(Folks, there’s R-rated language throughout this thing. Normally I can edit it out; this time, not so much. I may do so later, but now I want to leave it as I wrote it.)
I
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Thanks, Bill. It was worth the wait. (I liked the part about the shotgun best.)
SECOND!!
Awesome Bill! Just what we need … a voice of not just reason, but logic and sensibility. Everyone needs to read this and NOW. God bless you and all the rest of the sheepdogs.
Nice.
That… was… awesome!!! I’ll do my part to spread this around as well.
Thanks for one of the finest blog postings I have ever read.
I have always strove to be the “sheepdog” and I have little time or empathy for the “pink”. I have to wonder if the division between the tribes are getting greater as time goes on…
Very nice. Here’s to the resurgence of the greys in this country.
Excellent commentary. Just genius.
THAT was EXCELLENT, Mr. Whittle. Thank you for taking the moment to “let fly.” I have been wanting to do so for a few days now, and find myself on the verge of burning bridges with otherwise interesting groups because of the idiotic cheap shots they take…but I am supposed to be silent because I speak up against their politics.
My prayers for EVERYONE. Mr. Whittle, thank you for your service, and THANK YOU to all the sheepdogs out there…this Sheep is NOT afraid to see you and is quite happy to watch you beat back the wolves. Thank you thank you thank you.
Kudos, Bill, on behalf of all us thinking people down in Baton Rouge.
Thank you–it’s never been said better.
Sheep dog reporting for duty.
Excellent article. To use your analogy, I am a grey sheep, who yearns to be a sheepdog. But I am smart enough to support the sheepdogs, and rail against the pink sheep.
Awesome post! Thank you for summing up so eloquently much of what has run through my mind for four years now.
My fur is kinda mangy, my teeth are falling out, my old eyes aren’t what they used to be, and my middle-aged gut drags on the ground.
But I think that this old sheepdog may yet have a bite or two left in him…
Thanks Bill. Well worth the wait. Now I have to look in the mirror and see what tribe I really belong to.
Damn. That was great.
It’s my war too I voted for Bush, how about Bush=Lozonne=War bumperstickers? (my surname)
You’re back!
Got to go read it now…
Nice, Bill. When I’ve tried to make the same point, I’ve tended to talk about Cultures rather than Tribes, though — those who still have a racial mindset are likely to hear “tribes” and think you’re talking about racial tribes. I know you tried to hammer the point home several times in the essay, but some people still aren’t going to hear it.
Excellent. Just. Excellent.
As a mom, I found it my role to civilize the children in my sphere of influence without turning them into sheep. Clean their room, wash their clothes, write thank you notes, tip well, give up a seat for a senior or a pregnant woman… but also to defend themselves and others when necessary.
Pink tribe moms are about “feelings” and letting kids “find themselves” and Grey tribe moms are about raising children to be decent adults.
Funny, the flack we take for being so “old fashioned”
Bill:
Thanks.
Trust the rest of us sheepdogs to cover the sheep.
Wolves? I’d say that as time goes on there are an ever increasing amount of sheepdogs that keep building silently but steadily. Even if the MSM trys to convince us otherwise.
Oh….and can you start a couple of other wars too……?
You’ve got my vote.
A-friggin’-men!
This is exactly what I’ve been railing to my walls about for the last week — people not just sobbing over their miserable plight (which is completely justifiable, considering the incredible duress they’re under right now), but howling about “conspiracies” (because the largest mobilization of human relief forces, and the largest influx of donated goods and money EVER didn’t undo all the horrors of the largest and costliest natural disaster in American history SOON ENOUGH), shooting at rescuers, and in the case of one particularly repugnant “celebrity skidmark,” had the brainless temerity to declare that the president didn’t care about black people.
A moment that COULD have been — SHOULD have been — one of our finest, has instead turned into one of our most embarrassing. And it’s sickening.
Great piece, Bill, every last four-letter-word of it.
GHS
One more sheepdog ready to do his part.
And how about adding Brown as well as Lozonne to those bumper stickers?
I think you might like this one.
Wonderful. Wish I could express myself so well.
Great post, except that some ethnic tribes do have value systems which produce more of the kind of people you value, and others have dysfunctional values. Being raised as a member of a particular tribe can be a great source of stability and encouragement to become a smart competent adult. That has more to do with group values than biology.
For example, Blacks from the West Indies who immigrate to the USA are much more successful intellectually and economically than Blacks born and raised here, and not because they get more social services, they don’t. Genetically they are the same. There are reasons why Jews are represented among science Nobel prize winners way out of proportion to our numbers, and Arabs are way underrepresented. This isn’t racial, it has to do with the values your tribe instills in you.
Thomas Sowell has written about this at length in several books. “Ethnic America” is a great place to start.
All other things being equal, it’s better to be raised in a particular community with certain historical traditions and values than none. It gives you that much more family and identity which is a bedrock in times of crisis. A tribe with good values is better than no tribe at all, but no tribe at all is better than one with bad values.
Yes.
And add “Martin” to those bumper stickers.
Speaking of which, are you gonna start selling “Which side are you on?” and “Sheepdog or sheep?” bumper stickers, or do I have to?
I am sitting here in awe because, well, you understand! You have said exactly what I have felt, not just about Katrina, but about what America has become. Oh, if only the nation could read this. Thank you.
Outstanding Bill!
From an amateur sheepdog waiting for my chance.
Speaking of tribes:
“… we became more civilized.”
Shame one of those folks weren’t in charge.
21 yrs Navy and tried to re-up at the age of 60 when we invaded Iraq. Arf Arf Arf I tried to “be there” again. Thanks for the brilliant essay!!! Somehow, I doubt very seriously that folks will be running out to buy NOPD hats and tee shirts anytime in the near future … except for the PINK tribes, that is… maybe even the wolves …. they just have to love the NOPD for all their “wet-footed service”…. but only after their Vagas vacations are over.
You nailed it, Bill. Great read. And a nice reference to Sean Penn. We feel the same – and have the photo to prove it.
Awesome. Amazing. Genius. Loved every word.
Awesome…I’ve sent this to everyone I know. Proud to be a sheepdog and live in the grey.
Bill, Your sheep, wolf and sheepdog theory must be sound as this same theme was ‘discussed’ in other words and phrases in a South Park episode; witness these paragraphs from the book, South Park Conservatives, for proof:
“A South Park episode has included a group called Team America with an actor-turned-spy Gary, who sums up the film
More than Excellent!!!!! I’m linking it to all my friends, pink and grey.
Thanks from a grey sheep! Excellently done.
The thin veneer of civilization
…New Orleans has given us a peek into the real nature of humanity sans social order. It is not an anomaly, but the rule of existence observed by many for the first time on American soil. That we are surprised only shows our ignorance in the presence of wishful thinking. Imagine a collapse of social order not lasting days, as in this case, but months or years…
More here
I would like to stress as clearly as I possibly can that the entire sheep/sheepdog/wolf analogy — which is magnificent — has nothing whatsoever to do with me, and is the product of Lt Col. Grossman’s genius.
Otherwise, thank you.
Bill Whittle
PS… woof.
Mr. Whittle,
Everyone in front of me has said what I would have said if I had written sooner.
Thought provoking essay from a very erudite author!
Why doesn’t sthe rest of the blogosphere have the courage to stop and think before they write?
This is possibly the best essay I ever read in my life. I have been working on something similar for the past few days and I give up. I am so inadequate to the task and now I don’t have to finish it. I could never had said it anywhere near as well. Thank you!
I wish I could have said this half this well. Put my name on the bumper sticker too. Thank you.
WELL SAID
Excellent post, which I too will copy and pass around.
One quibble, though: You said that you were an “amateur, stand-by sheepdog”. If that is a good thing for you to be, (and I agree that it is a good thing, in fact, I hope that I would prove to be one too, should the need ever arise.) shouldn’t it also be a good thing for everyone else too?
I have been increasingly troubled by the government’s attitude of “Don’t try this at home, kids”. “Just go about your civilian lives and leave this to the professionals.”
If you say the response order/heirarchy is Local/State/Federal, I would respond that you are omitting the first, most basic and most important level: the Individual. And sheep, by definition, don’t respond.
As it happens, we raise goats. And to those who read your post and fear the sheepdogs, I would tell a story about one tough old doe. We have occasionally had bad herd dogs who attacked goats.
That tough old doe is also an “amateur, stand-by sheepdog”. Normally, she goes about her business, grazing and chewing her cud with the rest. But when a dog gets out of line with her around, I usually have to rescue it as it is being butted into insensibility where she has cornered it in a bush or against a fence.
Most Americans used to be like that old doe. Somehow, perhaps because of the end of the draft and the army of citizen soldiers, or perhaps just because we got used to a too comfortable lifestyle and like Faust have been tempted to pray that this moment never end, too many of us have turned into sheep.
I don’t believe that the mean old goats ever resent the GOOD sheepdogs. Mine don’t.
I didn’t really have time to read this, but once I started it, I couldn’t stop. As an old grey sheep dog who wanted to be on Atta’s flight or wearing wet shoes in New Orleans, your post left me breathless. I intend to pass it on. I think you nailed it perfectly. I am indebted.
Excellent article. There is lots of work to be done, so, the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana still have plenty of opportunities to show us some positive action.
Otherwise may the monument to them read:
Our inaction and indecision cost many lives but thankfully, we thought of lots of good excuses.
That’s some very powerful writing. Good Job.
Give ‘em Hell, Harry . . . er . . . Bill!
Amen, brother.
I wondered why there weren’t organized volunteers at the Superdome to dig latrines, bury (or at least stack) the bodies, dole out what food and water there was to those who needed it most, triage and succor the sick, and organize games and stories for the children.
A couple of competent master sergeants, football coaches or Girl Scout troop leaders could have and would have gotten this started. Sheep dogs.
Arf.
Well spoken, sir.
Never really thought about it, but it appears I’m a sheepdog by default; I take responsibility for me and mine. I’m a quiet man. Keep to myself. Got more than a few miles on the odometer.
But, “Don’t Tread on Me”
Rock.
On.
Another border collie reporting for duty!
Riveting. Inspiring. Disturbing. Convincing. A tour-de-force on Social Darwinism. Your words cut like a knife, and your message is a source of pride to all those of us who would humbly count themselves among the Grey Tribe. Thank You.
From one (now somewhat aged) sheepdog to another, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, Bill.
Your eloquence continues to astound.
You write the words that I didn’t even know I thought until I read them here. And I can’t even be jealous of such skill and talent.
We will continue to guard the sheep and defeat the wolves, wherever we find them. And if we’re really lucky, you’ll continue to grace us with your writing.
Wow! Exactly as I’ve been thinking for years.
You have perfectly summed up the logic that led me to give 20 years as the sharp end of the bayonet. Once a sheepdog, always a sheepdog. Wolves and Pinks beware.
I watched the National Geographic special and felt the same thing. I dreamt up all kinds of scenarios where the terrorists end up with their heads on pikes in my front yard. The idea that there are Pinks who saw that and fantasized about how they could have prevented US involvement over seas and stopped the creation of terrorists seems unthinkable.
Aren’t these people on the short end of the selection stick? A tribe that can’t defend itself and has no founding truth has no future in my mind. They’ll be food for the wolves while the Greys will survive. Or maybe the Pink attitude is like a recessive deleterious allele, always persisting in the backs of our minds. And growing when the environment allows it through peace and properity.
I’d like to add that as a general rule, I love the Pink Tribe. If they would just keep dancing and singing and making movies it would be an honor to protect them.
A Grey actor is a painful thin, but not as painful as a Pink surgeon.
Tried to post but was told the comment was blacklisted for some reason I don’t understand.
This granite grey sheep dog is ready, willing, able and loaded for bear.
One day I’ll have to go, as all people do, but I’ll be damned if I’m going without a fight.
Never have I needed to respond to anything I have read on the internet, but this time I just had to. You must have been reading my mind and listening in to all the conversations I have had with my husband. We both voted for Gore, and have spent many hours being thankful that Bush, the cowboy was elected. Thank you for expressing exactly how we both feel!
one of the better sheep dogs..Is a 58 year old grandmother raising her 17 year old garandson,And has from birth..With help from 66 year old Grandfather.The young man is a 4.0 student on his way to be a Doctor..
Uh, California Conservative – the second photo on your link appears to be a crude Photoshop fake. Not saying you faked it, just saying you might want to look at it closely, take it down, and let your source know.
I, too, got a blacklist notice, but I’ll try again.
Excellent essay, Mr. Whittle.
And “Woof”, from a long time back.
The sheep will never understand the sheepdog, thus words like “chickenhawk.” I was once a sheep. I was once a coward.
Five kids later, I suddenly find myself, too, itching for the fight. The blood boils and the self falls away and only Purpose remains.
I wondered if there were any others who wished they could have been there on those flights.
Stunning essay. Once again.
(I hate to quibble over one tiny error: the speed limit should be in mps – not mph.)
What, exactly, is the criteria for matching your blacklist?
This one was worth the wait. As usual, you are able to put in words, what a lot of us are thinking.
I think Lt. Colonel Grossman would say, “well done, Paladin!”
WOOF…grrr…
THANK YOU, Bill. God, I wish I could write like that–you said it all for me and everyone else in Silent America.
An admirable re-interpretation of a major theme of Plato’s Republic. Let those moderns who would deny the existence and central position of free will read, and re-read it.
Fine piece; vigorous and insightful.
In a way, though, there is nothing new under the sun. The “old retired colonel” seems to have read his Plato, Republic, who originated the analogy of sheep, sheepdogs and wolves. Plato added, however, that the leaders of the city should be none of the above, but shepherds who look out for their sheep, not just themselves.
And then a few centuries later an even more famous man talked about sheep and shepherds.
You are on fire, dude. Thanks for putting this into words, because it’s a rare occasion to capture what is actually a very complex sentiment.
>What, exactly, is the criteria for matching your blacklist?
I think it’s a “blogspot” thing.
Another fascinating read. Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco are supposed to be sheepdogs, but we found out that they are nothing more than pink sheep in grey sheepdogs’ clothing.
Grey sheep here, grazing peacefully with one eye on the woods’ edge.
Another superb essay by the magnificent Bill Whittle.
I’ll do my best to get spready this essay (and others of yours) around campus. Us students who are tired of our pink teachers need some great grey writers such as yourself to keep us sane!
If only we could hear you in person!
Thanks again from a fellow grey.
Guys, I need to get a little sleep…I just decided to write this at about 1 am Pacific and I’m bone tired.
I just wanted to say that MT BLacklist is a fickle, fickle bird. People are blacklisted for no reason that I can see, and then restored some time later, by magic.
Please bear with me on this. I can assure you all it is nothing personal, unless you have prescription drugs, rolex replicas or an uncle in Nigeria to sell me.
In which case, I hope you die.
There are times, like these, that I wonder if I am alone. This post is proof that there ARE others, the white hats, around.
Thank you for parting the clouds.
-Skip
Wow.
Just wow.
First time here (thanks Kim) and what an amazing first impression.
Let me get this straight: Condoleeza Rice, who was in New York buying $500 shoes and attending the musical Spamalot on day 3 of Katrina is Grey.
George W. Bush, evoking fond memories of all the partying he used to do in New Orleans and promising that Trent Lott’s mansion will, have no fear, be rebuilt– while corpses are rotting in the streets– he’s grey, too.
Who screens for admission to these tribes? Threatening to shotgun people from the safety of your computer– that makes you a sheepdog?
This is thin gruel.
Thank you!
Thank you, Bill. This is one of the best, if not the best, blog post I have ever read. I hope our tribe gets a lot bigger.
No Oopa, climbing into overturned cars makes me a sheep dog.
Can you fit in a car, Comic Book Guy?
Hey, no valid e-mail. THERE’S a shocker!
woof
Thanks, Bill. Great as always.
The Pink Tribe, with all it’s self-congratulatory chatter about understanding others, refuses to understand that admirable “sheep” notions, like conciliation, concession, compromise, compassion and mercy are seen by “wolves” as weaknesses to be exploited and invitations to aggression.
And you’re right, the Pink Tribe intellectualizes its denial (and cowardice). To wit: If we fight back against the wolves, they’ll kill even more of us! The perfect creed for those who don’t mind living on their knees.
It’s one thing to hope for and work toward a better world. But dealing with the world as you want it to be, instead of as it is, is a recipe for disaster.
Keep up the great writing.
Your blacklist blocks my email. let’s try this one.
I respect your time spent as an emt or whatever it was, but that doesn’t give you the right to smear a whole lot of other people as pinko feelgoodnick traitor weaklings, simply because they don’t believe in summary executions, heavy bombing of third-wprld countries, and so many other wonderful things that your so-called grey mentality encourages.
how about scientists whose findings are denigrated by religious zealots and their political lackeys– are they pink or grey?
Bill,
Excellent post and all too true as shown by responses both in New York and New Orleans. I like to believe that I can call myself a Sheepdog. But, I’ll only know for sure if and when I’m faced with circumstances (I hope to God never come) that force me to choose.
Once again, an indescribably well-written essay. Alarming in its truth. And so many of us in this country need to be shaken up. This goes out to my email list.
[RE the 'blacklist', I've noticed that it doesn't like Yahoo, so if others are experiencing same, try changing the SP.]
I agree with you about 99.9%… which would be utterly amazing to anyone who knows what a contrary bastard I am.
Two things though:
1) Sheepdogs don’t protect sheep, they CONTROL them. As a strong defender of personal freedoms, I winced a little at the analogy. Hooray for the guard dogs and the hunters with shotguns, though.
2) By any measure, George W. Bush is solidly in the “Pink” tribe. If McCain had been elected, Osama would be dead now and Iraq would be under control. Any argument portraying our current president as competent looses a whole lot of credibility in my eyes. The man isn’t fit to lick Regan’s boots and the sooner our “tribe” stops denying his obvious inadequacy, (at least to ourselves) the better. Thank God we’ve only got a couple of more years to put up with him until we can get a real leader (like Giuliani) in the White House.
Sir,
This essay blew me away. I have no adequate words to describe the absolute amazement I felt because you said the very words my mind and heart have been saying for so long. Thank you very much.
Bill,
Your “dia-tribe” has left me dazzled and inspired for the day, the week and the year!
You are saying what I have thought and wanted to hear from somewhere.
If women can be sheepdogs and still be real women, then I’m there and a proud member of you tribe.
Thank you so much for this. I want to read your blog more.
Best wishes, Jane
Amen!
Bill, you are damn hard to read sometimes, but always worth it, even if I have to stop and swallow my heart halfway through.
Thank you, from someone no longer content to be a sheep.
Thank you, Bill. There are times I waver in the face of the cries from the sheep, and even question whether the sheep are worth defending. But they are. Thanks again for reminding me.
Simply magnicicent!
I find the pink bunnies disturbing at the most base level, but I find hope with the greys.
Bravo Zuli Bill!
God bless all the sheepdogs, for with them there will be a bright future rather than a 7th century sewer.
Bill,
I think you are over-reacting. The horror in the Superdome had a simple proximate cause. The criminals in the NO jail were set free, and many broke into boarded up gun stores and stole weapons and ammunition. Approximately 100 of them went to the Superdome and terrorized the people there.
If “white, middle-class, racist, conservatives” had been in the Superdome and 100 Hell’s Angels had arrived with automatic weapons, the situation would have been the same.
The issue is the criminally negligent behavior of the NOPD.
The other issue is puting people in the Superdome in the first place. The city government has known for several years that the Superdome is not appropriate as a shelter during a disaster, so where did they send people? The Superdome.
If you combine that with “Nagin’s Navy” (all the buses that were supposed to be used for evacuation but weren’t), and you have an explanation for disaster that doesn’t involve tribes, races etc.
The story of Katrina and New Orleans is a story of incompetence and cowardice at the local level. Tribes only enter into it in the sense that some people will believe politicians who blame outsiders for their own mistakes.
Al
I don’t know if it’s as much a pink/gray, sheep/sheepdog issue as it is a juvenile/adult conflict. The tribe of grownups seems overwhelmed by the tribe whose members are emotionally frozen at age 15.
WOW!!!
Excellent!
Go on tour!
You have summed it up to a “T”!
Of course you’d never convince a “pink” person of this!
As an Italian/American mother of 2 (little boys who I would protect with my life!)….I am definitely a sheepdog.
I know that I would certainly go down fighting!
Not a tear here!
Kick ass and take names later!
Keep up the good work….hope the word gets ’round! Thanks to Michelle Maulkin!
With kind regards,
Rachelle Tenace
An excellent read! I watch very little tv news;except Fox; I cut on cnn this morn and what do I see S.Penn! I felt like vomiting.What a fake pretentious,asshole! I do not go to movies or support this caballe of traitorous vermin.We are at war for our very lives and people are worried about the Olsen twins eating habits? I could care less if they both starve to death.Your blog was excellent and eeriely similiar to Victor Davis Hansen.
Hurrah for the Grey!
Well spoken Bill.
(second try… blacklisted?)
Great, Great, GREAT ARTICLE!!! This should be posted on the front page of every newspaper in the country.
Sheepdog here, too, raised in a New York City sheepdog tribe. I tried to enlist after 9/11 but middle-aged asthmatic women aren’t in big demand for that these days
.
Ever hear a bullfrog growl? It’s not a pretty sound and even the wolves know better than to ignore it.
Great work, Bill! Your gift for simplifying complexity through clear logic and compelling analogies is a real value out here in the blogosphere and in the oh too real world as well.
