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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Better to be Feared… |
| 2018-05-11 |
| h/t Instapundit [TheDeclination] Foolishly, liberals have long sought to purchase not merely cooperation, but approval also. There is a subtle difference. Satraps of lesser powers, as Francis describes them, may be made to avoid troubling us through judicious application of leverage. Stop waving around your nukes, or we’ll kill you all. However, this does not purchase likability. The enemy will resent you and hate you (not that I particularly care ‐ he’s the enemy, after all). Leftists often lament that America is not well-liked by various powers and peoples around the Earth. We are supposed to care about how much the French approve of us, or the Pakistanis, or even some random country in the middle of nowhere. The approval of the Muslim world is of endless importance to Leftists. And so, when dealing with tyrannical regimes, the Left requires a solution that theoretically will both work, and make the other side like us more. Bribery of the sort Francis and Kurt describe is the oft-used tactic. After all, who doesn’t like being given heaps of free shit? Naturally, the tactic fails to achieve a long term balance of power. Foreign aid money must continue to flow to purchase cooperation and approval. Disapproval becomes leverage the other country may use against us. "Sorry, America, our people just don’t like you much anymore. Perhaps if you gave us more, they might approve of you once more." The market price for political approval grows, the incentive to crap on America likewise grows. Few get heaping piles of money and free reactors by being our friend, after all. Incentives are such that it is more profitable to disapprove of America. Indeed, America-hating is so profitable now that Americans themselves are agitating for a slice of that action. Yell from the rooftops that America is the worst nation since Nazi Germany, and you’re likely to get a cushy gig as a political adviser, a journalist, or as a tenured professor. On the other hand, wave an American flag, and you’re the worst bigot since Leonardo Dicaprio’s character in Django Unchained. The obsession with approval runs deep in Leftist circles. ...Approval is everything to them, because approval is the high; the aphrodisiac of politics. One is made to feel popular, loved, and worshiped by such. Because, deep down inside, they know they are garbage? Feelings like those reinforce a notion of superiority, the idea that one is better than everyone else. In reality, it merely makes the narcissistic wimp vulnerable to sucker tactics. Power flows the other way. The person expressing disapproval controls the entire situation, and once the great big pile of free shit is accepted, the disapproval begins anew. Bake the cake, they will say. Next it might be "gays should get an oppression discount on the cake." It is no different from the Oppression Olympics in our domestic politics. The offended person possesses all the power. Thus we get more offended people, not less. Similarly in international politics, we get more posturing assholes demanding free shit from America, not less. Trump, at the very least, has restored some level of balance to this. He is willing to brandish the Stick, long covered in cobwebs and dust. And what’s more, his enemies know well his willingness to use it. They will grumble, they will not approve of us. But what does that matter? Toleration is all that is required. That Kim II ding-dong whatever doesn’t love us certainly doesn’t bother me. That China is probably irritated with Trump’s trade negotiation tactics is irrelevant. I don’t even care if NATO members like us. I’m not losing any sleep over any of this. Remember your Machiavelli: It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #3 If you want to 'Buy Love' then call an Escort Service... Otherwise, Life is 'Give and Take' is a more rational policy. |
| Posted by: magpie 2018-05-11 11:44 |
| #2 I've always gone with oderint dum metuant, (attributed to Lucius Accius). Let them hate, so long as they fear. I'd make a lousy liberal. They tell me that early and often. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2018-05-11 09:16 |
| #1 We don't care what you think of us. You'd better care what we think about you. |
| Posted by: P2kontheroad 2018-05-11 06:59 |