OT-Food for thought

The Undefended City

By Bill Whittle

When I first got to college, back in the last few weeks of the Seventies, I finally got a chance to see an ordinary game of Dungeons and Dragons. My immediate inclination was to play as a Paladin: the pinnacle of Lawful Good, a character required to dash in and fight overwhelmingly powerful evil forces anywhere and at whatever odds. These contests were short, depressing and hilarious, but all D&D really came down to in the end was slaying small monsters, taking their gold, buying slightly better gear and then slaying slightly larger monsters. Why not just save some time and become a Vorpal Sword distributor? Then you get the weapons and the gold, and people bring them both to you. And so a larval conservative was born. And I never played again.

That was the attitude I took into The Lord of the Rings when the first of the trilogy appeared in 2001, just a few months after the Two Towers actually did fall and the idea of good and evil suddenly became - to me and no doubt to you too - a great deal less ironic and a great deal more real.

And there, in the darkness, staring up at that screen, I marveled at this monumental font of deep and eternal ideas: the aversion to facing danger, even when it is right in front of us; the value of old and true allies; the corrosive force of addiction; responsibility forsaken, then reclaimed... and through it all the fear that we may be lesser sons of greater fathers, and that we may no longer have the courage or the will to defend the City entrusted to our care.

This, and more, what was what John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was trying to teach me, down that dark river of the future - and he ought to know. The Lord of the Rings was written between 1937 through 1949... years of dark waters, indeed.

A few years before Tolkien put pen to paper, an event took place that a man of his education would have undoubtedly been aware. On February 9th, 1933, the ruling elite of the world's great Civilization held a debate in the Oxford Union. With thunderclouds growing dark across the English Channel, at a time when resolute action could still have averted the worst catastrophe the world has ever known, these elites resolved that "This House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country."

The Resolution passed by a vote of 275 to 153. Needless to say, this vote did not avert the fight. It guaranteed it.

How much of the weight of that, I wonder, sat along side him as he penned page after page about the decline of the Men of the West. For taken in its entirety, The Lord of the Rings is about the collective regeneration of the will and courage of a previous age, and ends with the hope that the greatest days of the City lie yet ahead.

I live a few miles from Santa Monica High School, in California. There, young men and women are taught that America is "a terrorist nation," "one of the worst regimes in history," that it's twice-elected leader is "the son of the devil," and dictator of this "fascist" country. Further, "patriotism" is taught by dragging an American flag across the classroom floor, because the nation's truest patriots, as we should know by now, are those who are most able to despise it.

This is only high school, remember: in college things get much, much worse.

Two generations, now, are being raised on this poison, and the reason for that is this: the enemies of this city cannot come out and simply say, "Do not defend the city." Even the smartest among us can see that is simple treason. But they can say, "The City is not worth defending." So they say that, and they say that all the time and in as many different ways as they are able.

If you step far enough back to look at the whole of human history, you will begin to see a very plain rhythm: a heartbeat of civilization. Steep climbs out of disease and ignorance into the light of medicine and learning - and then a sudden collapse back into darkness. And it is in that darkness that most humans have lived their lives: poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

The pattern is always the same: at the height of a civilization's powers something catastrophic seems to occur - a loss of will, a failure of nerve, and above all an unwillingness to identify with the values and customs that have produced such wonders.

The Russians say a fish rots from the head down. They ought to know. It may not be factually true that Nero fiddled while Rome burned, the saying has passed into common usage because the image as the ring of truth to it: time and time again, the good and decent common people have manned the walls of the city, and have been ready to give their lives in its defense, only to discover too late that some silk-robed son of a bitch has snuck out of the palace at midnight and thrown open the gates to the barbarians outside.

And how is this done, this "throwing open of the gates?" How are defenders taken off the walls?

Well, most of what I learned about Vietnam I learned from men like Oliver Stone. This self-loathing narcissist has repeatedly tried to inculcate in me a sense of despair and outrage at my own government, my own culture, my own people and ultimately myself. He tried to convince me - and he is a skillful man - that my own government murdered my own President for political gain. I am told daily in those darkened temples that rogue CIA elements run a puppet government, that the real threat to the nation comes from the generals that defend it, or from the businessmen that provide the prosperity we take for granted.

I sit with others in darkened rooms, watching films like Redacted, Stop-Loss, and In the Valley of Leah, and see our brave young soldiers depicted as murderers, rapists, broken psychotics or ignorant dupes -visions foisted upon me by bitter and isolated millionaires such as Brian de Palma and Paul Haggis and all the rest.

I've been told this story in some form or another, every day of every week of the past 30 years of my life. It wasn't always so.

