House of Eratosthenes

The Freeberg Paradox of Political Tempests: If you possess some superlative personal attributes that enable you to enter one, or be engulfed by one, and emerge as the last man standing, you’re probably not the sort I can personally trust with much of anything.

I’m thinking of a lot of things with that. I’m thinking of the character of Wesley Mouch; I’m thinking of some bosses I’ve had (some real, some pretend assholes who just wanted to be my boss). I’m thinking of that jackass Steny, the political party to which he belongs, and their general attitude right now. Which I would sum up as: Oh dear, we got our butt cheeks handed to us on a plate, those other guys are in charge now, so that must mean it’s oh so important to meet in the middle of the road and compromise. Yeah, right. That’s exactly what they were saying two years ago. Pffffft.

Also, those Pentagon dickheads coming after the Navy Captain for a video he made four years ago. Just wanting to make his guts into window dressing & confetti for the brand new DADT repeal.

Makes me want to barf. And you know why, if you have a brain: In such an organization where you can get sacked for making a video, if much later on down the line there’s some politically-charged change in policy and some scheming opportunists come sniffing around for blood to help highlight it…what sort of official manages to scurry to the top of such a heap? Someone honest? Sensitive? Respectful? A modern George S. Patton? Brilliant commander of logistics? Of tactics? Someone who loves diversity? Someone laboring tirelessly to make a new perfect world in which everybody enjoys mutual respect and tolerance?

Again: Pfffft. I’ll tell you who scurries to the top of such a heap. Lizards. Reptilian, cold-blooded creatures. Scavengers. Create the challenge, provide the vacuum, and the creepy-crawlies will scamper in to fill it.

And the more mature our society becomes, the more we’re providing this challenge. We’re rapidly approaching the point, assuming we haven’t reached it already, where everybody who has some weighty opinion to deliver on anything is some kind of cowardly scavenging reptile. Possessing no useful “superlative personal attribute” whatsoever, save for knowing when to stick the beady-eyed, scaly head out into the light, and when to pull it back in again.

Patton isn’t going to survive something like this. His head would be the first to be affixed to a pike. George Washington would be the next to go. And where does this leave us, in terms of providing a solid, robust, deadly defense for the country? It’s a serious matter.

Thing I Know #106. Making sure no one is offended, virtuous as it is, seems to be antithetical to real achievement.

People have been reminding me over at EIP that things haven’t changed much since the time I was in uniform, and those people have something of a valid point. Even your example, the illustrious General Patton, was almost cashiered for slapping a dogface in a hospital ward, a guy suffering from “combat fatigue.” And that was a VERY near-run thing. Eisenhower saved Patton’s ass in spite of much political howling.

But I will admit… and continue to rant about… that things look pretty sad today.
- bpenni | 01/06/2011 @ 13:25
That legendary movie that bears Patton’s name made a lot of references to more trouble he made for himself, insofar as his comments about the Soviets. My casual research has found this to be historically accurate as well, although he correctly predicted the Cold War.

I suppose there should be a lot of scrutiny coming own upon you when you carry a job description & exclusive license to kill people and break things. But my comments stand. A specialized pressure, sustained, will create a specialized process of evolution, the product of which will somehow reflect the pressure that has been applied. People who are most likely to survive these things, by & large, are not good people. They don’t make good generals like George Patton, they don’t make wonderful honest saints, or wise sages, or …much of anything. As the field gets winnowed down more & more and the evolutionary product becomes more and more pronounced and defined, what emerges is something of a slimeball.
- mkfreeberg | 01/06/2011 @ 13:35

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Freeberg Paradox of Political TempestsWednesday, January 5th, 2011

Freeberg Paradox of Political Tempests
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011