The Ultimate Weapon, by Robert Gore

The Korean Peninsula at night

Don’t underestimate the light.

Robert Gore: Reductio ad absurdum is the argumentative technique, beloved by law school professors, of stretching a premise to its breaking point. North Korea has been much in the news. Nighttime satellite photos of the Korean peninsula show well-lit South Korea and North Korea in darkness. That darkness is… [continue reading]

 

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It was easy for me to read more into “Don’t underestimate the light” than likely was intended. Robert Gore is obviously referring to striking differences as seen from space, but the spiritual or religious implications of the phrase are there too.

Matthew 4:16 is a fine example, and it applies to today’s North Korea, i.e., that that “light” for many people on Earth is also essential to human survival, along with truth, information and communication, as Robert Gore mentions. (Most of us have heard of or are familiar with the phrase, “Man shall not live by bread alone,” and what it means and its origin.) At a minimum, I think of it in terms of having faith.

But man-made light is important too. Ross McKitrick speaks to this in his essay response to Earth Hour: “Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century.” https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/03/25/the-futility-of-earth-hour-earthhour/ & http://www.rossmckitrick.com/earth-hour.html

And that in turn brings us to this from Daniel Greenfield: “No amount of turning off the lights is enough. Eventually you come around to having to turn off the people.” http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2013/03/night-falls-on-civilization.html …reminiscent of Heinrich Heine’s “Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.” Translation: “Wherever they burn books, they will also burn people at the end.”

Information is ammunition. Robert Gore essentially speaks to that and what is quoted above. Not being enlightened and informed has implications, especially when a people are not allowed to enlighten or inform themselves. “[M]inds on fire” truly are “the ultimate weapon” in preventing darkness.

Source: The Ultimate Weapon, by Robert Gore