If you are allowed to,lie endlessly, it's easy to make your case

The shameless JG editorial staff let the cat out of the bag when, in the “About the author” part of April’s Golden Pen Award they revealed that Bea Jonas’ won because her letter “was the month’s most effective.”  It’s easy to write an effective letter if you are not bothered by facts.  It’s easy when the JG editorial allows a writer to quote people wildly out of context.

Jonas leaves out of her quotes from Herbert Hoover, Margaret Thatcher, Ayn Rand and Adam Smith is that all were warning the people of relying too heavily on government entities.  Hoover’s definition of “rugged individualism” was that to be truly free, Americans required freedom from an overbearing onerous government – perhaps a government that would order citizens into unconstitutional house arrest for months on end.

When Margaret Thatcher said there was no such thing as society, she immediately followed that notion with this, “There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.”  Why would Jonas and the editors leave that part out??

Adam Smith’s truism that self-interest isn’t selfish but rather human nature is seen all round every day.  Airliners reinforce this notion on nearly every flight when they announce, in case of sudden cabin decompression when oxygen masks drop, passengers should put their own mask on first before helping small children.  Is that selfish?  No.  It’s obvious that the helpless are of little use during an emergency.  Smith himself made a distinction between self-interest and selfishness.  He knew that too much of the latter would lead a nation to ruin.

It’s easy to write an “effective” letter when a writer has no regard for context or truth and editors don't even pretend to be interested in the truth anymore.

Sunday, May 24, 2020 1:00 am

Golden Pen: April

Interconnectedness evident in times of crisis

As we grapple with the challenge of COVID-19, many long-held principles are being called into question.

Herbert Hoover's rugged individualism, for instance, which imagined an individual totally self-reliant and independent from all outside forces. What about Margaret Thatcher, who believed there was no such thing as society, only individual men, women and families, all looking out for themselves? Then there's Ayn Rand, who wrote that each man is an end to himself, with his own happiness as his highest moral purpose. Finally, there's Adam Smith, who believed that self-interest wasn't selfish at all, but simply human nature.

It's in times of crisis (war, disease, natural disaster) that the hollowness of such beliefs is finally revealed. The answer to the challenge we currently face isn't every man for himself, but we're all in this together. As the poet John Donne wrote, almost 400 years ago: “No man is an island, entire of itself, every man ... is a part of the main ... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. ...”

Or, in the more recent words of Jerry Seinfeld: “We're trying to have a civilization here!”