“ The division that the peaceniks sowed during the 1980s made possible the return to power of a scumbag despot and his “poet” wife, with rather immediate implications for national security in our time.”
On moral equivalency: I had a friend of a friend tell me last year that there was no real difference between America and China (specifically in the context of the Uyghurs) or between America and the Nazis. I was appalled and although it was my friend’s wedding and we were both in the wedding party, I couldn’t let it slide. We had an intense argument which I tried to keep civil and we managed to keep it civil but barely. What he said was disgusting.
Jonah Goldberg says that behind every double standard is an unstated single standard. This guy seemed utterly unbothered by the Uyghur genocide, saying it was no worse than anything we have done. He claimed he was just cynical, but that wasn’t the real story. The real story was his unstated single standard: he wanted to hate America and the West. The depths to which some leftists will sink in this desire are truly extraordinary, although they are rivaled in this by paleocons like Sam Francis and the Russia-Ukraine truthers.
Reagan’s real sin in the eyes of some on the left was defeating the Soviet Union. After its collapse, some leftists mourned it. They acknowledged the horrors and didn’t necessarily condone them, but they just wanted there to be some alternative to American capitalism and Western civilization. Quite frankly, that’s morally bankrupt.
I don’t have a problem with peaceniks who want peace. I have a real problem with “peaceniks” who are just rooting for the other side.
“ The division that the peaceniks sowed during the 1980s made possible the return to power of a scumbag despot and his “poet” wife, with rather immediate implications for national security in our time.”
On moral equivalency: I had a friend of a friend tell me last year that there was no real difference between America and China (specifically in the context of the Uyghurs) or between America and the Nazis. I was appalled and although it was my friend’s wedding and we were both in the wedding party, I couldn’t let it slide. We had an intense argument which I tried to keep civil and we managed to keep it civil but barely. What he said was disgusting.
Jonah Goldberg says that behind every double standard is an unstated single standard. This guy seemed utterly unbothered by the Uyghur genocide, saying it was no worse than anything we have done. He claimed he was just cynical, but that wasn’t the real story. The real story was his unstated single standard: he wanted to hate America and the West. The depths to which some leftists will sink in this desire are truly extraordinary, although they are rivaled in this by paleocons like Sam Francis and the Russia-Ukraine truthers.
Reagan’s real sin in the eyes of some on the left was defeating the Soviet Union. After its collapse, some leftists mourned it. They acknowledged the horrors and didn’t necessarily condone them, but they just wanted there to be some alternative to American capitalism and Western civilization. Quite frankly, that’s morally bankrupt.
I don’t have a problem with peaceniks who want peace. I have a real problem with “peaceniks” who are just rooting for the other side.
I actually wrote an essay in which I referenced that example recently:
https://hardihoodbooks.substack.com/p/making-distinctions
I liked your other examples, too. Distinctions. Their importance is underestimated.