Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 8: 18 "He reduces the feudal lords to submission by causing them harm."

I've gone off on this before. Feudalism simply was NOT bad. It makes me CRAZY when Minford calls the bad guys feudal lords. I hate that. We'll turn to Giles, shortly. But let's solve the damned problem, now. Enemies. Enemy Lords. enemy Chiefs. Enemy Generals. There. That's it.

Listen to how nicely it reads now: "He reduces the enemy generals to submission by causing them harm."

Voila. Now that's the right way to say it.

Damn.

If I could, I'd shake my favorite translator's neck and say, stop with the attacks on feudalism. It was just a system. It had its weaknesses, okay. But it had phenomenal strengths. And, for the record, I love feudalism. So there. Also, ancient China was NOT feudalistic.

Feudalism is from Europe, not China. Whatever it was they had in China was a different thing. Maybe similar, but NOT what we mean by feudalism. You'll have to forgive me if I go off about this again. I study the swordsmanship of knights. European knights. Feudalistic knights.

While I'm being technical, nobody in the feudal period ever claimed to be a feudalist. Rather it was just the stuff that happened. The term "feudalism" was coined in the 19th century, long after feudalism was over. Forgive me, please, if I'm losing you with the technicalities.

We have enemy generals, today. There are always enemy generals. So, while I will always faithfully quote Minford's terms, this is one I reject passionately. Screed over.

Ah, honor to Minford. He saves the day with the following quote. Get ready!

Jia Lin: "There are many ways of doing this [reducing the enemy generals to submission by causing them harm]. He can entice away the enemy's best and wisest men, so that he is left without ministers."

"He can induce traitors into the enemy's ranks and render his government ineffectual. He can sow dissention between ruler and ministers, by means of intrigue and deceit. He can cause exhaustion among the enemy's men and squandering of his treasury, through subtle scheming."

"He can corrupt the enemy's morals with sensual pleasure. He can unsettle his mind with lovely women. All of these methods, if carried out with subtlety and secrecy, can harm the enemy and reduce him to submission."

So, what's the key here. You can cause your enemy harm by many ways. You must be open to them all. Many of them will be outside your comfort zone. That's okay. There really is a difference between an enemy state and an opposition party. The same rules do not apply, automatically.

Allow me my most favored approach. Logic. Pick any progressive left position and focus on its logic. Free education. The students hate the teachers, and rebel. So, we write laws giving the teachers parental powers during the school day. Yep, another story to illustrate.

My oldest son competed and won a slot in a very prestigious school program in Massachusetts. Then, the teachers were completely incompetent and the children (inmates?) took over the program (asylum?). Big problems. I attempt to meet with the leadership. Attempt?

Yep. They refused to meet with me. Think about that. My son's in their school, but when a problem arises, they refuse to meet with me. How could they do that? Legally, how could they do that? The answer? They have the legal right. After much research, here's what I found.

When you drop your child off at a public school in the morning, the school, itself, is legally empowered with all rights of parenthood until the school day is over, and your child is legally surrendered back to you. Did you know that? That's the law.

You have no power over curriculum or methodology. You have no power over punishments and rewards. And, you have NO right to demand the school meet with you or discuss these matters. You dropped your kid off. Your child now belongs to the school.

Who knew? I had no idea. And here's what I did not have as well. Voice. Public voice. I had no idea how to disseminate these facts. I had no audience. I had no medium in which to work the logic through. I was not a member of the parent's association.

I did not know how to work within the system, nor how to work through the logic of it all. I can assure you this. The principal was wrong. My son's teacher was wrong. They joined forces against him and me. That was wrong. If I'd known how to execute Master Sun's counsel...

This is today's most important point. Logic. Truth. It must be conveyed. To do so, you have to know how, and with whom. You have to earn the trust and credibility of your perspective. When you do, you can weaken and ultimately destroy the evil people's evil position.

We must be ready to reduce the evil doers to submission. That takes will. And clarity. And commitment to the mission in the face of evil opposition. Think about it. Are you kidding me? I am by law allowed no say so in my own son's punishments? None? That's 100% wrong. 100%.

If the illogic of that were to be known, it would weaken the power of the evil doers. It would cause them harm. Now that's what I'm talking about. Let's get this straight, America. We have much to change, and many bad guys to defeat.

217 verses completed, 205 to go.

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