G.K. Chesterton on patriotism and criticism in war time


A quote from the always pithy Chesterton

Chesterton is one of the more quotable authors ever to have picked up the pen. He has an amazing ability to state timeless truths in simple form. I am currently reading Orthodoxy, a sort of autobiographical account of how and why he came to believe in Christianity. I came across the following quote, and thought it an apt criticism of both right and left in the conversation about the GWoT of late. Too often the right hides from an criticism of the war effort by saying "how dare you question anything during the war!", and too often the left is simply sniping to win mild political points at the expense of our future. Here's what Chesterton has to say:

"A man who says that no patriot should attack the Boer War until it is over is not worth answering intelligently; he is saying that no good son should warn his mother of a cliff until she has fallen over it. But there is an anti-patriot who honestly angers honest men, and the explanation of him is, I think, what I have suggested: he is the uncandid candid friend; the man who says "I am sorry to say we are ruined," and he is not sorry at all. And he may be said, without rhetoric, to be a traitor; for he is using that ugly knowledge, which was allowed him to strengthen the army, to discourage people from joining it. Because he is allowed to be pessimistic as a military adviser, he is being pessimistic as a recruiting sergeant. "

Posted: Tue - August 29, 2006 at 08:57 PM | | | | | | |

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