No valid e-mail for oopa? I’m finding a lot of that these days. Some of the sheep are really cowardly. I think it was Clemens who said a thousand sheep are afraid of one wolf but one wolf was not afraid of a thousand sheep.
Tech Central’s A Pack Not a Herd. is appropriate here, too.
Wolves beware.
I’m a first-time reader and I gotta say you hit the microscopic nail with a 2-ton hammer. Nice to see that someone has enough smarts and wisdom to stop, bit**ing about War and the “racism” of Americans and to start talking about the important things. So in an ending, I applaude you from stopping the sheep, from being led into the slaughter.
Once again, I have pointed the readership of EMinds here with a hyperlink and the words, “Go read it. Now.”
If it ever falls to me to face the wolves, I shall endeavor to respond as a sheepdog, not as a sheep.
One of the best analyses of the situation we’ve seen yet. About the only thing missing was Patton’s remark that “a good plan now is better than a perfect plan later”. Too many sheepdogs have the mistaken belief that they have to act perfectly — or have a perfect plan — in order to do anything. Doing the best you can is all that anyone is allowed to expect of you.
Either great minds think alike, or the actual source for the “Bulletproof” concept may be the excellent book ‘Bulletproof: The Making of an Invincible Mind’, whose author is Chuck Holton, rather than Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman. (I haven’t entirely finished ‘Bulletproof’ yet, so perhaps it quotes Grossman in the part I’ve not read.)
Woof! Via Rand. and blacklisted too???
Bill,
Wonderful post. I just found your blog and will be back often.
Here is another sheepdog awaiting orders for the next fight.
Semper Fi
Brilliant. But I agree with the commenter who says Bush is (or at least has turned) Pink. Somewhere between 9/11 and now his daddy got into his head with the siren song of the “New World Order” (which evidentally doesn’t include Israel as a soverign state, among other moral calamities).
just became required reading for daughter.
woof
As always, excellent. As always, moving. As always, makes me wish I had written it.
I hope you do edit this. I wouldn’t feel comfrortable doing it, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable sending it out as is to many folks.
Woof Woof! Great essay – I think it’ll have legs, since it captures what a lot of us “amateur sheepdogs” have felt for a long tome. Unfortunately, part of being Grey Folk means not talking about it too much.
So, WHAT HE SAID!
And if you decide to sell “my tribe is grey” gear on Cafe Press, I’ll post a link (and buy a bunch).
Every day, every damn day, I wish I could have done something to stop those bastards. It gives me chills to read such a similar, heartfelt account.
Bill,
Another dead on essay. The denial that you talk about by thinking it USA’s fault for being attacked is also common in abused children as well as abused wives. They cannot accept the fact that a parent or a spouse could really be an evil person and they focus their fear onto themselves, giving them a false sense of security that they have some control over a situation in which they have little control or they do not want to accept. “All I have to do is be a better wife or a better child and all of these beatings will stop”. It is an anxiety disorder. Unfortunately in the current situation it is dangerous one.
Steve Kartchner
Salt Lake City
I’m not alone! I’M NOT ALONE!!!!!
Having been a sheepdog for 25 years in the United States Air Force, most of that time as a Strategic Air Command Combat Crew Member, there is nothing better than taking the fight to the enemy so the folks at home are safe and sound. It was very uplifting to read your thoughts and opinions of our modern society and the tribes we choose to belong to. Thanks!
A terrific essay. I fear it is preaching to the choir, though. The folks on the left who simply hate won’t hear a word. THey’re too busy hating.
Excellent essay, Bill (and now I have *another* book to read, damnit!).
I may be a domestic sheepdog, but I am one nonetheless (I hope). I practice and teach responsibility and self-reliance, courtesy, honesty, thinking things through, respect for our policemen/firefighters/military, and love for our great country.
I hope my darling Daughter, when she grows up, will be a sheepdog, too.
Thanks for the blast of fresh air, Bill.
PLEASE don’t ever stop writing!
– R’cat
Bill:
You, sir, have FRIGGIN’ NAILED IT!
I stand in awe of your eloquent essay!
I’m linking this to my entire address book….
Pinks won’t get it….(As oopa didn’t)….
Greys will be inspired….
And Sheepdogs will do what they have always done…. Protect Pinks and Greys alike….
Right on target! I’m sending this to everyone I know.
Great rant!!! Welcome to my tribe. From another amateur grey sheepdog
I think I am in love….I heart Bill.
The thing I keep remembering when I look at GWB is that he’s always (even when he’s speaking directly into the camera) being seen and heard thru a Pink wool filter…. with about 500 pink sheep at top volume between him and the microphone. My biggest complaint with him is that he hasn’t pulled a Lincoln and shut a few of them up… but of course how many of us would really back him up if he did?
That one is a keeper.
Tribes is your finest post and that is SAYING A LOT. Thank you sir!
Bill,
I join the applause. I suppose I’m a grayish sheep — a pudgy, just-turned-50 doctor who tries to help out wherever he can, but doesn’t know all the things that sheepdogs know, and doesn’t know if he can step up to be a sheepdog when the time comes and one is needed.
Your writing (from your past posts) is usually very good. This one is exceptional. You’ve given me a lot to think about, which is the best compliment I can extend.
AWESOME!!! Right on, my new friend.
I wonder what would have happened if someone in the Superdome had strung up a rapist with a big sign hung around his neck, “RAPIST.” I guarantee the conduct would have stopped. Or, if someone on the street had strung up a looter (not of food or clothes) with a sign “LOOTER” around his neck. Unfortunately, there seem to have been very few sheep dogs in NO. To my PC friends,sorry, but vigilante justice was called for in NO. When there is only the law of the jungle, it is survive or perish.
Absolutely Brilliant.
Hopefully this will resonate throughout the tribes and bring about some sort of detente.
Given oopa’s posting that would seem to be (sadly) wishful thinking.
Woof,
~Jim
I’m what you might call an Associate Sheepdog (that’d be a police dispatcher to the rest of the world). It’s tough to explain to people sometimes why I choose to do what I’ve done most of my working life. Your essay makes it less tough. Thank you.
You all might like to read Lee Harris’ Civilization and It’s Enemies.
Excellent essay.
First though, the whole sheepdog thing wan’t though up by the Colonel. It’s been floating around the internet gun forums for at least 10 years.
Second, and I hope this isn’t guilt by association, as I have never heard of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman before. But, his course is being sold by Gavin de Becker, an advocate of the “safe gun” and whose every pro gun control statement is followed by this little gem: “I want to point out that I am not challenging our so-called right to bear arms (in whose name, by the way, more Americans have died at home than have died at war). And I am not advocating government gun control.” Yeah right!
Good, very good writing.
During my 30-years of Seismic Surveying. I noticed that no-where, world-round, had any flight carrying Oil-Workers home from a month or three in the Arctic Desert, or in a real Desert, been attacked, let alone hijacked. The reaction would have been _identical_ with the reaction of the Bodyguards of the Saudi Prince, when a set of hijackers tried their ‘Luck’. It was Bad. Two or three hijackers survived long enough to meet the Royal Headsman, at the Dawn following.
I suspect there would have been only body-bags needed, after the Bush Worker Crew got thru with the hijackers, however.
Thanks for the Idea of the ‘Grey Tribe’. Tough, Competent, and Patient, we can wait to grind the Barbarians to mush.
Looking at ‘the Cousins’, President George W. Bush, I am struck by how few of the Talking Heads look at his service as an F-102/F-106 Interceptor Pilot! Anyone else, who has talked with WWII Pilots, knows that going-up in all weathers is a solid Test of how organized a Pilot _is_. And George never even scratched a wingtip, as near as I have read. He is a very tough, very solid ‘Grey’, imho.
Folks, I am a Canadian, born in the Crowsnest Pass, raised on a mixed Farm, SW of Claresholm, Alberta. Think of me as a ‘Bull Nerd’, who has worked on the North Slope of Alaska {in Winter}, in the Canadian High Arctic {Ocean Ice, and on Islands}, Arctic, in BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, and in North Africa {Republic of Niger}, and East Africa (Tanszania). I was 14 ere we had Electricity supplied to my Dad’s Farm.
Regards.
Neil Frandsen
in Lethbridge, Alberta, on the High Plains of Alberta!
Thank you Doctor_r. Your diagnosis is noted. Please take two aspirins and check back in the morning if you do not feel better.
Extraordinary writing: Thank you
Check your pulse folks,if you are not in overdrive after reading this treatise,you just might have recently passed away…or maybe you got eaten by a wolf and didn’t even notice!
One of the rare times I’ve actually been glued to my monitor. If I had the eloquence to put the jumble of thoughts in my own head to words… this would have been it.
Good work.
Woof!
Semper Fi!
Devil Dogs and Sheepdogs rule so Pinks can whine and bitch! Woof!
Steven Den Beste + Kim Du Toit = this article…
Very nice work.
Bill,
Your comments are prophetic.
I just read the headline
French Quarter Holdouts Create ‘Tribes’
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – In the absence of information and outside assistance, groups of rich and poor banded together in the French Quarter,
forming “tribes” and dividing up the labor.
As some went down to the river to do the wash, others remained behind to protect property. In a bar, a bartender put near-perfect stitches into the torn ear of a robbery victim.
While mold and contagion grew in the muck that engulfed most of the city, something else sprouted in this most decadent of American neighborhoods – humanity.
“Some people became animals,” Vasilioas Tryphonas said Sunday morning as he sipped a hot beer in Johnny White’s Sports Bar on Bourbon Street. “We became more civilized.”
“Summoned, I take the place that has been prepared for me.
I am Grey.
I stand between the candle and the star.
We are Grey.
We stand between the darkness and the light.”
Delenn. Minbari.
Quote from Babylon 5
Once again you do what I wish I could – express my thoughts with eloquence. I especially liked “damn you liberal cheapskate sons of bitches, I demand my equal time.”. Oh and add Stewart to that bumper sticker.
Absolutely awesome, Bill! You just authored my new manifesto. May our (grey) tribe increase!
Mr. Whittle, I hate your blacklist.
But I’m damn proud we’re in the same tribe.
Mike Marchand
marchandchronicles dot you-know-where dot com
Since we’re quoting Babylon 5
“No greater love hath a man, than he lay down his life for his brother. Not for millions, not for glory, not for fame – for one person, alone in the dark. Where no one will every know or see.”
- How can we know the chosen ones? “Babylon 5
Grey sheep checking in, to thank the sheepdogs. I think Clay’s right. It’s probably a Grey/Pink thing…
Bill -
It pains me to say this, but you’re still getting better.
It pains me because when you started, back on Rachel’s site, I was a better writer than you. You were good – sometimes very good – but I was better. But you were improving. You passed me back around “Magic” and kept going. With this, I’m now certain – I’ll never catch up.
Bravo, as so many have already have said, may I add mine.
I asked my then, 10 year old daughter some months after 9/11 who she thought should be paid the most for their jobs, she said ‘policmen’.
Out of the mouths of babes, eh?
Nice blog by the way.
WOOF
One of the most moving pieces I have read since Peggy Noonan right after 9-11. Thank you.
As an aside, there’s an extraordinary story about a man in NO that salvaged lumber, built a raft and rescued about 30 people.
tinyurl (dot) com/atjkc
I want that sheepdog living on my block.
If I can figure out how, I’m sending him $100. Anyone care to join me?
Thanks to Michelle Malkin for directing me to this site.
Thank you Bill Whittle for one great essay.
For the longest time, I’ve been someone who, while not a fan of Bush, has been irritated to no end by the people who scream that Bush is evil, etc. I never really understood why – until now. As a sheep with the heart of a sheepdog, someone who’s mainly Grey with some pink around the edges for contrast, I thank you for putting things into perspective just a little more. Thank you for this wonderful piece of writing, and thank you for having the courage to make your voice heard.
Doh-San said
Excellent. A former Wolfhound here (32nd Tactical Fighter Squadron) our genesis was in the pilots who hunted the German submarine wolfpacks, we protected the sheep by hunting the wolves. Our approach to the challenges that face this country, and the question of its very survival, must be one in which the wolves become the prey.
Thank you for this essay and its perspective.
Wow. AMEN!!!
One commenter pointed out that sheepdogs don’t protect the sheep, they control them. As a real-life, honest-to-Mergutroid shepherd (I’ve got a flock of 30), I tend to agree with him. There are some breeds of dogs, like Great Pyrinees and Akbash, that are used to protect sheep, but, for the most part, sheepdogs are to control the sheep when you’re trying to move them from point A to point B. It’s mostly the shepherd that protects the sheep. It’s the shepherd who’s out there with a shotgun when wolves and/or feral dogs are attacking the sheep.
As a child I was a victim of domestic violence; it left me unable to face confrontation of any kind without trembling, or running away if I could. But I always dreamed of being there to protect others, simply because I knew what it was like to be a victim. And then, only a few years ago, I discovered that, if I’m pushed far enough, I do indeed suddenly become that snarling, snapping “sheepdog” to which you refer. I’m the Great Pyrinees or the Akbash attacking the coyotes stalking the sheep in my territory. Most of the time, I’m a quiet shepherd, the kind that leads the sheep away from danger, feeds and shelters them when there’s need. I guess that makes me what some of your commenters call a “grey sheep.” But I’m a sheep that carries a rifle, too.
Bill,
Thank you. I needed that.
Col. Grossman is a West Point psychology professor, Professor of Military Science, and an Army Ranger who has combined his experiences to become the founder of a new field of scientific endeavor, which has been termed
Excellent commentary, and it’s sure easy to see the folks who would stand in a puddle of their own piss instead of defending themself or anyone else – if need be.
Thank you for saying what so desperately needs to be said and doing it so well and so completely.
I can’t begin to describe my horror at the waves of self-righteousness, arrogance and contempt you display in your “essay.” You may think you’re a sheepdog, but you’re just another middle-aged guy with fantasies of becoming a hero… and a misplaced sense of moral superiority.
sadly, no. If a tidal wave of destruction ever hits your town, I hope you’ll defer to the folks who tell you to pull yourself up by bootstraps you no longer have.
and its good to see how far and long Bush supporters will lionize their man. Please point to a single competent thing the president has done throughout the course of this tragedy. Is that too much to ask, that a president possess a minimum of competence?
Nice thought-provoking piece
Seems though that some of the self-proclaimed sheepdogs have started to hate the other sheep so much that they’re turning into some kinda wolf themselves (but I wonder if they will ever realize this)…
If the criminals were all turned loose from jails in NOLA, why are they in our jail? [moved there before the storm]
First time I’ve came across this site.
Well frickin’ written. This is my new favorite blog I think.
Blacklisted gmail? zeh wha?
Thank you!
I pray that my son and my daughter will one day grow up to be “grey sheepdogs”. I’ve only been partially successful at anything I’ve ever done. Somewhat like the Texas village idiot. But if my children can be taught to meet every challenge with action, every failure with regret, and every Triumph with humility, then I will count myself 100% successful in my own life.
Your essay certainly helps me explain the need for sheepdogs, and the reason to respect the grey and pink in all of us. Well done and Thanks, Bill.
Press on. Until the job is done.
Subsunk
this is the best Blog I’ve ever read. I’ve been of the same opinion on the issue, but I just can’t express it as well as you have. Not only it’s good writing, it makes a whole lot of sense.
WOW! You sure can hit it on the nail.
Only the state governor can mobilize the National Buard? Maybe you should explain that to President George H. W. Bush, who federalized the guard in the wake of the Los Angeles post-King verdict riot. And, regarding the niceties of federalism in the wake of disasters, this from the National Response Plan, approved by the present Administration in late 2004:
Guiding Principles for Proactive Federal Response
Guiding principles for proactive Federal response include the following:
? The primary mission is to save lives; protect critical infrastructure, property, and the environment; contain the event; and preserve national security.
? Standard procedures regarding requests for assistance may be expedited or, under extreme circumstances, suspended in the immediate aftermath of an event of
catastrophic magnitude.
? Identified Federal response resources will deploy and begin necessary operations as required to commence life-safety activities.
? Notification and full coordination with States will occur, but the coordination process must not delay or impede the rapid deployment and use of critical resources. States are urged to notify and coordinate with local governments regarding a proactive Federal response.
Amen!!!!!!!
Wow, incredible! Bill, you’ve done it. You have said what I have been feeling and have been to busy or frustrated to utter correctly. This piece of art must be passed around the blogosphere. It’s essential reading in order to have an informed opinion on the Katrina calamity. Absolutely essential!
Thank you for taking the time and energy to slowly and methodically illustrate for us all, exactly what is in us all, as Americans, that we could not do so by ourselves.
God Speed!
Sorry mate you’ve gone right over my head. Start again from the beginning. Pinks and Greys and Wolves and sheep and foxes…
Sorry sheepdogs…
Preston: just to name 1 thing Pres. Bush has done right is too easy. He called for the evacutaion of NO on Saturday a.m.—- a full day before the
La Governess and the “Mayor” started to call for the evacutation
So I guess NOPD hats are a lousy marketing idea?
BTW, my son starts his sheepdog training it two weeks. Parris Island.
A proud but nervous dad,
N. O’Brain
Beautiful!!!…This gets e-mailed to all my friends.
Thanks, once again, for another winner. If the idiot who posted above me can’t follow your reasoning, that’s one thing; but if he can follow your reasoning and still made such a statement, it identifies him as one of the wolves… and you’ve struck a nerve.
Perfect
Absolutely fabulous.
Bill,
Thank you.
Thank you from the bottom of my little grey heart.
So, it appears that for every 40 positive comments, we get one gem like John’s “Rambling, incoherent twaddle.”
Bill, you win by a landslide with your wonderful post.
How do you bridge the pink/grey divide? Could the conservative’s worst nightmare be the answer? Is Hillary the one?
It takes a tribe
Loved this essay! Brilliant! Though I have to ask, I recognized nearly all of the lecturing liberal Pink clelebrities except “Linda.” Who are you referring to?
P.S. I’d love to have a “Grey Folk” T-shirt.
(maybe done in Lord of the Rings script?)
T Pecos
From a former sheepdog (USMC), now a sheep, this was inspriring. But I, too, still have dreams of being the passenger to say “Let’s Roll!”. Please keep this link up for awhile as I am forwarding it on.
John writes: Rambling, incoherent twaddle.
Yes, so bad that I, an over-educated and intelligent bitch, have been emailing it to all my friends and family stamped “must read.”
T Pecos –
Probably Ms. Ronstadt.
Bush is part of the pink tribe, no doubt about it. Behind all the born-again bravado, this fiscal conservative/foreign policy hawk sees another spoiled, self-indulgent Baby Boomer.
If it feels good to cut taxes and jack up government spending at the same time, do it – don’t worry about the deficits.
If it feels good to wage a war against an old family enemy running a tin-pot Arab despotism full of ethnic and religious strife in order to liberate millions of people who blindly heed the words of sheiks and mullahs, then do that as well – don’t worry about all the post-war planning details, it’ll all work out somehow.
If it feels good to keep binging on foreign oil and not making any serious committment to reduce energy dependence, then do that too – don’t worry about soaring gas prices and all the oil money that gets funneled to Wahhabi mosques and madrassas, or directly to terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Hizbollah.
“Everybody is special”. That’s the Bush foreign policy in a nutshell, isn’t it? Who are we to say that Arabs aren’t “special”, that they aren’t ready for democracy yet? Never mind that most of them are deeply tribalized and have voted for Islamists of one stripe or another nearly every time that they’ve been given a ballot. They’re “special” too, and it just feels good to see them voting by the millions for SCIRI, Dawa, Al-Sadr, and other Iranian pawns. At least those who didn’t boycott in the name of giving passive or overt support to Al-Qaeda and Saddam loyalists.
Bush isn’t a “simpering, subhuman, village idiot.” His IQ is probably slightly above average. But he is as intellectually lazy and emotionally self-indulgent as almost any tax the rich/save the whales/fight corporations/love your enemy lefty that you’ll find. At most, Bush is a cheap parody of genuine “grey” Republicans like Reagan and Goldwater. Of course, those guys had actually accomplished things in their lives before jumping into politics.
Bush ain’t grey. You’re fooling yourself.
Real greys like to work with their own kind. Bush appoints people like Michael Brown to some of the top Sheepdog spots in the country.
A sicophantic pink *lawyer* heads up FEMA because he’s an old pal.
I don’t know if that’s pink or what, but I do know it’s wrong, and it’s incompetent.
And where’s the “buck stops here” mentality? I miss that.
Thank you Bill.
The greatest i have ever read ! every word of it!A special award should be created for you,for telling it like it is. Wish every Bush basher could and would read it,however only a pitiful few would comprehend it.
Bill, once again, you’ve nailed it beautifully. Terrific job.
We are the “grey tribe” we intimidate those that intimidate others.Then we go to work.
I think the word is ‘liaisons’ because tribes have fun. What fun can there be in the aftermath of a hurricane?
Outstanding. Again. And thanks for providing the antidote to the relentless barrage of Pink that I’ve been hearing.
Am a retired sheepdog with a bum heart… but I often feel the urge to be back in the midst of things… pro-active, as they say. I agree with everything you’ve written. It’s been an unnamed philosophy of mine for my entire life. I read Heinlan’s “Starship Trooper” at 14 and thought that his model of a society where no one is able to vote unless they first served in the military made eminent sense. His was truly a vision of a pink and gray society.
What? Nothing about wolves in sheepdog clothing?
Thank you – am so tired of hearing silliness from “the smartest people in the room” – your words are a welcome reminder to
keep focused along with many others across this country who will NEVER “go down with a whimper.”
Inspiring.
Thank you.
Damn, that’s good.
Woof!
