Just some unfiltered musing…

I think I’ll have to devote at least one chapter in my discourse about how so-called revolutionaries really have nothing more than a fetish for violence. I watched V for Vendetta the other day, and it only confirmed my thoughts. It always pisses me off when the story ends there, with the violent overthrow. The Parliament building blows up in the movie and suddenly everything’s supposed to be okay? Hellz naw. That’s when the real story starts. The French Revolution was an utter failure despite their success in violently pulling their king from absolute power.

The real strange thing is how my mind has forged a connection between the leftists and the neocons. The neocons share this fetish for violence. It seems like they believe violent conflict is inevitable with Iran. (Don’t believe me, read some Krauthammer.)

Really, it kind of reminds me of the games I used to play when I was a kid. Whenever I played with my Lego’s, every battle was epic and apocalyptic. Every battle escalated into an all-out war. By the end, either everyone dies or only one person survives. It seems like the neocons want this same kind of epic battle with the Islamofascists.

The leftist revolutionaries and the neocons both share the same short-sightedness. The neocons thought that once the statue of Saddam came tumbling down, democracy would magically appear. Once the mighty Americans bomb the shit out of people, then they suddenly want to be just like us. Yet, strangely, they forgot that once we defeated Hitler, it wasn’t as if democracy suddenly became the end-all, be-all. We had to battle the communists.

Of course, I’m generalizing. The neocons and the leftists will tell us their views are more nuanced.

The great Machiavelli told us that the people have two desires: To be free and to achieve revenge against those who would oppress them. These are two distinct desires. The revolutionaries and the neocons conflate the two. But to be free is something entirely different than defeating those who would oppress you. It is infinitely more difficult.

It doesn’t matter how nuanced your view is if your favorite, most inspiring stories, end with violence. That is where the story should begin.