“Joon” (Part Three of The Review)

There is of course an allure which surrounds royals and aristocrats in America because we don’t really have such stuff in America. We do have liberal elites and socialites. That’s all we have. And they’re worth nothing now. Donald Trump devalued all of them. But one could argue that royals and aristocrats are overrated because they acquire their prestige by attracting and absorbing good gamesmanship from wherever they can. Without their uncanny ability to attract and absorb good gamesmanship, they’d be in a much weaker position. We mentioned the historic American civil war which began right next to my house. What we overlook is that for most of the war, the confederate south was beating the union. The likes of General Robert E. Lee and General George Pickett and General Stonewall Jackson – all three of whom were from my home-state of Virginia one should note – and so on and so forth were much better gamesman than their Union counterparts. The Union were going from one general to another and disposing of one after another, while the Confederacy remained steady. The difference-maker, arguably, or the overriding factor which then shifted the balance of power in favor of Union forces in the late stage of the game was foreign assistance. Whichever side ended up being better at attracting foreign assistance or convincing foreigners of their truth would win the war, and that explains the outcome of the American civil war. A lot of what is involved in war is convincing people of your truth. It’s not actually the fighting. The confederacy were the better fighters. But the union were better at convincing foreigners of their narrative and story. And that explains the outcome of the war in a nutshell.