John Minford, #SunTzu 10: 10 "If the relative strengths are matched, but one army faces another ten times its size, the outcome is flight."
If you've followed any of the work leading here so far, you know how HUGE a fan of both Master Sun and John Minford I am. I blame neither one for anything here. I just disagree. That is, this verse, nah, I'm not buying it. I'll explain.
During the many centuries following Master Sun's great work, and leading up to Minford's near perfect translation, some of the verses were pretty much certain to get messed up. Little bamboo strips tied in strings, copied, etc. Someone was like to get something wrong.
I'm calling out this verse - to my recollection the first I've done so over - as not being in accord with Master Sun's pristine logic. Try to stick with me. We'll take each point on its own in hopes of perfect clarity.
My belief is that today's verse refers to relative strengths regarding the Five Fundamentals. To quickly review, we spend time in the temple and we consider our own versus the enemy's strengths in The Way, Heaven, Earth, Command, and Discipline.
The strange hypothetical where both sides have equal strengths in all five fundamentals breaks away, I propose, from Master Sun's usual focus on strident reality. There are NEVER two forces with equal strengths. The hypothetical here - relative strengths matched - doesn't work.
Next, we have the problem of orders of magnitude. Any real-world leader will tell you that you cannot manage 100 people the way you manage 10. Increase to 1,000, or 10,000 etc., and the challenges never stop changing. The logic breaks a second time.
The logic breaks a third time. Master Sun has counseled us through countless examples of a force 10 times smaller than its enemy, that won. Strategy is easily at least 10 times the equal of man count. So, I'm sadly rejected this bamboo strip as a flawed one.
So, what did Master Sun mean or - maybe in an earlier bamboo strip - actually say? Here's what I think. If you see a general on the run, fleeing, he was overmatched by 10 times wherever you may look. No equality of measures, rather, the opposite. Inequality multiplied.
Unless you're going to win, why show up with 100 men to fight 1,000? Unless you have the strategy, to do so is suicide and stupidity. Likely you spent 10 times LESS time in the temple planning than your enemy did. Shame on you. We might do the same with all five fundamentals.
Your enemy, with 10 times the time in the temple, has The Way on his side. He knows the will of Heaven and watches its signals 10 times better than you do. He has placed his troops on the high Yang ground, and follows the path of the Earth 10 times better than you.
He's easily 10 times the Commander you are, and therefore enjoys 10 times the Discipline among his troops as you. And that's why you're fleeing. These verses are about how a general fails. They're about you, though, about how you find defeat.
So, I say, take no comfort from false hypotheticals calling for equal measures. Unless your temple analysis indicates MASSIVE advantage do NOT go into battle. NEVER risk a single soldier on anything other than massive advantage. That is Master Sun's way.
Who fled? Who was so overmatched? It was Barrack Obama. Fleeing, he sent $150,000,000 to Iran. Forget about the pallets of cash sent in the dark of night on unmarked airplanes, illegal as they were. The cash was peanuts. One Hundred Fifty Billion dollars to Iran. Now that counts.
Forget about money, globally powerful as it is. Who refused to allow the American Intelligence community to use the term Radical Islamic Terrorist? Who wiped out the data bases of terrorists built over the preceding years? Who set Baghdadi free to form ISIS?
Obama did all that and so much more in his rash flight away from good to that which is evil. No, I'm not saying Bush 43 was so good, I'm over him. Yes, I am saying that the fight against terrorists required spine, force, might, and main. Obama fled from it.
And I'm saying more. I'm saying that Obama fled from truth at every turn. Consider the 100% purely evil strategy of HRC in Libya that led to the hellacious Benghazi tragedy. Consider the lies about video tapes and spontaneous protests, as if covered by free speech rights.
Talk about a general fleeing from 10,000 troops with his mere 100, see Romney falling at Cindy Crowley's feet, while Obama eviscerates him with lies about Benghazi. I've never seen a presidential candidate flee so far as Romney did in that 2nd debate. What a wimp. What a traitor.
Let's change point of focus. Consider every Republican that believed in increasing taxes on Americans while shipping jobs and factories overseas. I have to call it at the creation of NAFTA under Clinton, but I'm sure it was going on long before. Which Republicans voted for NAFTA?
Change again. Which Republicans have failed to push forward the securing of our Southern Border? Forget the wall - which I dearly LOVE! - and focus on immigration policy. Which Republicans have fled the needs of our nation, traitors, turncoats, and cowards as they are?
Whenever you see a general in flight, you see every possible lesson that Master Sun has to teach us in disregard. And, forgive yourself in advance, if you should ever be the general who's fleeing, remember your teacher, and commence your studies once again.
293 verses completed, 162 to go.
To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21. You'll find the digital table of contents for this series, there. Please retweet each entry you enjoy.
To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21. You'll find the digital table of contents for this series, there. Please retweet each entry you enjoy.
