Covert Enemies

Michael Barone has a powerful critique of certain elements within our own society that he calls covert enemies. Sadly, many of them are not really covert at all.

Our covert enemies are harder to identify, for they live in large numbers within our midst. And in terms of intentions, they are not enemies in the sense that they consciously wish to destroy our society. On the contrary, they enjoy our freedoms and often call for their expansion. But they have also been working, over many years, to undermine faith in our society and confidence in its goodness. These covert enemies are those among our elites who have promoted the ideas labeled as multiculturalism, moral relativism and (the term is Professor Samuel Huntington's) transnationalism.

At the center of their thinking is a notion of moral relativism. No idea is morally superior to another. Hitler had his way, we have ours — who's to say who is right? No ideas should be "privileged," especially those that have been the guiding forces in the development and improvement of Western civilization. Rich white men have imposed their ideas because of their wealth and through the use of force. Rich white nations imposed their rule on benighted people of color around the world. For this sin of imperialism they must forever be regarded as morally stained and presumptively wrong. Our covert enemies go quickly from the notion that all societies are morally equal to the notion that all societies are morally equal except ours, which is worse.

This kind of thinking is, sadly, widespread. As Barone points out, our society is excoriated for its past practice of slavery. No mention is made that this self-same society was the only civilization in history to stand up and stop the practice. The British and American navies had stopped the African slave trade even before the US Civil War.

The US and Western civilization is not flawless and has made historical blunders many times. On average, however, it has tended to improve lives and increase freedoms over time as it has evolved.

Read the whole thing. It is worth taking the time.

• 

  By Roland Hesz, August 22, 2006 @ 2:08 am

  “No mention is made that this self-same society was the only civilization in history to stand up and stop the practice.”

  Really? I fail to see the slaves outside the US.
  You meant “was the last civilization in history to stand up and stop the practice – so far”?

  I always have to laugh out loud at the “only civilization in history” type of speech.
  As if you were unique )

• 

  By Roland Hesz, August 22, 2006 @ 2:09 am

  Or if anyone were unique…

• 

  By David Paulin, August 22, 2006 @ 3:30 am

  The elites whom Barone describes have always struck me as spoiled brats. This is especially the case with the academics whom I’ve met. Most have grown up in comfortable and secure environments, insular settings in which all their needs were met.

  Many, to be sure, have lived and studied abroad. But this also was in comfortable and insular circumstances. They had financial security — thanks to a fellowship or tuition that was paid for by mom and dad. And as exotic as things were, they could leave whenever they wanted. They probably had insurance to provide for an emergency medical evacuation – straight back to the states.

  In reality, such people never really get to know the country they visit; and nor do they learn the value of their own country as a result of living abroad. Never do they need to worry about crashing currencies, rigid social structures, or arbitrary conduct on the part of police or other officials. Moreover, most of the locals with whom they associate are other elites — like themselves — who hold America in low regard and thus confirm their own world views.

  To cure them of their anti-Americanism, they should be required to live abroad for a few years…but be made to live like an ordinary person! And they should be required to visit a U.S. Embassy on a regular basis to see all those ordinary people lining up to apply for U.S. visas.

  Another idea would be to require that they attend regular “cultural awarness” encounters with their colleagues from Eastern Europe and Cuba — none of whom, in my experience, think like they do.

• 

  By Roland Hesz, August 23, 2006 @ 1:51 am

  “And they should be required to visit a U.S. Embassy on a regular basis to see all those ordinary people lining up to apply for U.S. visas.”

  I would not put my worst enemy into that humiliating situation.
  Applying for a US visa is for the desperate, or those who don’t mind to be utterly and downright humiliated.

  Never really understood why the sexual life or preferences of a person is important for getting a tourists visa.

Other Links to this Post

1. Flopping Aces » Blog Archive » The Other Front — August 21, 2006 @ 4:46 pm