Yesterday I heard of two surrenders that struck me as representing the lack of moral courage that our society (and I speak here as an American citizen) demonstrates today. Both of them represent an unwillingness to stand for principle and show, if any further demonstration were necessary, that our leaders lack the ability to make difficult and courageous choices that is necessary for our nation’s honor to long endure. The fact that this corruption is not limited to one aspect of our leadership, but rather involves both corporate and political leadership, is itself a worrisome trend, as it suggests that neither our public nor private sector possesses the requisite moral fiber to accept danger or show a firm commitment to principle in these dark days. Such weakness tends to invite bullies to take advantage of weakness and puts those who should stand up for freedom in a difficult position when enough lines are crossed that a struggle cannot any longer be avoided [1].
The first of these surrenders was a unilateral surrender in our long embargo against Cuba. As someone who grew up in Florida, and who personally witnessed the appeal that the freedom of the United States had for Cubans long after the Cuban Revolution put Fidel Castro in power, seeing a decimated Cuban team play with only ten players in an Olympics qualifying match for soccer because so many of their team had defected after the previous game only two days before, I wonder what the United States seeks out of “normalized” relations with Cuba. By and large, I am not fond of embargoes, preferring the maintenance of open ties that allow for influence to seep through, along with the desire to maintain correct and proper relations even where there is a great deal of unhappiness on all sides. The decision made, though, was unilateral, without any sort of mutual coming to terms about mutual wrongs (including a great deal of theft and violence on the part of the Cuban government towards American property as well as its own erstwhile citizens). It seems likely at some point that some will seek to bribe Cuba’s dictators as it is our custom to bribe nations to be our friends, as unsuccessful as that is. Hiring lovers never has worked out very well, after all.
The second craven surrender was the surrender of Sony Pictures to the unreasonable demands and threats of North Korea [2] concerning a movie called “The Interview.” Now, I don’t know exactly why this movie struck a nerve with North Korea, but I don’t like bullies, and even if I had no particular plans to see this movie, I don’t appreciate some nation that can’t even bother to have enough food for its citizens trying to threaten violence to theaters that would show the movie. No flea-ridden tinpot dictatorship is going to dictate my movie watching habits. I must admit that freedom of speech can be irksome at times when people speak harshly about us, and I’m pretty sure not everyone likes what I have to say about many of the subjects that I discuss on this blog, but all the same that freedom exists in this country especially as a stress valve to allow for open and honest discourse, and allow for talk to remove some of the pressure that could very easily lead to violence. It has generally been when there has been curtailed freedom of speech that violence has most been a threat. Let us hope this is not a sign of things to come.
What can be done about this lamentable cowardice, about giving into bullying nations simply because they are more stubborn or have more of a backbone than we do? How do we find leaders who can stand up to evil and make difficult and unpopular choices that are nonetheless for our best ultimate interests? How do we face up to the dangers of our time and instead of seeking to run away from problems, bravely take our lumps if we have to and turn our hearts from folly and wickedness? Our leaders come from us, and if we wish to have leaders who will possess moral courage and tenacity in the face of threats of violence and unpopularity, we have to develop those strengths ourselves. Why must we be bent on self-destruction? Why can’t we turn and repent rather than add to our rebellion moral cowardice? It looks like we can send our political and business leaders some white feathers, in the hope that they may at least temper their vices with the courage to stand up and accept whatever penalty is due for standing up for what they believe in, if they truly believe in anything at all besides expediency and bowing to pressure from those with stronger wills.
[2] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/does-north-korea-need-a-bully-beatdown/
Edge Induced Cohesion 
Pingback: Interview With A Dictator | Edge Induced Cohesion