Hypocrisy on Stilts and Steroids

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So then, Fidel Castro, fixture of my Cold War childhood, has now gone where Manhattan elites can do nothing whatever for his reputation. St. Peter does not take the Times. At least not anymore.

Viewed from any conceivable angle, that man was a murderous thug and a one-man poverty-dispensing F5 tornado. And the reality that such obvious and verifiable facts are warmly denied by numerous people—who are nevertheless still allowed to have drivers’ licenses—is a commentary on the state of our education system. Betsy DeVos cannot get to her office soon enough. In fact, not only do Castro-fans display their ninja talents for purblindness on places like Cuba, they still have some left over to use on Venezuela. There is nothing they can’t explain away.castro-cigar

But there is a bright side, one that reveals once again the marvelous sense of humor that a beneficent Providence does like to display from time to time. While the progressive left has been busy beclowning itself with hysterical prognostications about Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, as though they somehow thought that were a bad thing, they were then caught mid-syllable by Castro’s death, and they had tumble all over themselves to eulogize the authoritarian strong man. Wut?

Pro tip: Anybody who blows sunshine in their eulogies of Latin America’s premier hooligan is someone who deserves to be fully ignored in any discussion of possible threats to our liberties here.

Nothing daunted, they have acted as though they were entirely up to the challenge. Old grainy photos of Castro kicking puppies would not have fazed them—for we do have photos of him doing worse things than that. Shoot—they would have to have footage of him skinning the puppies that were recently brought to the Student Union Building here at the University of Idaho (Idaho!) at the behest of the Bias Response Team—hey, Idaho State Board of Education, UI has a Bias Response Team that you are paying for—in order to provide a little happy-time therapy to students who were traumatized by the election.

And so now I come to my real point. The reason progressives get away with this kind of imbecilic hypocrisy is that they have persuaded themselves that the outrages in Cuba were caused by a hostile and aggressive American foreign policy toward Cuba. But this is just the kind of toggle switch thinking we must not allow. The foul treatment of Cubans by Castro is a simple fact. The possibility that American policy made things worse is a reasonable position to take—which is why I take it, incidentally. But what on earth does that have to do with whether or not Castro was a vile man? To praise Castro while condemning Trump is simply hypocrisy on stilts and steroids.

If a nutcase with a gun is holed up in a house with ten hostages, it is certainly within the realm of possibility that the commander of the SWAT team outside is a nincompoop. He might mishandle the situation thoroughly, in such a way as to cost the lives of half the hostages. His handling of the crisis might come under severe criticism by a departmental review board, and other SWAT team experts might weigh in with pointed negative observations as well. Great. Let the criticisms flow. But is that any reason for Justin Trudeau to release a statement saying that “while Wayne Footnik had his critics, there is no question that he was a towering figure in the field of helping to promote hostage awareness”?

The United States has in fact been a feckless galoot, from the Bay of Pigs on down. We have consistently displayed enough hostility to make the lives of ordinary Cubans even more miserable than a life under communism was already making them, and not hostile enough to bring about the necessary change. But to acknowledge our high incompetence must not become a surreptitious way of giving Fidel the Fine Fellow Award. To acknowledge the fact that JFK wrongfooted us for a generation or more cannot transform any socialist sinkhole into a mountain paradise.

I believe there are effective ways to bring about change there, apart from any use of the military. Many years ago, the conservative senator from Idaho (Steve Symms) suggested that we could solve the Cuban situation by bombing them . . . with Sears catalogs. I am entirely of that mind as well. If Cuba were a military threat to us, then we should fix it militarily. But if it is just a tyrannical and murderous nuisance 90 miles offshore, then we should fix it by other means. Time for a little soft power! The next president should offer a defense contract to the first tech company that can propose a workable way to provide free WiFi to everyone in Cuba who wants it, along with a viable plan for smuggling in free devices for said people to use in accessing said Internet. And we should offer significant tax breaks to any company that can prove they have used the new trade deals to smuggle in more than 10,000 Bibles. Let’s lead from behind on this, people.