Great post; great audience. I was as thrilled to see that so many people got what you were saying, as I was to read your message. I’ll add the Lt. Col.’s book to my must buy list. And your site to my bookmarks.
Thanks for putting how we all feel into words.
Sheepdog.
Ed,
You’re getting a Lizardlanche! Congratulations!
Sincerely,
The Lizardoids
I am a 4th-generation sheepdog. M60 squad machine gunner, Airborne, a million years ago. I’m an ER nurse now. But my bark is still loud and my fangs are still sharp. Generation #5 is set to join the Coast Guard in a couple of years.
Gimme a wolf to open a can of Hurt on. WOOF!
Gaaa!
“Your comment was denied; at some point, it matched our blacklist”
Dont know if this is a clue – I am no perl monkey…
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at plugins/Blacklist/lib/Blacklist/App.pm line 44.
I had tears streaming down my face reading this…Damn,it was wonderful to have someone at last put my gut feelings into such eloquent words..Amen to that.
You, sir, rock. Completely awesome and extremely well said. Thank you.
This article, like all your previous ones, resonated deeply.
This theme, in my opinion, is strongly related to your earlier post about failures of civilisation: the barbarians dont storm the walls, the people throw open the gates… We know which people….
Trying again – see if I can beat this blacklist malarky…
This article, like all your previous ones, resonated deeply.
It pains me too that there are many within our society (I talk from experience of UK & Aus) who are determined to believe that if they get rid of the sheepdogs, then the wolves wont come (leftist Iraq theme anyone?).
In this modern case, the sheep hate the sheepdogs. Passionately. And instead want to learn to “understand” the wolves…
What a world we live in…
This them, IMO, is strongly related to your earlier post about failures of civilisation – the barbarians dont storm the walls, the people throw open the gates… We know which people….
Thank you, Bill. Thank you for giving us modern American Pragmastists a hope…the hope is that we are not alone…
-Another ’9-11 Republican’
Great job as usual Bill.
I see the sheep are baying at the moon again tonight. Don’t worry, we will protect you – even if you say nasty things to us – we expect it from you.
I’ll be damned if that wasn’t one of the best posts I’ve read in about year!!!
I stand in awe, Mr. Whittle – I raise my hand in salute! The logic and reason are impeccable! That’s got to be the best essay on the subject I’ve ever read, and probably ever will read. I’ve already got my shotgun, and both barrels are loaded. If you see him in the forest first, please let me know.
U.S. Army Ranger (1961-1964)
Bill, nice blog. I join you in your hatred of wolves.
Frozen Al, nice balance. It’s good to see debate conducted in a civil, informed manner.
I’d add that Bush is fairly pink on ID vs evolution. Krauthammer has written a solidly grey analysis. (In a nutshell, teach ID all you want in religion or philosophy class, just don’t present it as a competing “theory” in science class.) However, another day for that discussion.
Let’s see if the people of Louisiana and NO elect another pair of sheep the next time around. If they do, I tell ya, I wish there was something we could do besides keep paying our taxes.
Got a little sleep, came out, and saw all the guests in the living room.
First, I’d like to mention that “oopa” came back with waht looks like a valid e-mail address. I told him privately, and I’m saying publicly now, that I respect anyone who disagrees with me, as long as they have the basic fundamental integrity to sign their name to what they write.
Which is more than one can say for Humanzee, who I believe is writing on his mom’s computer.
There are people who disagree, even violently disagree, and I have no trouble with them at all. In fact, if I don’t consider what they are saying and give it some weight, I end up in the echo chamber along with so many others. I don’t want to do that.
So Humanzee — who has decided, with the entire spectrum of the English language at his commmand — to name himself after the supposed half human / half chimpanzee, writes his detailed analysis and leaves the email address of
NeoconsAreScaredofTheirOwnShadows@GeorgieIsJohnWayne.com
Wow. I’m sure he thinks that’s just blindingly clever. I call it fucking cowardice, which Oopa went to pains to correct my impression of. I apologize to him. It seesm he thought his correct e-mail was causing the MT Blacklist problems you have al been experiencing. Sorry about that, but without it it’s 200 spams PER DAY.
Calling me a middle-aged layabout chickenhawk is fine. I was in those wrecked cars, and they were driving past glancing out the windows eating their chimichongas. That level of vitriol is reserved for those whose performance shames those that cannot or will not perform.
As for the rest of the dissenters, all I can say is, thanks for coming. Otherwise it looks like I write all the comments myself and show ‘em to my mom.
Finally, let me make one thing clear regarding GWB. That man is more flawed, more inscrutable and often more disappointing than any president I have ever seen. I still, to this day, do not know what amateur pugilists like myself have to go out and defend policies that he seems incapable of defending.
All I can do is feel a great deal of sympathy for Abraham Lincoln. When US Grant started to rise through the ranks in the Western Theater, many people told Lincoln of the man’s manifest and innumerable flaws. I feel exactly as Lincoln did, when he said, “I can’t spare this man. he fights.”
And if his opponents rhetoric weren’t so puerile and infantile, Chimpy McBushHitler would be getting a lot less defense from me than he would otherwise.
And finally, to my friend Richard Riley, who has the most beautiful and good-natured child on Planet Earth: You were NEVER a better writer than me! I’ll met you at the water tower after school!
Amateur Sheepdog reporting. Where do you want me to stand, and do you have room to add Hall to the bumper stickers and billboards?
You will want to add another of Col. Grossman’s books to your bookshelf: the title is “On Combat,” and you can find a link to it on http://www.killology.org
I don’t work for the Colonel in any way, but as a former SWAT operator, I know him professionally. He comes highly recommended, and if you know a vet who has problems with some of their experiences, you might consider getting them that book as a gift… you might save their life.
This country could use a resurgence of the warrior culture.
1st post. Where did that troll get my name? Nice essay – I’ll forward it to my pink sheep daughters. When you said “Stop Bush & Whittle” all I could think of was U.S. Grant. During battles he “Whittled”.
I was in Biloxi for a family reunion when the hurricane hit. Afterward I walked around middle class nieghborhood where many had lost everything and saw people going from house to house helping other folks before they even got trees out of their driveways or had finished mopping the water out of their houses. It was cathartic to read this excellent post. The storm spared no one in it’s path. It was what people did with it that defined the tribe.
Dang. Welcome back, Bill.
You and Mark Steyn should get together. That was bang on.
This is so fascinating.
I keep telling people in Europe that contemporary politics in the US has little to do with class or race as they imagine, and everything to do with a cultural struggle, but they just don’t get it.
I don’t expect this will give them the help they need to grasp this point, but it does help me see more clearly just what it is that they don’t get!
WOW! Great essay Bill. Wish I could say it as eloquently.
First: I second the motion for ‘Grey Folk’ shirts.
Second: Mr. Whittle, you’re my hero. Given one wish, some people would ask for world peace. Personally, I would ask for access to some sort of condensed form of your collected personal wisdom – in all of its magnanimous, righteous glory. Whether in this particular essay, or anything else you’ve writen (the outtro to “Silent America” in particular), you have a knack for highlighting everything about our Tribe that is noble, just, righteous and all-around good and positive. It’s uplifting and enlightening in a way I can’t even begin to describe, and above all else, it’s simply true. I tip my hat to your eloquence, sir. Good day.
Thanks, Bill, I can’t tell you how much I needed that. After reading through the comments above, I think that a lot of people are like me. We follow the news, read blogs, form opinions but sometimes have trouble putting everything in perspective. Your ability to pull it all together into a coherent whole is very much appreciated.
I’ve never posted before, but I wanted to congratulate you on your stunning essay, which is being copied and passed around to everyone I know. I too work in the art and entertainment industry…whew. You are not alone. Thanks for the inspiration.
Woof!
I’m speechless.
…and all of you oh-so-smart detractors, lighten up. It’s a blog. It’s unrehearsed, unpolished, unrefined, and unquestionably American. If you can’t appreciate that, just link back to DU and do your carping there.
That is THE most eloquent, incredible, inspiring essay I have ever read in all of my 47 years, and I’ve read a lot.
Thank you.
Absolutely brilliant.
A well written article that would have been far better with out the self rightous gung ho posturing, put pretty accurate otherwise.
I don’t buy the bull shit about sheep dogs, wolves and sheep. We are not animals, we are men. We had better start acting like it too, or our kids will be in deep chit.
Out of curiousity, did this essay get renamed? I was expecting a Denial. But you did make some mention of the sheep/pinks being in denial, so it’s easy to imagine you were intending that to be the original focus and changed with the new about Katrina.
I ask because I’m wondering if we have a seperate Denial essay to look forward to still that got interrupted, if it got absorbed into this one, or if we were wrong in thinking you were making a little pun earlier.
Bill,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, that was definitely worth the wait. You’ve nailed the ‘pink tribe’ dead to rights, and they will squeal (baa?) for all they are worth.
My Thanks also to the sheepdogs.
Dana
Consider me an A.S.S. At least, I want to make an ASS of myself… an Amateur Standby Sheepdog!
4 years Army Security Agency, Sir! I’m with you!
Mr. Whittle: A few months ago I followed a link and ended up reading Sanctuary. Since then I have gone to your site every single day looking for more. Thank you for putting into words what I have felt since 9/11. I am also a private pilot and have wished that I had been on one of those planes. I have read Tribes three times today and sent your link to my entire address book.
WELL DONE
OUT…FRIGGIN’…STANDING!!!
Sir -
Simply outstanding. Thank you.
Thank you Bill.
I was feelin’ pretty down, seems like libertarian/conservatives like me just have to keep fightin, fighting, fighting… and we’re only barely keeping the status quo, we’re not gaining ground. Wanted to move to America, that fabled lost land of individual freedom, responsibility & endeavor, but couldn’t find it around me here in the PRK.
Then comes your excellent essay which says just exactly what I’ve been thinking, and so many many posters agreeing with you (and thus with me too!) my will to keep on fighting has been restored.
I’m still re-reading your last book, Bill- (probably be doing that for the rest of my life) and I sure hope that #2 is coming soon!
WOOF!
Incidentally, the grey sheep at Lone Star Steakhouse are donating ALL of today’s revenue (not just a “portion of the profits”) to the Gulf Coast cleanup and are doing a bang-up business today. Go see them for dinner!
It is nice to finally be in a majority when commenting. I was beginning to think the left wing liberals were the only ones who had any computer knowledge. I wouldn’t worry much about the idiotic ranting of ERIC or OOPA (probably should be OOPS). I’ve seen eric being irritating on a lot of blogs.
THANK YOU FOR THIS.
I haven’t read anything this clearly put since “Common Sense.”
I dub thee the Tom Paine of our time.
(…and, yeah, you can quote me)
Thanks from another amateur sheepdog. I stand, once again, in awe of your ability to write clearly and concisely. The next time you find yourself in the Phoenix metro area, I would be honored to shake your hand and buy you a beer.
–Mitch
Thanks for post common sense and clarity. Living in pink and sheepish Seattle I always kept these type of thoughts to myself least I be labeled.
Back in the late ’70 the first mass shooting I recall occurred in a McDonalds in Southern Cal. I always wondered why so many sat and got shot. I swore to my self never to go down like that. I figure if it was my day to go I would go down fighting.
I flew shortly after 9/11 as I settled into my seat I inventoried what I might use, my thought was not “please not this flight” my thought was just try it you F**ing SOBs.
For the same reason I pack routinely, not because it’s cool, no one every knows. If someone tries something, I want to do something to stop it.
Thanks for validating my thinking.
Woof.
Please see the compendium by DavidNYC on Kos on the undeniable fact that FEMA did not do its job. It is also not the job of FEMA to intervene in the case of a terrorist attack. Even if Nagin and Blanco did not do their jobs, they did not get the cooperation that the existence of FEMA would lead them to expect.
I like the sheep/sheepdog/wolf metaphor too.
I read your essay at work today, and I have to admit that, like many of your other commenters, I was moved to tears. Someone interrupted me while I was reading, and I actually had to wipe the tears away so they didn’t ask me what was wrong.
I only disagree with you on one point, and I hope that this won’t get me shot, because I don’t think it really detracts from your overall point. I have to tell you though that I really don’t think that you have what it takes to “shake a generation of the poorest Voodoo-worshippers in Haiti into a cadre of top-flight nuclear physicists”. I’m sure that you’ve read “The Bell Curve”. Genetics do count for something. Subsequent research only reinforces this point of view.
I don’t want to be labeled a racist, because I’d only pit Humanzee against Thomas Sowell or Walter William in a debate if I were a complete sadist.
But there were people during the last ice age who took down mammoths, cave bears, and wooly rhinos with nothing but stone tools, teamwork, and the will to persevere. I can’t help wondering if they weren’t the original grey team.
zeep nop noarney quando floo, the blacklist is still b0rked!
Bill,
I surfed onto this site by accident, was caught up by the image and began reading. It wasn’t long before a lump developed in my throat as I read on; it seemed as if you were reading my thoughts and putting them down on paper.
I have bookmarked your site and am passing it on to several others.
Thanks,
Richard
Look Ma, it’s a wild fit of self-dramatization!
As usual, the writer splits the world into two categories, gives one a laudatory name and the other a vaguely deprecating name, and puts everyone he likes in the former category while consigning everyone he doesn’t like to the latter. “Sheepdogs”. Give me a break.
You talk about “passive pinks” and “sheepdog greys” and “wolves” as though there were entirely separate species of humanity, but I’d bet cash money that most of these looters were the kind of people you’d have put solidly in the Grey camp right up until August 28th. Even the most civilised man is only two missed meals and a cold night above a beast. And I’ll go further, and say that these “pinks” you so scornfully dismiss would be just as practical as you, the self-styled grey sheepdog.
There are smart people, and there are stupid people. The fact that someone happens to agree with you on a few matters does not make this person smart. Let’s take pilots. I have known pilots, too, quite a few of them, and there are as many (RADIO EDIT) in the pilot community as there are in any general slice of humanity. Perhaps they are highly trained in a particular skill, but…if nothing else, American Airlines 587 should be a shining example of how limited pilots can be. Most of them are robots, following plans and procedures and recipes and specific definitions, and anything outside the routine is bad and dangerous and you shouldn’t even think about it.
Yes, I wonder what I’d have been able to do if I’d been on Flight 93. Although from the sound of things, the passengers didn’t catch on until the hijackers had already secured the cockpit; when the passengers started banging on the door, the hijackers realized that they’d been made and wouldn’t get within ten miles of the White House, so they suicided.
Anyway. I do occasionally fantasize about ending the hijack with feats of bloody heroics, but I don’t further imagine that these mental movies are a sign that I’m superior to my neighbor.
Sometime this week, I’m going out to buy a shotgun. I’m going to load up my basement with preserved food, and spend some serious thought figuring out what else needs to go down there. When the next (RADIO EDIT)hammer falls, I don’t plan to be on TV crying because the government wasn’t there to help. But don’t think for a minute that this makes me one of your sheepdogs. If you want to personally define yourself as better than everyone else in the entire world, then fine; go with that. But don’t start telling me that I am wrong because I don’t look at the world through a sight picture.
Quick notes:
>What? Nothing about wolves in sheepdog clothing?
>Posted by: MMc
(RADIO EDIT)in’ A.
>I read Heinlan’s “Starship Trooper” at 14 and
>thought that his model of a society where no
>one is able to vote unless they first served in
>the military made eminent sense.
>Posted by: J.M. Welsh
Ho, ho, ho. Read it again, a bit more closely. Military service was NOT A REQUIREMENT in Starship Troopers. Heinlein himself emphasized this point, in the work itself and in later essays.
(split into multiples, apparently the blacklist does not like long comments.)
Last night I found these and commenced emails to
every blog and columnist on my list:
SUBJECT: ABC POLL
I copy typed this chart from page 2. I even took
time to individually color the columns.
Answers the question about “clubs you would like to join”
The Red or The Blue?
Click here: ABC News: Poll: Bush Not Taking Brunt of Katrina Criticism
FEELINGS ABOUT THE HURRICANE RESPONSE
ALL DEMS INDY REPUB
HOPEFULL 64 50 61 80
Shocked 55 68 56 42
ANGRY 45 63 51 27
ASHAMED 44 63 46 28
PROUD 27 17 21 43
UPDATE: Cannot get numbers to line up,
your forebearance will be rewarded!
Best from member of the RED club,
larwyn
Looks as if we are not only the party of ideas,
but a lot more fun.
The 2nd was prompted by post at TimBlair’s site,
first I saw regarding Rescue Sean:
Subj: “TEAM USA” LIVE! Penn to the Rescue
Date: 9/5/05 4:37:27 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Thank you Mr. Whittle for connecting many dots.
We will need a 1000 railroad car train to handle
the bumper sticker. Count me in Larkin!
gun. GUN GUN GUN. gun?
Yay! More mental masturbation.
Brilliant!!! Clinton hated the military because it reminded him of the evil in the world. Evil that he thought he could control with roses and chocolates. What an idiotic liberal and his wife too.
Let’s circulate this essay to as many folks as we can.
Am I banned yet? Also, we have learned to expect in the case of past hurricanes that we do not need heroes. The people who are supposed to help come in and people are taken care of and eventually get back all their property. All the people supposed to help are “doing their jobs”.
Jesus Christ, Bill! Damn, just damn!
Somebody go to Arlington RIGHT NOW. I want a photo of Gen. Patton clawing his way up from the grave to salute this man.
Bill:
I have taken charge and otherwise rendered assistance at accident scenes. I have served in the military. I am a gray sheepdog.
And I hate your blacklist. I spent a couple of hours reading this thread and writing out replies to several posts, only to get “Your comment was denied; at some point, it matched our blacklist.”
For your detractors, I have one reply: Grow Up!
And it appears that my blogspot site was part of the problem, as I couldn’t post a test with it in the url slot. What else in my previously intended reply was blacklisted, I have no idea. :p
GWB a grey, I don’t think so, the man is pink, pink pink all the way through. Thinks he’s more special than most in point of fact.
I neglected my duty to really prepare my family for disaster following 9/11. Not entirely, but somewhat. Katrina woke me up. Now I’ve got my complete medical supplies and everything else I might need.
Including the guns.
My first reaction upon hearing about the plane still in the air on 9/11 was that I hoped there were people on board who could do as I would do, which is whatever it takes to take those hijackers out, and even wishing I could be there to help if no one else could. Yeah, I’ll take those terrorists out, just put me in, coach.
I really appreciate the line, “Now of course, right at this moment there are people without honor or courage who read that and think this is one … fantasy and on some level I guess it is.”
Yeah, at some level it is, but that is normal: in order to ready ourselves, we need to consciously and subsconsciously think about what we would do and how we would do it. This becomes a part of our psyche, including, to some extent, our fantasies. That’s a *good* thing, because we can only act appropriately if we internalize it.
About 10 years ago I was walking through a mall in Northeast Philly and some guy was slapping a woman around. His friends were jeering him on. I didn’t even think: I calmly walked over, stood behind the assailant, put my arms through his, and prevented him from moving until the woman could make her exit.
His friends didn’t touch me, they just yelled at me to let go. Maybe they were shocked someone would do that, and didn’t know what this really big guy was capable of, which probably wouldn’t be much if they all jumped him at once? Maybe they were just sheep themselves? Regardless, she left, I let go, and when the mallcops arrived I left.
I have no formal training. Except some wrestling in high school and jr, high. Maybe if I had more professional training, I’d have been smarter about what I did: I could’ve been knifed in the back. There’s no way I could’ve taken them all. But I am wired in such a way that I do what I can under conditions that call for it.
I’m not bragging. It’s just what I do, because I can. There are other things I do, and there are other things other people do that I don’t. Some people are heavily involved in working to help New Orleans in the aftermath; me, I figure enough people are working on that at this point, and I’ll work on other things. I don’t fear scorn over not helping New Orleans any more than I seek praise for putting myself on the line for some woman I’ve never met and know nothing about in the middle of a mall.
(Heh, I had to edit out your own words, “j***-**f c*********k,” as they didn’t pass your filter.)
Was sent here from Blogs for Bush and I must say I am impressed and amazed. As a “part-time” sheepdog (I’m on my Emergency Response Team at work) I agree 100% with what you said. This was so good I had to read it out loud to everyone around. (Much to their consternation.) I’m forwarding this to everyone at work. (The JPL list will be pissed.
)
My son sent your site to me, and I can’t think of a more worthwhile read, than you essay. I will pass it on to the members of my tribe.
One more amateur sheepdog to count among your ranks. I’ve got your backs, and I feel better knowing you’ve got mine.
My word, DensityDuck, get yourself a blog before you strain something. Bill’s comment section canna handle th’multiple postin’s, Cap’n!
Bill,
Thank you for another telling and inspiring post. Just a former sheep, now very grey and slowly evolving to doggy status, and your essays have been very useful in helping me put that evolution into discussable perspective.
Wow.
Just…wow. I’m speechless. That was one of the most eloquent essays I’ve come across on the Web, and you’ve done an outstanding job of putting into words what I and so many other Americans have long believed.
I can only hope that when, God forbid, it’s my turn to face the wolf, I have the courage to go for its throat and bite deeply.
God bless you and Godspeed, Bill.
Good essay, looks like you’ve attracted more of the usual “YOU’RE WRONGWRONGWRONGWRONG!” types echoing the usual crap about Bush et al… and calling all who don’t agree with their assessment members of an echo chamber. Oh, the irony. Ah well, I guess you hit the mark again.
Also, I think some people on the comment sections are getting a bit too literal with the sheep/sheepdog/wolf metaphor. Metaphors aren’t exact, okay?