But it is certainly so today. And standing against all this hypnotic power - the power of the mythmakers in Hollywood, the power of the information peddlers in the media, the corrosive power of America-hating professors on every campus in America... against all that we find an old warrior - a paladin if ever there was one - an old, beat-up warhorse standing up in defense of his city one last time. And beside him: a wonder. A common person... just a regular mom who goes to work, does a difficult job with intelligence and energy and grace and every-day competence and then puts it away to go home and have dinner with the family.

Against all of that stand these two.

No wonder they must be destroyed. Because - Sarah Palin especially - presents a mortal threat to these people who have determined over cocktails who the next President should be and who now clearly mean to grind into metal shards the transaxle of their credibility in order to get the result they must have. Truly, they are before our eyes destroying the machine they have built in order to get their victory. What the hell is so threatening to be worth that?

Only this: the living proof that they are not needed. Not needed to govern, not needed to influence and guide, not needed to lecture us on our intellectual and moral failings which are visible only from the heights of Manhattan skyscrapers or the palaces up on Mulholland Drive. Not needed. We can do it - and do it better - without all of them.

When all is said and done, Civilizations do not fall because of the barbarians at the gates. Nor does a great city fall from the death wish of bored and morally bankrupt stewards presumably sworn to its defense. Civilizations fall only because each citizen of the city comes to accept that nothing can be done to rally and rebuild broken walls; that ground lost may never be recovered; and that greatness lived in our grandparents but not our grandchildren. Yes, our betters tell us these things daily. But that doesn't mean we have to believe it.

Ask the common people of all politics and persuasions aboard Flight 93 whether greatness and courage has deserted America. Through this magical crystal ball - the one we are using right now - we common people can speak to one another. And by reminding ourselves and those around us of who we are, where we came from, what we have achieved together and of the marvels we have yet to achieve, we may laugh in the face of despair and mock those people that think a man with an MBA from Harvard knows more about running a gas station than the man that actually runs the gas station.

It is the small-town virtues of self-reliance, hard work, personal responsibility, and common-sense ingenuity - and not those of the preening cosmopolitans that gape at them in mixed contempt and bafflement - that have made us the inheritors of the most magnificent, noble, decent and free society ever to appear on this earth. This Western Civilization... this American City... has earned the right to greet each sunrise with a blast of silver trumpets that can bring down mountains.

And what, really, is a Legion of Narcissists and a Confederacy of Despair against that?

- Bill Whittle lives and works in Los Angeles.

"Obama, raises taxes and kills babies. Sarah Palin - raises babies and kills taxes." Pyotr Flipivich

Reply to
Gunner Asch
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Clearly this whittle assaholic fancies hisself another Tolkien. Goodgawd.... So many prosey words with so little insight -- by design, I think. It's like Rush Limbaugh waxing phillysofical....

Altho "larval conservative" was good. Izzat sorta like a closet(ed) homosexshul?

Reply to
DrollTroll

His email addy is on the bottom. Why not pass along your critique?

Gunner

"Obama, raises taxes and kills babies. Sarah Palin - raises babies and kills taxes." Pyotr Flipivich

Reply to
Gunner Asch

On Sep 30, 3:59=A0am, Gunner Asch wrote: . . . I read Tolkien many years ago but I never did play Dungeons & Dragons. However I have read Barack Obama's first book DREAMS FROM MY FATHER and I am planning on reading his THE AUDACITY OF HOPE next week.

I think everyone who is considering voting for Obama should read these books. I had considered voting for Bob Barr because quite honestly I think John McCain is too willing to compromise on certain issues. However after reading Obama's book I do NOT want to give him the election because of my reluctance to vote for McCain.

The issue of Biden vs Palin is a no brainer to me. I would rather have a relatively inexperienced Vice President with principles a heart beat away from the Presidency than an idiot who has proved how despicable he is time and time again in the past 30 years.

Dennis

Reply to
TwoGuns

Well said, Dennis

Reply to
RB

Hi, Dennis. Yes, you characterized the brainwork involved in that decision very well. d8-)

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Nice twist of words Ed. You must be a student of Joe Biden correct?

Dennis

Reply to
TwoGuns

Well said!! Bravo!!

Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Dont pay any attention to Ed, he was kidnapped by DNC operatives and they programmed him, then removed his cognitive thinking centers using a dull icepick

Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

And you would be a student of...Mo? We already have Larry and Curly here. d8-)

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Gunner is always thinking about food.

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Gunner,

Mr Whittle must have read and understood what has been understood for centuries.

Ninety-nine years ago, it was phrased thus:

"The City of Brass"

1909 "Here was a people whom after their worksthou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion:and in this palace is the last informationrespecting lords collected in the dust." -The Arabian Nights. In a land that the sand overlays - the ways to her gates are untrod - A multitude ended their days whose gates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all!

