Something’s Gone Bad, All Right
Posted on April 8th, 2008 by Daniel Larison
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Via Rod, I see that Spengler has written something profoundly awful. Here is my response.
Update: Though I didn’t dwell on it in the original response, I should add that Spengler’s is an argument that virtually no one would employ when talking about the war dead of less ideologically charged wars or the fallen soldiers of any other polity. It is reserved for the officially vilified peoples, but the mentality it reflects is one that could be used against anyone.
Filed under: politics
2 Responses to “Something’s Gone Bad, All Right”
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“Triumphalism teaches…{that] victory is the proof of righteousness, and not only did the enemy deserve to die, but we should have killed more of them to keep them down longer. Spengler approves here of the abandonment of restraint and total war and endorses the narrative of the victors. In fact, he endorses not just the cause of Unionists, as he specifically does in this case, but the narrative of every victor, whether it is the Mauryans and the Romans or the Mongols, the Ottomans, or the Aztecs. It is, of course, a filthy lie that “whole peoples can go bad.†This is the argument of the genocidaire and the totalitarian, and it gives a pass to anyone who would commit genocide against a weaker people. After all, we must allow the losers to lose! Except that when Spengler says “lose,†he means “die.—
Well said, Mr. Larison…
“Profoundly awful” is an understatement. Spengler’s a good writer, which is why I’m a regular reader, but this was truly disturbing. Just equating Confederate soldiers to black criminals would have been enough, but the rest of what he wrote is equally unconscionable. He revealed a noxious mentality and sullied everything he’s written.