The American Spectator : The Force of the Irrational

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The Force of the Irrational

By Joseph Shattan on 12.28.09 @ 6:08AM

Reflections on Democrats and health care and the death last week of 86-year-old Ike Aranne.

As the Democrats begin their final push to pass a health care bill that the American people don't really want, that they themselves haven't read (let alone understood), and that is bound to hurt them very badly in upcoming elections, it seems worthwhile to pause for a moment, and consider the role of the irrational in human affairs.

What really motivates human actions -- a straightforward calculus of gains and losses, or unconscious desires that the actors can't acknowledge even to themselves, let alone admit to in public? How much of a role do hatred, fear, and a thirst for glory and revenge play in the minds of politicians? Is it possible that Dr. Freud wasn't such a quack, after all?

These grim musings are prompted not only by current events in Washington, but also by the death in Israel last week of 86-year-old Ike Aranne, who captained the Exodus back in 1947 -- a ship whose fate played an important role in the birth of Israel a year later.

The story of the Exodus (the ship's full name was Exodus from Europe '47) is almost unbelievable. After World War II, Britain was nearly destitute. Food, clothing and fuel were all rationed. But led by Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin, the British government saw fit to blockade the coast of Palestine with 45 of its most advanced warships. These ships had only one mission: to prevent the survivors of Hitler's Holocaust -- the very people Britain had just helped save -- from reaching safe-haven in the Land of Israel.

Why was Britain -- generous, stout-hearted, fair-minded Britain -- so determined to keep the Jews bottled up in Europe? Why did the Charity, Ajax, Chieftan, Childers, Chequers and Carrigan Bay ram the rickety Exodus in international waters? Why did the British kill or wound about 100 of its 4,500 passengers, deport the remainder to Germany, and incarcerate them in Camp Poppendorf, a former Nazi concentration camp near Hamburg? (Ironically, after they had forcibly removed the Jews from the Exodus, British sailors gathered up the cans of kosher meat that the desperate passengers had flung at them, and shipped them to their own needy families back in Britain.) It reminds me of what Benjamin Franklin once said about John Adams: "He means well for his country, is always an honest man, but sometimes, and in some things, is absolutely out of his senses."

The British were out of their senses in 1947, just as the Democrats are out of their senses today. Britain's madness helped make the rise of Israel inevitable, and the Democrats' madness is making a Republican majority inevitable. Ernest Bevin was probably motivated by primitive anti-Semitism, and Barack Obama is probably motivated by primitive anti-capitalism. Anti-Semitism and anti-capitalism are not the sorts of impulses that civilized people admit to in polite society, but they are two of the most potent forces in world affairs, and probably have much more to do with the actual course of events than the seductive arguments drafted by clever speechwriters, or the ingenious analyses devised by learned historians. Or so, at least, Dr. Freud would argue.

topics:
Exodus, Ernest Bevin, Ike Aranne

About the Author

Joseph Shattan is the author of Architects of Victory: Six Heroes of the Cold War.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (17) | Leave a comment

Marc Jeric| 12.28.09 @ 6:25AM

How come komrad Bevin did not get the Nobel Peace Prize? Other anti-semites like Arafat, Carter, and Obama did!

Northern Rebel| 12.28.09 @ 11:29AM

Another excellent history lesson! Those who don't learn from it, are destined to repeat it.

Al Adab| 12.28.09 @ 11:32AM

We have indeed entered into an irrational world, one the Left sees through their faith in moral equivilance as a guiding principle. Until we face the reality that there is evil in the world and that, in part, that evil manifests itself in a belief in central control by government, we are in danger. It is the duty of government to protect the rights of Citizens, not to establish an equality of servitude among them. Indeed, those in control today are out of their senses.

Franklin| 12.28.09 @ 3:53PM

Yes, and evil is the 'father of lies'.

What about lies and people who believe them? A lie is the truth mixed with just enough lie that it is easily believed. The more they believe, the more truth can be eliminated and it just becomes a lie. But the people don't see it that way; they see it still as truth.

They have chosen the lie over the truth. God knows what they have chosen; he gave them that choice (free will). Once they have chosen, God allows them their full delusion, he won’t intervene.

Romans 1:28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind; to do what ought not to be done.

2 Thessalonians 2:10b … They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

Al Adab| 12.28.09 @ 3:58PM

Yes, Franklin, and that is what we fear. If He has given us over to depravity and the Assyrians are at the walls, what prophet will arise to lead us back to a right path. Our idolotry is rampant.

He judges the nations and while a remnant of His people will survive, yet may our nation be weighed in the balance and found wanting.

loulou| 12.28.09 @ 12:11PM

The author is generous. In fact, Obama is both anti-Capitalist AND anti-Semitic.

The Brits are traditionally Jew-haters. It's in their mother's milk.

Margie| 12.28.09 @ 3:44PM

Eph 6:1 "For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

It goes deeper than even Freud.
The Bible tells us that the Ruler of this world is the Devil. He hates the Jews (God's chosen people) and he hates any kind of freedom.
Anti-Semitism and anti-Capitalism are borne along by the same spirit.
Liberalism=Socialism=Communism=Satanism.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
~Ronald Reagan

"Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged."
~Ronald Reagan

Onward conservative Soldiers!

Al Adab| 12.28.09 @ 3:49PM

Thanks Margie,
You manage to remind us that the wisdom of the ages stands on our side. While this world is often irrational and ruled by evil, we can stand in our Kingdom for the Liberty "wherin He has made us free."

Margie| 12.28.09 @ 9:44PM

Al Adab,
I deserve no thanks.
You're a kind man.
Happy New Year to you & yours.

Rich Rostrom| 12.28.09 @ 7:36PM

"to prevent the survivors of [the] Holocaust... from reaching safe-haven in the Land of Israel"

Jewish refugees (such as the passengers on EXODUS) were in no danger in 1947 Europe. If anything, they were in greater danger in 1947 Palestine, where they were exposed to hostile armies and paramilitaries.

I don't claim that Britain was acting to keep them safe; but there is no evidence that Britain was doing the opposite.

As for the British government: in 1917 they made an impulsive and ill-considered pledge, and they spent the next 30 years veering between half-hearted fulfillment and attempted reneging; thereby satisfying no one. Bevin is no more to blame for that than any other British leader; such as Herbert Samuel, the Zionist who appointed the infamous Amin el-Husseini as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

philfl63| 12.28.09 @ 8:34PM

No, Obama is most probably anti-Semitic. He is a Kenyan and a Muslim. His entire life (those shadowy parts of which we know) is fraught with anti-Semitism. His father was a Communist. His step-father was a Muslim, and Obama attended a Muslim school. His guardians, mentors (Davis et al), and his preacher (Wright) were all anti-Semites. Thus far, his actions and words as President have all indicated anti-Semitism. This man is no friend of the Jews or Israel.

gaia gold| 12.28.09 @ 8:47PM

Another excellent history lesson! Those who don't learn from it, are destined to repeat it.

Osamas Pajamas| 12.29.09 @ 12:18AM

And then there are legions of bloodsucking socialists who claim to "believe" in the productive efficacy of socialism --- but who believe no such thing --- they simply yearn for your wallet and will say "anything" to get at it.

Ninanya| 1.22.10 @ 12:28AM

Jews are very clever people. Jew's mother will be able to sell

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