The Strongman
The older I get, the more I've come to believe that the world is a gray place. There is very little that is black and white and few clear moral boundaries. This is especially true in politics, even more-so in global politics. Once we move beyond individual actions, in simple legal cases, the gray spreads as quickly as water poured on glass.
In a civil society if one man shoots another man we ask, why? Did he have a motive? Was it self defense? Or, was he acting out of revenge, maybe it was cold blooded murder? In the absence of video, clearly shot, including interviews with the shooter and his victim, we're left to speculate, following a trail of evidence like so many bread crumbs thrown on the ground.
In other words, nothing is clear. We must rely on commentary by experts who attempt to reconstruct the event, using only evidence as a guide. Even then, what is deemed to be evidence is based on who decides, not on divinely given insight. Meaning, we are forced by our inherent limitations to take their word as truth, even if we know that experts on both sides of any debate may very well have a vested interest in the outcome.
Trust, then, is imperative, but trust in what? In whom do we place our trust? It is the dilemma of living in in a finite world with only our senses to tell us what to think. That, and a very large brain are our allies—and it just doesn't seem to be enough.
So, how do we try and understand something as distant in time and place (at least for most of us) as the conflict in the Middle East, which is really many conflicts. There is the problem of Israel and the Palestinians, as well as that of Israel and the surrounding nations. There is the problem of oil, which makes the world go round. There is the problem of the differing ideologies of the Sunni and the Shiite Muslims who slaughter one another based on ancient tribal differences. There are problems of religion and religious interpretation, of democracy and theocracy, of bombs and more bombs, bigger bombs, deadlier bombs. It should be obvious, then, there is no simple solution, anymore than there is a single problem.
What if every Jew was suddenly removed from the Middle East, would that do it? There has been a remnant Jewish population in that region of the world two thousand years before Mohamed and Islam. There are Christians who lived there more than seven centuries before Mohammed. Who belongs where? Based on what? And, more importantly, who decides?
The only real answer is “The Strongman.” The Strongman always decides. Who is “The Strongman?” The strongest nation, that's the simple answer. Apparently, it's always been that way. And there's very little reason to believe that it will ever be different. So it greatly matters which nation is the strongest. In Eastern Europe the Russian Strongman Stalin starved and murdered as many as ten million people, maybe more. China under the guidance of the worst mass murderer in human history, Chairman Mao, killed as many as seventy five million of his fellow citizens. In Germany, Hitler helped raise the death toll to sixty million in the aftermath of WWII, of which six million were Jews, about half of the world's Jewish population. In Africa eighteen million sub Saharan Africans were enslaved by Arab Muslims from Northern Africa, with tens of millions more dying in the process. Various European nations, including North and South Americans enslaved between nine and eleven million Africans, with tens of millions more dying in route to the new world.
This begs the question “In the history of the world is there any group, any race, tribe, people or nation who is exempt from responsibility?” The answer should be obvious; “No one!” This leads to another question “Who is the Strongman today?” The United Sates has filled that role for the past seventy years. In that time there has been no WWIII—unlike the previous two world wars—both caused by our allegedly, enlightened European neighbors. The murderous ideologies of communism and fascism were European creations as well. They've also been defeated. America has no real enemies, then, it is safeguarded by an ocean. It's abundant resources and it's unique form of government are gifts to the world, even if it has been imperfectly realized.
This leaves me with one final question “Where is a strongman strong enough to challenge us, if not today, then, in the future? “ From within, I believe, from the ignorance of our leaders and the irresolution of our people who willingly lay down their arms, assuming that peace will finally flow out of weakness. It won't of course. History tells us otherwise. Someone will inevitably take our place. And when that Strongman finally emerges, we will have no further say in the matter. He will decide for us.
Mark Magula
In a civil society if one man shoots another man we ask, why? Did he have a motive? Was it self defense? Or, was he acting out of revenge, maybe it was cold blooded murder? In the absence of video, clearly shot, including interviews with the shooter and his victim, we're left to speculate, following a trail of evidence like so many bread crumbs thrown on the ground.
In other words, nothing is clear. We must rely on commentary by experts who attempt to reconstruct the event, using only evidence as a guide. Even then, what is deemed to be evidence is based on who decides, not on divinely given insight. Meaning, we are forced by our inherent limitations to take their word as truth, even if we know that experts on both sides of any debate may very well have a vested interest in the outcome.
Trust, then, is imperative, but trust in what? In whom do we place our trust? It is the dilemma of living in in a finite world with only our senses to tell us what to think. That, and a very large brain are our allies—and it just doesn't seem to be enough.
So, how do we try and understand something as distant in time and place (at least for most of us) as the conflict in the Middle East, which is really many conflicts. There is the problem of Israel and the Palestinians, as well as that of Israel and the surrounding nations. There is the problem of oil, which makes the world go round. There is the problem of the differing ideologies of the Sunni and the Shiite Muslims who slaughter one another based on ancient tribal differences. There are problems of religion and religious interpretation, of democracy and theocracy, of bombs and more bombs, bigger bombs, deadlier bombs. It should be obvious, then, there is no simple solution, anymore than there is a single problem.
What if every Jew was suddenly removed from the Middle East, would that do it? There has been a remnant Jewish population in that region of the world two thousand years before Mohamed and Islam. There are Christians who lived there more than seven centuries before Mohammed. Who belongs where? Based on what? And, more importantly, who decides?
The only real answer is “The Strongman.” The Strongman always decides. Who is “The Strongman?” The strongest nation, that's the simple answer. Apparently, it's always been that way. And there's very little reason to believe that it will ever be different. So it greatly matters which nation is the strongest. In Eastern Europe the Russian Strongman Stalin starved and murdered as many as ten million people, maybe more. China under the guidance of the worst mass murderer in human history, Chairman Mao, killed as many as seventy five million of his fellow citizens. In Germany, Hitler helped raise the death toll to sixty million in the aftermath of WWII, of which six million were Jews, about half of the world's Jewish population. In Africa eighteen million sub Saharan Africans were enslaved by Arab Muslims from Northern Africa, with tens of millions more dying in the process. Various European nations, including North and South Americans enslaved between nine and eleven million Africans, with tens of millions more dying in route to the new world.
This begs the question “In the history of the world is there any group, any race, tribe, people or nation who is exempt from responsibility?” The answer should be obvious; “No one!” This leads to another question “Who is the Strongman today?” The United Sates has filled that role for the past seventy years. In that time there has been no WWIII—unlike the previous two world wars—both caused by our allegedly, enlightened European neighbors. The murderous ideologies of communism and fascism were European creations as well. They've also been defeated. America has no real enemies, then, it is safeguarded by an ocean. It's abundant resources and it's unique form of government are gifts to the world, even if it has been imperfectly realized.
This leaves me with one final question “Where is a strongman strong enough to challenge us, if not today, then, in the future? “ From within, I believe, from the ignorance of our leaders and the irresolution of our people who willingly lay down their arms, assuming that peace will finally flow out of weakness. It won't of course. History tells us otherwise. Someone will inevitably take our place. And when that Strongman finally emerges, we will have no further say in the matter. He will decide for us.
Mark Magula