Thank you,
A gray Ewe…don’t mess with my lambs!
I don’t know why I’d be “blacklisted”. I’ve never been here. By the way, why do you have a “blacklist”?
Interesting image. Michael Savage inspiring hope. Pat Robertson encouraging assassination of his fellow survivors to restore order. Ruch Limbaugh urging restraint while he rifled through the last of the medical supplies. And of course, George W. Bush, knee deep in foul water with snakes circling him, preaching compassion. Oh, yeah, I’d like to see that.
The Republicans say they’re going to hold their next national convention in New Orleans (why not, they pulled the same trick with New York in 2004). Wouldn’t it be nice to re-create post-hurricane conditions at their convention venue . . . and lock the doors for a few days?
Great article, Bill! E-mailed it to my kids and had my wife read it. She looked at me and said that I’d make a good sheepdog…as long as I didn’t stop to lick myself every ten minutes. Sigh.
I don’t normally read you. Not the same way I don’t not read Misha or Kim because of the vuglarity and the positional purity, but because your writing doesn’t suit my taste. I did this time for some reason.
I’m sitting here crying into the keyboard now because of this article because it makes so much sense. My father, God rest his soul, was a paid sheepdog. I’m, like you, an amateur. I’ve done violence in my life, never against an innocent, and I’ve been the first at a wreck, into a fire, etc. I know what you saying. I guess that makes me grey, a red tinted grey perhaps, but you know that tint, those feelings, don’t matter. It’s what you do…
Awesome post.
Thank you.
“Even the most civilised man is only two missed meals and a cold night above a beast. And I’ll go further, and say that these “pinks” you so scornfully dismiss would be just as practical as you, the self-styled grey sheepdog.”
Absolute bunk.
So you’ve heard it here folks, a principled decent human being is only a few days of missing meals/sleep/warm blankets away from becoming a looter running around caving in heads. Dense duck, the sheer numbers of decent people in New Orleans who were shining examples of Mr. Whittle’s analysis are the only proof needed to debunk your nonsense.
Mr. Whittle’s analysis isn’t perfect, but yours is much further from anything close to the truth.
9-11 made this sheep grow fangs. Giving birth to a child one year and eight days later turned me into a full-fledged sheepdog, ready to defend my family with my bare paws if need be. Count me in.
As for the dipshits like Density Duck, try to yank your feathered head out of your ample ventral area and understand that it really IS “Us Or Them”. I’d call you a numbnuts but that would be generously gracing you with the initial presence of said gonads.
–TwoDragons
I’m sorry to disagree with all you neocons, but having read your comments, it smacks to me of…I don’t know…freedom of speech or something.
I will not tolerate this!!!
Never so happy to be a sheepdog
Absolutely Great read. Well worth the sleep it cost me. No if I can only get the rest of my family to read it!
Well said!
First, an article describing the responsibilities the federal government has taken on itself within the past year:
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001784.html
Second, I have to ask – how is Reagan’s sit-down meeting with the most rational Soviet leader in decades, about SDI which was never implemented, in the same league as the Cuban Missile Crisis, where this country faced imminent – not Iraq imminent, but actual imminent – nuclear war, Fredericksburg, where it appeared that the Union might once and for all be dissolved, and Pearl Harbor, where but for a stroke of fortune our entire Pacific navy could have been decimated? Do you defend this opinion with a gun because you can’t defend it with reason?
I have a more relevant point, but your blacklist is blocking me…
Nicely done.
I couldn’t agree with you more.
Todd
Lt. Col. Grossman’s “sheepdog” metaphor fails on one major point. No tax-paying, voting, law-abiding American civilian citizen is a “sheep”.
Nor are we sheepdogs. In an absolute sense, we are the sheepdogs’ owners. We feed and maintain those dogs to protect us from the wolves.
Unfortunately, many of those sheepdogs no longer distinguish between their owners and the wolves. Like the veteran Lt. Col. Grossman quotes, they see us as either sheep to be herded and nipped or wolves to be attacked if we resist in any way. Some of the sheepdogs our society appoints as guardians have gone rabid. They’ve developed a taste for blood and a nasty habit of tearing out their owners’ throats. That breed of sheepdog no longer recognizes any master save themselves.
Hurricane Katrina brought out the very worst behavior in many sheepdogs as it did in the naturally predatory wolves. Our society doesn’t treat rabid sheep dogs the same way it does wolves, even when they both bite the same people.
An interesting article, and good analogies, but the article seems to lose focus at the end. What’s your main point? You wax wonderful prose about making a stand, and changing colors when the going gets tough, but put your money where your mouth is. Have *you* given to the Red Cross? Are you traveling now to Louisana, Mississippi, or Alabama? Are you enlisting right now to hunt down Osama?
Don’t get me wrong–you got some truly inspiring images in there–but you’re making a lot of people thinking they’ve got fangs when really they’re just pointy molars.
I also would have loved some expounding on the Tribes idea. You describe well the Tribe you’re a part of–tell us more vividly about the ones shooting at helicopters.
Thanks for your article, Bill. You make some original points, and if nothing else, a great starting point for some heartfelt discussions.
Very GOOD article!! Sad to see some of the comments from people that just don’t get it and continue with the bashing of either “pink” or “grey”. Maybe they should reread it.
I agree with most of what you wrote I do disagree with the you on Pres.Bush. He may very well be grey but he is incompetent as you say and I quote “He
It sickens me when the media takes things and twists them to find the hidden agendas. I am frankly getting sick and tired of the world according to “Time Warner”.
We know that there were many more stories similar to the man building the raft, unfortunately these stories are just not as “sensational” or “inspiring” as bashing the current administration for not acting fast enough.
Tragedies happen. People die. The strong (grey) pick up the pieces and carry on. The weak (pink) either curl up and die or get a little grey around the gills because they find strength they didn’t know they had.
It is because of the grey that the pink can sit around and whine, throw parties and “enlighten” everyone about their causes.
A wolf is still a wolf no matter how “nice” we are to it.
eloquently stated
Kipling and Heinlein and Whittle, oh my!
Try Sons of Martha, too.
A chickenhawk can be someone who got smart late. A chickenchicken shoulda stood in the egg.
Hope you are now SMELS fully rated up to your personal Lear. Or better yet, your BD-5J.
Wow! That was incredible. Thank you for sharing your modivating thoughts with us.
JUST GO GET OUT THERE
HELP!!!!!!!
I’ve changed my home page and my 404 message to point to this essay, Bill.
The combination of wisdom and eloquence is not to be taken lightly.
WOOF!
Extraordinary essay. Truly rivetting. You are spot on! May our collective voices be heard loud and clear. Thank you for your courage to say so brilliantly what so many of us “sheep” have not.
This was the larges pile of self congratulatory, self back patting, self adoration BS I have ever read. I particularly liked the part about the unseemly amounts of money that you are paid, then the scorn you pour on some of the other rich folk that you think should give large amounts of money, while I never saw one line from you about how much you have given to ease the current problems. Your sop to the Democrats by the faint praise of Roosevelt and JFK was as disgusting as your defense of the current crop of Republicans, although I will certainly give you Colin Powell as a grey sheepdog.
I know that you are encouraged by the plaudets of the comments here, they certainly do what they can to inflate your ego even more.
I did enjoy reading the article. I always like to know what a superego thinks.
WOOF!
(the new bumper sticker)
I suppose I should get some made up that say “BAAAA” as well to “give” (read- stick on the cars of) some of my Evergreen neighbors in Oly.
Oh, dear sweet under-informed Jimbo…
People like us don’t brag about the money we donate to help others. That is what the Pink’s do to get better ratings or more fans.
Damn near perfect, Bill. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much.
I have been shocked and outraged by the victimhood and blame-mongering going around, and could only shake my head in disgust.
Thank you so much for putting into words precisely what needs to be said. I know which tribe I’m in.
Wow! One of the most inspiring and laser sharp essays I’ve ever read. I may not be brave, but my entire being wants to be a sheepdog because the idea of being a sheep sickens me. Keep up the fantastic work.
Wonderful post. I’m a 60 year old middle class white woman who made a decision a long time ago that if death is inevitable, I am going down fighting. I remind myself of this every time I get on a plane. And to think, I was going to write a simple message about the spoiled media brats who think we live in a Star Trek movie and all could be solved with a “beam ‘em up Scotty.”
This is an unbelievably good essay. You managed to articulate my feelings, and understanding of humanity, in a way I never could. Brilliant!
Dan: Yeah, and some people get embarrassed when someone else shouts out praise at what was donated. So they don’t talk about it much.
Will somebody PLEASE make the addlebrained filter explain what’s putting the bug up its ass so we don’t have to spend 2 years guessing?
(The filter appears to object to certain domains and necessary HTML for proper English sentence formatting, as well as mere prose. Beware of using certain webmail or free blog hosting addresses lest ye be unjustly sentenced to silence. And whoever gets a chance, apply a clue-by-four to the skull of the blacklist maintainer; it needs to be checked against a large body of “ham” to make sure it isn’t over-blocking.)
Great read!
Would’ve loved a few thrown in wolves in sheep’s clothing analogies. Something along the lines of racial leaders with a vested interest in racism railing against racial inequities, or rich politicians reliant on a poor, uneducated base attacking the rich. Ah, some other time.
You lost me here:
Donald Rumsfield.
Al Sharpton.
Bill Clinton.
Ted Kennedy.
George W. Bush.
Condoleeza Rice
Some of those are supposed to be “grey”? Sheesh, you might as well have put John Wayne on there. But that’s the problem with any of it, of course. When you want to divide the world into the competents and nots, or the good guys, bad guys, and damsels in distress, you can never get more than a tiny percentage, enough to make astrologers look as accurate, to fall neatly in line. I can definitely appreciate the wannabe superhero problem: I was a Seabee, volunteered for the first Iraq war, trained police and military in hth and edged weapons, and did my own attempt at vigilante work. Who doesn’t think they’re smarter, tougher, and braver than “most citizens” (look at the comments – everyone, mysteriously, thinks they’re a grey sheepdog)? Who hasn’t fantasized, Sean Penn-like in nature if not degree, of being the evil-stopping hero? What’s not to like?
Brilliant. I feel woefully inadequate to be bringing up a small quibble- I think there are many ways to be a sheepdog without carrying a gun or firehose- there are sheepdogs who pick up phones, carry briefcases, wear white coats, raise sheepdog pups… I could go on. DonD- Perhaps the readership of this blog is self-sorting the sample- it’s the sheepdogs mainly that read and post. I’m too old and asthmatic to be in the military now, don’t live in the right area or L.A. to be in search and rescue, but found out that there is a civilian preparedness program to help people be the civilian sheepdogs we needed more of in NO- check out the CERT program: “Local government prepares for everyday emergencies. However, during a disaster, the number and scope of incidents can overwhelm conventional emergency services. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is an all-risk, all-hazard training. This valuable course is designed to help you protect yourself, your family, your neighbors and your neighborhood in an emergency situation.” I’m signing up, and I hope all who consider themselves sheepdogs, if not already trained, do so as well.
Nice work, Well Done!
Awesome read…thank you so much for saying what so many of us TRY to say and can’t put into words. This should be required reading for every American.
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///)at plugins/Blacklist/lib/Blacklist/App.pm line
Que pasa???
I think I turned grey when I was only seven years old… I picked the Holocaust as the topic of an essay for Hebrew school and read three books on it. Later that year I met a survivor of the death camps and listened to him tell some of his story.
It hasn’t been possible for me to be in denial since. It was depressing for me as a child to know how bad things could get – to know that there are no guarantees, but I think I have a better historical persective than I could have had if I had grown up with unfounded faith.
You don’t have to be a conservative to be grey, as you know.
Anyway, Good essay.
Bo-row-row-row-row! (More of a hound dawg than sheepdog, but I know which side I’m on.)
Wow. I’m utterly speechless.
I reccomend you look into thorozine right away.
1851.2 in reply to 1851.1
Yeah this guy totally missed the boat.
1. Super freaked out about categorizing people precisely because he feels a serious need to categorize people.
2. Totally misses the boat on compassion: you don’t do nice things because you expect them in return. Period. If you do, then you are exactly like he describes Sean Penn, expecting that they will do something for you. BTW who’s to say Sean Penn wasn’t trying to use his fame to get people to follow him and do their share?
3. This guy no doubt never read any dostoyevsky. He seems to think that people make good or bad or ‘pink’ or ‘grey’ decisions out of a clear blue sky. Baloney. Every decision is made with incredible influence from the circumstance someone is in. But I’m sure he knows every looter in new orleans personally, and knows what kind of life they were living, and knows that they all were treated perfectly wonderfully by this country, and that they all had equal opportunity, etc and on and on…Arrogant, detached, and delusional.
eg. >>”Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be”
That’s the biggest bunch of crap I’ve ever heard, it’s like listening to a bad motivational speaker. This guy is totally detached from reality. These are pipe-dreams from someone who sits on his ass all day and theorizes about the world without actually being a part of it. Demonstrated in the next quote:
“While there is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, he does have one real advantage — only one. He is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.”
False modesty, but actually just a confession that he doesn’t mind if 98 % of you all die, because he will be with his “warrior” friends and they will reign supreme through all time! ROFL This guy is in total fantasy land. What are you surviving for if you only like 2 out of 100 people anyway?
Here’s where he really let’s the Freudian cat out of the bag: “And all I can say is that I believe in my heart that I would rather die for something bigger than myself than lead a life where nothing is more important than me.”
See, he chose to write that sentence. Which means he thinks strongly in those terms. Which means his real fear is that he is leading his life for nothing besides himself. Hm. Who’s he trying to convince with the tirade?
I can’t even figure out what he claims to be standing for? America? Jesus, nationalism is about as shallow as you can get. He is certainly not standing for humanity, because if you don’t act according to his standards, you aren’t worth a dime.
“Sheepdogs don
Amazing. I haven’t seen one negative comment. I suppose your lengthy breathe of genius was just too much for the the salivating long-haired, short-cortexed idiots’ attention spans.
Bravo.
Hmm… perhaps I should have reloaded the page before making such a sweeping comment.
Hmmm, MGB- a little projection perhaps!? You make bizarre leaps, I guess because you categorize people who are sheepdogs into a little box marked ‘judgemental fools’. Keep chasing your tail.
From one sheepdog to another-
great job!!!
This is the finest and most bracing rant I have read in ages. Its relentless power left my comb-over in tatters.
I have only two small contributions to add: Ironically I live not far from Sean Penn’s humble abode. I am, by Grossman’s definition, a Sheep, a very happy and successful deep-Gray Sheep. I don’t say it often, but I am exceedingly grateful for, and respectful of, good Sheepdogs. Thank you. Baa. (It should also be pointed out that our Sheepdogs derive much of their power and capability from some damn good Sheep.)
You put into words what so many of us feel. Pink is a very dangerous color.
Another thought-provoking post, with imagery that fits the purpose.
Your writings are material to think with, rather than a full prescription for the recovery of civilization from the brink of chaos. For that we’ll probably have to wait for your next book!
Very well done.
** Applauding LOUDLY for a job well-done **
Got referred here for the first time, and I’m glad I got a chance to read it.
Great job and something that only other sheepdogs and wolves fully understand. The sheep are forever in denial about it. They just haven’t lived enough to understand it yet.
Bill,
I will only have four hours of sleep tonight thanks to you. I thought it was only going to be a small piece Damn it! The sleep I lose is well worth the satisfaction of knowing someone finally sees what is really going on at the core. Symbolism and emotion have to long run(ruined) parts of this great country. It was no more telling then when a CNN reporter captured a refugee crying “doesn’t anyone feel our pain?”
I don’t give a crap if someone feels my pain. I want someone who will prevent it! I didn’t vote for a mother, I didn’t even vote for a father. I voted for the neighbor with the gun collection.
Oh, WOOF,WOOF!
MGB,
It sounds like you have a deep fear of the ‘Sheepdogs’. Perhaps you are a Wolf.
Thank you for saying what I am Feeling.
I just hope the rest of the world,especially the
pinks, read it.
Thank god Sean Penn brought a photographer and gave the author a reason to hate the goddamned dirty liberal… or else he might’ve had to praise the guy. *shudder*
This was a fun exercise in how many words you can write by repackaging talk-radio inanity. But I guess in Wingnutland, finding ways to connect conservative = strong, courageous, brave and liberal = weak, touchy-feely, spineless is a virtue. Let’s hear it for partisanship!
Even Bush snr is not satisfied with how things were handled:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/05/clinton.katrina/index.html
Wow. I read all of that really late at night, so I don’t really have much to add to it. Right now I don’t know what I’d do if I were in a situation that required action of the violent type. I’d like to think I’d step up, but never being in the situation, I can’t say. There are some parts of this I kinda disagree with, but I’m tired out of my mind, and probably wouldn’t make enough sense to have a valid point anyway. Good piece. Length is no issue if it all has an underlying point.
dead on.
this is excellent!!! So true about your anology about tribes.
viola
Although a nice essay it fails to add anything to a debat that has been going on between two groups for a while. I can’t think it is anymore than just that. I nice essay to make their readers feel comfortable that they are not part of the weak. I am a conservative, I am however on the pink side of things according to your statement. I don’t think anyone is special and thus think everyone is special. If highly easy targets such as Clinton and Bush are grey and pink what more does this essay provide other than personal satisfaction. I think the essay is also just a an older one in disguise namely: My two tribes are the ones that are Feminine and Masculine . The best examples are comparing the Dutch and the Italians. A tribe such as the dutch discuss everything and try to make rational dicisions based on consensus and can complete the greatest achivenments together. On the other hand you have the Italians who are a much more Macho tribe that does business based on volatile emotions and is maybe therefore a more vibrant society.
AMEN!! Political correctness has blinded people to common sense and common knowledge.
I’ve been glued to the internet, unable to sleep, over here in Japan for the last week or so. I finally found what I was searching for- thank you Bill, and God bless your very words.
One older sheep dog reporting for duty, Isshi.
just one more comment – there seems to be too many sheepdogs here… Which is strange….
SUPERB! SUPERB! SUPERB!
ARF! Thanks, Bill. We sheepdogs like a pat on the head too.
I would like to point out something from my personal experience–if you convert from sheep to sheepdog, you’ll be a much happier person. (I don’t think I’d make a good wolf; I’d feel guilty about picking on people.)
Well, what can I say to that ????
A bloody magnificent piece that should be spashed across TV screens and shouted from every radio station. No PC, just the down right unabashed truth.
I’m not a Yank, but this applies just as strongly to Aussies.
Thanks for an enlightened read
I’m disappointed in that I spent some time writing a post to this article only to have it blacklisted. I would like to know what criteria you have established for the blacklist. Perhaps it was my reference to “drinking the kool aid.”
Thank you so much. I’m forwarding this to everyone I know. And where do I sign up?
Incredible! Finally, the truth emerges! Love IT!
Woof!
Great post Bill. Well written and very thought provoking.
As for your comments oopa, I do believe you said “Baaaaa” and I couldn’t agree with you more. Just sit right there… the rest of us will make sure your grazing goes on with as little interruption as possible.
THANKS TO YOU, PRESIDENT BUSH AND ALL OF MY FELLOW GREYS back in America. I’m living in China and I can’t begin to tell you how the Chinese view this horrible Ameican weakness. The number one public comment was/is: Why don’t all of those people get up and help themselves? One can only guess at the number one private comment.
Bill, HOW DO YOU THINK WE CAN ENLARGE OUR TRIBES SO THAT WE CAN INSURE AMERICA’S FUTURE?
Thank you sir, for an amazing essay.
Woof!
You have read my mind and written it perfectly. I am linking this on my blog.
Simply amazing post.
Thank You,
TJ
Add my name to that bumper sticker– Bush & Reed’s war. Awesome! Woof!
I agree with everything said about George Patton except the Arlington bit; he is in Belgium, not Arlington.
Shorter Bill Whittle: I would have single-handedly defeated Mohammed Atta on that 9/11 flight if only I had been there! And New Orleans? If it had been White People there, everything would have been peachy, no matter how long we wallowed in our own shit in the convention center without food and water! Oh yeah and Sean Penn, who may look White, is really Pink, and you know what Pink means! So what if he actually rescued a few people in New Orleans? If Bill Whittle had been there, he would have single-handedly saved a hundred thousand Brown People!
What sick fucks y’all are.
I just thought of an analogy of my own.
It’s from “The Thing From Another World.” It’s your basic 50′s b/w scifi movie about an alien monster discovered in the Arctic. The Thing does his best to kill everything it comes in contact with. We can define him as a wolf. The chief scientist however is convinced the Thing being an alien is inherently superior and if only reasoned with be shown to under stand. Along with being an uber-moron, let’s define the scientist as a Sheep. The rest of the characters are Sheepdogs. At the film’s climax when the Thing is herded into a deathtrap, the Scientist pushes past the others and tries deperately one last time to “reason” with the Thing. The Thing hears this insane jabbering, looks at the others as if to say “Is this supposed to stop me?” before shoving the Scientist out of the way and proceeding with the intent to kill. Don’t worry Virginia, the Thing is killed and all is well. My point is I just realize this is the exact same scenario we have today. I’ve made my peace with the fact that there are people out there who would like nothing more than to see me dead simply because I’m an American and failing to kill me some are content to hate me for life. I can live with that. The question then becomes, do I want to be hated while doing something right or doing something wrong? I’m gonna be hated either way so might as well be while doing what’s right. And in this case the right thing means being a Sheepdog or at least supporting them (I have neither the training nor the balls to be a Sheepdog) when it’s time for them to bite the Wolf.
