Or: The Joy of Fisking Arianna Huffington

Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite writers because he brings to current politics and punditry an awareness of classical history that is unparalleled. One can indeed learn so much from history — as indicated by several negative examples from the Democrats and the leftist elite in Hanson’s latest column, “The Past As Politics.” The column is a must-read for those who wish to guard against liberals who pretend knowledge of the history of Western Civilization, let alone our own country.

A beautiful example of this is Hanson’s inspired fisking of leftwing gadfly Arianna Huffington, who may have been a little too distracted thinking about the next private plane flight she could beg off of one of her jet-setting friends to have researched a bold claim she made.

On July 21, Arianna Huffington, on her Huffington Post blog, drew on her Greek heritage to warn us that Iraq is like the Athenians’ 415 B.C. disastrous attack on the Sicilian city of Syracuse. So, she huffs, “Maybe someone should send Karl Rove a copy of Thucydides.”

She should, instead, carefully reread her own copy of the historian’s work. The Athenians attacked a democracy larger than their own. Yet Thucydides implies that Athens still could have taken Syracuse had its generals and the people back home not bickered amongst themselves. Perhaps if the United States attacked India and lost, Ms. Huffington’s analogy might make sense.

Even wearing one’s cultural heritage as a badge is no defense against utter ignorance. But then again, what liberal ever cares to get the facts right before launching into an attack on a conservative, when emotion and vindictiveness can be used instead to rile the masses? My theory: the key is that liberals project their own ignorance onto others. It is true that most Americans probably wouldn’t know Thucydides from Simon Cowell, so the liberal elite can often actually bet that, due to the ignorance of the little folk, their careless or even disengenuous readings of history will slide.

There are many more examples in Hanson’s short and insightful column. I leave you with what I will now call Hanson’s First Law:

So, the next time someone quotes philosopher George Santayana for the umpteenth time that “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” just assume that what follows will probably be wrong. Having a Rolodex of cocktail party quotes to beef-up an argument is not the same as the hard work of learning about the past.

Hat Tip: Bergbikr

Cross-posted at TMH’s Bacon Bits.

Said The MaryHunter @ 6:43 am | Permalink   

1. Amazing. You managed to shoehorn “history” and “liberal” into the same sentence without cracking a smile. How did you do that?!?

   Comment by David — 7/31/2005 @ 2:22 pm

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2. David, it was accomplished by sheer will and concentration.

   Truthfully, I soiled my shorts.

   Comment by The MaryHunter — 7/31/2005 @ 2:29 pm

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