Appeasement: Fools, Knaves & Commentators

Appeasement is making political concessions to an adversary at the expense of a third party or country in an effort to avoid a confrontation with the appeased party. The concessions are generally at the expense of a weaker third party and thus considered to be unprincipled act or action by the appeaser.

It all began when President Bush labeled those in disagreement with him on foreign policy as “appeasers.”

First anybody who does not know the distinction or difference between the different positions on foreign policy between presidential candidates Senators Obama and McCain is a fool, that simple!

Next, anybody who saw Chris Matthews on Hardball make a fool and a knave out of Kevin, the conservative talk show blowhard ought to be careful when speaking about appeasement while in the presence of knowledgeable people.

Finally, I heard at least two commentators on CNN who obviously knew nothing about appeasement as used in politics since Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler forever changed the meaning of this rather benign word: Prior to Chamberlain’s misguided attempt to appease Hitler, the word appeasement had a positive image and was the policy of the British Government. In the instant case, Chamberlain sought to appease Hitler by agreeing to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the latter’s seizure of a chunk of Czechoslovakia. It turned out to be more than a mistake—it was a blunder, permitting Hitler to gain not just more territory, but more resources to then order his goose steppers to march through Poland.

Ever since Chamberlain’s blunder, the word has taken on a cynical connotation, and rightly so.

But it sure would be helpful if CNN and MSNBC would better vet their commentators so that these folks know the difference between calling Bush’s action “fair political game” and labeling his action for what it really was: an unprecedented attack on the domestic opposition while in a foreign country and before a foreign delegation—in this case the Israeli Parliament.


---------------------------------------------------
©All Rights Reserved.Reproduction is permitted provided credit is given.Lenton Aikins, Ph.D., J.D.Dr. Aikins has traveled widely, lived abroad in Europe and Latin America, recently spending three years in Costa Rica as Director of a Spanish Language school. He holds a Ph. D. in Political Science from University of Southern California, a Juris Doctor in Law from Western State University, College of Law. He is the author of many articles and of While African Americans Slept: Leadership by Parasites, now available at: http://lentonaikins.com, and available in all bookstores July 1,
2008. You can read his blog: Go to: http://lentonaikins.com and click on blog.