We need men like him to keep us free
In the current crop of stories on Tech Central Station, Pejman Yousefzadeh writes a very interesting and eye-opening profile of the recently-deceased Admiral James Stockdale. And for the second time in three days, I'm reminded of where my head was at during and just after college, versus where it's at today.
In 1992, I had only been out of the liberal University of Oregon for a few years. I was just beginning a journey away from the socialist tendencies I had learned by association in Eugene — free abortion at any time, the military is evil and its funding should be transferred to social programs and education, rich people should be taxed until everyone has enough money to live comfortably — and toward the exploration of more centrist roots.
As part of that journey, I was invited by a work friend to attend a growing, vibrant church; within that framework, I joined a three-man Bible study that included a (different) friend in his early 40s and a music pastor of roughly the same age. We gathered for breakfast once a week to talk about God, even though it was at some ungodly time of the morning.
Shortly before the November election, the topic moved to politics, and who we planned to vote for. The pastor would vote for Bush, he said — I think he cited some favorable Bush policies, but don't remember. My friend would vote for Perot — there was just something about him that he liked more than the other two, he said. I would vote for Clinton — I still had enough liberal blood in me that a vote for a Republican was akin to voting for the antichrist, and I thought Perot was an oddity with big ears and a nasally drawl.
I'll never forget the look from the pastor when I announced my voting intentions — a quick look of shock, followed by quick recovery and a comment along the lines of, "That's OK," which I took as "I don't agree, but I'm not going to push it."
I had taken a political science class during the 1988 election (in which — full disclosure — I voted for Michael Dukakis — !!), and that sparked an interest in politics. So in '92, I paid more attention to the campaign. The vice presidential debate featured (in my mind) the very reasonable Al Gore, the incredibly stupid Dan Quayle (Remember "potatoe" and railing against Murphy Brown?), and the exceedingly strange James Stockdale.
I'm not even sure I knew Stockdale was a military veteran, but it wouldn't have helped him in my eyes (wasn't the military a creation of Ronald Reagan, and thus evil?). Never mind that Gore was in the Army during the same war; details aren't important if they get in the way of the candidate you support. When Stockdale opened the debate with, "Who am I? Why am I here?" I knew we had a certifiable basketcase on our hands. Reagan was suspected of suffering from Alzheimer's, I thought, and we sure didn't need another White House resident with that affliction.
That election was turned into a running joke on Saturday Night Live, with Phil Hartman's very funny imitation of Stockdale (not to mention his Reagan & Clinton gigs and Dana Carvey's imitations of Bush and Perot).
Fast-forward to 2005, and back to Pejman's article. It turns out that Stockdale's military service wasn't just competent, it was heroic. He was held prisoner by the North Vietnamese for more than seven years, and he did everything in his power to continue his country's fight against its enemy, including disfiguring his face with razor blades and a stool so they could not use him to repeat fictional "confessions" in propaganda materials.
Pejman also notes Stockdale's deep familiarity with philosophy, which helped him survive and resist the North Vietnamese for so long (to survive his captivity, Stockdale said, he was helped by the works of philosophers Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius — I'm lucky to have heard of either one, much less know their philosophical perspectives).
Pejman concludes this way (and I would share the sentiments):
In 1992, I had only been out of the liberal University of Oregon for a few years. I was just beginning a journey away from the socialist tendencies I had learned by association in Eugene — free abortion at any time, the military is evil and its funding should be transferred to social programs and education, rich people should be taxed until everyone has enough money to live comfortably — and toward the exploration of more centrist roots.
As part of that journey, I was invited by a work friend to attend a growing, vibrant church; within that framework, I joined a three-man Bible study that included a (different) friend in his early 40s and a music pastor of roughly the same age. We gathered for breakfast once a week to talk about God, even though it was at some ungodly time of the morning.
Shortly before the November election, the topic moved to politics, and who we planned to vote for. The pastor would vote for Bush, he said — I think he cited some favorable Bush policies, but don't remember. My friend would vote for Perot — there was just something about him that he liked more than the other two, he said. I would vote for Clinton — I still had enough liberal blood in me that a vote for a Republican was akin to voting for the antichrist, and I thought Perot was an oddity with big ears and a nasally drawl.
I'll never forget the look from the pastor when I announced my voting intentions — a quick look of shock, followed by quick recovery and a comment along the lines of, "That's OK," which I took as "I don't agree, but I'm not going to push it."
I had taken a political science class during the 1988 election (in which — full disclosure — I voted for Michael Dukakis — !!), and that sparked an interest in politics. So in '92, I paid more attention to the campaign. The vice presidential debate featured (in my mind) the very reasonable Al Gore, the incredibly stupid Dan Quayle (Remember "potatoe" and railing against Murphy Brown?), and the exceedingly strange James Stockdale.
I'm not even sure I knew Stockdale was a military veteran, but it wouldn't have helped him in my eyes (wasn't the military a creation of Ronald Reagan, and thus evil?). Never mind that Gore was in the Army during the same war; details aren't important if they get in the way of the candidate you support. When Stockdale opened the debate with, "Who am I? Why am I here?" I knew we had a certifiable basketcase on our hands. Reagan was suspected of suffering from Alzheimer's, I thought, and we sure didn't need another White House resident with that affliction.
That election was turned into a running joke on Saturday Night Live, with Phil Hartman's very funny imitation of Stockdale (not to mention his Reagan & Clinton gigs and Dana Carvey's imitations of Bush and Perot).
Fast-forward to 2005, and back to Pejman's article. It turns out that Stockdale's military service wasn't just competent, it was heroic. He was held prisoner by the North Vietnamese for more than seven years, and he did everything in his power to continue his country's fight against its enemy, including disfiguring his face with razor blades and a stool so they could not use him to repeat fictional "confessions" in propaganda materials.
Pejman also notes Stockdale's deep familiarity with philosophy, which helped him survive and resist the North Vietnamese for so long (to survive his captivity, Stockdale said, he was helped by the works of philosophers Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius — I'm lucky to have heard of either one, much less know their philosophical perspectives).
Pejman concludes this way (and I would share the sentiments):
Stockdale's question ["Who am I? Why am I here?"] was mistaken as the puzzled musings of a lost and confused man. In reality, it was an admirable application of Marcus Aurelius's lesson about "first principles." While Dan Quayle and Al Gore were busy explaining what made them good political leaders, Stockdale tried to explain what kind of man he was. It is an indictment of us as a society that we were unprepared to listen when he tried to speak to us. It certainly was an indictment of me that I so readily dismissed him.Amen.
We certainly need more men like Phil Hartman to keep us laughing. But over and above anything, we need men like James Stockdale to keep us free.
posted by Ken @ 12:29 PM
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