The history of humanity is, in one sense, a history of the highly grueling struggle of civilization to conquer barbarism. Religions, laws, and governments have all been established or dictated by God to endeavor to bring some semblance of order out of the chaos that is the wicked, virtually uncontrollable human heart. God gave Moses a law intending to refine a primitive, barbaric people. And if you question whether the offspring of Abraham were “barbarians” before the Mosaic law, then read the last half of the book of Genesis—especially chapters 34, 37, and 38: mass murder, a plot to kill their own brother (eventually selling him into slavery), harlotry. It isn’t a pretty picture. It was common at that time, and sadly, it still is.
Humanity is always only one small step from descending back into barbarism, and some on this globe today have not yet arrived at it. Witness the Nazis and communists. Chicago. San Francisco. Hamas. Not everybody on the south side of Chicago is a savage; in fact, I suspect most aren’t. But enough animals do exist to cower decent citizens. Governments are established among men to try to supplement religion in correcting and punishing barbarian behavior, such as is happening in South Chicago. But when the government—in this case, the Democratic Party—perceives some benefit in permitting the barbarity to continue, then they will allow it to proceed unremitted and unpunished. They see political gain in it. That is one reason why governments can never be trusted. They are run by humans, some of whom, like Democrats, haven’t ascended from barbarism themselves—or have returned to it—and are trying to drag the rest of us back there with them. Barbarians often worship an idol called “power,” and they will use that power to hurt others.
Hence, the situation in the Middle East. I’m not a Muslim; I do not believe in that religion. But I have met many Muslim people, and most of them are good folk. However, parts of the Middle East—like parts of Chicago—have never been entirely civilized. As noted, even civilized society is always only a step from returning to savagery. I hope I never again see the barbarian in China who stole thousands of dollars from me. There would be a strong temptation inside me to also revert to barbarism, significantly since the barbarian government there didn’t help me as it should have. And I consider myself “civilized.” As Plato indicated, conquering ourselves is the greatest of all virtues—and the most difficult. And people who have not yet risen out of barbarism into civilization find it very easy to do what is natural for barbarians to do. Again, witness Chicago. And Hamas.
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The Palestinians and those in the Middle East who support them are enraged because they believe that Israel stole their homeland—land they had been living on for almost 2,000 years. Some have accepted that the barbarians among them, and their name is Legion, have not. Interestingly, those in America and elsewhere who are pro-Palestinian are largely the same people who vilify Christopher Columbus and believe the United States stole land from the indigenous Indian populations. Their time has arrived to remind us of it again—Columbus Day.
There is, actually, some veracity to this. The United States does now exist on geography that formerly belonged to other peoples, and Israel did indeed take land that the Palestinians had been occupying for countless centuries and has continually been trying to pressure those Palestinians off that land ever since. What our anti-Columbus, pro-Indian, pro-Palestinian folk fail to come to grips with is it would be difficult to find any country in the world that hasn’t done the same thing—establish its nation and borders by conquering prior inhabitants. Nor, I suspect, would these white-gloved, Puritanical hypocrites want to sleep in a teepee in the middle of North Dakota in the winter. Start by giving your own house back to the Indians.
Now, I’m not trying to justify—or condemn—what America, Israel, etc., did in seizing the land of others. It is a perplexing conundrum and should make us all a little uneasy, though don’t blame me. I didn’t do it and shouldn’t have to pay for it. It’s just the way of the world; it always has been and always will be. We want our planet to be a better place, but sometimes, barbarity trumps our better nature. We can and should be reminded of our sins, but we usually can’t undo them. America isn’t giving Arizona back to the Navahos or Texas back to Mexico, and Israel isn’t giving Palestine back to the Palestinians. Not voluntarily. The grievance may be understandable, sometimes even legitimate, but generally can’t be reversed. And people must not revert to barbarism in their attempt to redress injustices. I’m not going to get my money back from the barbarian in China who stole it from me. Sometimes, we simply must live with it, as unpleasant as that is. Life isn’t fair. Get used to it.
I understand the Palestinians’ complaint, but chopping off the heads of babies isn’t the answer. Israel thinks that land belongs to them, having been given to Abraham 4,000 years ago by God. The Palestinians think the land is theirs because they basically lived there ever since 70 A.D. when the Romans kicked the Jews out. The Arabs and the Jews have been fighting since Ishmael and Isaac. Like Russians and Ukrainians, as long as there is one Jew and one Arab in the world, they are going to fight. It isn’t right; it’s just how things are, and the rest of the world suffers for it. These are issues for which a solution acceptable to all concerned probably does not exist on this side of eternity.
Such are the complexities caused by human barbarity.
Check out my substack, mklewis929.substack.com, and listen to my “Wisdom from Our Founders” series, especially my current podcasts on the Declaration of Independence. Many other articles/podcasts as well. Sign up for free. Read my Western novels, Whitewater, River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon. Follow me on Twitter: @thailandmkl.
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