The Quiet American - A Libertarian Review

This movie (1) is set in Vietnam during the 1950's when the French colonists were fighting the Ho Chi Mihn's Communist forces. Thomas Fowler--a British journalist in his 50s--is a correspondent for the London Times, covering the conflict. He meets a young American aid worker--Alden Pyle--who immediately falls in love with the former's Vietnamese mistress Phuong.

Although it seems that Phuong is in love with the older Fowler, she above all else desires to marry a Westerner so that she may move to their country with them. The problem is that Fowler is already married; and because his wife is a devout Catholic, he has not been able to divorce her and marry Phuong. This lead to Phuong leaving Fowler for Pyle, who she will be able to marry and then move to the U.S. with.

While all of this is going on, a "third power" (not French and not Communist) arises in Vietnam in the person of a General The. Pyle lets it be known that he supports this man and his cause since he believes that colonialism is not the answer to the problems in Vietnam, but Communism is not either. This seemingly noble idea runs into the fact that since the new general's rise to prominence, there has been an increase in atrocities (more like terror attacks) throughout the country that the West is blaming on the Communist forces. Fowler soon discovers that the "third power" The is behind these attacks, with American aide, in hopes of acquiring even more aid from the U.S.

Fowler then finds out that Pyle is not truly an aide worker, but really a CIA undercover operative sent to the country to find such a "third power" and assist in the rise of it, by means of the aforementioned terrorist attacks. Thus, Pyle had been complicit (directly or indirectly) in all of the killings of innocents that had been taking place. Once he finds this out, he agrees to assist his Vietnamese contacts assassinate Pyle.

The movie ends with Pyle getting stabbed and killed, and then Phuong returning to Fowler, who promises her that he "will never leave" Vietnam or her.

Links

1. http://www.amazon.com/The-Quiet-American-Michael-Caine/dp/B00005JLXB
2. https://www.corbettreport.com/?s=gladio+b - For more on the staging of terrorist attacks in foreign countries by the CIA in the furtherance of their objectives, please research "Gladio B"

The Wisdom of Laotse - A Libertarian Review

I shall first discuss the layout of this book--the 1948 Modern Library edition (1). The editor has kept the original Laotse text at the beginning of each chapter; however, he then usually includes related writings on the topics by Laotse's greatest disciple, Chuangtse. These additional writings are very useful in expounding the ideas of Laotse, and in a manner than any regular layman can readily comprehend. This is not to say that all of Laotse's writings are hard to grasp, but they tend to be quite philosophical and may require many re-readings to fully comprehend.

The main tenant of Taoism is that all things in the universe originated from the same source, what the authors term "the Tao". The authors then spend the rest of the book spelling out the implications of this. Some of the main ideas expressed are as follows (in no particular order):

• Life and death is a natural cycle; thus, do not mourn one's passing
• All distinctions in the world are arbitrary; they result from differing viewpoints
• The world is in a constant state of change; worldly things are temporary in nature
• Worldly desires tend to lead to the destruction of character/one's self
• Inaction--allowing natural forces to take place--is how to realize one's highest self 
• Be like water; benefit all, compete with none (be humble)
• Laissez Faire in government allows the citizenry to reach their fullest potential

While much of the book expounds the Taoist world view, the authors also take the time to highlight the differences between their belief system and that of the Confucians. The Confucians' creed boils down to "humanity and justice" in all human interaction, including that of the state. Both of our authors show the reader why this is the wrong course to take--though it sounds quite noble in its intentions--and why Taoism is to be much preferred.

Libertarian Take-away

Murray Rothbard claimed that Laotse was the first libertarian (1). The reader of this book will be quick to find out why. Not only does the main tenant of Taoism--inaction--conform to the libertarian principle of the non-aggression principle, but many of Laotse's subsequent teachings also directly relate to that of libertarianism. For instance, Laotse greatly stresses the harm that "humanity and justice" practiced by the state must always lead to; while extolling the effects that a policy of Laissez Faire in state affairs would result in. He sums this idea up by asking the pertinent question of, "if one cannot take care of himself, how can he take care of the world?". He also touches upon the destructive and immoral nature of war and all forms of violence, going so far  as to say that "the violent man dies a violent death". These are but two of many such nuggets of wisdom that the libertarian will find in this gold mine of a book. This book is highly recommended not only as additional ammunition in the libertarian reader's arsenal, but also due to the positive effects it can have on altering the way the reader looks at the world.


Links 

1. http://www.amazon.com/The-Wisdom-Laotse-Modern-Library/dp/B000EETKIA
2. https://mises.org/library/ancient-chinese-libertarian-tradition 
3.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laotse
4.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuang_Zhou