There was a time long ago when providing for the family or the tribe by hunting and gathering, meant that the most valued members of the clan were the males that exhibited brute force.
The
big and muscular earned the respect of the clan simply by being. Those who were
not endowed with a commanding appearance, earned respect by demonstrating superior
skills at hunting without the use of powerful muscles. When necessary, they
took on someone bigger and beat them, relying on fighting skills that
overwhelmed the brute force of the big and the muscular.
The gradual progress in science and technology
changed all that. More and more, earning a living depended, not on the physical
attributes of the provider, but on his or her ability at mastering a trade.
Dexterity, intelligence and adaptability became the attributes that a society
desired to see in its members.
But
because we are biological units that have not forgotten our past, we are still
impressed by the physical attributes of the big, the powerful and the beautiful
… but with a proviso. That is, we want to see those who are endowed, exhibit a
minimum level of civilized behavior. Otherwise, big or powerful, we think of
them as primitive Neanderthals, and treat them with contempt.
Things
get more complicated when we realize that everyone of us is both a player on
the stage of life and an observer watching everyone else. We also have an ego
that compels us to appreciate those who look like us more than those who don’t.
For this reason, it can happen that several of us watching the same person,
would formulate different opinions about him or her.
Appearance,
especially as a first impression, plays an important role in the way that we
treat each other. But then, familiarity with the people in the entourage,
causes us to gradually replace the first impression with the content of each
person’s character. This is true among ordinary mortals as it is among the
elites of high society and government. They all seek to develop the right
“chemistry” with their counterparts in other institutions or governments,
individuals with whom they end up negotiating a modus vivendi.
Fine,
I get it, you say, but does society really function that way? The answer is
yes, society does function that way when circumstances are close to ideal. But
there are always the outliers who would take you in a different direction where
they turn the abnormal into the “new” normal for as long as they can maintain
it.
You
can see an example of that in the article that came under the title: “Putin and
global sharks smell Biden’s weakness,” and the subtitle: “Russia, China and
Iran dismiss threats and drive beneficial compromises.” It was written by Jed
Babbin, and published on July 2, 2021 in The Washington Times.
Jed
Babbin makes it clear at the outset that given the choice between having a
president who projects brute force when dealing with foreign nations, and a
president who relies on intelligent diplomacy, he’ll take brute force. He
believes that President Joe Biden is not doing that, which is why Russia, China
and Iran are taking advantage of him, in Babbin’s view.
The
way that Babbin sees it, the situation is so bad, it makes Joe Biden look like
the stand-up comedian who used to go by the name Rodney Dangerfield; the one
that proclaimed, “I don’t get no respect.” And so, it is in international
affairs where Babbin sees that the macho rulers of Russia, China and Iran are
projecting a better image of their country than the image of America, Joe Biden
projects to the world. They get all the respect and he gets none, says Babbin.
To
prove his point, Jed Babbin cited the example of what happened immediately
after the summit meeting that took place between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin
in June of 2021. He asserts that, “Having shrugged off Mr. Biden’s mild rebukes
on cyberattacks and human rights,” Biden’s image faded quickly whereas that of
Putin grew immensely due to his performance. And so, Babbin proceeded to
enumerate Putin’s exploits. He said the following:
Only
days after the summit, Russia held massive air and sea exercises inside the
economic zone of Hawaii but outside its territorial waters. The Russians
claimed to have practiced sinking aircraft carriers, but did not actually sink
one. And when Russian aircraft came too close to Hawaii, American fighters
chased them away without firing a shot. Who was the macho in this performance,
and who wasn’t?
About
five days later, says Babbin, a British ship sailed through an area that Russia
claims to be its territorial waters. In a macho military dispatch, the Russians
said they fired at the British ship and dropped bombs near it. Astonished, the
Brits exclaimed: Bombs! What bombs? We never saw bombs or bullets. So, we must
ask: Who was the macho in this performance, and who wasn’t?
Apparently,
the Russians themselves were not happy with their performance whatever it was,
and so, they had their Deputy Foreign Minister warn that next time, Russia will
target the intruding ships. Well then, recalling the saying that goes: “loose
lips can sink ships,” we wonder: Who was the macho in this performance, and who
wasn’t?
As
if to fondly reminisce about the glory days of the Cold War, Jed Babbin went on
to say that the aggressive Russian response to the incidents off Hawaii and Russian
waters, reminded him of the Cold War days when it was America that intimidated
Russia, not the other way around like it’s happening now.
This
said, Jed Babbin went on to generalize that, “Russia, Iran and North Korea have
all concluded that Mr. Biden is weak and that they can get bigger compromises
from him than they give in return”.
Is
that it? Is this all that Jed Babbin wanted to say? Or did he have another
purpose in mind, that of sending a message to Joe Biden, telling him what to do
to look big, muscular and macho, an image that the world will fear and respect?
The answer is that Babbin was sending a message to Biden; one that reads as
follows:
“In
a speech to the Israeli parliament, Israel’s new prime minister, Naftali
Bennett said that the renewal of the Iran nuclear deal was a mistake”.
Mr. Biden is supposed to know what that means. It means that for an American president to look manly and be respected around the world, he must maintain his lips permanently glued to the rear end of Israel’s prime minister … or the rear end of any Jew, for that matter.