On this Memorial Day I was dismayed to encounter this bit of email, which I’ll abridge:
And then lists a number of other cemeteries holding American dead from the two World Wars (and, if you’re interested in a resource on these remote American military cemeteries, the American Battle Monuments Commission appears to be a handy site, and possibly the source of the pictures and information in the offensive email). Now let us examine the balance of this email:
Remind those of our sacrifice and don’t
confuse arrogance with leadership.
The count is 104,366
dead, brave Americans.
First, what does “don’t confuse arrogance with leadership” mean? When the complaint from our allies is “America is arrogant and doesn’t listen to advice & reason”, then it’s worth considering the possibility that we (that is, those in government positions, for which the citizenry does need to take responsibility, and thus “we” is appropriate) are, indeed, being arrogant. “Arrogant” is a word worth examining, too, as the definition at Merriam-Webster is
“Having or showing the insulting attitude of people who believe that they are better, smarter, or more important than other people.”
These are the attitudes that lead to inadvertent self-destruction, and when someone tells you that you’re arrogant, it’s worth taking a moment to evaluate the complaint. As the balance of the email, still to come, suggests the current Administration is not arrogant enough, the time period in question certainly includes the previous Administration, and without a doubt the arrogance of the Bush/Cheney Administration in starting the Iraq War over falsified evidence, the Administration’s betrayal of intelligence agents who refused to confirm those falsehoods, and many other blunders unworthy of American government can be seen as an object lesson of arrogant government officials leading our nation into disaster, offensive and damaging to those who’ve chosen to ally themselves with us.
Second, where is it written that gratitude must be eternal, and that it requires obeisance from those who are grateful? World War I ended nearly 100 years ago, and there is no one left with personal memories of it, neither the idiots who started it, nor those who ended it and seeded World War II from the first’s carnage. Those who participated in World War II are fast passing away. Ideologies have come and gone, empires grown and receded, and new countries grown from the remnants of old countries. When does gratitude stop? And to whom is it owed? The brave troops who put their lives on the line to drive out those we opposed? Or to a government 50 years later, 100 years later, that endorsed false intelligence information in order to start a war, and then used that war and another as cover for indulging in the evils of torture and conquest?
Third, the implication at this point is that we sent our troops out of the goodness of our hearts. False! We entered each war on the calculation that the alternative would be worse. President Wilson & Congress brought America into World War I when Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare and offered to help Mexico regain territories lost to the United States in previous wars. President Roosevelt & Congress finally entered World War II following the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, although Roosevelt had been finding ways to aid Britain when they stood alone against the Nazis of Germany. In neither case did we fight a war to save an innocent country, but because we evaluated that having our country invaded, in the first, or dealing with a victorious Axis, in the second, was a poor scenario. The best argument to be made here is that World War I was a result of the foolishness of the leadership of many countries in Europe, but ultimately, that’s an irrelevancy.
Fourth, the American populace really didn’t want to enter either war. Wilson won re-election, in part, on the strength of the slogan “he kept us out of war”, before he took us in. American Isolationism before the attack on Pearl Harbor is well-known, as Americans still remembered the horror of World War I.
And now for the balance of this email:
American elected leader who
apologizes to Europe and the
Middle East that our country is“arrogant”!HOW MANY FRENCH, DUTCH, ITALIANS,
BELGIANS AND BRITS ARE BURIED ON
OUR SOIL… AFTER DEFENDING US
AGAINST OUR ENEMIES?
While we’ve already seen that gratitude wears thin when the target of the gratitude is a conceited fool, I cannot help but remember my history:
Lafayette, we are here! – Lt. Colonel Charles E. Stanton, US Army
So we recalled the assistance of the French at the difficult birth of America, wherein thousands of French troops and sailors were committed to our assistance against the British. Whether they lie in graves in American soil, or British or French soil, or in the watery deep, it is undeniable that at our moment of need the French rode to our rescue. And, given the horrible toll of the wars of the 18th century, we can be sure that many thousands of French died. Did they do this out of the goodness of their hearts? No. As the Americans more than 100 years later, they judged with their own interests first, in this case that having an independent nation across the Atlantic might give them leverage against their enemies, the British, and they took action. And, yet, it is right and proper to reflect on our oldest ally, the French, in their history of sometimes military foolishness, of great gifts to America, in the recent damage they’ve absorbed, on today, our Memorial Day.
As for the others, their cemeteries exist as well, and they fought by our sides in those great wars, whether British, Russian, Filipino, Free French, or many others who recognized the evil they fought. We fought as allies, as equals, and to treat them as children that had to be rescued because of their foolishness is patronizing and wrong.
Simply put, we can put forward an argument that we came to their rescue, if I may use so dubious an assertion, only after refusing to join the wars in question at an earlier date. Our casualties might have been much lower had we, collectively, realized the threat and acted against it when it became apparent. (Some of us did, it might be argued, in the American volunteer Abraham Lincoln Regiment that joined the Spanish Civil War, although I am so unfamiliar with this conflict that it’s not clear there was a positive side, as neither the Communists infiltrating the Republicans, nor the Nationalists, really turned out to be good role models.) In defense of the actions of the Americans of the time, intelligence was difficult, communication was often not instantaneous, and even the generals on the ground often did not understand how war was changing. I do not condemn, I merely observe missed opportunities in retrospect, and mourn those lost as a consequence.
Which brings us to the question of apologies. When we do NOT have allies, what are we? When those whose intellectual & moral background is the same as ours disagrees so violently with us that they do not wish to stand with us, what does that say about us? When fully analyzed, the arrogance of Bush & Cheney and the Congress they outright controlled led us to disaster in war, as well as in commerce. We will not be successful in our future ambitions without allies. And thus, if we must apologize, if we must act reasonably rather than as some spoiled brat who cannot take a piece of advice without calling it offensive, then so be it. If that’s what acting as an adult is, then so be it. We build bridges to our allies, we look to the future of having friends to help us when we stumble, and we move onward.
And to the balance of this arrogant missive:
On this Memorial Day, when we remember those who died in the line of duty, I ask that Americans forward my thoughts onward, and dispense with the small-mindedness exemplified by messages like the one embedded here. I don’t really know what motivates this rage against those who have stood with us. We must recognize the errors that we have made and must be humble enough to admit them. No one lives alone in this world, and we all need to give and receive help from those around us. We are grateful for the sacrifice of those Americans, and French, and British, and Chinese, and Russians, and myriad others who have given their tomorrows so that we may have our todays. Enough said.
Due to technical issues, the image in this blog post in the quoted email is not the same as that found in the email, but is very similar and is taken from the American Battle Monuments Commission’s site here.
