On Character

In a time so full of liars and dissemblers

I stayed up late Saturday night watching two Russel Crowe films, Robinhood (2010) and Gladiator (2000). It has been awhile since I watched a film, Hollywood doesn’t make much anymore that isn’t ideological preachy woke or dumb down retread, so despite that I have seen both previously I watched them again. Both films were directed by Ridley Scott. Both films are very much modern takes on the hero’s journey, character in the face of tyranny and violent oppression, and the inherent rights of the individual. Both films are exceedingly violent, while the sexual tension between Crowe and Kate Blanchett in Robinhood and Crowe and Connie Nielson in Gladiator is a stirring counterpoint. There is some poetry in both films, a lot of cliche, and some epic historical scenery. Fun, not very deep but inspiring films, and I was struck wondering, can you even make such films as these anymore? 2000 and even 2010 seem like such innocent times, compared to 2022.

I suppose I watched these films again because it feels like we have been heading into more overt forms of tyranny. The left loves to talk about the fascism of the right in terms of book banning, limiting the right to vote, questioning the 2020 election, white supremacy (that bottomless bugaboo), but then celebrates cancel culture, the politicization of the FBI and DOJ, the wiping out of history, covid policy authoritarianism, neo-nazi’s in Ukraine, censorship in the form of collusion between government and big tech, mutilating and sterilizing kids, a controlled demolition of the economy in the name of saving the planet and digital currency to make canceling people more efficient and deadly. Now that the left is mostly silent about the CDC voting for a blanket liability shield for Phizer and Moderna in the name of jabbing kids for covid every year, all of the above starts to speak to the destruction of America, increasing globalist totalitarianism and a controlled culling of the global population, deliberate or not - Robin Hood and Maximus start looking like models for behavior.

How do I know I am not woke? I never hear the woke talk about character. Character for much of the activist left is playing a role in a narrative. The narrative may be one thing, like saving the planet, but playing the character of earth justice warrior assassinating the character of your political enemies, cancelling people for wrongthink and advocating for policies that would lead to mass death, ignoring science while claiming to own it, is not moral character. Playing a character requires you to merely play the role, it requires no real sense of self. The Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation trial was an extreme example of the effect of playing characters but having none.

Excellence in moral character and integrity comes from overcoming challenges and difficulties, making mistakes, learning from them and becoming stronger for it. It is the willingness to hear many viewpoints, discerning what is true, leaving the rest. It is having a firm sense of self that is not threatened by other people who have different views, recognizing that freedom for everybody depends on the freedom of fools to be foolish as long as they aren’t harming anybody but themselves. It is knowing who I am, resilient in that, not collapsing in the face of criticism, or raging. Character is doing what you say you will. It is having a moral center your ego is humbled to.

It was refreshing then to hear my substack brother-in-arms Grant Smith of H2F Man and The Radical American Mind, talking with Jordan Karr and Bret Weinstein on The Darkhorse Podcast, about the importance of character in the military and in life generally. Chris Bray appreciated it too.

Grant is an active service member, Army Major. He is an expert on troop readiness, a leader in the Army’s new Holistic Health and Fitness training, and not afraid to claim that expertise, in a time of so much skepticism about the “experts.” He is unvaccinated, fighting the DOD jab mandate and for medical freedom in the military. He writes about troop preparedness and resilience, a great deal about structures of coercion, and how much covid mandates and woke policies have damaged military preparedness and belief and faith in military service.

It was interesting, hearing Grant talk so much about spirituality and purpose, while calling himself an atheist. That is character, being able to talk about spirituality while disavowing the existence of God or gods, while affirming the believer, while also arguing along with Bret that under the law any core belief firmly held is legally justified in a religious objection to covid vaccines.

Jordan Karr’s family has a long history in the military. Her great-grandfather was in the German military during World War II, who refused to participate in the Holocaust and was jailed for it, losing everything except his life and the content of his character. Karr was discharged unceremoniously from Air Force Intelligence for refusing to be jabbed for covid. She talked about how inspiring her great-grandfather has always been for her. She talked about how infectious courage can be, how speaking out against tyranny encourages others to do so. Both she and Grant let Bret know, Bret was one of the first to stand up to the woke, he paid a price for that but his strength and courage inspire many of us, particularly in the time of covid.

All three agreed, covid mandates have harmed military readiness, and that without a military functioning well and protecting constitutional principles and especially the First Amendment, then we do not have a country. They openly speculated as to how these mandates make it look as if our enemies seek to weaken our ability to protect the nation, that it is deliberate demoralization.

Grant was denied his request for an exemption from the covid jab. He is appealing. It is quite astonishing he is as vocal as he is about the jabs, and has not been exiled from the armed forces. Part of that is, he is blameless, an exemplar of be all you can be, a dedicated family man, devoted to constitutional principles, he doesn’t drink or smoke, he is a physical trainer. He is highly intelligent. He is 6’7” tall. His very being makes a mockery of covid mandates.

Sadly, a lot of service members have been exiled, just as people have from governments and businesses including health care, taking a stand against the jabs, despite the fact that the jabs do not prevent transmission and perhaps even have negative efficacy, making catching covid and exacerbating other illnesses more likely the more boosters one takes.

A lack of character is revealed all across America, in all this. It is almost 2023 and most people in power and in the management class continue to justify canceling people for challenging covid policy that is fundamentally not based on any real science. A lack of character is seen in the endless stream of lies about covid and a host of other things, flowing from government and the media, and in those who believe the lies without question. The lack of character in the vote to add covid jabs to the kids vaccine registry is breathtaking, both in those who voted for it and those who defend it. It is absolutely seen in the military, about covid and woke policies, and the failure to clean house after the war on terror, now metastasizing into a new bioweapons race reminiscent of nuclear madness, no less insane, this one a lot harder to control there are so many players, the bar of entry so comparatively low. It takes courage to face this openly.

Courage is indeed infectious, and a lot better for your character than belief in the jabs. We need a lot more courage and depth of character in America just now. Bret, Jordan and Grant are excellent models of what character and courage looks like, in this time of narrative actors modeling all manner of coercive violence while preening themselves as savers of the world. Calm, rational, honest, fierce courage and character, models of how to stand up to covid authoritarianism and tyranny of every kind.

Grant got a little “cheesy” toward the end, quoting Braveheart, “Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!

To borrow a few narrative hooks from the films mentioned earlier, “strength and honor,” and “Rise and rise again until lambs become lions.” Also, thanks Bob Moran: