Defining Our Terms: Peace and Freedom
A simple question: Vladimir Putin, Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tulsi Gabbard, Candace Owens, Donald Trump, Jordan Peterson, Russell Brand, Nick Fuentes, Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua, Syria — does this list embody the alliance for peace and freedom today? If it does, then I oppose peace and freedom with every fiber of my being, and wish to go to my grave as the most consistent and vehement opponent of peace and freedom that you could possibly imagine. For in this new world of language, peace means pacification of populations to appease dictators, and freedom means license to demand whatever one likes from one’s neighbors, and to force them at gunpoint or bomb blast to obey one’s demands. The grassroots of the American Republican Party, elected and unelected, along with its global alt-right wrecking crew, has all but declared itself the party of Putin’s global outreach, from Trump’s open support for and acquiescence to his master and hero Uncle Vlad while president, to the continuing moral and rhetorical (and soon financial and political) support for Putin’s unjustifiable war of aggression in Ukraine coming from Trump’s monkeys in the “conservative media” and the newly elected Republican House of Representatives.And then there are all the cowards desperate for fame, acceptance, or “influence” (i.e., mindless followers) who have allowed their own reason, such as it was, to be occupied by Putin’s forces (including those listed in my opening question), from whom we get hemming and hawing, as though the issue were unclear. Elon Musk needs the alt-right for his Twitter investment, so he pulls back on his early support for Ukraine and calls for a “peace plan” that amounts to abject Ukrainian surrender.