Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001
LTE in The University News
Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.
The following letter to the editor of mine was published by "The University
News" (University of Dallas) November 7, 2001. It was in response to one of
their regular columnists. Aside from minor editing, it was published as
submitted. Their title was: Cook lacks "sense of life" alumnus says.
By the way, for a very good movie along the lines of my suggested title,
Laughing at evil is virtuous, I highly recommend the newly released movie:
"Monster's, Inc."
In the same issue was a report made by a current University of Dallas
student who went to a meeting held by two American students who had
converted to Islam called "Islamic Night: Pillars of Faith and the Islamic
Creed." He expressed disappointment that the meeting held no discussions
about the "peaceful nature" of Islam, as had been promised by many recent
commentators, but rather presented the claim that Islam was superior to all
other religions. The following quote is insightful for those wondering if
American Muslims will remain patriots throughout this battle.
"When asked if they found it difficult to live in the United
States as Muslims, they answered they bore no allegiance to this country
and might as well have been born anywhere else."
My LTE:
From: Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.
University of Dallas, Class of '87
Guest Column or Letter to the Editor
Suggested title: Laughing at evil is virtuous
Actual title: Cook lacks "sense of life" alumnus says
In her column of October 31, 2001, Katherine Cook asserts that "Petty
propaganda drops US to bin Laden's level" in response to recent humorists
poking fun at the posterboy for evil. "We cannot let ourselves be
desensitized by buffoonish images that lead us to believe that we are
attacking a cartoon character, or a villain so inhuman his death does not
matter." "There is no good reason to justify this action of Americans."
On the contrary, there is very good reason for this action: Evil is
nothing, and we shouldn't take any of it seriously. [*see below]
Don't get me wrong, the evil of terrorism must be removed from the world,
but don't expect me or my fellow Americans to give it a modicum of respect.
What you are protesting is what Ayn Rand called the American sense of life.
A "sense of life" is the emotional equivalent of metaphysics, the branch of
philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of existence - i.e. that
which is real. At the deepest level of one's psychology, one responds
emotionally to that which one thinks is real and important. Humor is a
means of dismissing that which is unreal and unimportant.
In this context, it is important to realize that most fundamentalist
religions despise humor, because they want to fill you with fear while
leaving no room for the enjoyment of life. For a good concretization of
this principle, I highly recommend the movie "The Name of the Rose."
It is said that American's woke up to the fact that evil is real on
September 11, 2001. Shortly after the initial shock, the humorists became
our first line of defense. Weeks later, we began bombing Afghanistan. Each
action is a proper response.
Evil isn't taken seriously by Americans because we know how to deal with
it. We annihilate evil, both psychologically and physically, as is proper
to a free people, who hold life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as
sacred ideals that need to be defended.
[Tom Miovas: I was partially quoting a line from _Atlas Shrugged_ as spoken
by Dagny Taggart to John Galt when she found herself in his arms shortly
after crashing her airplane. Later in this thread, someone pointed out a
quote from Ayn Rand [which I am paraphrasing] that one of the American
people's flaws is that they don't take evil seriously enough to do anything
about it (in general) until it hits them hard. But I think she was trying to
make the point that Americans (in general) don't take the ideas expressed
by evil intended people seriously until that idea is expressed in action --
until harm is actually done or is about to be done. And I think 9/11 did show
this to be true, in the sense that Osama et al where saying they were going
to be attacking us for many years before 9/11; and no one took his threat
to initiate force seriously. However, destruction of actual values is still
metaphysically impotent or unimportant when compared to the enormous and
rational effort required to create those rational values in the first place;
which do need to be protected. The aspect of laughing at evil that I was
trying to make is laughing at them for shaking their fists at reality in
frustration.]