The foregoing paragraph obviously means that I do not believe that our policy of hostile isolation worked. It did not destabilize the regime there. Why do I say this? Because the regime is still there. You might say that I am simply being a hawk, wanting to rattle sabers in such a way as to risk another Cuban missile crisis. Do I want to bring us to the brink with the Soviet Union again? Well, that really was a reasonable argument back when the Soviet Union was a thing, I would point out rather mildly, but it isn’t anymore. And, I would also point out, also mildly, that if a nation like the United States wanted to destabilize a near neighbor like Cuba in such a way as to bring that despotic regime down, we have had a free opportunity to do so, without threat of global war, for the last two and a half decades.

The only reason it hasn’t happened is that a communist nation that close to us has been politically convenient in a bipartisan kind of way. If a nation like ours could not bring about regime change in a jitney place like communist Cuba, the only conceivable reason (or so it seems to me) is that we didn’t really want to. The progressives didn’t want to because they are in love with national projects that don’t work, great leaps forward that do no actual leaping, and the conservatives didn’t want to because having Cuba there as a rhetorical punching bag during elections was useful.

But I don’t want to overthrow the commies militarily. Not at all. I want to do it by unleashing the bandwidth buccaneers. The one thing we must not do is use the new trade deals opened up by Obama as a prop to keep the current communist system viable.

Once the regime there is unstable enough to match the idiocies of, say, California or Illinois, I would be ready for the next step, which would be to propose statehood for them.

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David Decker
David Decker
7 years ago

The Curse in Genesis and the flood had a few good benefits: it gave us the seasons, and most of all – it curtailed the length of life of evil men, men like Fidel Castro, they no longer linger on earth for 900 years but only one tenth of that – 90 years if by strength but alas not even a strong man lasts…, Thank you Lord for the Curse, and our Defender, Jesus Christ who only ever did die once but was Raised Victoriously! And who is mighty to save!

Gary
Gary
7 years ago

Pro Tip: Use “Pro Tip:” as often as possible.

jigawatt
jigawatt
7 years ago
Reply to  Gary

And “LifeHack”. And it doesn’t count unless it’s one word with the proper capitalization.

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
7 years ago
Reply to  jigawatt

Ten years ago Life Hacks were really cool. Now a lot of them are “How to get away with being stupid and lazy, if you don’t mind being dishonest.”

jillybean
jillybean
7 years ago
Reply to  Dunsworth

All we need to know:
-Measure twice, cut once.
-Lefty loosy, righty tighty.
-If it moves when it shouldn’t, apply duct tape. If it doesn’t move when it should,
apply oil.

TedR
TedR
7 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

I found that lefty loosy is a fluid truism. Such is the case when connecting propane tanks to grills and such.

Gary
Gary
7 years ago
Reply to  Douglas Wilson

Actually, I’m a “pro tip” egalitarian. There is neither ironic nor sincere, neither sarcastic nor genial, nor is there satire or homage, for all “pro tips” are one in Christ Jesus.

"A" dad
"A" dad
7 years ago
Reply to  Gary

No irony?!!
Wilson may have to go the “Cosmo” route and switch to:
“Fashion dos”
and
“Fashion don’ts”
????

ME
ME
7 years ago

It’s very complicated, isn’t it? Castro who jails, tortures, and executes people is a freedom fighter fighter, whereas some baker who refuses to bake a cake is public enemy number one. Muslims who actually throw gays off of tall buildings are oppressed, while someone’s unwillingness to perform a gay wedding is perceived as a criminal act.

St. Lee
7 years ago
Reply to  ME

Not so complicated in God’s eye:
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

TF
TF
7 years ago

I smuggled Bibles into Cuba two years ago but stopped doing so last year. Why? Because the Cuban government decided to make a buck on the black market and sell Bibles for cheaper than we could smuggle them in! God hasn’t left Cuba alone.

ashv
ashv
7 years ago

Fidel Castro is dead! (And on Black Friday, the most capitalist day of the year.)