Sorry to be one of the few out of step but I hear alarm bells. What is one to make of the arguments of a man who begins by asserting, ex cathedra, that anyone who fails to accept one of his axioms is a “complete God-damned idiot”? I smell politikal korrectniz. How does the author claim to know that human hearts are interchangeable? Where is the evidence for it? Opinion will not do for me. Facts are facts but an opinion is like an anus: everybody has one…..
If bullshit were music, this post would be a big brass band playing the complete works of Spike Jones.
Awesome comments. I’m passing to everyone I know.
I can hear pink heads exploding all over the place!
You remind me of what someone else said 2000 years ago:
“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
“The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Carry Concealed. It scares the wolves when they can’t tell the sheep from the sheepdogs.
Of course the Pinks hate that idea as well. All the more reason…
If bullshit were music, this post would be a big brass band playing the complete works of Spike Jones.
Eddie, if bullshit really were music, that empty space between your ears would have been reverberating with a veritable cacophony of Spike Jones melodies every time you had a thought.
I wish I were as eloquent. As you can see, your piece has begun to bring out the idiots. Please ignore them. As a former Marine, combat veteran, NYC firefighter, and cop–I can tell you that they’d be the first to hide behind “Tommy.” Well done. Aarf, aarf.
Thanks for the essay, Whittler. Putting grand thoughts into words is not an easy thing.
-Frank J.
Gray Sheepdog pup (and SarahK is training to be a Sheepdog, too).
After several hours of further reflection, I’d like to add one consideration:
Where does corruption fit into this equation?
That was one lesson I drew from watching the breakdown in New Orleans-
Corruption kills.
Yet there was corruption in New york City as well, but not the
breakdown in the law enforcement community that the world
saw this week.
The article points out the similarities between the wolves and
sheepdogs. Actually, even wolves would be attracted to
becoming part of the law enforcement crowd because of some of
these similarities. Indeed, that would make them wolves in
sheepdogs’ clothing (as mentioned earlier).
And is the grey tribe ever corrupt? Is a corrupt wolf better than
a corrupt sheepdog? Schindler’s List showed that sometimes a
corrupt Nazi was the Jew’s best chance for survival. The clear
divisions of tribes don’t hold up so clearly when I think about
these questions.
By definition, is a corrupt wolf still a wolf, and a corrupt
sheepdog not really a sheepdog (but a wolf) ?
Sorry if I seem confused, I’m just trying to figure this out in application.
Woof, Isshi.
eddie,
does that clever post make you feel better about yourself? i think you’ve just made bill’s point (though not nearly as well as he does).
Well.
[Sorry. Turned out tblogg had nothing to say -- GHS]
insightful analysis, tbogg. thanks for your contribution.
This is an outstanding piece and should be required reading for all at NBC,ABC,CBS, New York Times and Washington Post. I’m going to forward it to all on my email list. Thanks.
I’m a grey sheep, married to an Ooh-Rah Sheepdog. I hope it’s okay that grey sheep cry -cause this post made me do it.
Thank you for this post.
“I know plenty of sheepdogs who act like wolves when it suites [sic.] them and plenty of wolves who think they’re protecting the sheep.”
Then they are not sheepdogs. They are wolves.
“Do you think your man Bush is a sheepdog? He’s a fucking coward who dodged the draft”
So? Clinton murdered Terri Schiavo!
Thank you for writing this.
A fellow Grey.
Great Writing….fine thought….Now, when will you address the matter of wolves in sheep’s clothing?…Did you see that piece of garbage Louisiana Governess Blanco show her tiger stripes? For two days she was all over TV wringin her hands because she knew she was being revealed for the unhelpful thing she was. Then, when she started to get called on about the Louisiana response–her Inner Wolf Howled and she was on the attack. I hope you enjoyed writing your piece as much as I did reading it, because the theme needs your thoughtful development. Thank You…Bill McArdle
Beautiful, thought-provoking essay. Thanks.
The whole idea of character is that you behave honorably even if no one is watching. This is what I try to teach my children. The posters who say that “anyone” would loot or turn into a wolf in conditions as existed in NOLA are simply revealing their lack of character. They would steal, rape and murder if they could, therefore anyone would.
But sheepdogs don’t turn into wolves. If you do, you were a wolf in the first place. Gray goes all the way down.
Proud to be Gray. And I want on the bumper sticker, too.
Just when I thought I might pick up my pen and write something worthwhile on the subject, I am once again completely blown away by your talent.
Thank You, finally someone who tells it as it is.
Sure, the whole sheep – sheepdog – wolf thing isn’t 100% accurate in every single situation that has ever existed. It’s a simplification, designed to help people understand something. Every writer in existence uses it, because the entire spectrum of human thought cannot be fully explored in a blog entry, or a novel, or even in the entire collection of all novels ever written.
It’s fair to say that anyone damning Bill Whittle for simplifying anything are simply trying to set an unachievable standard, while ignoring that standard themselves. Their goal is not to improve other voices, but to silence them, and they must be ignored if anything is to be accomplished.
you have expressed what i could not!
now we need t-shirts
Prior to 9/11 I was quite content to be Pink. NO MORE.
Nice essay. Bravo.
My favorite quote:
“Virtuous motives, trammeled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness.”
W.C.
A couple other “Grey” (Gray?) women I would have liked seen running the show in LA: Barbara Bush or Madeline Albright – Republican and a Democrat – both same tribe if you ask me (and you didnt)
Thank you Bill, you voice my thoughts better than I can.
Otter
Fabulous article. Tribes indeed!
My family has had at least one family member in the military from each generation since before the Revolutionary War. We also are on a our eighth generation of at least one lawyer in each generation. Perhaps it is the appreciation for the rule of law and not savagery that drives us as a family in this direction. We have always understood that most people would not understand why our family has always been this way. Perhaps your article has illuminated this repeated choice somewhat. Thank You.
Great post, once again. I return to read your works whenever I can.
Thanks.
Keep thinking and writing.
The Hobo
I may not be a full-fledged sheepdog, but I’m a formidable, ankle-biting, grey chihuahua. Yap, Yap!
Thanks, Bill.
Another proud grey sheepdog checking in.
As always, Mr. Whittle, thank you for putting into words what so many of us feel, but lack the eloquence to express.
I am not going to go into every detail, there are points I agree with and disagree with.
I do agree that the leftishly inclined as a group put far less of their resources into helping others than they should. I do agree that the “stars” with their flashy lifestyles are disgraceful.
But 500 million would be a drop in the bucket in terms of LA area poverty. It could do significant good and if put in the right places could at times multiply. But people *do* need to get some real sense of numbers and what things cost.
For an educated middle class person to say “wow that’s a really, really big number” without doing some sums that say 500 million thrown at around a million people isn’t going to solve the problems is irresponsible, it doesn’t show this ability to look at problems and analyze and solve them that you claim.
I wonder if they’ll let me read this as part of my remarks when I re-enlist in a couple months…
“Absent, of course, was the fundamental truth of what he plainly does not have the eyes or the imagination to see, namely, that if the Superdome had been filled with white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers like myself, it would not have been a refinery of horror, but rather a citadel of hope and order and restraint and compassion.”
When Beverly Hills, Greenwich, Conn. or the North Shore of Chicago get hit with a natural disaster as devastating as what destroyed New Orleans last week, we’ll have a chance to put your tribal theories to the test.
But until then, it probably would be better if white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers such as yourself kept your ignorant mouths shut, because you’re making your fellow tribal members look pretty stupid.
Color me Gray and gimme a target.
Semper Fi,
Mattski
PS – Arf.
Mr. Whittle,
When those bumper stickers come out I demand equal time also and that my name be there with yours and the President’s.
Save room on the bumper sticker for me…
Woof,
Nick
TRIBES
RIGHT ON
I am proud to be a SHEEPDOG in your TRIBE.I can’t wait to read everything else on your site.
I certainly agree that it takes courage to fight oncoming storms. Aren’t you upset that this adminstration has none?
Well, Billmon – I think you’d probably better think about cleaning your “dirty glass”(es) so you can see the real world through them.
…Second, it needs to be reiterated that our Pink cousins are certainly not bad.
“I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” John Adams, 1780
The freedom to be Pink is what Adams and other Gray patriots fought for and dreamed that their descendants might possess. In that sense, the excrescence of, say, a Sean Penn is proof that the Grays are doing their job.
Once again, always worth the wait. My most fervant hope, at this point, is that you are not just preaching to the choir, that these words will win converts.
This needs to get wide distribution.
Thanks for the dose of sanity!
I shared with my pink bro-in-law and got this in return: “Condeleeza was shopping for shoes and watching a broadway play three days after the shit went down. Cheney was still on vacation a week later. Your outrage is rather selective.”
Do the pink really not get it, or just refuse to?
These are the thoughts of the American Patriotic mind. I’m glad to say that I have been grey for a long time, and not because of my age.
HOOAH!
I always knew that I belonged to a great tribe but I just did’t have a name for the tribe. Now I know that I am a member of the Sheepdog tribe.
I loved the essay. There is no way that anyone could explain this concept any better than you have.
I loved the comment about the old goat who generally minded her own business, but who could also get quite mean when necessary. I think I’m like that goat.
My husband has always likened me to a bear; when things are calm I’m a cuddly teddy bear, but when provoked, I turn into a snarling grizzly.
Billmon..
Looting and rioting are caused by looters and rioters, not by natural disasters. There are millions of people in the country who are honest and do the right thing even though they are not being watched.
Remember, Billamon, Hate is not a family value.
Lt. Col. Grossman’s “sheepdog” metaphor fails on one major point. No tax-paying, voting, law-abiding American civilian citizen is a “sheep”.
Nor are we sheepdogs. In an absolute sense, we are the sheepdogs’ owners. We feed and maintain those dogs to protect us from the wolves.
Unfortunately many of those sheepdogs no longer distinguish between their owners and the wolves. Like the veteran Lt. Col. Grossman quotes, they see us as either sheep to be herded and nipped or wolves to be attacked if we resist in any way. Some of the sheepdogs our society appoints as guardians have gone rabid. They’ve developed a taste for blood and a nasty habit of tearing out their owners’ throats. That breed of sheepdog no longer recognizes any master save themselves.
Hurricane Katrina brought out the very worst behavior in many sheepdogs as it did in the naturally predatory wolves. Our society doesn’t treat rabid sheep dogs the same way it does wolves, even when they both bite the same people.
It’s heartening when truth and reason shine so brightly through the fog of nonsense with which we have been bombarded this past week.
Thank you, sir.
Someone recommended this to me and advertised it as “conservative”. I said that I liked to get as many perspectives as I can on a subject, so send it to me. I’m so glad they did. I think that the article is more “human” or maybe “realistic” than “conservative”.
I prefer analogy to labels every time. The tribal and sheep,wolf,sheepdog analogies gave focus and clarity to my confused thoughts about this subject.
I will definitey read that book, and I will definitely post a link to this this essay on the online group I belong to as a “token sailor”, whose membership consists of serving and retired Airborne, aka sheepdog, soldiers around the world.
I am honoured to count myself as part of your tribe.
Thanks for the focus…a grey guy.
Kudos
Am I allowed to say anything?
… Three times read; three times moved to tears.
Lead on, Bill Whittle — I got your back.
Sheep dog, my behind; I’m a BORDER COLLIE through and through.
Permission to come aboard, sir!
Whether he ever sees this or not, Thanks Mr. Whittle. You put the things in my mind down on paper. Or at least in a nice text file, which is better.
If only this sort of thought was as common as it was in the days of our grandfathers and great grandfathers, we wouldnt have rapists and looters rampaging in one of our major cities.
Outstanding Bill. Whatever happens, please dont lose the desire to keep writing essays like this. Important (and more importantly, correct!) ideologies must not be silenced. Ever.
Terry S
Very thought provoking and right on target. This needed to be said and what a great way to say it! Everyone should read this.
Mr Freen: OK – the sheepdogs wouldn’t be there except for the sheep. The sheep generate the income that pays for the sheepdog. But to say that they OWN the sheepdog (implied if not explicitly stated in your post) is not reflective of the actual roles played. There is an owner in the metaphor which doesn’t have a good analogy in the story (except maybe a G-D?), but actually your points strengthen the analogy, not weaken it in my opinion.
Thanks for sharing your insight and clarity. Forwarded link to a select list; can’t wait for the litmus test results.
I am in total awe of your comand of the English language. Everything and I mean Everything you said is what I have been trying to convey to another blog who is such a reactionary left winger that I just stopped commenting and let him live in his little pink world.
Plan to make a hard copy of this and share it with my family, half of whom are pink.
Thanks for a great read. I know what I am now. I am a grey sheepdog on the sidelines waiting for my chance to jump into the battle.
“Thou art the star for which all evening waits.” – George Sterling (1869-1926).
In New Orleans’ murky sea of darkness and despair – a light emerges, it beckons us upwards.
Thanks Mr. Whittle.
Why do people have to be either pink or grey? Why can’t we be either pink or grey when the time is appropriate?
To continue with the sheep/wolf analogy – wolves do not attack sheep for fun or for glory. They attack sheep because they are hungry. What the sheep don’t see is that our sheepdogs have been taking food from the other sheep. They say that it’s to protect us, and in a way, it is. We stay fed, so we don’t ask where the food comes from. But after a while, the other sheep get angry, and some of them start to look like wolves to us. We would do the same in their place.
I was directed here through another blog (merkley???). I, too, fancy myself as someone outside the current political dichotomy and was heartened by the first half of your post.
And yet those hopes were to be dashed by the end of the essay.
You see, even though you give yourself legitimacy with your side of the road experiences, that legitimacy is undermined by the name calling and hey-I’m-superior attitude that runs throughout the essay. Both of which make you guilty of participating in the “carnival” you claim has broken your heart.
Also, isn’t it true that people who are truly grey and/or sheepdogs would never call themselves such? They do things and are things because they believe they are right and expect no recognition; call no attention to themselves. One who gives themselves a congratulatory title, is rarely ever that thing.
This is an incredibly well written essay, Bill.
Kudos!
What a bunch of self-congratulatory geeks.
I thought that it’s hard to get into your tribe..looks like self-assignment is good enough.
You would have saved yourself a lot of time and quoted Hitler or Mussolini instead, this is worse though as you actually decided to pretend you have a bit of humanity left.
But you in the “grey” camp don’t have the balls to let this argument stand and have a real debate. I’m sure to be censored.
So I’ll depart this sickening orgy now. But..if you have to peddle your message on the internet in leftist blogospheres BEST be ready for a fight.
You can’t pretend to speak for the masses when you want to silence them as well.
But you in the “grey” camp don’t have the balls to let this argument stand and have a real debate. I’m sure to be censored.
Or killed by the CIA perhaps? Unleash your paranoia.
“Just the small blurb I read enlarged my mental horizon by an order of magnitude”
imagine that
Canadian Perasma – DingDingDing!!!! We have a winner, the first to drag out the “You’re a Nazi/Fascist” argument! You get a prize, but you have to come on down to West Texas to get it…
If you are so anxious for a “debate”, then why depart?
Who wants to shut you up? I ain’t seen any evidence of your dreaded censorship around here yet…
Then again, you make about as much sense as I’d expect from a Canadian Pink Sheep. Baaaaaa yourself.
I’ll see your leftist blogosphere, and raise you a baseball bat, since you seem to want a fight.
Woof!
I read this essay yesterday and left a comment then. I came back today to read through the follow up comments. I am surprised at how many of the negative comments miss the point entirely and equate the “grey” or “sheepdog” type with violence as the preferred response. To me, the whole idea of being “grey” is action, not waiting around for some magic to come down and take care of things for you. Of course, the action has to be based on the event precipitating the action. I only take exception to the author’s premise when it comes to law enforcement as I personally believe they are the wolves and my distrust of their motives is massive. The fact that I don’t feel that way about our military may seem like a contradiction, but it is more a matter of understanding that police often act out of personal bias and a need to take away the dignity of the perp in order to take control (a very pink response sometimes and a wolf response if they sense weakness), whereas our military are well-trained to respond to the “mission.” Plus, I respond to a “grey” George Bush and his take charge, know what you stand for attitude as opposed to the pink mindset of a Clinton who “feels my pain.” Screw feeling my pain, I can do that well enough by myself. I don’t need to be made to feel like a victim, I need to feel empowered so I can get things done. Pinkos survive by victimizing us all. We see it right now with the blame game going on and the litany of pinks wanting very busy action greys to stop what they are doing to explain what or why they did something days, weeks, months, or years ago.
Reasoning by analogy doesn
Hey, Canadian – Got a real email address? Have the cojones to post it? I thought not.
Go back to your sheepfold. Here, have some nice green grass to eat. Go Baaaaaaa yourself.
I did the free associating, I got the wrong answers, but please understand I am not American. I got Rumsfeld, Bush and Rice down as pink, “we Make Our Own Luck and we Visualize Good Things” because I remembered reading this quote from someone from their group “when we act, we create our own reality”.
I don’t think we can unmake the wolf, we are not responsible for him. I do think there’s a chance we can starve his cubs. There are still Nazis in Germany, but they don’t have popular support of millions, they don’t thrive anymore. There are still IRA thugs in NI, but they are losing the support they once had.
very good read.
and to those who do not agree, i must quote the late and great lewis grizzard:”delta is ready to fly when you are!”
I’m not sure what your point is RJN. For example, people that dealt with the Chicago fire were sheepdogs in this analogy, because they were ready and willing to act to solve the problem. Simply being in a position of power, such as a cop, does not make one a sheepdog by default. Do not be so quick to assume “grey” and “sheepdog” must mean established institutions. It’s a mindset more than anything else.
I always find it amusing when leftists like Canadian Perasma arrive and proclaim that Bill is the real coward for daring to make his opinions known to the entire world. While posting a fake email address, no less.
But I suppose that’s the standard from a 12-year-old with no argument: tantrums and thrown feces.
“Remember, Billmon, Hate is not a family value.”
Right — It’s a CONSERVATIVE value.
From a Canadian sheepdog, with many sheepdog friends…please don’t paint all Canadians with the same brush. We’ll protect his wooly ass and let him have his opinion at the same time…if he/she/sheep pays his/her taxes.
Ignore the “hit and run” snippets of someone who left their red socks in the wrong “load”.
Thank you.
It takes courage to fight oncoming storms. But like in Viet Nam: Bush chose not to fight. He is without courage. Like in Viet Nam: Cheyney was on vacation. He had “other priorities.” There is no courage in this administration. Nor any honesty.
And after rereading this garbage — and the even more insane comments appended to it — I’d say what this “tribe” needs is a whole bunch of brown shirts.
A few sayings and truisms that come to mind in relation to some of the salient points made in this essay:
“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, criticise.”
“Good men and women can sleep peacefully in their beds because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
“In the same way that, most times, accusations actually reveal quite a lot about the accuser while having little or no bearing on the accused, what someone says, most often reflects him/herself; and rarely has any real bearing on whatever it is about which he was talking. The oft-used term to describe this is Projection.”
With regards to the comment made by John:
I don’t know if it’s as much a pink/gray, sheep/sheepdog issue as it is a juvenile/adult conflict. The tribe of grownups seems overwhelmed by the tribe whose members are emotionally frozen at age 15.
This little gem from Babylon 5 describes those juveniles to a tee:
“You don’t want to listen. You only wish to speak.”
– Delenn, Mimbari.
Greenboy wrote: Shorter Bill Whittle: I would have single-handedly defeated Mohammed Atta on that 9/11 flight if only I had been there! And New Orleans? If it had been White People there, everything would have been peachy, no matter how long we wallowed in our own shit in the convention center without food and water! Oh yeah and Sean Penn, who may look White, is really Pink, and you know what Pink means! So what if he actually rescued a few people in New Orleans? If Bill Whittle had been there, he would have single-handedly saved a hundred thousand Brown People!
What sick fucks y’all are.
Your complete inability to comprehend what you read is mind-boggling.
Right — It’s a CONSERVATIVE value.
And after rereading this garbage — and the even more insane comments appended to it — I’d say what this “tribe” needs is a whole bunch of brown shirts.
Oh great, the Pink tribe’s village idiot also has an opinion.
Using the logic in this essay, supporting the war in Iraq makes no sense. To use the sheepdog analogy, the war in Iraq is like sending your best sheepdogs after the weak and injured wolf, leaving the sheep vulnerable to attack from the strong wolves. The war in Afghanistan was an example of the sheepdog doing its job and doing it well. War in North Korea or Iran would probably be a good use of the sheepdogs. But Iraq is a complete waste of perfectly good sheepdogs. And Katrina just might be an indicator that shows the pain of wasting our sheepdogs.
You can’t pretend to speak for the masses when you want to silence them as well.
Hey Candian Persia, try, just TRY to post a dissenting opinion from the leftist line at DemocraticUnderground.com and see how long it stays up. I dare you.
p.s. Your post survived. How about that?
A big part of the “pink” mindset is an almost clinical denial that there is willful evil in the world. Hence the term “bliss ninnies” which is sometimes used for people in utter denial about the reality of crime, terrorism, etc.
It sometimes seems as if modern progressives believe that the police cause crime. This pathology wasn’t part of the liberalism of Harry Truman or Lyndon Johnson; it seems to be a recent phenomenon.
I acknowledge that I’ve led a fairly sheltered life as far as violence and disaster are concerned. However, I admit that my lack of survival skills (which is also a lack of ability to help others in a crisis) is a weakness; some liberals seem to see their incapability as a badge of honor.
Billmon:
First of all, most white Americans don’t live in Greenwich, or Beverly Hills, or anyplace like them.
