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Culture, Contrast, and Choice

By Gordon Francis Corbett

    See if this argument sounds familiar.

    “Once, European missionaries sought to convert local peoples to Christianity.  Their message said, ‘Our ways surpass yours.  Our God is better than yours.  Follow us.’

    “Those days are almost gone, their techniques replaced with one  smoother and slicker.  Today, Mickey Mouse, Colonel Sanders, and Levi Strauss carry the message.  It says, ‘Our ways surpass yours.  Our ways can entertain you, feed you, and clothe you.  Follow us.’

    “For the most part, missionaries’ colonization has been replaced by commercial advertising.  Europe's and America's technology attracts, and when poor people see it, they learn that their poverty is not necessary.  And politicians who try to keep them poor lose, sooner or later.

    “The battle is not religious, but cultural and economic.

    “Who would have thought that Mickey Mouse, Colonel Sanders, and Levi Strauss could undermine dictatorship?”

    My answer is, “Not I, for one.”

    Every so often, politicians and pundits still hand us this argument.  It is pure baloney, any way you slice it.

    Chinese traders knew how to make a profit when our ancestors were still pondering why Roman taxes were so high.  Nevertheless, Dr. Sun Yat-sen imposed socialism on China in 1911;  thirty-eight years later, Mao imposed Communism.

    And, lest we forget, what did Germany's know-how let Hitler do?

    Commercial acumen cannot prevent tyranny.

    Tyranny thrives on ignorance, and its absolute requirement is ignorance of good philosophy.  Where people know good philosophy, they know good ethics.  Where they know good ethics, they know good politics.  And, where they know good politics, and have the guts to back government that truly protects the rights of men, would-be tyrants have no chance to turn out the lights of freedom.

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