Reply #74: Just a side issue. The question of "are the Syrians . . [View All]

[msmcghee]

. . really that stupid". I would suggest that "Syrians" are no more nor less intelligent than Israelis or Danes or Zimbabweans.

It is not intelligence but beliefs that determine such events - and why would Syrians have a lower intelligence anyway? If someone believes strongly in their own superiority over other groups (hubris) because of worldview beliefs like the nobility of birth, for example - the strong emotions generated by those beliefs will cripple their ability to use their intelligence wisely in their own service. This is especially prevalent in oligarchies such as monarchies because when only a few people are close to extreme power - they have much to lose by any criticism. Monarchs are therefore unlikely to hear from others that their ideas are dangerous and likely to fail. There are also less likely to be self-critical of their own ideas. "The Last Hundred Days" by Toland shows this brilliantly. Hitler had only the most sycophantic "yes men" around him.

I bring this up now because I spent 2 and 1/2 hours last nite watching my latest Netflix pick - "The Last Emperor" - an account of the last run of the Ching dynasty and the conquest of China by Japan. My interpretation is that the emperor was indoctrinated into his role at a very young age and that became his identity. The emotions of his identity-beliefs were understandably strong - as Mel Brooks says, "It's good to be the king". He willingly ignored the reality of his predicament - he become blind to it - rather than give up his self-identity as emperor. Eventually, he sold out the sovereignty of his people to the Japanese - in exchange for keeping his title and the appearance of his reign - and even convinced himself that he was doing the right thing. Of course, China was not militarily capable of resisting the Japanese war machine - but with the emperor's assistance it seems probable that Japan's conquest was faster and easier to achieve. I know you are well versed in the history of this period and I'd be interested to know if I have missed much here.

In summary, this is what I suspect happened in China in the first half of the twentieth century and in Syria this last year. Whatever fulfilling our identity requires of us - we will defend in the face of all evidence and reason to the contrary. I think kings and megalomaniacs like Saddam Hussein and even democratically elected leaders like our current administration who insulate themselves from criticism (or who have an MSM that does that for them) - tend to make these kinds of identity-belief errors a lot.