Captain Picard on Politics
February 25th, 2008
Is there still a place for isolationism in the modern world?
Sometimes “beings of great power” are better off left alone. And rather than condemn what we don’t understand, it is an act of superlative wisdom and maturity to admit that our ignorance is often the foundational cause of our fear. There is still a practical and even precious place for aspects of an isolationist political philosophy in the modern world.
The need for a foreign policy that is at least in part isolationistic stems from our limited ability to discern truth. Conquering an annoying penchant for moral imposition, America must learn that the age old battle between good and evil is not black and white. At least not the black and the white we’re used to. Could it be that occidental morality—in the political sense—is not a political panacea?
Having said that, I do believe in ultimate truth, and in permanent, divine principles; I’m not trying to undermine the veracity of these. What I am doing, is trying to shed light on the limitations of our understanding of truth and divine principles. Captain Jean-Luc Picard profoundly understood these limitations. I think we can learn much from his example:
February 27th, 2008 at 10:03 PM Look, I know this is incredibly geeky. But it's worth a laugh.