{"id":2146239,"date":"2024-01-11T07:13:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T12:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-country-for-old-men-shows-why-there-can-be-no-compromise-with-evil-like-hamas\/"},"modified":"2024-01-11T07:22:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T12:22:08","slug":"no-country-for-old-men-shows-why-there-can-be-no-compromise-with-evil-like-hamas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-country-for-old-men-shows-why-there-can-be-no-compromise-with-evil-like-hamas\/","title":{"rendered":"No Country For Old Men: No Compromise with Evil Like Hamas"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fno-country-for-old-men-shows-why-there-can-be-no-compromise-with-evil-like-hamas%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2146239&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>The Moral Clarity\u2062 of the Israel-Palestine Conflict<\/h2>\n<p>The moral valence of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doe-eyes-using-math-class-to-achieve-racial-justice\/\" title=\"DOE Eyes Using Math Class to Achieve Racial Justice\">real-world situations<\/a> is often complicated, with more gray than black and white.\u2063 But\u200d other times, the \u2064moral clarity of a conflict\u2062 is evident. So it \u200dis with the ongoing conflict\u200d between Israel\u200b and Palestine after Hamas terrorists carried out their brutal assault on Israeli civilians just over three months \u2064ago.<\/p>\n<p>I couldn\u2019t help but think of this\u200c war as I reread Cormac McCarthy\u2019s <em>No Country for Old \u2064Men<\/em> with one of my classes. We\u200c read the \u2062book for\u200b what it can tell us about cultural breakdown in the wake of the 1960s, rampant\u2062 materialism and \u2064the loss \u200bof religion, and the furious\u200c violence of which men are\u2063 capable when they\u200c are not properly culturally regulated.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1040820368\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8435897f3afd4dbe4edd690e24fdb6f3 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8435897f3afd4dbe4edd690e24fdb6f3\"><\/div>\n<p>This time through the book, however, I was called especially to the narrative it\u2063 offers\u2062 of how \u2063one must deal with unmitigated evil.<\/p>\n<p>In the novel, Llewelyn Moss is being \u2063pursued \u2062by Anton Chigurh, the sinister and quasi-mythological archetype of criminal insanity\u2064 who wants \u200bthe money \u200dMoss appropriated from the gory scene\u200c of a \u2062shootout at a \u2064drug deal gone \u200bwrong. When Chigurh arrives at his hotel, kills \u200cthe clerk, and obtains the key to Moss\u2019s room, he finds\u2062 it seemingly deserted. But when he looks in the bathroom, Moss gets the\u2064 drop on him.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>\u201cDon\u2019t turn around,\u201d<\/strong> he orders Chigurh. <strong>\u201cYou turn around and I\u2019ll blow you to hell.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>After taking Chigurh\u2019s gun and\u2063 walking him down the hallway, however, Moss inexplicably flees without eliminating the threat \u2014 but he doesn\u2019t get far. Eventually, he \u200cis found by others pursuing \u2063the drug money and shot dead.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a47b842c311a2aa7d23240b04257e6b4 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a47b842c311a2aa7d23240b04257e6b4\"><\/div>\n<p>Chigurh, meanwhile, tracks down Moss\u2019s young wife, Carla Jean, as \u2064her death is part of the dark ethic by which \u200bhe operates. The scene in\u200d which Chigurh murders Carla Jean is one of the most unbearable \u200din \u2064the book.\u200d She is a good woman who has done \u200dnothing except love and support the man to whom she is married. He clearly loved her just as\u200b fiercely but\u200d let her down \u2014 in taking\u2064 the money in the first place\u2063 and setting the whole thing into action, and then\u2062 in egotistically believing he\u200d could win against overpowering malign\u2062 forces. Most profoundly, he failed her in having refused\u2062 the\u2062 opportunity\u2064 to eliminate \u2064a force of evil when he had it.<\/p>\n<p>This\u2062 same\u200c theme \u2014 the protagonist\u2062 who has\u2063 the opportunity\u200c to dispatch abject evil and does not do so, out of misplaced mercy, \u200dand later pays the ultimate price for his mistake \u2014 can be found \u2062elsewhere in McCarthy\u2019s novels. \u2064In <em>Blood Meridian<\/em>, the kid has several\u200d chances to destroy the judge, the very incarnation of war and \u2063bloodlust, but does\u2064 not\u200c take \u2064them. By the\u200d novel\u2019s conclusion, he becomes \u200cyet another of\u200b the\u2063 judge\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n<p>What is it in evil \u2062that distinguishes \u200dit \u2062from good? Chigurh tells\u200b Carla Jean, and \u2064us, just before he\u200d coldly murders her. <strong>\u201cYou don\u2019t have to\u2026 You \u2064don\u2019t,\u201d<\/strong> she pleads. \u2064She presents no immediate\u200b danger to him. But perhaps she could describe him \u200bto \u200cthe \u2062police and in this way \u200csomehow aid in his eventual\u2064 capture. <strong>\u201cYou\u2019re asking that I make myself vulnerable and that I can never do,\u201d<\/strong> he responds.