Duells Quimby
Duells Quimby
7 years ago
Reply to  ashv

???? Great! Makes it extra good and special!

David Oman
David Oman
7 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Black Friday style consumerism is worse in the long run than communism. It will destroy the western civilization that could save us from communism.

ashv
ashv
7 years ago
Reply to  David Oman

I merely said that because it was an amusing contrast. To be serious, the differences between American liberal democracy and 20th-century communism are superficial, and I think there’s a lot to the argument that communism is a problem that started in America and spread to the rest of the world from there.

mkt
mkt
7 years ago
Reply to  David Oman
David Oman
David Oman
7 years ago
Reply to  mkt

It is the culture that black Friday represents that is worse than communism, because it destroys our only way to fight communism, Islamisism, Nazism, etc…

John
John
7 years ago
Reply to  David Oman

I prefer slightly out of control freedom over tyranny any day.

Sean Carlson
Sean Carlson
7 years ago

Didn’t really hear anything you said beyond puppies for traumatized UI students. Once said students have recovered can one get a free puppy from UI?

jillybean
jillybean
7 years ago
Reply to  Sean Carlson

This might not be an entirely bad thing if it took their focus off themselves and onto the puppies. Not that I would trust them with that much responsibility.

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
7 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

Yeah, I don’t think this is about ownership responsibility, they just get to go play with them to feel better for a while. Exactly what responsible pet ownership isn’t.

moto hellogoto
moto hellogoto
7 years ago

Who are they going to defend next, Darth Vader?

Duells Quimby
Duells Quimby
7 years ago

I gleefully laughed at the statehood part! That would be awesome. What a wonderful way to make Castro spin in his grave!

Rob Steele
Rob Steele
7 years ago
Reply to  Duells Quimby

I’m thinking an actual rotisserie kind of setup in a glass coffin would bring in tourist dollars. I’d pay to see it.

jigawatt
jigawatt
7 years ago

While the progressive left has been busy beclowning itself with hysterical prognostications about Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, as though they somehow thought that were a bad thing, they were then caught mid-syllable by Castro’s death, and they had tumble all over themselves to eulogize the authoritarian strong man. Wut? There you go again, acting all surprised that the secular progressives care an iota about having a logically consistent worldview. The useful idiots will praise Castro because college professors and NPR people tell them to. The inner party progressives will praise Castro because they see his tactics as worthy to be emulated… Read more »

jigawatt
jigawatt
7 years ago

Do I want to bring us to the brink with the Soviet Union again? Well, that really was a reasonable argument back when the Soviet Union was a thing, I would point out rather mildly, but it isn’t anymore.

Simpsons did it.
https://youtu.be/cQKzesTq0Wo

David Oman
David Oman
7 years ago

Bombing Cuba with the Sears catalog seems like a bad move. Of course we want to defeat communism, but we don’t want to replace it with American consumerism. Communism is like Ebola, it kills it’s host quickly and so there is some hope of containing the epidemic. Capitalism / consumerism is like AIDS a disease that Waits until it’s host has spread it far and wide and so the epidemic grows like crazy.

jillybean
jillybean
7 years ago
Reply to  David Oman

And we don’t want the kind of vacuum that just invites the cartels and organized crime to move in and take over. I think you are absolutely right. People living under communism see its defects. People living in a shoppers’ paradise don’t see the defects of a whole-hearted attachment to consumerism.

Capndweeb
Capndweeb
7 years ago
Reply to  David Oman

David, I don’t think capitalism is all that bad. Yes, I agree a focus on materialism/consumerism is not at all where our souls should be, but what would you propose as an alternative to capitalism?
Feudalism?

ashv
ashv
7 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Properly understanding the wealth-creation and efficiency-optimisation processes that can occur in markets doesn’t necessarily require prioritising them over other concerns. The economic policy of a Christian ruler, in my opinion, must ensure that everyone who wants to eat must work — and that everyone who wants to work can work, in some fashion or other, even if it is at odds with complete economic efficiency.

