Pirates, Dictators, and Longing for Security
Why do people root for the rebel resistance in movies but crave paternalistic authority in real life?
Whenever I’m in the Mediterranean I’m reminded of the rich lore of piracy. In the popular imagination, piracy is associated with the Golden Age of Piracy in the New World between about 1650-1726. The genesis of the public’s fascination with pirates was the 1883 publication of Treasure Island, by Robert Lewis Stevenson, which has inspired dozens of books and films, most recently the Pirates of the Caribbean. Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow may explain why, in a recent survey, women claimed to find the archetypal characters of pirates and vampires the most sexually attractive.
The Mediterranean’s has a long history of piracy going back to the ancient world. Piracy presented a major headache for the Roman Republic until the Senate granted Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (known in English as Pompey) special power in 67 B.C. to assemble a large expeditionary fleet and wipe out piracy throughout the Med.
Pompey performed this task with extraordinary organization and energy. At the same time, he surprised many by offering many of the pirates clemency in return for vowing never to return to piracy and to swear allegiance to Rome. In this instance, his character contrasted with that of Julius Caesar, who was once, as a young man, captured and held ransom by pirates while he was on his way to Rhodes to study with local philosophers.
Caesar was friendly to the pirates and encouraged them to raise the ransom amount to reflect his status. At the same time, he promised them that, someday, when he was a powerful man, he would hunt them down and crucify them. They thought he was joking. He wasn’t, and he later kept his promise.
Conservative and sensible members of the Roman Senate acknowledged that Pompey had done a great service by eliminating the pirate menace, but they also correctly perceived that he would use the occasion to augment his personal power at the expense of the Roman constitution. They understood that when the people are frightened and crave security, they are always tempted to cede far too much power to ambitious men who proclaim to provide safety. Human nature being what it is, the powerful “protector” will, in turn, often be tempted to abuse his augmented power.
Pompey did, in fact, amass great personal power following his campaign against the pirates until he was ultimately defeated by the forces of Julius Caesar in the civil war that began in 49 B.C. After losing the decisive Battle of Pharsalus, he sought refuge in Egypt, where he was promptly murdered by a Roman mercenary in the employ of Ptolemy VIII, who feared that Pompey would try to conquer Egypt. Upon hearing of Pompey’s death in Egypt, Cicero is said to have remarked, “His life outlasted his power.”
Years of prosperity and security have caused many Americans (who are ignorant of history) to forget that ruthless men and women often cloak their ambitions in benevolent sounding promises of “caring” about the people and wanting to protect them from the dangers of the world. In a recent press interview to promote his new book, Dr. Anthony Fauci proclaimed that “caring is in my DNA.” Gag me with a spoon as Valley Girls used to say.
This morning, while contemplating the Pirates of the Mediterranean, a friend sent me the following:
This reason for this is that the cinema is a safe space in which people may indulge in fantasies, while the real world may occasionally be visited by frightening things such as reports of a novel respiratory virus emanating from Wuhan, China.
They live vicariously. It’s quite exciting to imagine oneself as the fearless, fuck you, I’m not your property and I don’t answer to corrupt losers. You’re going to answer to me, to them!
And be ready to act on it. As we watch what happens to those who are perceived as a threat. Particularly when you’re on the wrong side of narrative. Stand up to the Marxist-Jihadists, the unidentified hordes crashing the borders, BLM/Antifa violent mobs… 100,000 Americans attended the J-6 “ Stop The Steal “ Rally. They weren’t armed , they weren’t violent, but the few who “ acted out”, set up and and encouraged by FBI plants, pepper-sprayed, beaten, shoved into the people in front of them , crushed, framed.. 1200 Americans imprisoned in solitary 23 hours daily. Without hearings, attorneys, allowed phone calls, family visits,daily, beaten, denied medical treatment, without a hearing, a trial, threatened, coerced… Denny Tarrio was sentenced to 37 years. He was in Miami and had no involvement. Brandon Straka, the gay hairdresser who had enough of the Dem tyranny, switched to Trump and started #WalkAway , which grew till a massive grassroots movement. Completely non-violent, really kind, wonderful people of every faction of the spectrum… was prosecuted, terrorized, imprisoned, broken. His crime? He attended the rally, had a permit to congregate with a small group of members on the lawn, removed from the throng.
Mike Flynn, Giuliani, Pete Navarro, Roger Stone, Weisselberg, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Manafort, Ezra Cohen-Watnick,Bannon, KT McFarland, Pappadapoulis, Kash Patel, Andy Ngo, John Solomon, Devin Nunes, Lynn Powell, Monica Crowley, Mark Steyn, Lou Dobbs, James O’Keefe, Matt Taibbi, Peter Pry, Trish Regan, Dana Rorabacher,Toensig, DiGenova,Nicholas Wade, Alex Epstein, Dr. Robert Epstein, his wife, OAN News, Drs Stephen Hatfill,Harvey Risch, Ryan Cole, Simone Gold, Stella Emmanuel, Martin Kuldorff, Ramon Oswui, Smith, Battacharaya, Marty Makary, Zev Zelenko, Meryl Nass,Mikovitz,Montagnier, Scott Atlas, Asra Nomani, Naomi Wolf, Generals Lyon, Tata, Lt General Tony Shaffer, Dave Reaboi, Zudhi Jasser, Phil Haney, the Uranium One Whistleblower, the shopowner who turned in Hunter’s laptop, the father of the rape victim at the school board meeting, the person with Ashley Biden’s diary, Sara Carter, the PP body parts for sale whistleblower,RFK Jr, Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, Tucker CarlsonBret Weinstein, Roseanne,Miranda Devine, Chris Farrell, Jenna Ellis… a sampling of harassed, persecuted, targeted, surveilled, framed,imprisoned, financially and professionally ruined, smeared debased, cancelled, coerced, threatened, disbarred, lost medical licenses, disappeared, dead… And Trump. He may be obnoxious, but that describes half the body politic, many who are corrupt beyond conceivable, but Trump hasn’t committed a crime and hasn’t been given a moment’s respite from multilateral sabotage, abuse , extrajudicial prosecution for created crimes and non crimes…. and the latest and most despicable government abuse- Tulsi Gabbard. Tulsi Gabbard. Unconscionable.
It seems every “ Howard Beale” becomes Howard Beale. Dead or fearing for their lives. We’ve entered the post-1984 Brave New World. It’s not only here. UK, France, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Scotland, Netherlands,Philippines,Nigeria, South Africa, Greece,Japan… we’re becoming the Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela, Turkey, China, Iran,the beginning of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, Franco, Ceacescu,…. Russia is beginning to appear less dictatorial.
Maybe enough people will soon tire of second hand living. Or become willful slaves- Owning nothing, ceding all privacy and loving their servitude. Huxley was inexplicably prescient.
Earlier today I saw this quote attributed to Einstein: "The world is a dangerous place, not because of men that do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."