Posted by
Longplay on Thursday, April 23, 2009 8:46:02 AM
Jeff Jacoby's Boston Globe article discussing the "torture memo" debate got me thinking.
In any war the normal rules of society are for the most part put aside.
In wars people are told to kill other people, something unthinkable,
and in fact criminal, in "normal" times. For the greater
good, even a "moral"
country has to behave in a manner inconsistent with its values from time to time . The real test of a society's goodness, its morality, comes after
the extreme situation has passed, after the war is over. Does a society
continue with the "abnormal" behaviors, oppressing those conquered, or
does it return to it's principles?
To defeat the horrors of the
Third Reich, the Allies fire-bombed Dresden and dropped
atomic bombs on
Japan,
all difficult and even regrettable acts. But after the war, the West,
especially the United States, proceded to rebuild and make better the
countries it had defeated.
The argument of the American Left is usually that "we can't stoop to the level" of our enemies. But in this fallen world the question cannot realistically be whether to stoop at all but to what level one can stoop before no longer being able to again stand erect. In times of danger, those who deign to stoop at all will not live long enough to stand erect, and those who live permanently stooped will still be here - and will be in power.
Pretending that we must a all times and in all situations be pacifists or fight with one hand tied
behind our backs is unrealistic and suicidal.