For once, I disagree with the good Dr. Sowell. One need only look back to November '78...
Posted on 09/15/2008 9:01:06 PM PDT by jazusamo
"A human group transforms itself into a crowd when it suddenly responds to a suggestion rather than to reasoning, to an image rather than to an idea, to an affirmation rather than to proof, to the repetition of a phrase rather than to arguments, to prestige rather than to competence."
Jean-François Revel was not referring to the United States when he wrote those words, nor to his own France, but to human beings in general. He was certainly not referring to Barack Obama, whom he probably never heard of, since Revel died last year.
To find anything comparable to crowds' euphoric reactions to Obama, you would have to go back to old newsreels of German crowds in the 1930s, with their adulation of their fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. With hindsight, we can look back on those people with pity, knowing now how many of them would be led to their deaths by the man they idolized.
The exultation of the moment can exact a brutal price after that moment has passed. Nowhere is that truer than when it comes to picking the leader of a nation, which means entrusting that leader with the fate of millions today and of generations yet unborn.
A leader does not have to be evil to lead a country into a catastrophe. Inexperience and incompetence can create very similar results, perhaps even faster in a nuclear age, when even "a small country"-- as Senator Obama called Iran-- can wreak havoc anywhere in the world, when they are led by suicidal fanatics and supply nuclear weapons to terrorists who are likewise suicidal fanatics.
Barack Obama is truly a phenomenon of our time-- a presidential candidate who cannot cite a single serious accomplishment in his entire career, besides advancing his own career with rhetoric.
He has a rhetorical answer for everything. Those of us who talk about the threat of Iran are just engaging in "the politics of fear" according to Obama, something to distract us from "the real issues," such as raising taxes and handing out largesse with the proceeds.
Those who have studied the years leading up to World War II have been astonished by how many people and how many countries failed to see what Adolf Hitler was getting ready to do.
Even though Hitler telegraphed his punches, few people seemed to get the message. Books about that period have had such titles as "The Gathering Storm" and "Why England Slept."
Will future generations wonder why we slept? Why we could not see the gathering storm in Iran, where one of the world's leading oil producers is building nuclear facilities-- ostensibly to generate electricity, but whose obvious purpose is to produce nuclear bombs.
This is a country whose president has already threatened to wipe a neighboring country off the map. Does anyone need to draw pictures?
When terrorists get nuclear weapons, there will be no way to deter suicide bombers. We and our children will be permanently at the mercy of the merciless.
Yet what are we talking about? Taxing and spending policies, socking it to the oil companies and rescuing people who gambled on risky mortgages and lost.
Are we serious? Are we incapable of adult foresight and adult responsibility?
Barack Obama of course has his usual answer: talk. Rhetoric seems to be his answer to everything. Obama calls for "aggressive" diplomacy and "tough" negotiations with Iran.
These colorful adjectives may impress gullible voters but they are unlikely to impress fanatics who are willing to destroy themselves if they can destroy us in the process.
Just what is Senator Obama going to say to Iran that has not been said already? That we don't want them to develop nuclear weapons? That has already been said, every way that it can possibly be said. If talk was going to do the job, it would already have done it by now.
Go to the United Nations? What will they do, except issue warnings-- and when these are ignored, issue more warnings?
But what does Obama have besides talk-- and adoring crowds?
Bump.
ping!
For once, I disagree with the good Dr. Sowell. One need only look back to November '78...
Click here.
Cheers!
This very obvious question should be the first one out of every reporter's mouth whenever this "tough talk" nonsense is spewed out by Obama, Biden and old Europe.
Thomas Sowell is a national treasure.
Sadly, I remember that only too well.
That’s a hoot, especially Olbie.
Yhanx for the ping!
A “great article Mr. Sowell” bump!
Same here...Amazing how people will sell their souls to another human who promises them hope and change.
I like this article. It has a different feel than his other work (and not to discredit any of it).
>> Even though Hitler telegraphed his punches, few people seemed to get the message
If my scratchy memory is correct, Thomas Edison had a pacifistic aversion to warfare. Had he lived to see the horrors of Hitler’s hell, would TE choose strident opposition to engagement? Not all great men are capable of tackling the greatest challenges.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I don’t know a thing as far as Edison and pacifism but as you say, many great men lack much in some areas.
You are right on the mark, IMO.
I especially like that too, Dr. Sowell has mentioned that in one or two other columns.
>> How ironic. The Obama image will be defeated by the Palin image.
Their values are not washed by the distraction of bad looks and bad speech.
Yes, I will, in spite of the Democrat-like euphoria of Sarah Palin.
Scientists are often not very good at spotting deception. Paranormal fakers can often fool scientists, but are readily caught by magicians.
Current generations are wondering why we're fiddling whilst we burn.
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