We’re a quarter of a century into our new millennium. The Germans are eating less sausage, the French are drinking less wine, the Russians are trying to reverse-engineer 1991, and in the United States, our self regard has been abruptly terminated by an opera buffa Mussolini with a mouth like a guppy, and a face dipped in what looks like orange finger-paint. (Mussolini was an opera buffa character himself, of course, but the Italians invented opera, and they’ll always be better at it than anyone else.)
Despite what our newly-minted neofascist pundits are screaming at us these days, it isn’t time to re-think our principles, especially not at the behest of people who openly despise both thinking and principles. We already know what we need to know, namely that while we may not outlast them, our principles most definitely will. The rest is just noise.
“The rest is just noise.”
Mercy!
I am not indifferent, but I’ve discovered I have a limited budget for fury/outrage. And, you staple it to the floor with the observation that a good chunk is just noise. I don’t have it in me for noise at this point. Too expensive; can’t afford it. It could be true that one or more of my principles could be peeled off me befor this is all said and done, but my hooks are deeply sunk into “All people are created equal.” (dammit!) and I’ll die on that hill, if no other.
Indifference—the meaning in this context is intentionally ambiguous—a reminder that what distinguishes us from our enemies, who, as Yeats once said, are full of passionate intensity, is the ability—and the willingness—to tolerate ambiguity. Once our battle is joined, which it clearly has been, justifications are as beside the point as outrage. They’ll be wasted on our allies, ineffective against our enemies, and useless as a recruiting tool. Any wafflers whose allegiances are still uncertain are going to run away from what’s coming no matter what anyone says.
Still, we should remind ourselves that there’ll be no quick victories here, no deus ex machina to guarantee we’ll get to see the promised land ourselves. We are mortal, but what we’re defending isn’t. That’s the only consolation we should expect. Anyone involved in this who isn’t indifferent to their individual fate risks profound disappointment.