ooc

Sure… Instead of doing nothing, the “good men” of Islamic medievalism killed thousands in an attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon - but it was only to prevent the triumph of ungodly, American evil.

Instead of doing nothing, the “good men” of Christian fundamentalism are doggedly obstructing the march of MODERNITY, in America especially - but it is only to prevent the triumph of ungodly, liberal evil.

Until the last two centuries of Secular Revolution put an end to it, instead of doing nothing the “good men” of Christianity would mercilessly punish any opposition to their dogma - but it was only to prevent the triumph of ungodly, heretical evil.

Before the Secular Revolution, instead of doing nothing the “good men” of Aristocracy would likewise punish anyone questioning their right to rule - but it was only to ensure that the ungodly evil of civil dissent and rebellion never triumphs over Divine Providence.

Instead of doing nothing, the “good men” of Religions and Aristocracies unrestrained by Secular Morality are hounding their critics to this day - but it is only to prevent the triumph of ungodly, evil MODERNITY.

Instead of doing nothing, the “good men” of liberated Iraq are lashing out at friend and foe with the same medieval thoughtlessness - but it is only to prevent the triumph of ungodly, evil MODERNITY and its perfidious custom of CRITICAL THINKING.

Instead of doing nothing, the “good men” of nazism killed millions - but it was only to prevent the triumph of evil conspiracy perpetrated against the Germanic race by Jews, communists and degenerate democracies.

Instead of doing nothing, the “good men” of Japan’s theo-fascism invaded its Asian neighbors, killing millions with singular brutality – but it was only to prevent the triumph of evil Western imperialism and colonialism.

Instead of doing nothing, the “good men” of communism had surpassed all others in depths of their criminality - but it was only to prevent the triumph of every evil enemy of the Working Class throughout the world.

Instead of doing nothing, the “good men” of socialism condemned millions to obsolescence - but it was only to prevent the triumph of evil, rapacious capitalism.

Today, from France to Japan, Norway to Australia, hundreds of millions of people across the world live in freedom and prosperity because ever since the Second World War - instead of doing nothing, the “good men” of the United States and Great Britain had laid their lives on a line to prevent the triumph of totalitarian evil… Let that never be misunderstood.

How so? Extremes of Nature are inversely Proportional to the frequency of their occurrence…
See it another way - since repetitive patterns of Reality constantly gravitate towards the “equal”, the SMALLEST DEVIATIONS from that “equal” happen MOST FREQUENTLY. Therefore, the “greater” any such deviation, the “less frequent” its occurrence…

Consider a more recent example… Suppose that two criminals rob a bank - not unlike the Nazi Germany and Soviet Union dividing the bulk of Europe in 1939. As it happens in B-movies, one then decides to seize the other’s share and shoots him in the back - the Nazis’ treacherous 1941 invasion of the Soviets. The wounded robber runs away, seething with vengeance, but by this time a policeman - the West, has already had part of a shoulder shot-off by that same aggressive criminal, i.e. the Nazi blitzkrieg of 1940.
   Having already been attacked by a maniac, the policeman decides to join forces with the other robber, who hence becomes “good” by default – the 1941 Grand Alliance between the West and the Soviet Union, resulting in $10 billion of aid to the latter.
   Now it gets wooly... By the time the pair overpowers the “bad” criminal in 1945, the “good” criminal collects an expanded share of the robbery – the whole of Eastern Europe, claims entire credit for winning that brawl, then denounces the policeman for being himself a criminal…
It gets woollier… Around 1990, after many decades of community pressure to mend his ways, the “good” criminal takes part-time lessons to become a certified bank guard. Flunks all exams – the Soviet Union collapses soon afterwards, setting Eastern Europe free.
Gets even woollier…Tutored by the policeman since 1945, the criminal who for decades personified the “worst” in this world – a genocide mindlessly conducted by the Nazis beyond any military justification, had by that time developed into a highly successful businessman, with the 1990 per capita GNP of West Germany being about double that of the Soviets.

As of now, community grapevine suggests the former “good” criminal is back at his old tricks, having merely reformed his operating methods – not his character.
If so, then what should we expect of the newly assertive Russia, apparently impatient to illuminate our dim Earth with its purported greatness? In short, trouble…
Unlike China – another worrisome customer that’s at least sparkling with manufacturing genius and had over the millennia made major contributions to progress, Russia has very little credit in a bank of History. And however true, the “We once could have killed you!” ruminations behind its obstinate grasping at global stewardship aren’t a substitute for that credit. A few key criteria –
First, ever since proto-humans began to compare the respective worth of their possessions – say, Food, Tools and Garments, a peoples’ intellectual quintessence had been embodied in the artifacts they were able to make…
“Made in Russia”? There is no demand for that country’s manufactures on the international marketplace – unless it is coming from a liquor wholesaler or an arms buyer.
Second, over the last two centuries of MODERNITY especially, a peoples’ intellectual quintessence has been revealed in the IDEAS which humanity at large could likewise adopt and benefit from…
And what was Russia’s contribution in this sphere? Communism – a well-intentioned form of social criminality that had only succeeded in stupefying both its victims and its perpetrators.
Third, a peoples’ intellectual quintessence is most faithfully reflected in the choices of migration. Had those searching for a better life been historically moving into Russia – or fleeing it?
   So, when those determined to make an impact on the world have only two options – brains or brawn, it won’t take a supercomputer to deduce which of these will underpin Russia’s ongoing recidivism.

