"Alas, to wear the mantle of Galileo it is not enough that you be persecuted by an unkind establishment, you must also be right."
---Robert Park
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MentalBlocks
Throwing Mental Blocks at Glass Constructions
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Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Blackfive is having an inverse John Galt moment:
By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."
That's what the citation says....
That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news. Accounts of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts of American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to inform, or to depress - to report or to deride. To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.
But I guess it doesn't matter.
We're going to turn out all right.
As long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.
I'm not so sure. Unlike Ayn Rand's supermen, who could carry the weight of the world until shrugging it off at the moment of their choosing, men such as Lt. Chontosh cannot save us in spite of ourselves. They serve at the pleasure of our elected officials, and thus cannot do more than we request of them. Is the public fooled by a media ignorant not only of valor, but of the most basic military and historical facts, which delights in the game of "gotcha" while shirking their duty to inform? By the upper middle class that views the military as barely better than criminals (oh yes, they most emphatically do!)? If so, then Lt. Chontosh's exploits will only survive in the fireside tales told by barbarians after the long night has fallen on the American empire, legends of heroism passed down to comfort children in a world without justice or order.
By way of Instapundit.
[Edited 5/12/04 from "most basic facts" to read "most basic military and historical facts".]
11:07 AM
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