<\/p>\n<p>What is \u2063vulnerability? It \u200bis the\u200c act of accepting one\u2019s weakness and trusting the other, even though such trust is always \u2063an act of\u200b blind faith, impossible to \u200dbase \u200con \u2063anything other than love and \u2064acceptance. The\u2063 other can \u2064always turn on you, \u2063betray\u2063 you, \u200dharm you. \u200dTo make \u200dyourself vulnerable\u200d before\u2064 him is the\u2064 most primordial act of humbling oneself.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-635c65ad15dad731c134b7ebc4a6c731 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-635c65ad15dad731c134b7ebc4a6c731\"><\/div>\n<p>Evil can never do this. Evil is\u2063 that which is never vulnerable, which\u2063 crushes \u200dthe\u200d act \u2062of truth and faith by its inability \u200bto humble itself, and which pursues\u200c only domination.<\/p>\n<p>To fail to \u200bact appropriately toward evil \u200cis to participate \u2062in its survival. Good, even in \u2064the quite\u200c less than\u200d pure\u2064 form of Llewelyn Moss, is called to stand\u2063 against\u200c evil. This cannot mean sacrificing itself,\u200c as this will entail, logically extended, the \u2062elimination of good and the proliferation of evil.<\/p>\n<p>What then must the good do? It must destroy evil. \u2064Moss should have\u2064 shot\u2062 Chigurh before he turned around. By the logic of the\u200b novel, he \u200dwould\u200d not therefore have saved \u2062his own life, since it was the Mexican drug cartel\u200d members who eventually \u200dcaught up with him. But he would have \u2064saved the life of his loving and beloved wife. And he would\u2063 have saved the untold number of victims that lay in the brutal and evil killer\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p>The central figure in\u200b the \u200bnovel, Sheriff Bell, speaks \u200demotionally \u2062of \u200cthe \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gingrich-says-mike-johnson-will-unify-people-with-solid-conservative-and-moderate-approach\/\" title=\"Gingrich believes Mike Johnson will unite people through a balanced conservative and moderate approach.\">deep religious belief<\/a> of his wife, his anchor in the world. In\u200c her deep faith, she might well remind us that judgment is always \u2064and \u2063finally God\u2019s. This much is true. Sometimes, though, God requires us to act to\u200c show our\u2064 own\u200d commitment to the \u2064good,\u2063 and precisely \u2062to hasten the moment at\u2063 which\u200b His\u2064 judgment of evil may \u2064take place.<\/p>\n<p>This brings\u200d me back to Israel and Hamas.\u200b As my\u200d class was finishing the \u2064novel, I thought of \u200dhow so much \u2062of the Western\u2064 media, political, and intellectual elite has been\u200d saying the same monolithic thing about the defensive response of \u200ba \u2064people\u200d simply trying to live amid surrounding enemies who every day tell the world\u2062 of their desire\u2063 to\u200d exterminate the\u200d Jews \u2014 every man, woman, and child. <strong>\u201cThere must be a ceasefire,\u201d<\/strong> \u200d goes the mantra. <strong>\u201cWe must recognize moral\u200b ambiguity.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of course, war is almost\u2063 always more complicated than a showdown between two men like Chigurh and Moss. No one celebrates the\u200b dying\u2062 of Palestinian children\u200c under Israeli bombs. But why\u200c are those bombs\u2064 falling?<\/p>\n<p>Because the \u200bPalestinian people in Gaza selected as\u200b their leaders a terrorist gang \u2062that has been\u2064 explicit\u200b about \u2064their evil \u2063designs for\u2064 decades, \u2063a terrorist \u200cgang \u200cthat a \u2064majority of Palestinians still support today. Because Hamas did \u200cwhat evil entities can be counted on to do \u2014 that is, it deliberately \u2063and enthusiastically committed \u200datrocities. And because\u2064 it promises more atrocities \u200dif it is not stopped.<\/p>\n<p>If \u2064Hamas genuinely\u2062 wanted no Palestinian children to die in the war it began, it needed only to surrender and dissolve its organization. Even \u2063short of that, it could greatly reduce the amount\u2062 of suffering to innocents in Gaza \u200cby giving up the practice, vastly documented by many sources, of using its own citizenry as human shields against the attack that was called \u2063forth \u2063by its own savagery.\u200b But it does not\u200d do these things,\u200c and \u200cwe can safely \u2063predict it will not do them.<\/p>\n<p>Why? Because\u200d it is \u2064a force of evil.<\/p>\n<p>The complexities\u200b here \u200bare \u2064obfuscations of a basic reality. The\u2062 story of Israel \u200cand Hamas \u200cis the same as the one of Moss\u2063 and Chigurh. \u2062Moss is incompletely and waveringly good,\u200b certainly, but at his \u2063core, he is \u2063on the \u200bright\u2064 side of the moral binary. The same is true of Israel. Chigurh and Hamas, however, are not \u200bmorally\u200b gray entities. They are evil through and through.<\/p>\n<p>You \u2062cannot \u2064coexist with unconditional evil, and Hamas is just that. There \u2062are only two ways: <em>You will destroy it, or it \u200dwill destroy you<\/em>. Israel has chosen, and all those who\u2064 properly understand the nature of the war of\u2062 good and evil \u2062are compelled to\u2062 recognize the correctness of its choice.