Second, there have been hundreds of natural disasters that struck predominantly white areas — including this one. Outside the city limits of New Orleans, most of the people who have been killed or left homeless by Katrina are white. Remember them? Funny how these “redneck”, “gun crazy” areas have had almost none of the violence so endemic in New Orleans.
Even the most civilised man is only two missed meals and a cold night above a beast.
Fascinating. So what you’re saying is, if the residents of Greenwich, CT went without food and warmth for 2 days, it would drive them to loot big screen TV’s, shoot at rescue helicopters, and rape women.
Nice try pal. I wouldn’t begrudge any NO resident for looting food and water, but that’s NOT what happened.
Bill, as always you are one eloquent SOB. I have read all your essays and then just to be real clear bought the damn book. I have since loaned it out several times, as I think there are few who can throw down words like you do.
Hey, Rockridge, you might want to remind your pink brother-in-law of a fact nearly every news outlet failed to remember, so keen was their desire to pillory Secretary Rice for living her life:
The duties of the Secretary of State are primarily associated with foreign policy–meeting with foreign dignitaries, advising the President of U.S.-international relations, etc. (The Department of State website has more information, if you’re keen to know.) Secretary Rice’s job has little or nothing to do with domestic issues such as disaster relief. There are other people in government whose job that is, and they have been doing it ’round the clock for the last week or so. Apparently, though, there are some pink folks who labor under the delusion that the job description of every person in our government is “do everything for everyone, all the time.”
I’ll tell you something: there is an old saw, been going around for many years, that goes: “The definition of a Racist is anybody winning an argument with a liberal.”
The entire ESSENCE, in fact, the entire POINT of the whole damn thing was to point out that race has NOTHING to do with this, and yet, just about every person who disagrees with it — which is their right — calls it a racist screed.
That tells me volumes, and what it tells me is, they simply cannot respond to any argument without immediately going to the racist card. The most profoundly anti-racist argument you can make is called racist by leftists who don’t agree with you.
I’ll tell you what they’re like, these people. They’re like TIMMY! in South Park. Their entire language — indeed, their entire intellectual depth — is one word deep.
That’s how I’ll deal with these people from now on. Any time one of them drops the racist card, I’ll just say TIMMY!
And that’s all.
What a great rant! I read it to my husband last night as we lay in bed – wonderful foreplay
!
Wow. We must be related.
Just a FYI, my uncle’s name was also Bill Whittle, may he rest in peace. He literally designed and built the Statue of Liberty in Las Vegas.
Anyway, kudos on a magnificent essay. Would you say such a thing might be what we called in IBM a CLM? (CLM=career limiting move)
Take care,
Dave Whittle
“Ho, ho, ho. Read it again, a bit more closely. Military service was NOT A REQUIREMENT in Starship Troopers. Heinlein himself emphasized this point, in the work itself and in later essays.”
Um. No, military service was not a requirement. But you couldn’t vote without it. You weren’t even considered a citizen without it. (Maybe he was saying something about those who, even then, were agitating to end the draft?)
Your piece was an excellent enlightening read Sir , and as a Canadian I would like to apoligize for the likes of Canadian Perasma (We aren’t all brain dead).
Unfortunately our sheep have gotten their butts wiped by goverment for so long , they not only live in denial (coma) , they have no idea how to think for themselves.
From a Canadian who loves his country for what it used to be and yearns for common sence to return.
I wish your country all the best.
Scott
Even the most civilised man is only two missed meals and a cold night above a beast
I had to come back to that one, too. I’d forgotten all about it.
Man, what does that say about you if you believe THAT? How deep do your ethics and morals run if you can say THAT with a straight face?
I actually sat down and wrote this right around 1 am, and finished about four hours later, because I read an article at a liberal website saying that by day three, people were practicing CANNIBALISM to stay alive.
Day THREE.
Turns out — SUPRISE! — it was just a rumor, but that didn’t stop the author from running with it before the facts came in because he not only WANTED to believe it, he DID believe it was possible for a person — like himself, presumably — to imagine that 3 days without cable Tv is enough to make you go out and barbeque the Joneses without their permission.
What the hell does that say about you?
The overwhelming response to this essay has convinced me there are many, many people like myself who claim no special heroism or bravery for themselves, just a stubborn willingness to do what we needed to help ourselves and each other through something like this.
I can’t help but think that a lot of the vitriol directed at me for self-aggrandizement is leveled by the same people I see glancing out of their window as they drive past the wounded.
If being willing to stop and render assistance makes me a Nazi, then what does that say about THEIR morality?
(AND FOLKS, JUST SO YOU ALL KNOW, THIS COMMENT JUST GOT BLACKLISTED! SO NOW I HAVE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO TO GET IT POSTED. YES, THE WEBSITE OWNER JUST GOT THE DREADED MT BLACKLIST MESSAGE. AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE, IT’S THIS OR NO COMMENTS, BECAUSE MANY OF THE TOLERANT, LOVE-FILLED, DIVERSITY-WORSHIPPING PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE WITH ME USE MY E-MAIL ADDESS TO SIGN ME UP FOR THE MOST VILE AND MASSIVE SPAM. WITHOUT MT BLACKLIST, I WAS RECEIVING 2-300 SPAMS PER DAY.)
Thank You Bill.
That has needed saying for a very long time.
All the “Baaaaaing” was starting to get to me.
“There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit–but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals–and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep–on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves. ”
is found in the post
http://messages.msnbc.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=display&tsn=6&tid=562&webtag=msnbc_katrinala
“The overwhelming response to this essay has convinced me there are many, many people like myself who claim no special heroism or bravery for themselves…”
Yes, there are as you say, many, many people who claim no special heroism or bravery for themselves. But that’s apparently not you, since you keep reminding us that you are heroic and brave.
Why must people who disagree with you be labeled cowards?
Thanks, Bill.
Grey is also the color of cold steel…
it looks like one need a good working e-mail address for this to work as the blacklist program is very good.
9/11 was our second or first really good wake up call for outsiders targeting the USA.
Katrinala is the wake up call that our society has gone way wrong with a the welfare state.
Its time to stock up on guns and ammo.
One of my favourite quotes from Mr. Whittle’s essays, “Everyone dies – even Liberals.”
Canadian Perasma absolutely does not speak for this person.
I wonder why he/she can’t present the argument without playing the nationality card? Stick to the point – either we’re capable or we’re culpable – regardless of nationality, race, religion, political party.
This should be required reading for everyone in the world. Excellent post, and I thank you for sharing it.
Thank you for this piece. So many themes running throughout, all of which I have thought myself but never took the time to express in writing. Much of it seems so obvious, it pains me that so many dont feel or see it.
The same battle against ‘pink’ is occuring in Australia. The pinks hate our man at the top, Prime Minister John Howard, becuase he is grey, through and through. The pinks hate him with a passion, to a completely irrational level. But the sheep dogs love him! And the sheep deep down know he ain’t the type to cut and run from a fight. I thank God he’s there every day. And so should the US. While he’s there, ‘mateship’ is more than a word, and you have Australia at your shoulder.
C Ro said:
“Yes, there are as you say, many, many people who claim no special heroism or bravery for themselves. But that’s apparently not you, since you keep reminding us that you are heroic and brave.
Why must people who disagree with you be labeled cowards?”
————————————
Potshots do not an argument make. You’re basically saying that this essay should never have been written because, for some reason you have failed to specify, “sheepdogs” should just do their thing and shut up about it. For some reason that I can simply not fathom, you believe that any person’s brave actions become worthless (or at least cheapened) if they dare to talk about it.
You jump to conclusions far too quickly. Bill and his “entourage” do not call those who disagree cowards by default. They are called cowards when their argument displays cowardice. Having no argument and pulling the racism card (or any other personal attack; I believe “Nazi”, “brownshirt”, and “fascist” have already been employed) is cowardly and should be called as such.
Dear Mr. Whittle,
A brilliant essay! It reminded me much of Atlas Shrugged. Are you an Ayn Rand fan?
b/rgds,
Tobias
Amen!
You know….it comes to mind that the Tribes in the blog could be described ….to some extent… as those who deny that Darwinism is alive and well and those who accept Darwinism and deal with it….
I’ve printed this immediately for my 11 year old son to read. For those that think I’m subjecting my son to nasty language: I deliberately left the language and explained that it was strong for a good reason, and written by a grown man. My son is man enough to understand that that doesn’t mean it’s OK for him.
Bill, I don’t know you – but I feel like I do. You have writtten my life’s philosohpy in such colorful, PERFECT language. I’m so glad to know we’re in the same Tribe…makes the foxhole that much safer.
Thanks for the excellent post. I would however, like to see the dissenters actually come to the table with some kind of argument that actually makes sense and that can be backed up with facts
Same post here from a blogger in NO, “A Katrina Story
”
at
http://www.my-diary.org/read/body.phtml?entry=540574547
Bravo!!!!! I’ve always considered myself as a “sheepdog” and will do my best to raise a family of 5 more “sheepdogs” (two of my children are planning to enter the army upon graduation of college). Thank you for such a wonderful blog.
Just… amazing…
Thank you!
Wow! What a courageous piece of writing. Thank
you for saying what I was screaming about all
last week. It is time the rest of us stand up
and stop the silly nonsense pink has done to our
country.
I’ve always detested the color anyway.
Kudos to you for a well written and very timely
article.
PJC
Wow. Amazing. Your parroting of the current republican talking points, wrapped up in a nice neat self-inflating package, just blew me away. I love especially how you manage to completely ignore the contradiction inherent in your entire piece: you start by bitching because people are pointing fingers, and then spend the rest of the piece pointing fingers and talking about how much you agree with yourself about your assessments.
[AND HERE, LITTLE MICHAEL LEAVES THE BUILDING -- GHS]
I’ve read this three times now, sent it on to others. Please keep writing. It feels like we’re teetering on the balance right now. I really hope it’s not as close to a toss-up as it seems. But people like you keep the rest of us hopeful.
It’s also encouraging to see the responses.
Bill,
I’m certain I’ve mentionaed this before, but why don’t you get one of those “enter the number you see below” things like over at Frank’s site?
It would eliminate the spambots, eliminate the monitoring for tricky spambots and people would be able to post…when they try to post.
- MuscleDaddy
Great article. Thanks. I agree almost completely. My only problem is that you don’t mention how, really, the wolves are just other sheep, who were born in the same in the exact same pasture as everyone else. Ideas make sheeps into wolves, and ideas CAN change. This is not “Us vs Them” because ultimately, Us IS Them.
And yeah, tell that to the people who showed up for work on the morning of the 11th and didn’t get to go home again. You’re exactly right that we can’t beat Osama Bin Laden by being nice to him. He needs to be found and he needs to be killed.
But there IS a larger truth here — one that isn’t pink and it isn’t grey. For humans to win, we have to stop needing others to lose. And whenever you start drawing lines between sheep and wolves, or between pinks and grey, it’s all the more important to remember that ultimately, we ARE all in this boat together.
Well written, thanks. It puts some of the inhumanity and incompetence of New Orleans into perspective. You seem to have attracted some pinkish sheep, by the sound of some of the less coherent comments. Nice job anyway.
I want to be in your tribe.
Oh joy. Thinly veiled Social Darwinism and masturbatory warrior fantasies.
Where have all the philosophers gone?
OUTSTANDING! I was directed to your writings from a Milblog and I haven’t stopped reading since. Sometimes you find someone who puts your thoughts into words. You are one of those people for me. God Bless You and Thank You for writing these magnificent essays.
Eric Shirley
New Hampshire (A Sheep Dog)
I just read Tribe & Sanctuary.
Now my eyes water & it’s 4 AM.
I’ll blame my lack of performance tomorrow on my lack of resolve to quit reading your essays.
Bill, You put on paper what many of your fellow americans wish they had put on paper including moi.
Wow! So literate, yet so entirely wrong! I really disagree here! It’s amazing! Wow! This is how a spinter movement starts, right here! Wow! I hope you don’t have ready access to firearms or plastic explosives! Go ahead, label anyone who disagrees a ‘pink sheep’ or even a ‘blue mongoose’! I’d prefer to be a ‘red dwarf’, myself.
I give you the ‘golf clap of the day’, sir!
GOD BLESS!!
my heart breaks when I see blind people with healthy eyes.
Dee
Hey Michael Lenz aka “walkingshark”:
Like you other troll friends, your inability to comprehend simple written english is truly astounding. Back to the pink sheepfold with you! ;^)
Hey Bill – Clearly, not all sheep are bad or stupid, but what about the ones who insist that the sheepdogs are evil, and want to smother themselves in mustard and hang out with wolves? At what point is the sheepdog no longer obligated to save the sheep from its own idiocy?
Absolutely brilliant! You are so gifted in words and so logical and truthful. I wish your essays, especially this one, could be printed in papers everywhere. Perhaps our sheep would wake up.
I will post if this goes thru
Arte et Marte
I am in debt to the sheepdog, both foreign and domestic.
In the words of an old minister friend of mine, “Preach it Brother”. He felt that he could not be a true Christian if he was not willing to protect the sheep from the wolves by whatever means necessary. He was a Brother Marine, a Preacher and a man who I would trust to cover my back any day. Thou Shalt Not Kill may be better translated as Thou Shalt Not Shed Innocent Blood.
FIRST YOU READ at
http://techcentralstation.com/103002A.html
” A Pack, Not a Herd By Glenn Harlan Reynolds !
Then you will see the meaning of the original essay.
Then maybe you will understand that the real grey do not go around clamoring :” I serve, I serve ”
The real one do act.
MORE to come
Well said. I couldn’t agree more.
I LOVE THIS POST. I guess I must be grey, because I couldn’t stop thinking on the day after the storm, why don’t those able-bodied people do something besides complain? Why didn’t they just start walking out of the city until they got somewhere where there was food, water, electricity. If nothing else, they would have been that much closer to the help when it did arrive.
A well-thought and well-written essay, Mr. Whittle. Like Tobias, I was reminded of Ayn Rand. You must really hate the movie “Babe,” it messes with your whole metaphor!
However, I have a question, which Isshi has raised, and which you touch on in your essay by mentioning the spectre of “Presidentes for life”. What about corruption? Where does Nixon fit in to your metaphor? Certainly he was Grey through and through and through. And certainly not a sheep. Was he a wolf? Or — if you’ll permit me to extend Lt. Grossman’s metaphor — was he a rabid dog? Certainly, throughout history there have been leaders who claim to be sheepdogs but who are no more than rabid dogs. They’re not there to protect sheep, although they will attack wolves. They are loyal only to their own pack of dogs.
The more I know of our President, the more I am convinced he is a rabid dog. And yes, I think that he’s “grey” — but that does not make him *good*.
There are those of us who, with one eye on history and one on the news, are deeply distrustful of any leader — of *any* party — who is more loyal to his own “tribe” than to his nation, who seems to love power more than principle.
The filter problem continues because it is not telling people what is bothering it (“at some point” is pathetic), and it doesn’t mention a rule number or other description that we could report.
(wow, got one past it!)
FWIW, I went to the range to check my sheepdog credentials today. I’m no great shakes, but if a gang of thugs carrying knives and machetes appeared at my fence demanding my generator (or anything else) it appears likely that they would not be able to repeat the act.
The filter rules need to be run past a large body of “ham” and any rule which over-blocks needs to be thrown out or its weight reduced. This problem sounds like an automated Bayesian system gone haywire, and retraining should fix it.
An excellent essay yet again, I agree with most of it. Yet I feel like their is more too it, for some reason I think that their is more to what you are saying. I don’t know, maybe it just a perfect link into the courage essay.
You are probably one of the most talented writers I have ever had the privilege of reading. Your essays are logical and very well thought through, I enjoy reading them all.
And at the risk of repeating a bunch of others – another sheepdog ready to go. Soon as I’m out of college its into the military – hopefully to be a pilot.
Inspiring.
That was a great article. I could imagine myself doing the writing. Problem I can think these thoughts but I am unable to express them on paper. I printed it out, and like a good movie I will read it again and get something I missed the first time. Thanks
Bill, wonderful essay. This comes from a seaborne Sheepdog who spent 13 years in the Navy. I, too, sometimes wish I had been onboard one of those flights so I could have done my best to sell my life dearly in the process of taking those planes away from those murdering terrorists.
But I must disagree with you on one small point. I don’t think courage can be learned. It must be born within a person, something small which can be fed fuel to make it burn brightly and make that person want to run into a burning building. I’ve always had that spark, and I hope I always will.
I can hardly wait for the next essay.
This one’s a long one, friends, so pour yourselves a cold one and hunker down for a bit.
I think the idea of TRIBES is a good one, but I think it needs some fine tuning. Let me explain.
The metaphor is accurate as far as it goes. For instance, that there are Pinks and Greys no one with a brain would deny. But what about those who are definitely not Pink, but are not Grey, either? Let me propose a third tribe for the model, one which from my own personal preference I will call Newcastle Brown.
Browns are not sheepdogs; they are not the warrior/protectors that society will always need this side of the Second Coming. But nor are they sheep. They are, for want of a better analogy, more like the family Doberman; gentle and playful, good-natured and kind with members of his family or circle of friends. But threaten that family, and he changes; his ears go straight, his eyes stare, his body freezes, and the sheepdog that sits (potentially) in the hearts of all men comes out, fiercely protective of his own, be it immediate family, friends, neighbors, whatever. It was Browns who formed the militias in Colonial America, and it was Browns who formed the frontiersmen for the first 100 years of American history. They were not professional sheepdogs, but nor would they be pushed around by enemies.
Today’s Browns are family men who do not, as a rule, seek the fight. They may be game hunters or paintballers, but that is the extent of it; they don’t deliberately go hunting wolves. They leave that to the sheepdogs, who they honor, support and respect for the essential role they play, protecting society as much as possible from the war’s desolation.
Browns can be creative, but in a positive way, without the narcissism of the generally unproductive Pinks. Browns dream of the bridges which the Greys finance and draw-up, and other Browns are usually the ones who pick up the wrench and welding-torch to start building the bridge according to Grey specs.
Browns lean heavily on the guidance of God, relying on Him for protection, guidance, and the strength to make the right choices when the time comes.
Browns may not be professional sheepdogs, but they may have been trained by retired ones (as I have) and know how and what to shoot, and what to aim for when they do. They recongize the necessity of killing a wolf now and then, but would prefer to pen him up if possible. When the need arises, however, they do not hesitate. They shoot the intruder or the looter, or they report to their Guard unit as requested. They answer the call of their Volunteer Fire Companies when the siren sounds at 2am, or they administer CPR to a co-worker who keels over.
In short, Browns are not sheepdogs, but they keep alive a reserve of sheepdogness in their minds and hearts, to be called upon when needed.
Perhaps I am overly optimistic when it comes to my fellow Americans, but I would like to think that a large minority of them, men and women, are Newcastle Browns.
Pomoze Bog.
Tsar Lazar
Im definitly grey. My wife is a cop and im in the worlds most powerful Navy. Great job!
Tsar Lazar:
I suspect you are correct, with one small observation: it seems the Newcastle Browns might include those who create the specs and pass them forwards to be implemented.
Few are the brains who will engineer the bridges (literal or figuratively); fewer still are those who can broach or bomb the bridges in reality once targeted.
Couldn’t have said it better. You hit the nail on the head. Your analogies are profound, and pointed.
I fear we have too many sheep in denial
I have read Colonel Grossman’s bit on sheepdogs before, and your expansion on it is wonderful. Count me in as a Sheepdog in training.
right on, brother! You have eloquently put what I have lived my life about since Reagan became President and I realized how wise he truly was, despite his religious bullshit. Please send me a link because I found this through scubadiving.com and don’t hve the link.
Bill:
Thanks.
Don Slaughter
Newport Beach, CA
Great and powerful piece!
I am blessed to have sheepdogs as friends. Although I am not a pure Grey, I am a member of a Grey tribe and I hope that I somehow complement their Grey with my Pink streaks…
Beware of simplistic similes.
Technically (and speaking as someone who is no fan of Sean Penn’s daring aquatic derring-do), the NOLA looters would be “grey” (tough, hard-nosed, capable, competent, confident).
While there is certainly a lot to be said for raising sheepdogs, remember that border collies, when not properly trained, often exhibit distinctly obsessive behavior and may focus relentlessly on insignificant objects.
The culture of victimhood can be perpetrated from both sides – by people who assume that a victim can not overcome his situation, and those who prefer to pretend that his situation, or indeed, the victim, simply does not exist. Neither approach solves anything. And to seek to understand the problem before you attempt the solution is pragmatic, not woolly-headed.
From an unabashedly pink sheepdog.
Bullseye!!!
Thank you for being frank and laying it out in black and white…and grey.
-A Sheepdog in Sheep’s Clothing
I give up.
They say that they all are members of the sheepdog class (but in reality they are bureaucrats).
People want so much not to be pink that they did not even read and understand the meaning of the essay (attitude and behavior of self reliance).
I am gone for a while. I will check in 2 days.
But I suspect that nothing will have changed.
The Pinks rule! (but they want to be labelled Sheepdog ). That seem to be the new politicaly correct THING
Bill,
Seriously,
I know I’ve said this already, but why don’t you get one of those “enter the number you see below” things like over at Frank’s site?
It would eliminate the spambots, eliminate the monitoring for tricky spambots and people would be able to post…when they try to post.
Putting this up again in the hopes that you’ll see it,
- MuscleDaddy
On the contrary, my techie friend, but you hit the nail on the head. And attitude and behavior is mostly taught and learned. Can’t assume people will model something they’ve never seen or experienced.
