You wrote a letter to President Joe Biden in which you argue the point that what’s happening in Ukraine will not remain in Ukraine but spill out beyond that country’s borders to menace America and its allies, and eventually engulf the entire planet by absorbing it into an autocratic system of governance or worse.
You wrote
that much and more in the form of an article which came under the title: “Dear
President Biden: War in Ukraine isn’t just about Ukraine,” published on
February 28, 2023 in The Washington Times. Unfortunately for you Mr. May, you
forgot something crucial; it is something that has an easy name and must never
be forgotten. That thing is called credibility.
You see,
my friend, the purpose of language is to transmit the ideas generated by the brain
of one person to the brain of another person or a multitude of people. It is
like having a wellspring generating ideas in the way that natural wellsprings
are seen to spew water. The difference between the two is that the natural
wellspring floods the landscape whereas the ideas generated by one person are meant
to be received by the brains of other people.
This is
where credibility comes into play. It’s because unlike the landscape which
takes what the natural wellspring spews at it, the human brain that receives
ideas from another brain, wants to make sure that it is receiving a stream that’s
free of false ideas known as lies, and free of toxic ideas which, if embraced
and implemented, have the potential to cause serious damage.
You lose
credibility, you see your ideas rejected by the audience, and you become
ineffective as a communicator when you are seen to tell a small part of the
truth where the full truth — as demonstrated by events on the ground — is
called for. And you lose credibility when you are seen to contradict yourself
as you try to have it both ways.
Let me
show you where you are seen to tell a small part of the truth at a time when
the full truth is playing itself out in full view of the world. It was during the
boom years of China’s economic expansion, which used to take place at 10% per
year or better, year after year after year that China — saying it in words and
doing it in deeds — reassured humanity it seeks a peaceful world in which it
will contribute all it can to the prosperity of its people and those of the
world. In response, it was people like yourself, Clifford May, who stuffed corrosive
words into the mouth of George W. Bush; words he regurgitated as statements to
the effect that America will not let anyone equal it or surpass it.
And it was
the declaration of that doctrine which served as the energizer that woke up and
brought the beneficiaries of the military industrial complex to its feet. And
every member of that crowd who knew how to compose an essay, did the best they
could to tell of their plans for containing China more firmly than the Soviet
Union was contained during the Cold War years.
Guess what
this did to the Chinese who told in words and performed in deeds, activities
that reassured humanity of their interest in building a peaceful world; one in
which China will contribute all it can to the prosperity of its people and all
those of the planet. Well, my friend Clifford May, have you guessed? Let me
tell you what happened. The Chinese said to themselves and to others that Bush’s
proclamation, being the reality of what goes on in the world today, they have
no better option than to go Reaganesque
themselves and prepare for war to secure the peace. So now, guess what this has done to
the world? It started a new arms race that is proliferating not just here on
Earth but in outer space too.
In telling
half truths instead of the whole truth, you ignored the absolute law of nature
which says that every action produces the reaction that counters it. In fact, it
was the approach to presenting your point of view that eroded your credibility.
Your manner being to say fundamentally that we are the good people who deserve
to be in charge of the world at perpetuity, and they are the bad people who
want to grab the world, and rule over us by suppressing our human rights — you
have alienated everyone who may have a point of view that’s different from
yours. Considering that you are already in the minority, you’re sinking further
down the hole of incredulity and suspicion.
As to the habit
of contradicting yourself, it is shown in the reality that you advocate what
you say is possible when at other times, your explanations clearly indicate
that you believe they are impossible. Here is a stance you took at some point
in the article: “The analysts I trust say we can’t, at
this moment, be confident that we would win a conflict with China”.
This says that you recognize that China
has accomplished in less than two generations what the West has in more than two
centuries, even leapfrogged past America by a step that’s big enough to deter
it rather than be deterred by it.