Virtue, Evil and Survival
I recently posted a link to a quiz that determined how likely you were to be a Nazi had you lived in Germany during the proper time period. The writer of the quiz revealed a serious prejudice against patriotism, ethnic pride, and religion because he saw this as what empowered Hitler.
Well yes, sort of, but there is a problem here.
The purest form of evil is also the least dangerous form of evil. That is because even evil depends on virtue to empower it. Virtues such as a work ethic, teamwork, pride, courage, loyalty etc are required to allow any system, good or evil, to work. C.S.Lewis hit the nail right on the head when he said that evil is a parasite that cannot exist without goodness. Without drawing on some virtues, evil merely festers in its own filth. (The purist form of evil in human society is hatred and jealousy rendered impotent by fear and/or laziness; it is dangerous only to the soul of the one so full of hate.) Without virtue to empower it, evil cannot act.
That is why political correctness is such a tragedy; it tries to eliminate evil by eliminating anything that empowers it, even if it is in and of itself a virtue. They try to eliminate unfairness by eliminating excellence and proper pride in a job well done. They try to eliminate racism by eliminating ethnic pride. They try to eliminate imperialism and jingoism by eliminating patriotism. When you weaken the virtues that empower evil, you also weaken the good things that depend on the same virtues.
Had we been completely unlike Hitler, we would have lost WWII. We too had an appeal to patriotism and a willingness to fight and die for our country. We too said our system was better than his and he said his was better than ours. Had we not been patriotic and willing to fight and die, or had we not believed our system was better than his, he would have rolled right over us.
This also applies to the Jihadists. They are not wrong because they are willing to fight and die for what they believe in. They are wrong because they are willing to fight and die for the wrong things. We need to be like them in that we should also be willing to fight and die, but not for the same reason. They wish to enslave the world under a manmade religion created by a false prophet. We fight for a world where people can seek their own path so long as they do not harm others or destroy themselves in the process. We let God punish those who reject Him.
In the end, a country whose people do not believe in it and are not willing to defend it, will not survive. Good or evil, a country's people must believe in it and be willing to fight for it if it is to survive.
Well yes, sort of, but there is a problem here.
The purest form of evil is also the least dangerous form of evil. That is because even evil depends on virtue to empower it. Virtues such as a work ethic, teamwork, pride, courage, loyalty etc are required to allow any system, good or evil, to work. C.S.Lewis hit the nail right on the head when he said that evil is a parasite that cannot exist without goodness. Without drawing on some virtues, evil merely festers in its own filth. (The purist form of evil in human society is hatred and jealousy rendered impotent by fear and/or laziness; it is dangerous only to the soul of the one so full of hate.) Without virtue to empower it, evil cannot act.
That is why political correctness is such a tragedy; it tries to eliminate evil by eliminating anything that empowers it, even if it is in and of itself a virtue. They try to eliminate unfairness by eliminating excellence and proper pride in a job well done. They try to eliminate racism by eliminating ethnic pride. They try to eliminate imperialism and jingoism by eliminating patriotism. When you weaken the virtues that empower evil, you also weaken the good things that depend on the same virtues.
Had we been completely unlike Hitler, we would have lost WWII. We too had an appeal to patriotism and a willingness to fight and die for our country. We too said our system was better than his and he said his was better than ours. Had we not been patriotic and willing to fight and die, or had we not believed our system was better than his, he would have rolled right over us.
This also applies to the Jihadists. They are not wrong because they are willing to fight and die for what they believe in. They are wrong because they are willing to fight and die for the wrong things. We need to be like them in that we should also be willing to fight and die, but not for the same reason. They wish to enslave the world under a manmade religion created by a false prophet. We fight for a world where people can seek their own path so long as they do not harm others or destroy themselves in the process. We let God punish those who reject Him.
In the end, a country whose people do not believe in it and are not willing to defend it, will not survive. Good or evil, a country's people must believe in it and be willing to fight for it if it is to survive.
posted by shoprat at 3:19 PM
6 Comments:
It's very true, Shoprat; all of it. It's a shame that liberals refuse to understand this basic truth, but either they simply don't get it, or if they do, they refuse to admit it. I don't know which it is - possibly a bit of both.
Well said!!
Wow! Great post!
Excellent post. You've touched on something that GK Chesterton said:
"When a religious scheme is shattered it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful."
German National Socialism and all other European nationalism is/was based on ethnic/race identity whereas American nationalism is based on loyalty to an idea.
Some of the greatest evil done in this world was done in the name of what deluded people thought was a good thing - socialism which they think is Christianity without God. No good can come from anything that man does if you take God out of the equation.
Great post.
Thanks all
If we could just get more to understand this.
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