A colossal bore

IN THE NEWS
After suffering through some of his earlier writing, I've always imagined Niall Ferguson sneaking into the Imperial War Museum in the dark of night. Certain that the coast is clear, he rips off his black track suit to reveal a replica of the uniform that Lord Raglan wore during the Crimean War. Ferguson stands behind a cannon, raises his faux marshal's baton, and exclaims, "Lads, let's send these blighters back to the Seven Hells from whence they came!"

I admit, it's Sunday, and I'm not in the most serious frame of mind. However, Ferguson doesn't inspire seriousness. To date, his work seems like the historian's or politician's equivalent of the "Iron John" masculinity movement: if only countries like the United States and Great Britain could embrace the imperialist within, instead of acting like pansies, both they and the world would be a lot happier for it. That might be a defensible thesis, if Ferguson ever roused himself to actually defend it convincingly.

Not being a Fergu-Fan, I therefore enjoyed the review of Niall's latest natterings at Lawyers, Guns, and Money. The first paragraph had me in stitches, and the rest is pretty good, too.

Comments

[S.J. Redman]

Thanks for the post on Niall Ferguson. I've just started reading one of his books and I'm not ready to make judgements as of yet - but the image of him breaking every rule in one of the many war museums in the UK is just too much! Hilarious, thanks.

[bob mcmanus]

We have an awful lot of troops stationed in so very many places overseas that I have trouble calling America a mere hegemony. I guess the question for me is not what we should be or what we want to be, but what we actually are. And if I was born in Southern Italy circa 100 AD, I would feel pretty silly saying I didn't want to be part of an empire. My guess is that the process in which an Empire is created is fairly deterministic, and that it is really hard for an individual to change the system once a large citizenry starts enjoying the profits and paranoia of Imperialism.

But what do I know, I don't read Ferguson. I did add ComingAnarchy.com to my blogroll recently, to see if Robert Kaplan was at all interesting.

[bob mcmanus]

Ok, fine. Having gone thru the comments over at Farley's I see that questions of hegemony and typologies of empire are serious academic issues that I am not, and likely never will be, qualified to judge. Though I do have to go into voting booth with at least some Foreign policy prejudices or judgements.

This weekend I have watched Ledeen, Ferguson, and Robert Kagan totally shredded as imbeciles and psychos.
But these guys know more about these issues, in theory and experience, than I ever will. I am willing to accept the shredding, because I am sympathetic to the shredders. I agree with them, in my ignorance. But forgive me if I become just a little skeptical of authority in general. Knowledge sure hasn't helped Ledeen or Victor Hansen.

This ain't intelligent design, and deciding whom to trust isn't so simple. I cite A & I constantly as an authority on counter-insurgency, but for all I know...never mind. I just don't know how ro judge.