Lots of blog entries have good thoughts and witticisms

And every now and then one contains words to live by.

Steven den Beste crafted such a slice of content yesterday.

Witnesseth:

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"The world" is not unanimous in opposition to the war. The claim that "the rest of the world disagrees" is a lie.

But even if it were true, it would not matter. We Americans have a saying: "It's more important what you stand for than who you stand with." I do not rely upon peer opinion to decide what is right and what is wrong. I make those decisions for myself, and even if I discover that every other human alive chose differently, that doesn't mean I was wrong.

You have repackaged "Ask yourself why they hate you" with your rhetorical question. That was always a stupid question, because the unspoken text of it was, "If 'they' hate you, doesn't it mean you should hate yourself?"

No, it does not.

If the rest of the world disagrees with the US on this war, shouldn't that make me wonder about whether we are right to go to war?

No, it should not.

I do not consider that kind of thinking to be "nuanced" or "sophisticated". I consider it to be a demonstration of decadence and moral decay. I am not a simple man or a simple thinker, but there are some kinds of situations where the answer is simple, and in such cases if someone still tries to find a more complex nuanced answer it shows that he has no backbone.

There comes a time in every man's life when he has to choose sides. I have chosen my side. I am comfortable with my decision. I do not think everyone on my side is a saint, but I know that those on the other side are much, much worse.

Sometimes a man with too broad a perspective reveals himself as having no real perspective at all. A man who tries too hard to see every side may be a man who is trying to avoid choosing any side. A man who tries too hard to seek a deeper truth may be trying to hide from the truth he already knows.

That is not a sign of intellectual sophistication and "great thinking". It is a demonstration of moral degeneracy and cowardice.

If you truly think that America is no better than the terrorists, then go watch the video of Nicholas Berg's brutal murder. After you've listened to his horrible screams as he died, and after you've watched his killers wave his bloody head in front of the camera, get back to me and explain to me why I and my nation are responsible for Berg's death, and why the man who wielded the knife is not.

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For context, read: USS Clueless

Standing virtually alone in the face of popular opinion is a tough thing to do. Personally, I wish I would do it more. There have been too few times in my life when I stood up to "the crowd". I recall each case with relish, despite the fact that in most cases I was overrun by the mob.