History Keeps Repeating Itself

Hordes of barbarians from a huge country in the east invading a small country in the west – a country where western civilization had its roots; sound familiar? It should. It has happened over and over throughout history.

With my recent eye problems I have trouble reading, so I’ve been watching DVD movies much of the time. Yesterday I watched the 300, an epic struggle that took place in ancient Greece in a place called Thermopylae.

While watching 300, the thought occurred to me that it could be considered a morality play – a metaphor for the War on Terror now ongoing. There was the intrepid king, Leonidas, who moved the 300 Spartan soldiers to the narrow pass to cut off the massive army of invading Persians. Leonidas, who was opposed by the liberals in the Council, could be compared to President Bush, who, like Leonidas, saw the danger and the need for action. As usual, the liberals wanted to do nothing and hope that the danger would pass. They were led by the treacherous Theron, who might be a latter day Senator Reid or Durbin, or Congressman Murtha or Pelosi. This is because Theron worked actively behind the scenes to undermine Leonidas while he was fighting and risking his career and his life to save Sparta.

Before making his decision to stop the Persians at Thermopylae, though, Leonidas asked the advice of a group of priests called Ephors, who consulted oracles before giving advice. Since the Ephors had previously been bribed by Xerxes, the Persian emperor, the comparison with the United Nations is smashingly obvious, with Saddam being the current bribe-giver (Oil for Food Scandal). The Ephors told Leonidas not to fight against the Persians, while the U.N. passed another resolution.

Meanwhile Ephialtes, a wretched hunchback who despised Leonidas (Bush Derangement Syndrome?) sneaked over to the Persian side to meet with Xerxes, and revealed to him a hidden path that would allow the Persians to outflank the 300. Ephialtes could be compared to the New York Times who revealed to the world and to our terrorist enemies the existence of a top secret surveillance program that listened in on the terrorists’ activities and plans – a program that had already saved thousands of lives from the bombs of Islamic fanatics.

Although the Spartan 300 lost the day at Thermopylae, their actions led to a coming together of Greek city-states to form a combined army that soundly defeated the huge Persian army. In other words, a surge followed early losses and led to victory over the barbarians.

A couple of quotes attributed to Winston Churchill are appropriate here:

"We sleep soundly in our beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf."

And

“If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”