Rationality

Kill them we must. Not just because they would kill us. A good enough reason, although one not bound to the highest of human virtues. More instinctual, more reptilian, rather. But what else might we expect from ourselves? We are animals, and perpetuate ourselves in the manner of all multicellular animals. With teeth and with semen.

We must kill them because we will not be slaves. We must kill them because they target children. That’s it. Two reasons. A thing is decided by the witness of two or three. Two will do.

We must kill them because we can, where so many cannot. If we don’t, they will prevail. And what in us would remain human, if we are silent, and cowards, in such times? We are animals, with our semen and our teeth, but we are more than that, and we must use our teeth as we use the other, to preserve that single race that preserves the image of God breathed into us in Eden.

Yes, they too are human. Their tears run hot, their convictions are sure. But this is not a discussion of who is right. It isn’t about right. It’s about outcome. If they prevail, slavery will grow. If we prevail, liberty may stand. In either case, blood must flow. But blood will always flow.

When Tokyo was seared by a rain of 1,858 tons of incendiary bombs dropped from 346 B-29s, 83,000 civilians burned or suffocated to death. Civilians, by which is meant old men and women and children. Almost sounds like terrorism, eh? But terrorism is never about victory. It's such a lot of numbers though. So many it almost becomes meaningless. How can we retain our humanity, in the memory of such large numbers?

It’s easy. We simply consider the alternative. You stop being human when you’re dead. This does not justify every action, but war is a statistical undertaking. Lets us off the hook, as individuals. Abstracts absolve. What is concrete in our own lives is our children, who must be protected. And more remotely, our freedom. Beyond this everything becomes idealism.


J