Amen! There’s pink all around me but grey is my color. Thanks for being part of My tribe.
Brilliant!
I’m going to e-mail this link to my (grey & pink) friends.
VERY well said. Thank you.
Perfectly said!
Sorry.
I did have something to say:
The only way this could have been more cretinous is if it had been written in crayon.
Hey look at us! We’re sheepdogs!
Fucking hilarious.
Very well said. There is a lot of material for reflection…and for action. I too, hear the drumbeats of impending war. A lot is said about facing the enemy, but one must remember that it is often someone already within the walls of a fortress–a wolf in sheepdog’s clothing– that is the greater enemy. Someone who can grant access, or disclose a weakness, to the hoarde outside. I would like to think that if we were faced with the reality of enemy soldiers marching through Times Square, that every able-bodied American would pick up a weapon, stand shoulder to shoulder and once again purchase the freedom that most take for granted. I would like to think that…but reality takes hold of me and discloses otherwise.
Keep up the good work, Bill. God Bless America.
Wow. There sure are a lot of sheep here who fancy themselves dogs.
Bravo. Best piece I’ve read in a long time. It’s honest, doesn’t mince words and says what I and I’m sure many others think. Nex
Bill,
Thanks for a great read. I think you oversimplify, there are an entire spectrum of colors between grey and pink, but at the heart I think you have hit the nail on the head. As for your detractors and the naysayers, I believe it was said of Caligula that no matter what other men said or did he believed that in their hearts they were as evil and perverted as he was himself. Maybe it was Nero, but the sentiment is the same. As for our president, certain people seem to believe that one can never change what he is. That is completely and utterly wrong in my humble opinion. Thanks again for confirming what I always knew.
Woof!
Well said Sir! I wish I could be so eloquent.
It was such a relief to finally have put into words what I have felt throughout this hurricane disaster (as well as the attacks on 9/11). We often hear that crises bring out the best in people… but one of your responders states:
“Even the most civilised man is only two missed meals and a cold night above a beast.”
I believe that crises bring out the “CORE” of people. That is, whatever they are at their core (be it grey, pink, or sheepdog) is what rises to the surface at time of peril. Those “beasts” who brutalized and terrorized others in NOLA were, at their core, wolves waiting for the opportunity to pounce.
‘scuse me. Flea circus = WTC/Nine Eleven.
Real Thing= Katrina ( do the numbers : I don’t mean
dead, I mean displaced a.k.a refugees )
Oh, please for the love of GOD, I know you have a point. From the general gist of the ramblings I’m sure it is a good point. I know this is a rant. Still if you know how to write.. and you should.. Make it succinct!
If you are in a position to help someone who obviously needs your help… Help them. Or your an apathetic waste of space loser.
Was that the point? I really hope so.
Followed this link from TownHall.
Bravo!
Not black and white skins, but black and white hats; Great!
What a wonderful essay !
momof6 – I just read this link someone provided in their post, about why people didn’t fend for themselves and walk out
http://www.my-diary.org/read/body.phtml?entry=540574547
it’s worth reading all the way
Bill, this is a remarkable piece of writing. As tired as I am, I could not stop reading. You are so correct in every aspect of this. Keep up the good work. I am with you to fight to the end. Obviously, ‘United We Stand’ only applies to the gray tribes.
If you get the chance this weekend, watch The Man who Predicted 9/11. It’s on the History Channel on Sunday, 9/11. It’s about a man named Rick Rescorla.
Bravo!
People can be divided into two classes: those who go ahead and do something, and those who sit still and inquire, ‘Why wasn’t it done the other way?’…
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Woof?
What self-respecting sheepdog wants a bunch of sheep hanging around it, saying “We love you! Woof! Protect us!”
I imagine none of you have killed a person, if you did, do you think you might end up needing psychological counselling?
You are HUMANS. Unfortunately, your, what is it? Sense of insecurity? Lack of self-esteem? Experience of being the only one who helped and then not being helped? (By people like your good selves, no doubt.)
Yadda rant blah.
Woof? Baaaah?
Argh!
And there it is, in black and white, or rather, grey and pink.
jay
retired sheepdog
Or maybe sheepdogs do not retire. THey just get older and slower.
Wow.
Bush appoints a bunch of political cronys to head FEMA, disaster results, and you anoint him “gray” in line with Lincoln and Kennedy.
You’re just not all that bright.
Sorry.
You said it better than I said it in my column this week.
Keith R. Wood
“The Critic-at-Arms”
I second that last comment, that diary is very revealing. it shows how there are lots of sheepdogs out there that really love power tripping and making sheep miserable.
sometimes there aren’t any wolves around and the sheepdogs get really really lame.
bill, you are terrific.
i never really thought of myself as a dog or a sheep although i think it would be fun to see a sheep trying to mount a dog and get it on — hey hey hey, now there’s a story.
sheepdogs have more in common with wolves than they do with sheep. let’s not forget that.
O.K., you almost made sense when you divided the good people from the bad–the dutiful from the selfish and wanton. You blew it when you divided those two groups by liberal and conservative politics. Conservatives–good, dutiful, watchful and liberals–dumb and hedonistic. Let’s examine that.
George W. Bush, who you would undoubtedly put in the grey camp, weaseled out of actually serving in a war that he ardently supported. When we were attacked by terrorists in 2001, he used it as an excuse to invade a country that had nothing to do with the attack. He gained political support by giving tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens, and by allowing pork spending for programs that did nothing to keep anybody safer. Is this how dutiful, self-sacrificing people act? Then he got re-elected by appealing to our sense of insecurity, by the idea that a “tough guy” could keep us safer than anyone else.
So, we have a natural event that could test our ability to deal with widespread disaster, and his administration springs into action with an incompetent FEMA head who was appointed for his political connections, with no experience in disaster relief, who is getting his information from network news! Iraq is sinking into violence because we tried to conquer the country on the cheap, without the manpower or money to commit ourselves. Afghanistan is still struggling to establish centralized authority because we conquered it, and somehow got too distracted by Iraq to pay attention to the details. Is this how sheepdogs take care of business?
If your delusionary dichotomy makes you feel better, go for it.
ciocia
From the report on “Rathergate” we learned that President Bush actually did volunteer to go to Vietnam while he was in the Guard.
I think, though I’m not certain because he seems to have substituted a ‘what’ for a ‘why’, that Mr Whittle knocks one of the central props out from underneath his own world view when he replies to various anti-bushists with the following : “Finally, let me make one thing clear regarding GWB. That man is more flawed, more inscrutable and often more disappointing than any president I have ever seen. I still, to this day, do not know what amateur pugilists like myself have to go out and defend policies that he seems incapable of defending.”
Evon:
But one thinks if he really wanted to be in Vietnam, he would have found a way. Like John Kerry, no doubt roundly despised as a pink sheep.
I hate those sons of bitches with all of my heart. And the fact that so much of our society has come to worship these shallow, egomaniacal dolts says a lot about where we are, and none of it is good.
And that’s just what they’re saying about you. Let me tell you, there aren’t many more shallow or dolt-like than your Fearless Leader, Mr. Mission Accomplished Himself. You want Courage? He ain’t the guy. And his mother clucking around saying, “Let the Negroes eat cake.” Which tribe is that from?
If you folks could find a better leader, you wouldn’t be hated by the other half of the country and most of the world.
One of the comments struck me as interesting, I shall explain why, first here it is:
‘Even the most civilised man is only two missed meals and a cold night above a beast.’ Fascinating. So what you’re saying is, if the residents of Greenwich, CT went without food and warmth for 2 days, it would drive them to loot big screen TV’s, shoot at rescue helicopters, and rape women. Nice try pal. I wouldn’t begrudge any NO resident for looting food and water, but that’s NOT what happened. Posted by: Paul F. on September 6, 2005 04:04 PM
OK, now what is interesting is the meme about shooting at helicopters. As far as I can make out this all comes from one source, viz.:
“Hospitals are trying to evacuate,” said coast guard Lt.-Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan, spokesperson at the city emergency operations centre. “At every one of them, there are reports that as the helicopters come in, people are shooting at them. There are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, ‘You better come get my family.’”
Now if you google her you will find that while this quote circulated through the MSM at lightning speed, she was never seen nor heard from again.
Things that make you go h’mmm ….
Wow- finally someone who wrote what I have been saying all week- almost word for word! I cannot stomach the newsmedia anymore- as they try to make up news and incite political unrest rather than simply report it- I had given up thinking I was one of a very small group. You have given me hope again that this country may return to the strong nation of individuals it once was. You need to go on TV and spread the word- so that the sheep that watch tv news do not believe what is poured down their throats everyday- and see the truth. Keep up the good work!
Dude, you are so misinformed.
“my Tribe
There has always been “us” and “them”. Your article was the best I have ever read on the subject. I have always separated people into who could join my wagon train and who could not. I just never had a color to attach to them – although maybe lovely and charming, not bad people – I have never considered a Pink allowed. I may call them friends but most would be helpless in a crisis or just more trouble than they are worth. You are right – Grey’s come in all shapes,sizes and colors and classes. You find them in the most unexpected places.
Bill:
Do you not think these two statements conflict with one another?
The Pink Tribe is all about feeling good: feeling good about yourself! …everybody gets to do their own thing without regard to consequences, reality, or natural law. We all have our own reality
and
I believe that the human animal
I notice that you do not include olympians in this paragraph. Perhaps this is because physical boundaries are more obvious than mental boundaries. But they are no less real…the brain requires calories to run, after all. Some Grays might say that one’s genome does limit one’s options, no?
(sorry for the piecemeal comment, the blacklist was giving me errors without telling me what the problem was…)
The blacklist problem is simple, if your homepage is a free site don’t list it.
I want to make one comment of my own, having attacked two other commenters : just as there are, as it were, physical level sheepdogs, there are also mental level sheepdogs, and they are politely termed ‘the intelligence community’.
Now it may not have escaped everyone’s attention that the neo’s have been stovepiping and fabricating their way around ‘the intelligence community’, which they regard as part of ‘the reality-based community’.
Of course politicians have always preferred to go to war on the basis of fabricated data, because it is easier for them to manage than real data, but there is a price to be paid for this.
My complaint here is not a product of libruls or pink peepul. ‘The intelligence community’ contains a lot of the most authentic conservatives you are ever likely to come across, but their sheepdog instinct is devoted to defending facts, i.e., real intelligence, against fabrications, and boy, are they pissed.
Bravo, Bill.
What the hell are you doing in Hollywood?
Three items:
1. Billmon: “‘Absent, of course, was the fundamental truth of what he plainly does not have the eyes or the imagination to see, namely, that if the Superdome had been filled with white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers like myself, it would not have been a refinery of horror, but rather a citadel of hope and order and restraint and compassion.’
“When Beverly Hills, Greenwich, Conn. or the North Shore of Chicago get hit with a natural disaster as devastating as what destroyed New Orleans last week, we’ll have a chance to put your tribal theories to the test.
“But until then, it probably would be better if white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers such as yourself kept your ignorant mouths shut, because you’re making your fellow tribal members look pretty stupid.”
We had a major unnatural disaster a few years ago that hit the workplace of many residents of Greenwich, which is also the workplace of many residents of other very posh suburbs. That disaster has become known as 9/11. Perhaps you remember; it was in all the newspapers. I don’t remember any reports of rape or looting, though.
2. JMC – I’ll admit I mis-read Starship Troopers the same way you did, and believed that in the world Heinlein created, military service was needed to vote. But I have read comments by Heinlein on his story, and he explained that that is not the case. Service is needed to vote, but it typically would not be military service. Peace Corps, hospital orderly, disaster relief, testing space suits (if one of them leaks, tough, at least the life of someone more highly trained and skillful than you will be spared) all would qualify. The essence is that you say to the government “I volunteer for two years”, and then go and do whatever you are sent to do, putting your life on the line as needed.
3. Story told by Konrad Lorenz, if I remember correctly: there once was a shepherd whose flock was being harassed by a neighbor’s dog. Every day the dog would jump the fence and chase the sheep around until they all huddled in a corner of the field, terrified. The neighbor refused to control his dog. So the shepherd traded flocks with a friend for a day. On that day, the dog jumped the fence and began chasing, and the ones he chased, ran. But these were goats, not sheep. The ones on either flank held their positions, and then closed the gap behind the dog to form a ring. The ones being chased, turned around, and a ring of lowered horns closed around the dog. Whichever way the dog faced, a goat on the other side would butt him in the butt. The thoroughly sore and frightened dog managed to jump over the ring and flee the field, and he never came back.
I don’t have combat training, so I can’t qualify as a sheepdog. But I hope that if push ever came to shove that I would be an old goat.
Mr. Whittle, I can’t find the words. Oh wait, yes I can — HELL YEAH!! DAMN RIGHT!! WHITTLE FOR PRESIDENT!
If you ever find yourself in central North Carolina, you will not pay for food or lodging if I have anything to do with it. You, sir, are a national treasure.
The only thing the sheepdogs have to figure out now is how to get the sheep to understand that the flock has gone too far into denial of reality, so we can pull back some of the less realistic programs that led to the greater wolf problem in New Orleans.
Wonderful! I am an old female sheepdog and definitely of the grey tribe. You must be a mind reader.
mj
TBlogg said :
The only way this could have been more cretinous is if it had been written in crayon.
Had it been written in crayon, perhaps you would have understood it better?
Outstanding. Too bad we can’t just put this in pill form and fire it into the pink tribe for a low air burst.
Rowan: The blacklist problem is far worse than that; it was censoring a single paragraph of simple prose, long after I’d deleted my homepage and even e-mail address. I had to radically simplify my language to get past it.
That’s absurd. It’s the anti-spam equivalent of an autoimmune disease.
Bravo! From a reader in Ireland.
This took my breath away with it clarity and COURAGE!
This essay should be required reading in every civics class.
Woof
I’m sure it’s been said above but great article. I shall link it immediately.
You are truly the voice of reason
“This essay should be required reading in every civics class.”
More red meat! Zell Miller, move over! A new windbag has taken your place! Methinks you’ve been ejected onto your head one too many times.
Pink and grey? You are so Butch, Doris!
Good essay! Two things that become apparent after reading the comments for a couple of days:
The problem with analogies and sheep is that the sheep (especially the pink ones) think the analogy is a direct 1=1 representation of the world. When they find a “flaw” in the analogy, they then proclaim the entire line of reasoning to be false at best, a lie at worst.
Note also that any evidence provided that is contrary to a pink sheep belief is merely more fodder for misinterpretation.
These two traits allow the pink sheep to continue along eating that which they didn’t plant or water, blissfully ignorant of any harsh reality around them.
(I had a decent analogy involving goats getting stuck in fences, but I don’t want to confuse the pink sheep.)
“HELL YEAH!! DAMN RIGHT!! WHITTLE FOR PRESIDENT!”
Dog catcher, maybe. He might get my vote for mens room attendant.
Wow! Look at all the praise, much of it from women. Bill Whittle’s sexual potency and charismatic leadership have garnered him a following… of bleating sheep! It sure as hell isn’t his prose or thinking!
Careful Sheepdogs. When you think about using your gun to defend your family and home remember you live in a society of pink lawyers only too ready to sue you on behalf of wolves and the pink juries will rule against you and award large sums of money to the wolves.
Let’s hope that the spectacle of the superdome horror on tv will jolt some pink future jurists out of their idiocacy and back into the grey tribe for the sake of the children, elderly, infirmed and disabled of our society most especially in the poor neighborhoods.
Thank you for this wonderful essay!
Sorry, I meant idiocy not idiocacy.
One thing stands out from beginning to end; you are deeply in love with yourself.
I wonder, however… What is it, exactly, that you have actually achieved in your life except for the ability to write virtually endlessly about what you think it is that you see and understand.
From the Federalist Patriot lead today: “There are two races of men in this world…the ‘race’ of the decent man and the ‘race’ of the indecent man.”
Excellent article. Not that anyone who should read it will sadly.
One thing that bothers me though is the bit about Colin Powell. The guy is clearly a Grey tribewise – use force only if necessary and then use a lot of force, as demonstrated by Gulf War I.
And then when you read about the planning for Gulf War II – the current conflict there’s a distinctly Pinkish flavour to it. E.g. the US/UK would go in, trying to inflict minimal casualties on the poor innocent Iraqis, get greeted as liberators and fairly soon Iraq would be a functioning democracy.
Don’t get me wrong, I thought it would be like that – the Iraqi army wouldn’t fight, and with Saddam gone, the allies would be able to subvert the centralised, regimented Iraqi state to hold elections and be out in a year or so leaving an Iraq remade in their own image. Which was why I supported it.
But the fatal problem is that wolves – in this case Al Quaida and it’s fellow travellers could easily get into the country once the government went, kill a few thousand allied troops causing the Cindy Sheehans of this world to demand a pull out, and then they could try to make Iraq in their image. It’s safe to say that this is their plan. Based on your view of the American people, and America’s history in Vietnam, I’d say they have a fair chance of success.
And looking back at the first Gulf War, that was one of the reasons whey the US didn’t remove Saddam – they thought that fundamentalists would take over, in that case Shi’ite ones backed by Iran.
Does anyone else think that maybe the problem with the current neoconservative project to liberate the middle east is that it’s maybe too Pink? Maybe we should stick to Gulf War I style pummeling of countries that attack us or our interests, rather than trying to occupy them and convert them into model democracies.
Because, as Colin Powell would no doubt point out, the US army is very good at pummeling, but once you put it into a nation building role, you’re inviting people to try to break domestic public opinion by killing enough US soldiers to force a pull out.
You’re wrong, G. Gordon Giddy. It is exactly his prose and his thinking that makes him sexually potent and charismatic. The women of the world ache for more grey men and fewer pink men! Most especially in poor neighborhoods where faithful husbands and fathers are hard to come by.
I bet Osama thinks he’s a “sheepdog” just like you do.
I need not read anything else – ever again.
This text shall be my reference material in all future confrontations with sheeples and wollufs.
thank you Mr. Whittle
GRAY: Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti
GRAY: Adolph Hitler
GRAY: The ruling military junta in Burma/Myanmar
Is Fidel Castro really an emotional guy? I don’t think so.
GRAY: All the mid-20th century Fascist leaders
GRAY: STALIN
Not to mention that any binary model for human relations is forced, and foolish to entertain.
Someone up there brought up a good point: at what point do we give up trying to protect the sheep from their own idiocy, and save ourselves? A related point: do we have a moral obligation to protect the sheep in a pasture halfway round the world, or is that up to the native sheepdogs? I don’t have the answers but I think we should discuss the questions.
I disagree that Pres. Bush is a gray sheepdog. I think he would very much LIKE to be a gray sheepdog, but doesn’t know how. Real sheepdogs don’t bark loudly and try to act tough. Pres. Bush, although clearly well-meaning, strikes me as all steak and no sizzle.
(Uh-oh. I just burned out another metaphor mixer.)
IF YOU THINK
Americans are SHEEP
and
Americans need SHEEPDOGS
YOU HAVE
The mentality of the Tyrant.
–
Please read James Madison’s “Who are the Best Keepers of the People’s Liberties?” for a refresher on the mentality of the tyrant.
What is this notion that’s known as “Intent”?
From whence does it come, what is it when spent?
Is it something that life on its own could invent,
Or a nuance the living just fail to prevent?
A commenter on another blog listed some other grays:
Idi Amin
Josef Stalin
Manuel Noriega
Fidel Castro
Richard Daley
George Patton
Ulysses S Grant
Nicolo Machiavelli
Pancho Villa
Benito Mussolini
Theodore Roosevelt
J P Morgan
Although I’d argue that Pancho Villa was pretty pink, and JP Morgan was often the sensualist.
I wonder if Dave Smith’s “Intent” was to sidetrack a conversation about the above division of the human race into two tribes, or into sheep, sheepdogs, wolves and the unspoken Farmer.
Thank you for restoring my faith in the American people for which I plan to fight for. God bless you.
For Heinlein fans of Starship Troopers, the nature of the Service hinges on what Heinlein said it was, and what he wrote it was in the book. James does a great job of explaining what is actually written vs. what Heinlein said it was. Well worth reading.
http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/rah/ftp/fedrlsvc.pdf
I think I see why Bush is so disappointing now – although he is definitely a sheepdog, he is a thoroughly pink one. What he excels at is making America’s sheepdogs feel good about being sheepdogs – and making people feel good about themselves is the essence of pinkness.
The reason why a civilised society is so hard to maintain is because there aren’t enough grey sheepdogs. Speaking as a grey sheep (as a scientist, my profession is probably the epitome of greysheepdom), the prospect of becoming a sheepdog is downright scary, because I know that a sheepdog shares 99.9% of its DNA with a wolf. Those pinks who are brought up as pink sheepdogs do not have to think about this – so there are probably more pinks than greys among the sheepdogs.
This is dangerous because grey sheepdogs know that the meat they eat was traded for wool, just as grey sheep know that an occasional shearing is a cheap price for the privelidge of a quiet night’s sleep. Sometimes I worry that the pink sheepdogs are going to decide that the sheep are the enemy too and aren’t worth defending from the wolves. Of course, a tribe of sheepdogs who defend each other without looking after the sheep is better referred to as a pack, and its members as wolves.
It is also dangerous because pink sheepdogs sometimes get outsmarted by grey wolves.
I still think Adolph Hitler, who didn’t drink, smoke, or chase loose women, might be the pinnacle example of a gray.
Any comment, Mr Whittle?
Jonathon,
I think GW Bush grew up quite pink. A libertine sensualist more interested in partying than anything else, and woke up one day and decided to be a gray.
