If you ever sat in a train waiting for it to leave the
station, and if for a second or two you felt that the station is moving away
while the train is standing still – that would be what I call the relativity of
perception.
In fact, what happens when the train begins to move is that,
for a second or two, it does so very quietly, and you do not realize you're
moving. But everything else that is outside the train's frame of reference
seems to move which is a false perception you become aware of when the train
picks up speed and starts shaking. This is when you realize you're the one
that's moving and not the station, or the frame of reference to which it
belongs.
In my view, this is a physical reality that has a psychological
counterpart. It is that we perceive the world through our own frame of mind.
And because psychology is not a very exact science, it can happen that layers
of distorting lenses may come between our mental frame of reference and the
reality that is out there. And this has the effect of further complicating our
effort to find out where our mental frame of reference is positioned relative
to that of the real world out there.
You can see how that theory works on Victor Davis Hanson
whose latest piece has come under the title: “Our Icarus-in-chief” and the
subtitle: “Obama's global fantasies are falling to earth along with him.” It
was published on February 4, 2014 in National Review Online. If you have been
reading him for the past little while, you would have noticed that he never
mentioned the Gulf Arab states without asserting they were “terrified of Iran .” And what
he does with his latest piece is go beyond that.
This time he speaks not only of the Sunni
Gulf monarchies being “terrified of Iran ,” he speaks also of China 's
“terrified neighbors.” And this is where you ask yourself if he perceives that
the nations of the world are taking turns quivering in their boots. Or might it
be that they stand still in their frame of reference while it is Victor Hanson
that is quivering inside his own frame of mind? And not realizing what is
happening.
What is it really that's happening with Hanson? What is he
terrified about? Well, reading his latest article, you see that he lists a
number of what appear to be hot spots in the world. He then comments: “Whether
all these are minor or serious; random or interconnected, depends on which …
provocateur starts a war or attempts to redraw a regional map.” But the reality
is that since the Second World War, only one bad actor (as defined by Hanson)
started a war; and as it happened, he paid for it with his life. That was
Saddam Hussein. Other than that, Israel
started half a dozen or so wars and lost them all; America started or participated in
a few dozen and got nothing but scorn from the rest of humanity. Is that what
is terrifying Hanson?
Apparently, he does not see the historical reality the way
it unfolded or he would have realized that America missed several
opportunities where it could have played a more constructive role. Instead, he
sees that things started to go bad only after young Barack Obama won the
election and became President. Using the analogy of Icarus who stuck wings to
himself and flew into the sky, Hanson went on to say that he “soared far too
high for his flimsy waxen wings. Now they are melting, and the American
commander-in-chief careens back to earth.” Yes, that would be scary if true.
So let's assume it is true. What negative consequences could
have come out of it? Good question because in trying to answer it, you discover
that the Hanson instinct may still be alive, and seeing through the lenses that
stand between his frame of mind and the world frame of reference out there. In
fact, Hanson sees that the Europeans took advantage of America , pretending to be “conveniently pacifist
[thus] eroded their defenses” and depended on America for their security needs.
As it turned out, they weren't exactly the pacifist they
pretended to be, but they discovered that Obama was the true pacifist who
preferred to spend the money improving life for the people at home rather than
fight useless wars abroad. The Europeans have thus become bewildered, but they
cannot pin anything on Obama because he has outmaneuvered them in every field
that is in the purview of the Ivy League where they used to tower over someone
like W. Bush, for example. Now they met their match, and he managed to outmatch
them. Is this what is terrifying Victor Hanson? If yes, why should it be?
But what about the Asians? Well, he says, there was a fantasy
swirling about them. In fact, it was one of two fantasies; the other being the
Mideastern fantasy. Well, tell us, what about these fantasies? They turned out
to be something different from what people were speculating. Which people were
these? You mean to say the Asian and Mideastern people fantasized and
speculated about themselves? No, no; that was not the case. It was the American
lefties who speculated about them. They said good things will come from China 's rise,
and from the so-called Arab Spring but nothing like that is happening.
Well then, tell us what is happening? Okay, I'll tell you
what is happening. China
is scaring its neighbors. As to the Arabs, they turned out to be tribal,
intolerant, misogynous, authoritarian and anti-Semitic. And they did not need
the Brits, the Russians, the Americans or the Bush family to make them this
bad; they did it on their own. Maybe that's what is terrifying Hanson. Maybe he
fears for Israel ,
his only real preoccupation.
But tell us this, Mr. Hanson, neither the Asians nor the
Arabs are saying things about themselves, are they? What you said is the
product of your own perception of them, is it not? Yes, that is correct; it is
how I perceive them.
And you believe this is why Obama is dropping back to earth.
Is this correct? Yes it is. Okay, but tell us this: Where are you going from
here?