasn't muddied over the truth -- and it's important for the present, because historical truth is one thing that can help us to sniff out a real wolf).
By the way, thought I'd share. This guy has written some interesting things; amazing how things that happened so long ago could still reverb today (the name "Fishtown" jumped out at me -- hmm, Charles Murray, why did you choose that name?):
http://www.longislandwins.com/news/detail/inside_the_mind_of_a_know_nothing
http://www.longislandwins.com/news/detail/the_lasting_impact_of_the_know_nothings_on_immigrant_america
There is an entire series on this topic -- it's all worth a look, simply to understand how things really aren't just black and white (pardon the really bad pun, but we Americans have all kind of forgotten that it was a bit more complicated than that -- we are a too direct people with a very nuanced history after all), and, well, that something from so long ago could so determine how people act today (of course, I am strongly of the opinion that the French and Germans are still trying to come to terms with the Battle of Sedan, so there's that).
PW
Although, to get back to the question:
ReplyDeleteOn an individual level it's perhaps easy to ascertain "wolfishness"...if a person is willing and able to see things as clearly as possible, and not turn away.
PW
*and my complete apologies to the animal, Canis lupis, who is merely going about his own business trying to survive and perhaps does not deserve the added insult!
As for Thomas Jefferson:
ReplyDeleteI think he was a very smart man, a very educated one, even wise. We are lucky to have had someone like him.
But...
he was also a man with several huge flaws of character, primarily a weakness for his own luxury and leisure (and it was not tunnel vision or ignorance, he saw quite clearly where this was going to lead, yet did nothing, because he himself profited too much; that's the most damning thing). He and we, would have been better off if he hadn't. We were very unlucky that he had these particular failings; we have had to pay for them.
You can admire a person their good points, but idolizing them in total is a bad idea -- there is always a less attractive side.
PW
Never knew that MLK was Chinese.
ReplyDelete