Contrast Noted

The passivity of the heirs to Nelson's navy as their comrades in arms were taken hostage by a few swarthy men on jet skis coincides with the anniversary of the Falklands unpleasantness. Which has caused some folks to dig up this snippet from Ronald Reagan's address to the Houses of Parliament lo these many moons ago. I can't decide whether to be braced or depressed by it.

Along the same lines, ninme's got a post calling attention to a passage from Orwell (1941) that suits. I don't think Orwell gets it quite right, but close.

The energy that actually shapes the world springs from emotions—racial pride, leader-worship, religious belief, love of war—which liberal intellectuals mechanically write off as anachronisms, and which they have usually destroyed so completely in themselves as to have lost all power of action.

What he leaves out is that liberal intellectuals also mechanically write off morality as anachronistic, destroying any notion of honor or community in the process. Anyone noticed that when sex is the only passion, how passionless it leaves us? Bring back sublimation, say I!