Is it Possible to Appease Evil?

Written by Terry Dashner


Terry Dashner

“Is it possible to Appease evil?”

Neville Chamberlain in 1938 tried to appease Hitler, but Hitler would not be appeased. You see, 1938 was a terrible time for Europe. Hitler’s Nazis were running through sovereign nations like a hot knife through butter. England and its European allies were deeply alarmed to sayrepparttar least, and they hoped to negotiate peace with Hitler without having to go to war against him. Chamberlain, Prime Minister of England, flew to Munich to meet with Hitler.

From this meeting comesrepparttar 125907 Munich Agreement which effectively allows Adolf Hitler to annex Czechoslovakia (I guessrepparttar 125908 Czechs were suppose to likerepparttar 125909 agreement or lump it). Chamberlain’s belief that satisfying each of Hitler’s escalating demands for control of more and more territory was naïve. Nevertheless,repparttar 125910 Prime Minister flies home and meetsrepparttar 125911 British press on his arrival. Holding up a piece of paper for all to see, Chamberlain cries out, “We’ve achieved peace in our times.” One year later, Hitler invades Poland andrepparttar 125912 Munich Agreement is now worth no more thanrepparttar 125913 paper it’s written on. England is forced to declare war on Hitler, and Chamberlain falls to Winston Churchill. Hitler could not be appeased.

Someone real smart once said that those who fail to learnrepparttar 125914 hard lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. I’ll give you a modern day example. Obviously modern Europe has not learnedrepparttar 125915 lessons of Chamberlain’s appeasement policies because they are turning a deaf ear to Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities and saber rattling against Israel andrepparttar 125916 West in general. Iran is boasting of her ability to strike Israel with nuclear weapons and no one is denouncing them butrepparttar 125917 United States. I guessrepparttar 125918 Europeans think to do so would be promoting a policy of “preemption” and that is evil. (One ofrepparttar 125919 major problems with America’s war in Iraq—according to many Europeans—is America’s preemptive policies toward terrorists.) I believe that very soon—withinrepparttar 125920 next couple of years—Iran and Israel will be at war. I also believe that Iran will use nuclear weapons against Israel. Will this berepparttar 125921 beginning ofrepparttar 125922 end?

The Price of Loyalty

Written by Virginia Bola, PsyD


Withrepparttar recent shakeups inrepparttar 125906 presidential cabinet, it has frequently been observed thatrepparttar 125907 quality most treasured inrepparttar 125908 present administration is that of loyalty.

Is that such an admirable quality?

We prizerepparttar 125909 loyalty of our friends who protect our good name when we are not present. We respectrepparttar 125910 loyalty of committed couples who stay true to each other no matterrepparttar 125911 outside temptations. We recognizerepparttar 125912 loyalty of employees who stand by their ethics and keep competitors and enemies at bay. We treasurerepparttar 125913 loyalty of a soldier to his commander, if necessary torepparttar 125914 death. We revererepparttar 125915 loyalty of believers in their god and their unswerving commitment to their tenets of faith. We equate disloyalty with treason, dishonor, betrayal. We use names like Quisling, Benedict Arnold, Burgess and Hiss as epithets to express our loathing and disgust.

But loyalty has a darker side. In crime families, loyalty means embracing death or imprisonment rather than exposing crime, violence, and murder. In prison,repparttar 125916 most despised inmate isrepparttar 125917 "snitch" who fails to stay silent about his knowledge of criminal acts, plots, and planned violence. Within adolescent groups and street gangs,repparttar 125918 rule of silence and total loyalty is an absolute requirement for continued membership.

The old courts of kings and emperors were rife with sycophants: whateverrepparttar 125919 leader wanted to hear, they offered. Disagreements and alternative plans forrepparttar 125920 direction of governance were considered intrigue - dangerous differences of opinion to be rooted out and permanently excised fromrepparttar 125921 body politic.

Where doesrepparttar 125922 White House fit in? For allrepparttar 125923 positive connotations that loyalty may engender, we must look torepparttar 125924 extent it is used and continually monitor it for abuse. No one would suggest that a President surround himself with staff who constantly criticize his ideas or regularly publicly disagree with his programs and proposals. However,repparttar 125925 negative aspect of over-loyalty - zealousness - must be confronted ifrepparttar 125926 goal is to weave plans forrepparttar 125927 common good through compromise inrepparttar 125928 face of diverse opinion.

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