Are there worse things than dying?
I say yes and others say no.
(Afternoon UPDATE: Kate and her commentors weigh in on this post here.)
Treacher and some of his Daily Gut commenters disagree with me/Mark Steyn, and their points are well taken. I respond (at extreme -- dare I say, "Holmes-ian" -- length) in the combox.
Once more with feeling: my "beef" is with the expression "We just don't know what we'd do under the circumstances" (frequently accompanied by a helpless, empathetic shrug) because it makes cowardice/timidity/ambiguity/confusion the societally approved default position, and this is an extremely dangerous thing to do.
Survivors of Virginia Tech are not the ones using this expression -- almost everyone else is, with a blithe certainty that I find chilling, and my argument is with them.
Some random thoughts:
Imagine, if you can, the following historical personages uttering the phrase "Well, we just don't know what we'd do under the circumstances..." and meaning it:
1. Benjamin Franklin 2. Abe Lincoln 3. Winston Churchill 4. Joan of Arc 4. Some olden days Scottish peasant
OK, so they were exceptional people, except for the last guy. So: now can you imagine a crowd of unexceptional people NOT responding by throwing rocks at the speaker's head, then?
We have to START knowing what we'd do or else we're just adding more K-Y to that slippery slope straight to handbasket hell.
Some at Daily Gut have mentioned "training." Fair enough. So, all those righteous gentiles who hid Jews in the Second World War -- they'd all taken Jew Hiding Seminars back in 1935...?
The lone Quebec private who convinced the Nazis occupying a French village that they were surrounded by allied forces and had better surrender or else? Yeah, he had military training, for sure: the army stuck a rifle in his hand and put him on a boat.
Read Man's Search for Meaning. Even in a Nazi concentration camp, prisoners chose their responses to the most horrifying, degrading, coercive situations (previously un)imaginable. What's our excuse?
Civilization wasn't built on vague, Oprah-approved expressions of timid ambiguity, however sincerely felt. (In fact, "feelings" in general had diddly to do with it.) Civilization was built on (and its slender veneer more or less maintained) by bullshit, bravado, blind duty and more than a little hypocrisy. If the highest we aim is for "Whatever", then a whole lotta "Whatever" is exactly what we're gonna get. (Jesus: "Reap. Sow. Repeat. Why am I even telling this to you people? Sheesh...")
Disagree with me all you want, obviously. But please don't tell me I'm not supposed to ask a question. Because that's just more b.s. Calling me "mean" and "insensitive" isn't enough of an argument, either. I like being mean and insensitive. So do better.
Meanwhile:
"Why is Keith Olbermann ignoring us?"
Actually, I'd kinda like Olbermann to ignore me. Or just bang his head on a subway door again. I'm good either way.