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Friday, December 20, 2013

The Council Has Spoken! This Weeks' Watcher's Council Results


The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and another Watcher's Council match up is engraved in the vast halls of cyberspace!




The winner this week, The Right Planet's excellent I Don't Believe In Defeat is aptly named,because it concerns the mindset and the tactics used in times of conflict. Here's a slice:

A little while back I was on Twitter and started to express my frustration with something I’ve seen too much over my lifetime; and it’s only gotten worse, in my opinion. I’m referring to what I would call a “spirit of defeatism.”

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve listened to people say they believe the whole game is rigged, so to speak. The “man” is in total control and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. In the end, according to the defeatists, we’re just cogs in a giant machine being controlled by mysterious dark forces that we have no control over; but they have total control over us, as the story goes; we are simply helpless victims who are powerless to do anything about it: “It’s just how it is.”

This sort of defeatism has never sat well with me, because at the end of the day–even if it were all true, and it may be, for all I know–it’s an excuse to do absolutely nothing about anything. Why should one waste any energy trying to change something for the better that cannot be changed?

But I can’t help, at times, to feel the frustration, anger, and even downright demoralization, of living in a world where so much evil does exist. I always agreed with Ephesians 6:10 in the Bible: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

I don’t believe in defeat, even though defeat may be a part of life, even our own–which brings me to the ancient military philosopher Sun Tzu and his view of defeat. Years ago I read the book The Art of War by Sun Tzu. The book left a big impression on me. It is not a lengthy work. One might argue it’s not really a book per se.

Although Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War, it really is a collection of maxims from many sources throughout history that Sun Tzu collected and organized, along with his own maxims on war. I quickly discovered it’s not a book you read just once and put down; it’s really a reference you return to over and over again. People refer to the Bible regularly as a reference, and often see something new in it each time they read it. Sun Tzu’s treatise is much the same way; it could be thought of as the bible on warfare.

One day, not too long ago, following a day of frustration with certain individuals who I would say are seriously afflicted with the cancer of defeatism, I got on Twitter and sent out the following Tweet:

Brent Parrish ® ‏ @therightplanet1
Sun Tzu did not believe in DEFEAT. He just changed tactics when confronted w/ a superior or inferior force. ONE WORD: VICTORY!


Thomas Huynh @SunTzuShine
@therightplanet1 You got that right

What’s interesting is who replied. It wasn’t just anybody; it was Thomas Huyne. At first, I wasn’t sure who he was, but for some reason his name and face just rang a bell. And then I thought about it a little more and wondered if I had seen him interviewed somewhere, or if it was his name that I recognized. The only thing I could think of was a rare documentary on Sun Tzu and The Art of War I saw on the History Channel a while back. So I Tweeted Mr. Huyne and asked him if he had anything to do with the documentary. Huyne responded by saying, yes, indeed, he was one of the primary consultants for the History Channel’s documentary on The Art of War.

Much more at the link

In our Non-Council category,the winner was Council alumni David Gerstmanfrom Le.gal In.sur.rec.tion with Al Qaeda is on the Run ...to Everywhere submitted by Liberty's Spirit.

David took on President Obama's famous statement about al-Qaeda being 'on the run' and gave it a pretty vicious going over..a great read.

OK, here are this weeks' full results. Both The Razor and The Mellow Jihadi were unable to vote this week, but neither was subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners



Non-Council Winners




See you next week! Don't forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week's Watcher's Forum, as the Council and their invited guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and weigh in...don't you dare miss it. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!
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