The Orthosphere:
Rod Dreher has written another thumb-sucker about the evil that lurks in the hearts of all men, which is true enough but not particularly useful when another man, his lurking evil leaping into view, chases you down an alleyway with an axe in his hand. Dreher naturally quotes Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s lines about the “bridgehead of good” that remains within hearts “overwhelmed by evil,” and the “small corner of evil” that remains in “even in the best of all hearts.” Which is, as I said, all true enough; but hardly helpful to a man encircled by a menacing mob.
What exactly does Dreher expect me to do with the reflection that the man who proposes to slay me is on other occasions kind to animals, a devoted son, a skilled musician, a fellow with whom I might gladly enjoy a beer?
Well, go have a beer with him, if you can. If you can't, here's some practical advice.
Even a pretty devoted man may reconsider in favor of the beer if he is aware of the keen knife on your belt. That's been my experience, anyway.
9 comments:
I generally like stuff I read on the Orthosphere, but this one seemed to entirely miss Dreher's point. But I endorse Corb and knives.
To synthesize: I still think that you can often get even the bad fella to sit down with a beer or some tea in recognition of your common humanity: but you will better get there from a position of strength.
Mutual respect despite differences should be something all civilized people aspire to. There are historians I vehemently disagree with, but respect highly. I sought one such person out at a conference and told her how important her work had been in shaping my own understanding of a topic. She was pleased to learn that people still read and grappled with her ideas and questions.
LittleRed1
Grim and LR1, I agree with you both.
To address the original question / complaint JM Smith expresses at the Orthosphere, which I'll take a clipping of to represent the whole:
I am aware that my public enemies contain many jolly good chaps, just as I am aware of some disagreeable stinkers on my side. The fact remains that my public enemies are bent on destroying my side. And if their hammer-fall finds me reflecting, Hamlet-like, on “bridgeheads of good” and “small corners of evil,” their mission of destruction will be easier.
That's not what Dreher is proposing.
I remember watching one of those convenience store security cam videos, I can't remember many of the details, but a man walks in waving a gun and turns to the cashier. A customer takes the opportunity to pull out a pistol and shoot the robber several times. The robber falls and is still, his gun on the ground.
Up to that point, the good guy and bad guy are clear. But then the good guy walks over to the motionless man lying on the floor and shoots the man again in the chest. That's when he steps over the line in his heart.
So how should Dreher's point be applied in this situation? It certainly is not that the customer should have reflected on the potentially good aspects of the robber instead of shooting him. It's that, had he reflected on this matter long before he was ever in a life and death situation and come to understand it, maybe he would have been more aware of where that line was in his heart and not crossed it when faced with the situation.
I disagree that the moral line lies there, though it is where the legal line lies. I think the legislatures have gotten that wrong. No disservice is done by killing a criminal like that, so that society need not feed and clothe and guard him for decades while failing to reform him.
But that’s a separate post, because it should be argued systematically.
Even though there can be legitimate disagreement about where exactly the line is drawn, the broader point stands: Recognize the line is there in you and find it before you get into a situation.
In any case, Dreher is not suggesting anything like sitting down to reflect during an actual fire fight.
As to your moral argument, I look forward to reading it, when you have time of course.
Remember, the Devil was an Angel, too.
I've often thought that were I somehow to lose my self-control and go on some rampage, trampling my humanity and moral compass, that I would hope someone would stop me- dead if need be- from further committing mortal sin. It would be an act of love of great depth.
Yes, once I said almost the same thing.
“If I am to love a man, I must love him as he is; yet if I am to love him as I love myself, then I may fight with him to the degree that I would fight myself. I may even kill him, if there are things I would rather kill myself than be guilty of having done.”
https://grimbeorn.blogspot.com/2008/03/finding-home.html
It was probably you who put that notion in my head, Grim, and thank you.
Post a Comment