Victor Davis Hanson: A Return to Childhood, The new immaturity

NRO ^ | August 6, 2004 | Victor Davis Hanson

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Ping for later read

[Tolik]

Victor Davis Hanson moral clarity PING!

[please freepmail me if you want or don't want to be pinged to Victor Davis Hanson articles]

If you want to bookmark his articles discussed at FR: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-victordavishanson/browse

His NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp

His blog: http://victorhanson.com/index.html     BIO: http://victorhanson.com/Author/index.html

Yes, he is listened by the Bush Administration; they like him maybe as much as we do: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085464/posts?page=6#6

[Rummyfan]

I would never have imagined that journalists, academics, actors, artists, and the intelligentsia in general would have so opposed the end of dictatorship and promotion of democracy abroad.

They - journos, the intelligentsia, academics - are children, whining little children, and it is all about POWER to them, consequences to the nation be damned!

[Enterprise]

As has been suggested here many times, keep the adults in charge. Re-Elect President Bush.

[sarasota]

Excellent read. Pass it on.

[NutCrackerBoy]

They - journos, the intelligentsia, academics - are children, whining little children, and it is all about POWER to them.

I agree the POWER aspect is telling. Sort of like it always works to follow the money. But there is something else going on, though it still reflects the inability of children to make hard choices. War is a known, visible evil. People we hear about died or lost limbs fighting this Iraq War. We chose war when we could have done something different. It was feasible through denial to turn a blind eye to the evils of Saddam Hussein.

[I-spy-guy]

bump for later. Thx

[Desdemona]

bump

[Captain Kirk]

Victor Davis Hanson: the Woodrow Wilson of the cocktail set.

[freekitty]

With the exception of my husband who has said many of the same things; I have never anyone that has hit the nail on the head as to what the situation is. Thank you Victor Hanson. You are wonderful.

Thank God for those California men in Central California, my husband being one of them(born and raised in Fresno).

[rj45mis]

"They - journos, the intelligentsia, academics - are children, whining little children, and it is all about POWER to them, consequences to the nation be damned!"

You said it very well. These self-absorbed, anti-American pompous asses will, if allowed, sell our freedom to the intolerant religion of Islam. It's time that good people stop caving in to these morons and start taking back their country and the decent values on which it was formed.

[Mr.Atos]

I would never have imagined that journalists, academics, actors, artists, and the intelligentsia in general would have so opposed the end of dictatorship and promotion of democracy abroad.

Rand not only predicted this some 60 years ago, she outlined exactly how it happens. She saw it first hand in Russia. Her writings read like a revelation and a warning. Is it any wonder why they have been all but officially banished from the American education system.

[Tolik]

I often like to excerpt for size and highlight the articles when I email them to my friends. VDH quite often (this article is a good example) is unexcerptable, and I'd want to highlight everything.

He expresses brilliantly the point of view I and many others share. Combined with Mark Steyn, David Warren, Ralph Peters, Charles Krauthammer and the list can be expanded, they espouse the idea of democratic realism perfectly (despite a number of differences between them of course).

The idea is that there are problems in the world: we can deal with them now and drain the swamp, or we can delude ourselves that our withdrawal will make the problems dissolve by themselves and leave our kids to face even bigger problems later.

[dennisw]

BTTTTTTTT

[ClearCase_guy]

Victor Davis Hanson: the Woodrow Wilson of the cocktail set.

That's over my head. Care to explain?

[spodefly]

BTTT

[PogySailor]

Bombs going off in Manhattan or stuck in a tunnel while cops search every truck? Either way, Bush is the problem. Either he foolishly went into Iraq and let down our guard, or he is trying to scare us into believing that a nonexistent terrorist is under every bed. The television still blares about suicide bombers and repugnant thugs tormenting bound hostages? Surely Bush set them off. The proper response? Presto! Elect a less confrontational John Kerry, and thus cease a long, difficult war to defeat and to discredit all who would embrace such odious ideas.

Sadly, I sense the possiblity of that happening is increasing. Trying to keep the faith that Bush will be re-elected gets harder with every media driven poll or anti-Bush story.

What I am afraid is happening is too many people are going to decide just what VDH says: to make all the bad news go away in a instant, elect Kerry. Then we won't have to listen to it because the MSM will just stop talking about the problems and we can focus on the important things in life, like watching Simple Life 3: Whores at Sea.

[Captain Kirk]

Take a look at some of Woodrow Wilson's old speeches (especially during his campaign for the League of Nations) and compare them with Hanson's articles and the parallels will become apparent. Both indulge in purple and flowery prose on the need for the U.S. to bring democracy to the entire world.

In my view, such a universalistic doctrine is dangerous. It speads us thin, detracts from our national defense, and opens the door to more conflicts. It was wrong in 1919 and it is wrong now. This type of universalism on a consistent scale is also impossible and I think even Hanson knows this (though he doesn't acknowledge it). I would have more respect for Hanson if he applied his universalistic doctrine across-the-board and supported sending troops to such hell holes as Zimbabwee, the Congo, and the Sudan....but he doesn't. For this reason, his universalism is mere rhetoric.

Most freepers used to share my skepticism of this kind of universalistic doctrine back when they sensibly opposed Clinton's Kosovo war which was based on the *same* universalistic princples Hanson advocates in his articles..

[angkor]

war, sacrifice, or even the mental fatigue about worrying over such things wear on us. So we construct, in a deductive and anti-empirical way, a play universe that better suits us.

The heart of the Rat "antiwar" movement is F-E-A-R, and caving-in to fear.

There's nothing moral or noble or courageous about it.