Lesson in World History

I have been working my way through Modern Times by Paul Johnson. As always, history is a great teacher. I have two examples of this.

1. Whenever I watch the local evening news (for the record, I never watch the national news), the death toll in Iraq is almost always mentioned. Usually it is reported that 8-10 people died that day, and about once per week someone from Colorado dies. Since the beginning of the war, I have been against this practice of daily death-toll reports. This is not because I don’t care about the people who die fighting, or because I am a pro-war zealot (in reality, I have mixed feelings about it and therefore do not have an “opinion” per se). I am against it because there is no comparison made to it. This is where history comes in. Johnson relates staggering numbers of deaths in and around WWII. Tens of millions of people died unnatural deaths during this time. “By December 1941 Hitler had about 8,700,000 Jews under his rule. Of these he had by early 1945 murdered at least 5,800,000…” (p. 415 in Johnson). Six million people were systematically exterminated at an average of roughly 4,800 per day for over three years—and that was just one man’s contribution to the death toll. When we bow to the tyranny of the present, 10 soldiers’ deaths per day sounds like an atrocity. In comparison to 4,800 civilians’ deaths per day, we see things could be almost infinitely worse. Again, I do not wish to belittle the memory of those who have died, but given the history of wars, Iraq is not that bad of one.

2. I have also noticed that a lot of people think President Bush is not very smart (yes, I know, I’m quite observant). In fact, I came across this quote about the President yesterday: “He [is] seen as well-meaning, intellectually limited, ignorant, inarticulate…” This quote, however, is from Johnson, p. 461, and he is describing President Eisenhower. Eisenhower himself promoted this myth for a variety of reasons. In reality, he was “a man of keen political intelligence and penetration…When he spoke of such matters seriously and in a protected official circle, insights of a high order flashed out time after time…” “He often pretended ignorance [at press conferences]…to avoid giving answers which plain English could not conceal…” (pp. 462-3) I am not suggesting that Bush is pulling an “Eisenhower”, but I have thought for a long time that people generally underestimate the President, which is based primarily on two factors: 1) the perceived popularity that comes with bashing the President, and 2) he fumbles his words often while speaking. I am not defending Bush, his war plan, or what he ate last night; I am just saying that history suggests that he might not be as dumb as everyone takes him for.

I am not a very political person, and I am not pro-war or a Bushophile. If anything, I am only trying to live out another of my maxims: If a majority of people are doing it, then there must be some problem with it.