November 25, 2008

Moral Ambiguity

I seem to have some cover this year in my minority position contra-Jack Bauer.

The one thing he offers -- in spades -- is a distinct lack of moral ambiguity. I offer Bret Stephens column today: Why Don't We Hang Pirates Anymore?

It's a safe bet, dear reader, that the title of this column has caused you to either (a) roll your eyes and wonder, What century do you think we're living in? or (b) scratch your head and ask, Yes, why don't we? Wherever you come down, the question defines a fault line in the civilized world's view about the latest encroachment of barbarism.

I can dig the yearning for a Jack Bauer who will do the tough stuff. We all support Orwell’s dictum: "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

The cover story to this month's American Magazine (have I ever mentioned that it's pretty good?) is that the State of California cannot build a road, drill for oil, or do anything not sanctioned by "The View" to promote wealth creation. I am reminded of Michael Barone's superb "Hard America, Soft America." Some "Hard" Americans are needed to drill wells, build roads and hang pirates.

The coda to this rambling post will have to be the "candy-asses" (Ann Althouse's term) who don't know where meat comes from. I didn't post on this but I cannot get this story out of my head. The HuffPo crowd, and MSNBC, and some MSM journos were appalled that Governor Palin did an interview while (make the kids leave the room) turkeys were being killed in the background. The HuffPo folks are astonished that it happened at all and the MSNBC "news" person was equally surprised that she did not see the political ramifications.

I figure when you shoot your food, dress it, and butcher it, that a commercial turkey plant the week before Thanksgiving is not a big deal. I am city-folk through and through. I'm a Michael Scully-style animal rights guy. I have a soft spot for animals and am generally repelled by gore. But I laughed that the good folks at MSNBC had to blur the actions of the turkey handler in the background (I assumed the birds were smoking cigarettes -- I hadn't seen the porno-filter dusted off by the news division in a long time).

This post has rambled, but they do add up: no roads in California, no harsh penalties for piracy, and full-scale denial about the plight of turkeys in November. We need some "Hard America" back.

UPDATE: Great Googooly-moogooly, indeed. SugarChuck and I have a long record of synchronicity. As I penned this, he drew the turkey slaughtering connection in a comment (fourth). As his was funnier than mine, I have to quote a small piece here:

I clicked on Three Sources and got Oprah Winfrey. JK knows I hold him in high esteem and T.G.'s erudition and defense of Teddy Roosevelt make him tops in my book, but ya'll are starting to sound like a bunch of nancy boy David Schusters at a turkey killing. Simply put, you are violating Sugarchuck's Mighty Fine Rule #1, "Don't be cracking on Jack!"

Just this once, I am going to quote an email without permission:
That was the finest hour of this whole election cycle as far as I'm concerned. You could write a Ph.D. thesis on that episode. I saw it on morning Joe before the NBC censors decided to blur the image and it was magnificent. You can't buy this stuff. We live in a great country.

Amen.

Philosophy Posted by John Kranz at November 25, 2008 12:16 PM

I thought we agreed that the reason we don't hang pirates anymore is because of the climate change implications.

jk, you're right, all these things are symptoms of Soft America taking primacy over Hard America. I've read the Stephens article and the American Magazine article; I take some exception to some points in the American Magazine piece (our only choices are Newsom and Brown? Though I admit they're, sadly, the most likely choices...), but it's clearly the direction in which this state is inexorably headed.

Simply put, were we to send half-dozen pirate craft to Davy Jones' locker without benefit of a trial, or allow the Marines to re-enact that "shores of Tripoli" thing that Mr. Jefferson tasked them for, piracy would drop off precipitously. But California lacks the stomach or the political will to do what must be done. Hang pirates? Hardly. What pirates we have left in this state, we now portray as chasing pies instead of ladies. Our tender sensibilities simply can't handle the fact that said pirates were more interested in indulging lust rather than gluttony. THAT'S Soft America.

Soft America would faint if they were to see Hard America hoist the black flag and hear "Arrrrrrrr, prepare to be boarded!"

Posted by: Keith at November 25, 2008 2:01 PM | What do you think? [1]