When the wine stirred in their heart their bosoms dilated. They rose to suppose themselves kings over all things created - To decree a new earth at a birth without labour or sorrow - To declare: "We prepare it to-day and inherit to-morrow." They chose themselves prophets and priests of minute understanding, Men swift to see done, and outrun, their extremest commanding - Of the tribe which describe with a jibe the perversions of Justice - Panders avowed to the crowd whatsoever its lust is.

Swiftly these pulled down the walls that their fathers had made them - The impregnable ramparts of old, they razed and relaid them As playgrounds of pleasure and leisure, with limitless entries, And havens of rest for the wastrels where once walked the sentries; And because there was need of more pay for the shouters and marchers, They disbanded in face of their foemen their yeomen and archers. They replied to their well-wishers' fears - to their enemies laughter, Saying: "Peace! We have fashioned a God Which shall save us hereafter. We ascribe all dominion to man in his factions conferring, And have given to numbers the Name of the Wisdom unerring."

They said: "Who has hate in his soul? Who has envied his neighbour? Let him arise and control both that man and his labour." They said: "Who is eaten by sloth? Whose unthrift has destroyed him? He shall levy a tribute from all because none have employed him." They said: "Who hath toiled, who hath striven, and gathered possession? Let him be spoiled. He hath given full proof of transgression." They said: "Who is irked by the Law? Though we may not remove it. If he lend us his aid in this raid, we will set him above it! So the robber did judgment again upon such as displeased him, The slayer, too, boasted his slain, and the judges released him.

As for their kinsmen far off, on the skirts of the nation, They harried all earth to make sure none escaped reprobation. They awakened unrest for a jest in their newly-won borders, And jeered at the blood of their brethren betrayed by their orders. They instructed the ruled to rebel, their rulers to aid them; And, since such as obeyed them not fell, their Viceroys obeyed them. When the riotous set them at naught they said: "Praise the upheaval! For the show and the world and the thought of Dominion is evil!" They unwound and flung from them with rage, as a rag that defied them, The imperial gains of the age which their forefathers piled them. They ran panting in haste to lay waste and embitter for ever The wellsprings of Wisdom and Strengths which are Faith and Endeavour. They nosed out and digged up and dragged forth and exposed to derision All doctrine of purpose and worth and restraint and prevision:

And it ceased, and God granted them all things for which they had striven, And the heart of a beast in the place of a man's heart was given. . . .

. . . . . . . .

When they were fullest of wine and most flagrant in error, Out of the sea rose a sign - out of Heaven a terror. Then they saw, then they heard, then they knew - for none troubled to hide it, A host had prepared their destruction, but still they denied it. They denied what they dared not abide if it came to the trial; But the Sward that was forged while they lied did not heed their denial. It drove home, and no time was allowed to the crowd that was driven. The preposterous-minded were cowed - they thought time would be given. There was no need of a steed nor a lance to pursue them; It was decreed their own deed, and not a chance, should undo them. The tares they had laughingly sown were ripe to the reaping. The trust they had leagued to disown was removed from their keeping. The eaters of other men's bread, the exempted from hardship, The excusers of impotence fled, abdicating their wardship, For the hate they had taught through the State brought the State no defender, And it passed from the roll of the Nations in headlong surrender! **********************************************************But Mr. Whittle does have a modern take on the essential story, doesn't he?Flash

Reply to
Flash

.

Mo was the smartest one correct? Actually I think if you added up the I.Q.'s of the Three Stooges you would have a higher number than you would get by adding up the I.Q.s of the last three Democrats that ran for or were President.

Dennis

Reply to
TwoGuns

Gunner you lying f*ck! That ice pick was fairly sharp.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

LOL!!!

"Obama, raises taxes and kills babies. Sarah Palin - raises babies and kills taxes." Pyotr Flipivich

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Right. Maybe it's more accurate to describe him as the least dumb.

Another no-brainer...

-- Ed Huntress

Dennis

Reply to
Ed Huntress

It was his finest eating utensil until he had to stab dinner to death. 'Ventilated his boots before he finally killed it, too.

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Yeah, what a load of horseshit. I did like the way he put together self-loathing and narcissist when describing Oliver Stone. He really knows his words, not. He sure used a hell of a lot of them when he could have said we should all vote for McCain and Palin right off the bat. That's what it was all for in the first place. But what a dimwitted and verbose way to say it. So I'm sure Gummer loved it.

Hawke

Reply to
Hawke

By brainwork didn't you really mean lack of any?

Hawke

Reply to
Hawke

Gee Ed, I'm sorry to hear you have become a stooge for the DNC. When did you turn to the dark side?

Hawke

Reply to
Hawke

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