Clues of peace near and far

Lina PortmanJune 2, 2024

0 3 minutes read

As readers of this column know, over the years, I have tried to identify optimistic signs, however distant, within pessimistic news. Today I'm focusing on three stories that seem to reflect intractable conflicts but contain allusions to peace. None of these stories seem to be at the forefront of our attention – yet. However, they are important because they simmer out of our sight.

Most likely to overflow first is Taiwan. They just inaugurated a new president, Lai Ching-te, and China responded with its usual saber rattling. However, unlike Ukraine, where successive U.S. administrations appeared to slow down or ignore the measures necessary for effective deterrence, in the case of Taiwan we appear to have ultimately adopted the right policy. Perhaps because they are closer to the target of Chinese missiles, Australian media are reflecting their concern, as illustrated by a May 28 news.com article regarding China's recent video simulation of an invasion of Taiwan, which is not optimistic for Taiwan or for us. However, previous war games dating back to 2023 indicate that a full-scale war would be mutually devastating. Recently, the United States has strengthened its mutual defense strategies in the region, as illustrated by a May 28 Wall Street Journal article detailing the deployment of our Marine Corps to areas of the Philippines, including the islands located in just 88 miles south of Taiwan.

President Lai Ching-te struck the right tone when he said in his speech: “…I hope that China will face the reality of the existence of the Republic of China, respect the choices of the people of Taiwan and, in good faith, will choose dialogue over dialogue. confrontation, exchange on containment…” However, he wisely did not mention that Taiwan's AI is more advanced and so far the US military can still beat China's.

The following two reports are indirect and direct examples of the age-old conflicts between men and women.

The exchanges at a recent House committee meeting between Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democrats Jasmine Crockett and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were clearly absurd violations of decorum, and also childish. From the replay, it appeared that Greene threw the first verbal punch, but Crockett's response raised the level of contention. Frankly, I thought the committee chairman seemed to have failed to stop the verbal fight between women, unlike the recent Senate committee where Chairman Bernie Sanders shut down the threat of a fight between men and women between the Republican Senator Mullins and the President of the Teamsters. The differences between the two incidents strike me as interesting, but both incidents reflect a breach of decorum. These two incidents do not support our presumption of adult behavior among our senior elected officials. Safe seats isolate criminals. A good primary challenge could change the narrative. Lesson: Don't stay past your expiration date.

A third example more directly addresses an underlying problem and, ironically, perhaps, through its crudeness, begins to resolve it. This is the story of the commencement speech given at Benedictine College by Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker. In my opinion, in a way, this is the story of an immature but sincere ultra-conservative Catholic, whose speech was not reviewed in advance by anyone of any maturity. On another level, Butker's speech touched some nerves because it contained some gems of truth on a largely ignored issue. While his comments to female graduates were over-the-top in phrasing that “…the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into the world,” he shouted out “…one of the most important title of all: that of housewife. Addressing the male graduates, he noted: “Part of what plagues our society is this lie you have been told that men are not needed at home or in our communities. » His strongest statement was also aimed at men: “Don't apologize for your masculinity, fighting against the cultural emasculation of men. Do difficult things. Never settle for what's easy. At least he stirred the pot.

In my opinion, one of the greatest indirect achievements of the modern feminist movement was to liberate men to become housewives just as much as women. If women as housewives have too often been humiliated, the same goes for the much fewer men in the house.

Freeing housewives – both men and women – encourages their invaluable work, and more children will be born and thrive.

Lina Portman

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