The Twisted Self

Continued

     Writer Carl Trueman explains how our emotions and inner feelings determine who we think we are. He says, "personal happiness has become a criterion for deciding what is and is not moral, and even what's real."

How we got here

     "Key thinkers have shaped the view of reality, the plaything of educational elites. It trickled down through media and entertainment and into our streets.   

     "Technological developments also shape how we think about and relate to the world. There has been a rise of politics based on identities: gender, race and sexuality. 

    "All the above connect to transform the nature and purpose of the institutions that define our culture. Thinkers may be gone, but their theories live on. 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau   

     "Man is born free, and everywhere is in chains. Rousseau believed we are born empathetic and moral, but that society encourages us to be selfish. 

      "Romanticism. Each individual has feelings and intuitions that need to be expressed, they said. Never mind that the 'heart is deceitful and wicked above all things.' (Jeremiah 17:9)  

     "The 'individual will' becomes sovereign, humans descend into pure subjectivity, and ideas become matters of personal preference." 

  To be continued

 The Twisted Self   

 Article by Carl Trueman

     Like Alice in Wonderland, we find ourselves in a world where yesterday's certainty seems to be watered down. The definition of marriage or the meaning of "woman" depends on who is speaking.

     He quotes Christian ethicist Oliver O'Donovan, 1970s: "The weakest argument of the abortion lobby is its strongest and most persuasive, that the baby in the womb is merely part of the woman's body. Their weak argument appeals to the intuitions of modern men and women who think of themselves as free and autonomous. ...who conceive of life's purpose as attaining personal psychological happiness, a sense of inner well-being."

     "Modern men and women got behind the argument that would give them what they wanted anyway - personal peace and contentment." 

     Trueman: ...this understanding of what it means to be human empowers the transgender lobby. "Until recently, most people would have scoffed at a man who claimed to be a woman trapped in the wrong body. Now, such statements are standard fair in our culture," right down to elementary schools. "It's becoming a requirement in cultural orthodoxy."

     "If we wish to understand the changes that are fracturing our society, we must see them within the context of how people think themselves to be. O'Donovan pointed to the broader moral imagination that made certain arguments - even very weak ones, rhetorically powerful."

 To be continued

     

We Didn't Know  

   Capt. Toti - Conclusion

     "No American officer agreed with Halsey more than Gen. Curtis LeMay. His philosophy: 'You've got to kill people, and when you've killed enough, they stop fighting.'" 

     "In spring 1945, LeMay targeted the poorest areas of Tokyo with firebombing attacks because the houses of the destitute were built closer together and constructed of wood and paper. LeMay's near-maniacal disregard for human life would make him the template for Gen. Jack D. Ripper in the 1964 movie, Doctor Strangelove. LeMay later admitted that if America had lost the war, he would probably have been tried as a war criminal." 

     "To be clear, all sides targeted civilians during World War II in order to terrorize them into surrendering. Though this tactic had worked precisely nowhere, LeMay perpetuated it late into the war. In early 1945 he deployed enough napalm over Tokyo to kill well over 100,000 civilians. This became the deadliest act of war in human history - deadlier than either of the atomic strikes." 

     "The outcome of all this is that tens of thousands of American lives were lost pursuing flawed strategies to appease glory seekers. While the enemy did the actual killing, in many cases it was our own leaders who put them in position to do so by elevating ambition and pride above sound strategy - and humanity." 

     Capt. William Toti is a 26-year veteran and retired submarine commander. 

 What We Didn't Know 

 Capt. Toti, part 2 

     Gen. MacArthur's "three-word quote forced Roosevelt into a strategic campaign that likely lengthened the war by months and increased Allied casualties by tens of thousands." 

     "MacArthur orchestrated his own award of the Medal of Honor ... for defending, and I point out, losing, the Philippines. MacArthur's excess body count extended beyond the Philippines - for example, 1,200 unnecessary dead when he organized the taking of Peleliu to 'protect my flank.' Peleliu is 730 miles away from Leyte. That would be like Sherman capturing Oklahoma City while advancing on Atlanta." 

     "His return to the Philippines delayed the Okinawa (final) offensive ... by more than six months, burning though vast military resources. It also generated more than 60,000 American casualties ... 150,000 fatalities among the Filipino population that MacArthur claimed to have been trying to protect."

