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September 18, 2007
An hour of wolves and shattered shields
Writing for paleocon central, The American Conservative, James Pinkerton offers Crusader talk and a Shire Strategy for the West (links added below). For myself, I am not ready to abandon hope of what used to be called universal rights nor ready to abandon countless millions to eternal servitude, child-rape and absolute gender apartheid. Japan and Germany and now perhaps Russia* offer examples of tyranny turned back by force of arms and the prospect of liberty; we should not be so quick to condemn Araby or Persia to unending barbarism. Better to confront and destroy those forces at home and abroad which would claim superiority for Dark Ages evil, equivocate in the face of the horde or - perhaps worst of all - set our own treasures alight in the hope the enemy might be appeased and our own misplaced guilt assuaged. Pulling up the drawbridge is not the answer, not yet.
But still less is suicide. If it comes down to it the Shire must be defended. Dark clouds have gathered over so many once free cities it would be foolish to imagine the skies will stay clear over Toronto.
We in the West will always need warriors. We must have chevaliers sans peur et sans reproche—“Knights without fear and without reproach”—to safeguard our marches and protect our homes. Men such as Leonidas, whose Immortal 300 held off the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 BC, long enough for other Greeks to rally and save the nascent West. Or Aetius, the last noble Roman, who defeated Attila the Hun, Scourge of God, at Chalons in AD 451. Or Don Juan of Austria, who led the Holy League to naval victory over the Turks at Lepanto in 1571. Or Jon Sobieski, whose Polish cavalry rescued Vienna from the Turks in 1683.
These are not just legends, not just fictional characters—they were real. And if we dutifully honor those heroes, as heroic Men of the West and of Christendom, we will be rewarded with more such heroic men.
Future epics await us. Future Knights of the West, ready to defend Christendom, are waiting to be born, waiting for the call of duty. If we bring them forth with faith and wisdom and confidence, then also will come new heroes and new legends.
Stirring stuff (and at least three films that have yet to be made). Ptah offers useful criticism of the piece at Rantburg to which I would add the following: If the West had always chosen to hunker down, to build walls and defend them, there would be no Alexander to follow Leonidas; no twilight Rome to be defended by Flavius Aetius, the Eternal City would have long since vanished, of no particular consequence; no Spain but al-Andalus, no Americas, no United States; indeed no Israel and perhaps no India. Some paleocons may hold no particular concern for the independence of women, a casual disregard for the fate of brown people and even harbour the old Oberammergau view of the Jews. Some among them have long sought common cause with Mordor so long as the oil keeps flowing and the slave-camps remain on the far side of the mountains. Not good enough. It is not enough to save ourselves and consign the rest to the fire.
* And a side-bar to Russia: We are your only friends; your only hope. Time to pull the thumb out and stop pissing about with our airspace. It is not funny, it is not clever and you are not impressing anybody.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at September 18, 2007 07:23 AM
Comments
And something about feeding the crocodile and hoping he eats you last.
From "The Two Towers" film, Sam's speech in Osgiliath...
Sam: It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But, in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow; even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But, I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now ~ folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.
Posted by: The_Campblog ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.ghostofaflea.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 18, 2007 08:11 AM
I get the distinct impression that Russia (or at least official Russia) believes otherwise. I don't think they see us as friends, any more than they see radical Islamists as pals.
But Putin realises that we'll give him space after enough tough talk and sabre-rattling, whereas the Al-Qaeda types take more strenuous effort.
Posted by: Chris Taylor at September 18, 2007 04:14 PM
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