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8474464b248f0cc0cb415513895cca65 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8474464b248f0cc0cb415513895cca65\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> In situations where evil is present, what is the responsibility of\u2063 the good and why is \u200cfailure to act appropriately detrimental?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Llewelyn Moss and Anton Chigurh. It involves\u200c nations, ideologies, historical grievances, and complex power dynamics. But sometimes, the moral clarity \u2062of a conflict cannot be denied. The ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict is one\u2063 such example.<\/p>\n<p>Just over three months ago, Hamas terrorists carried out a brutal assault on Israeli civilians, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lindsey-graham-doubles-down-on-call-for-putins-assassination\/\" title=\"Lindsey Graham Doubles Down on Call for Putin\u2019s Assassination\">killing innocent men<\/a>, women, and children. This act of violence shook\u200d the world and highlighted the urgent need \u2063for action against this evil. It reminded me \u2064of Cormac\u2063 McCarthy&#8217;s novel, &#8220;No Country for \u2062Old Men,&#8221; which delves into \u2063the narrative of dealing with unmitigated evil.<\/p>\n<p>In the novel, Llewelyn Moss has the\u2064 opportunity to eliminate Anton Chigurh, the embodiment of\u2062 criminal\u2064 insanity. However, Moss chooses to spare him and pays the ultimate price for his misplaced mercy. Similarly, in McCarthy&#8217;s other novel, \u200b&#8221;Blood Meridian,&#8221; the \u2063protagonist\u2063 has multiple chances to destroy the judge, a symbol of war and \u2064bloodlust, but fails to do so and \u200bbecomes another victim.<\/p>\n<p>What distinguishes evil from \u200dgood? Chigurh, in a chilling\u200b moment before murdering Carla Jean, explains that vulnerability is what differentiates the two. To make oneself vulnerable \u200bis to humbly accept weakness and \u200dtrust the\u200c other. \u2064Evil, on\u200c the\u200c other hand, refuses \u2064to be vulnerable, crushes truth and faith, and seeks only domination.<\/p>\n<p>When confronted with evil, it is the duty of the \u200cgood to stand against it. Failure to act appropriately merely contributes to its survival. In the case of Moss, \u2062he should have shot Chigurh \u2063before he had the chance to harm anyone else. By doing so, he would have \u2064saved not only his own life but also the lives of others.<\/p>\n<p>Turning our attention to the Israel-Palestine conflict, we see a\u200b similar dynamic at play.\u2062 The Western media, political leaders, and intellectuals often emphasize moral ambiguity and call for a\u2063 ceasefire.\u200c While it is true that war is\u200b complex, we cannot overlook the fact that Israel is a nation trying to defend itself from enemies who openly express their \u2064desire to\u2064 exterminate the Jewish people.<\/p>\n<p>In situations like these, there is a need to recognize the moral\u200b clarity of the conflict. The defensive response of the Israeli people should not be downplayed or undermined. They are simply trying to live in peace while surrounded by enemies\u200c who wish to\u200d see their destruction.<\/p>\n<p>It is important \u2064to remember that judgment ultimately lies \u2063with God. However, there are times when we must act to demonstrate our commitment to the good and hasten the moment when evil is held accountable. In the Israel-Palestine conflict, it \u2062is crucial to support Israel&#8217;s right to defend itself and take decisive action against \u2062those who seek to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-removes-soros-supported-district-prosecutor-for-not-enforcing-law\/\" title=\"DeSantis ousts Soros-backed prosecutor for law noncompliance.\">harm innocent lives<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, while moral clarity \u200dis often hard\u2064 to come by in the complexities of real-world conflicts, \u2062there\u200b are times when it becomes evident. The\u2062 ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict is one such situation. \u2064It is crucial that we recognize \u200bthe need for action\u2062 against\u2062 evil and stand with \u200cthose who are fighting to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doug-collins-what-feels-good-does-not-always-heal-you-these-bipartisan-gun-control-measures-are-a-cruel-charade\/\" title=\"Doug Collins: What Feels Good Does Not Always Heal You \u2013 These Bipartisan Gun Control Measures Are a Cruel Charade\">protect innocent lives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The moral complexity of real-life situations is often nuanced, with shades of gray prevailing over clear-cut distinctions. However, there are instances where the moral righteousness of a conflict is unmistakable. This is the case with the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, following the heinous attack by Hamas terrorists on Israeli civilians three months ago. I couldn&#8217;t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2123,"featured_media":2146240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2146239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2146239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2146240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2146239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2146239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2146239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}