     "Adm. Bull Halsey had a dark side. Dehumanizing the enemy makes it easier to kill them and has been common throughout history. He extended his pronouncements beyond enemy combatants to Japanese civilians. 'The only good Jap is a Jap that's been dead for six months.' 'When we get to Tokyo ... we'll have a little celebration where Tokyo was.' 'Before we're through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell.'" 

     "What matters is the human cost ... the effect his words likely had on the progress of the war. Soon, Halsey's fame exceeded that of Nimitz himself. He reveled in it. His hyperbole hardened Japanese resolve. His statements (gave) the perception that Japanese would not survive an American occupation and would have to fight to every last man, woman and child. Some (Japanese) used Halsey's words to justify doing so. The media helped. On July 23, 1945, Halsey's phrase (posted on billboards in the warzone) 'Kill Japs, kill Japs, then kill more Japs.' appeared on Time magazine's cover.  

Continued tomorrow

The Pacific War   

What We Didn't Know  

     Americans know the questionable judgments made by our military and civilian leaders in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

     Yours truly was going on 7 when WWII ended in 1945. I remember the announcement on radio. Growing up, I learned names of key people and places in both Europe and the Pacific. Our guys were always the good guys. MacArthur, Halsey, LeMay and others.

     But Capt. William Toti provides his study of the Pacific War in WORLD magazine, and the human cost of pride. Here are a few lines:

     "This kind of pride would lead, arguably, to at least 250,000 unnecessary deaths - Americans and allies, military and civilian - and delay peace in favor of individual military glory." 

     Gen. Curtis LeMay. "One of his infamous lines: 'There are no innocent civilians.' The general had spent the latter part of the war doing his best to eliminate as many civilians as possible."

     "What Gen. Nimitz did not foresee is that leadership, including President Roosevelt, would permit pride and glory-seeking to actively subvert ... a commonsense plan for victory." 

     "When Gen. MacArthur (then out of retirement) was evacuated from the Philippines, he made perhaps his most famous pronouncement, declaring, 'I shall return.' It was also his greatest strategic blunder. He didn't bother himself with strategic, interim objectives. He operated on ego. And many Americans loved it." 

     "Today, as we face a potential Pacific conflict with China, we learn that humility saves, and pride kills."

      MacArthur wasn't done. Five years later President Truman gave him authority to free South Korea, which worked. But his decision to invade North Korea brought countless Chinese into the battle. MacArthur's reaction was to go nuclear. Truman had enough.  

Continued tomorrow

 

 Short Takes 

     Walgreens and CVS say they plan to provide abortion pills. So, you men, who claim to be women, can look forward to this easy solution to a major problem. 

     The U.S. increased liquefied natural gas exports to Europe by 137% in 2022. U.S. shipments accounted for more than half of Europe's imports.

     Our natural gas production generated about 45 percent more than Russia, which is in second place.

The Game of Life

     Last Sunday, the Buffalo Bills met the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL playoffs. Damar Hamlin was able to attend the game. Who dat? 

     Damar is the Bill's linebacker whose heart stopped during a game in Cincinnati January 2. Medics rushed on the field, got his heart started, and did so again on the way to the hospital. 

     Hamlin's first question, returning to consciousness on January 4,  "Did we win?" 

     A doctor at the hospital answers, "Yes, Damar. You've won the game of life."

     Reminds me of an incident decades ago, playing soccer with other fathers of kids in the soccer league. I was playing goalie, when a ball was kicked hard and fast into my chest. 

     I laid there breathless for a couple minutes. Soon as I could talk, I wanted to know if the opponents had scored. 

     Nope.

              Jimmy

     

The Absurb Is Now Sacred   

                Some quotes from Seth Dillon, the Babylon Bee

"To prop up an insane worldview, you have to insulate it from criticism." 

Twitter - "The site's policy on hateful conduct starts out with a tribute to free expression." 

"The idea that men can become women is being pushed on people ... by some of the most powerful people and institutions." 

"I think we're more depraved than ever because we're affirming what we should be ridiculing." 

"How did we get to a place where insane ideas are sacred?"

"Instead of laughing at absurdity, we accepted it. Instead of ridiculing bad ideas, we tolerate them." 

"Mockery is a moral imperative ... bad ideas taken seriously have catastrophic consequences." 

"Bad ideas are everywhere, and social media increase the speed with which they spread ... all over the world." 

"Elon Musk ... on our podcast, called wokeness ... one of the greatest threats to modern civilization. Wokeness is divisive, exclusionary and hateful." 

"You can't reason with people who've abandoned rationality. But you can - and must - ridicule their bad ideas."