Everyone is pink and gray, and we all can be what we are, and we all can change, too. We are human.
But that Sheepdog analogy is PURE TOTALITARIANISM.
And the author should be ashamed, or get the heck out of America.
Replace all instances of “Sean Penn” with “GW” and I think your piece makes a lot of sense.
Great posting. It is least 99.99% accurate.
Osama and Al Queda won’t go away whether the Hollywood left wants to hear about them or not. Ditto with the problems of some local governments, including the New Orleans incompetents. So the rest of us have to face the reality of the problems.
But the aside about global warming really bothers me. There is no dispute in the scientific community about the reality of global warming, and the problem won’t go away whether Rush wants to hear about it or not. The thing we should be discussing is what can be done about it.
Of course we need to focus on the most pressing problem — terrorism, or we won’t be around to think about the other ones. But we can’t totally ignore other real problems also.
For the record I also voted for Gore, and for Nixon three times. Don’t know what the latter makes me except old.
It truly warms my heart to see so many wallowing so joyously in their own self-righteousnes, heaping compliments upon themselves. You know, when you spend so much time bragging about how wonderful you are, but remember to claim that you really don’t think your anything special or superior, you only fool fools.
Phaedrus, then it is up to you to help explain, in terms even a fool can understand, that Bill and friends are wrong.
Even though, perhaps, J Madison’s “Who are the Best Keepers of the People’s Liberties” is one of the most powerful explanations of why people who think Americans are sheep and need sheepdogs are Anti-Republican, and are little better than tyrants, it doesn’t do much for those to whom the languge is opaque.
A pink and gray system is binary. There aren’t even shades of gray-pink ever discussed. Human existence is more complicated than that, and there are many other binary choices. Smart or Dumb, Rich or Poor, Employed or Unemployed, Been in Military or Not, Introvert or Extrovert.
Casey: “There hasn’t been a single confirmed murder or rape on all of New Orleans.”
“There’s another one in the freezer, a 7-year-old with her throat cut.” (NOLA, 9/6)
marchandchronicles dot you-know-where dot com
Nice. I dont find it “conservative”.
I think that this is the French philosopher Jacques Bouveresse who wrote that the insensibility to TRUTH as a value has a name : STUPIDITY.
NB : When I tried to send a comment to “magic”, it was refused for some “blacklist” story. Do you know why?
“forced to be anonymous” : you’re not very brave. Do you really believe that someone here is going to find and kill you? Stupid.
Then I think you completely miss the point. In America the “sheepdog” is appointed by a democratic government and is responsible for its deeds.
America used to be the sheepdog of the West, no so long ago. The American taxpayers paid for our safety here in Europe.
I love what you written I believe in all you said I’am a Red Blooded American who believes that GOD will help those who Help themselves I’ve served my Country for 4 years in Vietnam and stand ready to Serve again. I’am a Grey Sheepdog on the Prowl.Great work
Sorry, the owner of this blog banned me. Even before, iirc, I ever posted here. I’m Joshua Simeon Narins, former USMC, and I blog at Remain Calm. You can google it, but if I type the URL, the whole comment gets blacklisted.
I’m one of the least anonymous people on the whole Internet.
Oh, and I live in New Hampshire.
–
If you think the sheepdog is the government, then I suppose that metaphor isn’t too terrible. But, you have to recall that this is from the party of hating government, who believes government can do nothing right (except FEMA, which did absolutely fantastically and is beyond reproach).
I believe it is impossible to call someone a sheep without it being insulting.
None of police, firemen or military personnel are elected.
Unelected, unappointed “sheepdogs” are a nuisance, if not a menace.
The sheepdog analogy is extended, by Mr Whittle, to say “The sheep pretend the wolf will never come.” which is false and fraudulent.
All people are capable of violence, and the opposite, self-restraint. OK, a few never seem to engage in violence, and a few never seem to show self-restraint, but it is but a handful.
This absurd system of definitions is self-serving and insulting.
Most importantly, it is the mindset of the Tyrant. Those who peddle it push us towards tyranny.
I plan to don my sheepdog Pink burqa at the next anti-Bush/anti-war rally.
Captain Midnight: The PDF you posted lasted for about two pages before it went wrong. The author equates contemporary “civil service” with Heinlein’s concept of “Federal Service”, which isn’t correct. In Heinlein’s terms, the engineer who designed an antigravity system wouldn’t be a citizen, but the test pilot who flew the first flying saucer would be (if he lived.)
Very impressive! I’m spreading this around.
Phaedrus,
If I recognize that I have certain talents,
and that those talents, in their areas, are more/better developed than the same talents possessed by many others,
how am I made less by that recognition?
If, having recognized the same,
I then step back and see that, on the whole, my faults/shortcomings balance out against my talents
thus making the whole of the estimation something rather more
Whittle, great essay.
To the detractors who call Bush “pink,” grow up. Pinks do not fly into Baghdad in a big slow target to show the troops they care. Pinks don’t visit wounded troops at Walter Reed and do so without camera coverage. Pinks do not buy Christmas presents out of their own pocket for the children of prisoners and then stay for 90 minutes after the press leaves, spending time with each child. Pinks wouldn’t have the guts to look the families of the fallen in the eye; this guy does, and makes a point of it, and twits everywhere only know about Cindy the Circus Clown sitting in a ditch in Crawford.
Perfect? Heck no. Pink? Not even close. He’s gray as an F-16, and even when I disagree with him I’m proud I voted for him twice.
I’m a sheepdog. I’m a little too round from too soft a life and years of age. But I still have all my teeth. You hear me spend a lot of time “barking” about things like this, but if you mess with me, I do have the capability to bite, if only by the fact that I can envision myself doing it.
More Here
It is one thing to think to learn that you might be a leader, but it is always obnoxious to boast of it.
>
Why??
>
How come??
>
Man! I was just joking on the “forced to be anonymous” nickname
>
What coul it be else? Army, police, aren’t they appointed by the gov.?
>
Not exactly. Though I am not a rightwinger, I am aware of the fact that rightists are not complete dumbs. They support a minimal government, not a libertarian government, nor a state without…State (a stateless society is rather a marxist ideal).
>
I don’t feel insulted. I would feel insulted if I was considered a coward or a stupid person. And then a sheep can turn into a sheepdog. Circumstances can make the man. Lincoln turned out to be a “grey” – especially regarding slavery -, because he gradually acquired the conviction that it was a necessity.
>
I didn’t write such an idiocy. I only reminded you that those people are APPOINTED by an democratic power. I could add that they can’t do what they want, because they are ruled according to the principle of separation of powers.
>
??
>
It may lack accuracy. It’s an essay, with kind of litterary style. To be more accurate, he could indeed have written : “many sheeps pretend that the wolf will never come”.
>
That’s precisely Mr Whittle’s point : you can’t act as if there was no threaten or danger. Such a behaviour is “pink”.
But if alla people are “capable” of violence, some are aware of it and attempt not to be so. they assume they have the responsibility not act violently.
>
I would rather call it “pedagogy”.
)
>
“mindset of the tyrant”?? How can I (and you) know the “mindset” of a tyrant?
Discussing mindsets or intentions is pure speculation and loss of time. It is also a very easy way to argue :”you’re wrong because what you say is the mindset of a tyrant (a fool, a cat, or whatever)”.
See the “godwin” principle. (you’ll find that on google).
“Wacko Attacko!: The PDF you posted lasted for about two pages before it went wrong. The author equates contemporary “civil service” with Heinlein’s concept of “Federal Service”, which isn’t correct.”
Actually, the author said the opposite. Based on the reading of the book, he writes, “Federal Service is closely akin to military service in our era, with no significant aspects of what we would consider ‘civil service.’ It does have significant military-support divisions and positions, such as logistics, intilligence and military R and D.” (page 3)
This means that the R and D engineer designing the antigrav system would become a citizen once his service was up, as well as the test pilot once his service was up. The assumption is that both are working in the R and D section of the FS.
not-really-anonymous, I don’t understand this website. I quoted you but the quotations do not appear on the screen.
My first “why” means : why were you “banned”?
Eric writes that Reagan and Goldwater had accomplished something in their lives before jumping into politics, implying that G.W. is the opposite.
Well, I’m a huge Reagan fan, but making movies is not any more special than running a baseball team.
Eric, please feel free to provide details of when you flew all-weather interceptors, with bonus points awarded if it was a “pilot-killer” like the F-102.
Please also feel free to give us details of your Ivy League MBA, and your successful business ventures. Or tell us how you beat alcoholism.
The attacks on Bush as a no-good silver spooner are mainly based on his failures in business as a young man. Are we to believe that an entrepreneur who doesn’t get it right the first time is a failure forever after? If so, almost every business owner in America is a failure, even if they employ thousands of people. My Dad, a mechanic who owned and lost his own shop, would therefore be a failure even though he has every ASE certification, has been very successful working for others, and served his country in the air Force and his city as a firefighter. The Boeing company, for example, would be one of the biggest failures going, since they occupied the basement of the aviation business until they developed the 707.
Really, what would you people do if you had to actually argue against policy in a meaningful way? Would your heads explode?
I think we are short one shepherd.
So does this mean that Bush is a sheep in sheepdog’s clothing? Just curious.
Hey Forced FSN–
First, thanks for serving and Semper Fi.
That said, after checking out the Remain Calm blog and its absurdly pink moonbat ravings, I have to ask a question:
Are you getting disability for that head injury?
I cant say anything.
Blacklist is REAL dark.
But everything I have to say is very positive.
Keep up the good work.
This lame old dog thanks you.
I am raising new, young sheepdogs asap.
AKA Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts.
On My Honor,
You have written well!
Dude you should write a book, call it “The tribe of courage, or the tribe of appeasement” or some such thing. I’d buy it.
I was just commissioned in the navy to be a pilot. I am trying to get into the fast track so I can get out to the tip of the spear and join the sheepdogs on the frontline. We need people like you to help herd the sheep on the homefront.
Jeremy
ENS, USN
This article was total bullshit. Fallujah, Haiti!
>This means that the R and D engineer designing
>the antigrav system would become a citizen once
>his service was up…
Not unless the antigravity system was likely to kill its designers along with the test pilots. Yes, the book mentions research as a path to citizenship, but it doesn’t say what kind of research. (Although the fact that the research was done on Pluto implies that there was some degree of hazard.)
>Based on the reading of the book, he
>writes, “Federal Service is closely akin to
>military service in our era…”
Yes, that’s one of the things he writes. His premise is that there are two possible interpretations of Heinlein’s Federal Service (there aren’t), and that Heinlein himself had the wrong idea about it (he didn’t.) It’s only possible to conclude that “Starship Troopers Federal Service == Military Service” if you make the incorrect assumption that contemporary civil service is the only other way to think of Federal Service.
Heinlein’s concept of Federal Service is not “any government job”. However, it does extend beyond military service, and even into entirely non-military areas. A space-rescue service would be Federal Service, and it would not involve the military in any way whatsoever.
Of course the characters in the book discuss Federal Service interchangeably with military service–they’re in the military! And despite the PDF author’s claim, there are several passages in the book that describe non-military options for Federal Service.
(And, bizarrely, the author cites these passages, and then claims that they “prove” his point–because they do not explicitly define all the myriad ways that you can obtain citizenship without military service. And, oddly enough, the mention of field-testing survival gear for extreme environments goes un-noted.)
The essay is crap. The author starts from a flawed premise, and proceeds to misinterpret nearly every piece of evidence he comes across. It is as though he started out by saying…
“We have two ways to describe a dog: ‘it is like a pig’ or ‘it is like a cow’. Clearly a dog is not like a pig, therefore a dog must be like a cow.”
Blowjob articles are always impressive, especially when the’re about oneself.
Excellant ! The best thing I have read in a very long time. Thank you for saying what so many are thinking.
Clearly, there are a few detractors who are unable to grasp the metaphorical essence of the essay, choosing instead to dwell on the fact that it does not address every shade of pink/grey/whatever, even though that should be obvious, and is even implied in the essay itself. In other words, people that need pictures with the words.
Other detractors are just plain retarded :
This article was total bullshit. Fallujah, Haiti!
Sigh.
It’s apparent from all the negative comments that Mr Whittle got himself hyperlinked to a whole bunch of ‘pink’ sites. They are very threatened by you, Bill and I like it. There exists–to my knowledge–no force like you on the pink side of the equation.
Besides, you have nothing to fear picking fights with a whole bunch of pink cowards that are afraid of guns.
All this talk of virility, and alpha dogs. What are we going to do to help this situation?
Send viagra to to New Orleans?
That’s the ticket!
Let’s have battle of the porn stars to decide who’ll be the next president.
This conversation has decended to the ridiculous. Can we get a little above this? Perhaps discuss this in a more sane, rational manner? Whether or not Bush comes out on top?(Bad pun intended.)
By the way!
Those who’ve been inexplicably balcklisted, the filtering software, according to GHS, sometimes goes a little overboard, kicking out marines, greys, pinks, anyone who gets in its’ way. GHS told me that the filtering software at one point had blacklisted him! It’ll all get fixed…along with the dogs.
Look forward to your responses! Have a nice day! Whether you want to or not! Now get to it!
Lots of Pinks here in little, tribal, poor New Zealand. But I’m proud to say I think Grey, vote Grey, try to act Grey. Acting is the important bit, IMHO. And (as if you needed another reminder), you have articulated, beautifully and at length, what decent people everywhere really believe and try to live. Thank you.
Hey, you’re right: You ARE a white, racist cocksucker. But I’m sure the gray in 1861 called blue “pink,” too, and sought ways to justify certain tribes as inferior and, therefore, enslavable. I mean, in Africa they were underprivileged… coming into slavery was probably a good thing for them. You know, the sheepdog (master), there to help them stay out of trouble, and to keep them from “accidentally” hurting themselves.
PS–You’re gray philosophy still has Usama bin Laden enjoying all of your freedoms, too! Happy, September 11, Republicans! Your superior leadership continues to live up to the same low standards to which we’ve become accustomed!
Test,
Good, good, good.
I love to read your essays. Keep up the fantastic work.
Also, Russell is a stupid ignorant gullible mongloid.
PROUD GREY.
The funny thing is how “pinks” feel insecure around grays and they “feel” instead of ever think.
Is this the best we can do? Name calling, cat fights! Where’s this going? Folks please read what you post! We can do better than this!
Hey JAT, the only name I called whats-his-face was the one he chose for himself. Near as I can tell, the only ones doing the name calling is the author “gray,” “pink,” “tribe,” “sheep,” “sheepdog,” etc… and his sycophants.
But what makes all of this interesting is that the massive amount of rapes, murders, and other violent crimes that allegedly occured in the Superdome remain unsubstantiated. Ironic, isn’t it, that the stereotype of tribes is reduced to the monotype of prejudice just because the facts don’t support the argument?
Then again, a Republican NEVER lets the facts get in the way of a good story.
You’re so angry…
And so wordy…
And so LOUD…
I just discovered this blog; I’m in L.A. myself and working in the media. We should meet sometime, I’ll buy you a beer or six.
It’s making me pysically sick to see all you *sheep* falling all over yourselves to fellate whoever authored this piece of oversimplistic garbage.
Yeah you’re right, everyone who isn’t a republican warmonger is a fag. I mean pink. That’s what you’re really trying to say isn’t it? The metaphores are mangled to the point of being incoherent and the grey/pink concept is self serving to the point of being masturbatory.(further evidenced by the comments section “I’m a red BLOODED american SHEEPDOG GRRRRRR!” It’s nothing but a bunch of internet “toughguyism”.
Oh and to extend the metaphor, do the sheepdogs all run into the forest to find and fight every wolf leaving the herd unprepared for disaster? Think Iraq.
Russell,
Used to be I came here for serious honest discussion about the days events from a conservative point of view. This is(I think) the greatest response a single essay here has ever recieved. However, the quality of the individual comments does not compare to that of Whittles previous essays.
I see 2 factions. Those who hate Bush gloating over his performance during this time, and those who feel shell shocked because their commander in chief has pretty much let ‘em down.
Say what they want to, neither side wants to work towards a solution to the problems we’re confronting. We’ve gotta problem here.
Bush is not the issue. A true conservative adheres to principle, not personalities. When people confuse the two, you’ve have the discussion you’ve got going on now. Senseless name calling, and personal attacks that lead nowhere.
We gotta turn the conversation away from I like you, I hate you. My concern isn’t for Bush. Its’ for my country.
My countries in trouble. We better do something fast. The storm seasons not over yet, and there’s always next year.
Glad to see you, JAT.
I made a try at reasonable discourse a while ago – I’m waiting for someone to say something other than “this’s dumb”.
- MuscleDaddy
For MisterPundit,
What about your little girl`s openhart operation?
Blond blue-eyed silverhaired man or somebody else?
Russell:
Funny how you deduce that Bill is a “racist cocksucker.” Sounds like projection to me.
There is nothing in this essay — nothing — that would give any reasonable person the idea that the “tribes” referred to are the racial variety. In fact the author bends over ass backward to avoid giving this impression. But here you are with the same old slavery boilerplate. You would probably find a way to bring slavery into an argument about highway construction.
Let me take a guess at your thought process — the author is respectful of the military and law enforcement, so he is therefore “right wing”, and therefore presumptively “racist.”
Ever stop to consider that both the military and law enforcement are throughly multiracial, and that they both protect people of all races, you included?
Ever stop to consider that neither Al Queda nor the New Orleans looters would have cut you any slack because of your melanin content?
You’ve taken a sentiment that needed to be expressed and expressed the hell out of it, well done sir!
(More of a grizzly bear myself though, I must admit…)
Gotta love it. This seemingly drunken sociopath shows us what being a conservative really means.
You disagree with this wealthy Hollywood screenwriter? Hey — he’s got a gun…and he’s not afraid to use it. Wonderful. Debate by Desert Eagle. That’s reasoning for ya! Gotta love the deep thought in threatening to shoot anyone who demurs from your presumably drug-induced death threats.
Then our wealthy Hollywood screenwriter goes on to remark that most people are sheep. At this point, you just have to rear back and exhale a long slow breath. Man…this guy’s got it _nailed_. I mean…you have to admire the huevos, dontcha? He just comes…right…out and says it.
At that point, after two direct death threats and a description of the vast majority of the population of America as “sheep,” I stopped readintg. Have to wonder — why not just go all the way, guy? Why not just give us the Full Monty? Jerky that right arm upward in that goofy old salute, click your heels together, and snarl “Schlag dem Juden!”?
Shorter Tribes, in verse:
I think
You are pink.
I say
I am grey.
You’re a sheep,
You’re asleep.
I’m a dog,
And my blog
Praises me,
Endlessly,
Modestly.
You agree?
Right-wing wit?
More like horseshit.
I’m not sure whether your unfriendly visitors are reliably illiterate or reliably unable to read what you’ve actually written due to their own biases.
Well done.
Bill, I wish you were my brother. On second thought, perhaps you are.
1970 we did an extra week ay Parris Island so some of those pink folks from hollyweird could use us in one of their movies.
The name of the movie was TRIBES.
SEMPER FI
Wacko Attacko: James has a forum that you could post the issues you raise. http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/rah/srah-nitroforum.html I could argue my view of James’ essay, but I’d rather James speak up for his own work. Less confusion that way.
Sorry but I do see no shortage of people who are sheep- Up here a friend of mine calls them “bubble people”
They live in their own self-contained bubble, oblivious to anything outside it. They never give any thought to the wolfs in the world or even of mother nature turning into a bitch and ruining their day.
Well guys, when you’re out of ideas, there’s always the Nazi card.
Is there a more definitive barometer for a played-out intellect? if there is, I haven’t seen it.
TOP NOTCH BLOG!
“GREY ALL THE WAY”
SheepDogs Unite!
How else can we keep up the fight?
Pink & Flaccid? (the Left need Character Viagra!)
NO! ONLY GRANITE GREY WILL PAVE THE WAY!
I own a pair of Ruger .45-cal revolvers just for the wolves out there…more SheepDogs need to arms themselves because it’s a great equalizer against Wolves who will be armed!
Why does this essay have to be so ridiculously long?
You could say the same thing in half the pages.
You’re an EDITOR, for the love of god!
Moral:
Don’t drink and write.
So many comments. Mine is sure to be lost in the noise, but I’ll write anyway. (Linked from Gary’s Both Worlds)
To those who recoil at the labels, and to clarify for those who’ve run with it: it’s an analogy people! Of course, it’s not perfect. Can tyrants be called wolves? Yes. Should those who throw themselves “into the breach” to protect others be seen as sheepdogs? Yes. Is everyone else to be labeled sheep? Tricky… but mostly no. (Here’s the point.) Calling the hard-to-define remainder ‘sheep’ is valid only insofar as it serves to illuminate the role of the dog. Get it?
Sure, they might be sheep, but so might we. I stay alert. I train. I’m grateful for help, but I don’t count on it. It’s likely that some of us who think we’re ready might, as he wrote, “freeze up, and wet [our] pants.”
How about a compromise? Dogs: don’t call them sheep. Others: don’t get in the dog’s way when the wolf attacks.
A little full of yourself pal. Al Gore? LOOHOOSUUHEHER.
Thank you for lwriting what I consider one of the finest statements of what is gong on. I am thankful to receive this and I support what you have written.
Wish more people had the guts to do this.
Semper Fi
Jack Du Bois
A lot more dia-tribe than tribe here. Your narcissism is breathtaking.
Next time you think you might have an idea, please talk it over with someone before you rush to the keyboard to share it with us.
“If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much.” — Ted Williams