jillybean
jillybean
7 years ago
Reply to  ashv

What would your ideal society look like? If I abandon all my modern beliefs and democratic, meritocracy-based principles, I suppose the closest I can think of would have been rural England before industrialization. The local squire is responsible for housing his tenants, bringing food to the sick, and pensioning off the elderly when they can no longer work. The village idiot is tenderly cared for and made to feel useful. In return, they recognize his authority and work faithfully. His responsibility for their welfare is shared by the parish priest who visits his flock and makes sure the squire knows… Read more »

stan schmunk
stan schmunk
7 years ago
Reply to  ashv

Like Southern slave-owning oligarchs?

ashv
ashv
7 years ago
Reply to  stan schmunk

That’s one example.

ME
ME
7 years ago
Reply to  ashv

“The economic policy of a Christian ruler, in my opinion, must ensure that everyone who wants to eat must work — and that everyone who wants to work can work, in some fashion or other” It’s kind of ironic ashv, I do occupational therapy with some people who are disabled. So the first thing we do for those who are genuinely disabled, is find them adaptable employment. That’s what’s healthiest for them,in mind, body, and spirit. Than we have the other people, the chronically depressed, gluten intolerant, whatever, and the first thing we do for them is declare them disabled,… Read more »

David Oman
David Oman
7 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

There is nothing wrong with the government recognizing private property, but no one should buy into the greed-is-good, my-job-is-my-life, keep-up-with-the-Jones’s, attitude. That attitude will do more damage, in the long term, than communism. And if that attitude was abandoned capitalism would collapse (Because most productive activity would not be bought or sold)

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
7 years ago
Reply to  David Oman

I don’t believe capitalism as such would collapse. Our current greed-driven economy, sure. But a greed-based economy is a form capitalism can take, it is not what capitalism is.

Capndweeb
Capndweeb
7 years ago
Reply to  David Oman

I’m with Dunsworth. I think capitalism and an honest life can coexist. It all comes down to moderation and doing what our Lord tells us to do. Work in all you do as for the LORD. Work so that you have something to give to others. Seek first the kingdom of God and all else will be given to you. Have no other gods but God. I also agree that the things you list are traps and pitfalls of not listening to the LORD and doing as He says. I do not believe those things are exclusive to capitalism. Fidel… Read more »

jillybean
jillybean
7 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

We all know it should be Keeping up with the Khardashians!

Capndweeb
Capndweeb
7 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

It’s a silly thing, really, that we would view keeping up with anyone as some kind of contest. “He who dies with the most toys wins” has to be among the top 10 stupidest things ever printed on a T-shirt.

jillybean
jillybean
7 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

There are no pockets in a shroud.

Capndweeb
Capndweeb
7 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

Right it’s also been said there is no trailer hitch on a hearse.

stan schmunk
stan schmunk
7 years ago

Idiocies of California? Specifics? And you live where? Idaho?

BdgrGrrl
BdgrGrrl
7 years ago

Fidel Castro certainly was the wrong solution for Cuba and a deplorable, if not evil, person. But don’t forget that the Cuban people have been under some other country’s rule and/or dictatorship for over 500 years. Netflix has a documentary series, The Cuba Libre Story, that presents the history of Cuba over the past 500 years in an even-handed way.

jillybean
jillybean
7 years ago
Reply to  BdgrGrrl

I think we need to be willing to go past deplorable and admit that Castro was evil. Free milk, health care, and education are wonderful goals. But you can’t murder thousands of political opponents to achieve those goals without being evil.

BdgrGrrl
BdgrGrrl
7 years ago
Reply to  jillybean

I concur. But my point was that the people really did want change after Batista. He was a thug and a murderer, too, and under control of the Mafia so they could control the casinos. That’s they were willing to try a new leader. I doubt they expected Castro would turn out to be as evil as he was. I think he was more of an egomaniac than a true Communist (he was really a Socialist; yes, there is a difference). A Communist dictatorship was just the best opportunity to keep the people line at the time. Raul Castro says… Read more »