And so, the “why / because” – two enthralling concepts without which no theories about the workings of the Universe would have been possible, had ten millennia ago foisted upon the bulk of humanity the JUSTIFICATION of an inherent social obligation; “Feed your Aristocracies and Religions – it’s your sacred duty””
Before long, cities built on the SURPLUS expropriated under that obligation would become great empires and armies never seen before would clash in the name of their leaders’ blindly followed JUSTIFICATIONS.
And once ruling over an emergent human Civilization becomes the ultimate prize, any objective, society-based appraisal of “good” threatens the affairs of “good men”…
Why, they are “good” - isn’t that what the JUSTIFICATIONS of their power had been proclaiming throughout the known world already?

Fast forward to the mid-18^th century – ironically, the time of Edmund Burke. The Aristocracy and Religion are by now a vast, unstoppable juggernaut of despotism. Any fumbles made in enforcing the “Feed us - it’s your sacred duty” tradition had long been pitilessly corrected and its protagonists now own the world!
And Language… If you glanced behind the opulent palaces and cathedrals, mosques and temples, you would find an evil dog reeking of persecution, imprisonment, torture and murder - ready to savage anyone daring to even whisper that its masters are other then “good men” deserving the utmost of praise and obedience…

As we are on the subject of social opportunism, let us peek at the current, indulgently named “sub-prime” crisis… Since “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that enough men learn how to benefit from it”, we should ask not who are the losers – but cui bono?
AMERICA – a country that gave humanity the First Amendment, had stayed true to its precepts and remains our sole bulwark against the belligerence of totalitarianism still firmly entrenched across the world in a variety of vile incarnations…
Embarrassingly it is also a country whose political establishment hasn’t yet comprehended that the purpose of being elected is to protect the PEOPLE from the triumph of evil in the very way Edmund Burke envisages.
Now the “sub-prime” mortgages are just a new twist to the old “There’s a sucker born every day” form of real-estate racketeering…Having banked the SURPLUS extracted from an underhanded deal, the racketeer bundles its toxic leftovers with thousands of other mortgages then discharges the lot into an international pond of greed, fear and ignorance. “Houston – we have a problem…”
It is a duty of politicians everywhere to enact laws eradicating that kind of fraud at its grass-roots level and doing so in America was neither onerous intellectually nor – as some co-beneficiaries like to allege, would it have led to the collapse of its free enterprise system…
Why didn’t it happen? Come elections time, America’s VESTED INTERESTS make their political whores the usual offer “We’ll keep you in comfort and you just let us look after the interests of our fine, God-fearing citizens”

Now assigning to Mr. Burke's 18 th century maxim a modern, global role is valid because evil knows no borders. But just how viable had its modern, geo-politically romanticized version proved in the past?
History doesn’t favor the modern interpretation. The “good men” who two millennia ago imposed Roman law throughout the then known world may have shown the vanquished a glorious alternative to tribal primitivism, but was improving those societies their primary intention? No, it was conquest and plunder.

The “good men” of Christianity may have given humanity its earliest notion of forgiveness, but was this important social innovation subsequently used with the primary intention of reconciling the post-Roman world?
No, the fights over control of its spellbinding message had not only divided that world but damned Europe to a millennium of war-ravaged, tyrannical darkness.

The “good men” of Islam may have re-distributed wealth to the poorest in a society, but was implementing that important social innovation the primary intention behind their harsh attempts to subjugate other Cultures?
No, because it was enforced by fanaticism rather then reason, that almost contemporary ideal of shared equity became but a footnote to the resultant thousand years of obsession with triumph and vengeance.

The “good men” of the French Revolution may have given the potentates of Aristocracy and Religion a fine thump on the head, but was freeing Europe from its despotism and ignorance the primary intention of reckless military campaigns waged over the next generation?
No, the grandeur of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” quickly degenerated into continent-wide adventurism which - although later a great inspiration to the oppressed across the world, proved no longer relevant to that Revolution’s original, reformist goals.

Not unlike the Romans, the “good men” of the 19^th century’s British Empire may have introduced competent civil administration far and wide, but was freeing their subjects from some prior injustice their primary intention?
No, the British overpowered then exploited them - seizing their opportunity before others could so in a less civilized manner.

The “good men” of communism may have entranced the Working Class with a brave vision of MODERNITY, but was transforming a backward world into well-educated, prosperous societies of equals the primary intention of their highly organized international activism?
No, even when socializing the means of production had proven a historic blunder that prevented their societies from keeping up with the rest of the world, the communist elites still held onto their power and privileges with vicious dogmatism harking back to the days of the prior, feudal despots.

Indeed, if you look through the millennia, only one example of “good men” reaching successfully beyond their borders with the primary intention of preventing the triumph of evil - America’s intervention to deliver Europe from its fratricidal folly during the Second World War, shines brightly over a miasma of social wretchedness. Apart from that campaign and its epoch-shaping aftermath there isn’t that much to celebrate.
The cost? Hundreds of thousand of American dead and wounded - not the kind of sacrifice this country’s political establishment is likely to stomach again, regardless of the issues involved. And even if America’s resolve was to remain undiminished, the ever - increasing artificiality of its economy may before long sap its capacity for acting effectively.

Yet today, Cultures steeped in totalitarian contempt for human freedom are becoming wealthier, more assertive - almost defiant, just as the Americans haggle over the merit of global intervention and Europe ponders how many busloads of troops should be sent fight to from 9 to 5 – that’s assuming its soldiers don’t become too distressed by the sound of gunfire…
Here, Edmund Burke would probably take a pinch of snuff, then harrumph ”Children of the West are in for some interesting times!