Perhaps we should believe the Media occasionally, but it's hard not to be skeptical. These days we are hearing about a crisis brewing in Korea. Don't touch that channel button, folks; you need to find out if that wacko in North Korea is going to start lobbing some nukes! The Media always portrays Kim Jong-Il, the leader of Stalinist North Korea, as mentally unbalanced and dangerous.
Korea, Iran, etc., have actually become franchises in the crisis industry. As the crisis du jour, it's a great opportunity for the American secretary of state or president to look like a hero by defusing the crisis at the last moment. Later, we learn that Kim Jong-il quietly managed to get a few billion dollars as part of the deal, for "agricultural development" or whatever.
The timing of the most recent crisis in Korea is somewhat curious. It was starting to look like the American taxpayer was going to get stuck bailing out Europe. After all, it's the End of Europe, folks!!! Perhaps Kim Jong-Il of North Korea was feeling jealous and neglected; after all, he had "dibs" on the American taxpayer.
A cynic might see his "I got nukes and I'm borderline nuts" act as a ploy, and that he is actually a shrewd and talented shake-down artist -- perhaps the most consistently successful one since Jesse Jackson in his prime.
Perhaps we don't really appreciate the shake-down artist as we should. It's probably moral condemnation that gets in the way. In contrast, when we watch a nature show we admire the athleticism and artistry of an eagle or osprey diving down to snatch its prey; we don't ruin it by moralizing about the poor wittle bunny-wunny who got snatched.
Occasionally one of these shakedown artists can wax philosophical. You might remember the classic western, "The Magnificent Seven," or at least its memorable soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein. A band of banditos regularly plundered a Mexican village. The head honcho (Eli Wallach) justified his profession by saying that 'if God didn't want the villagers to be sheared, He wouldn't have made them sheep.' Indeed.
The world is full of talented scoundrels who employ variations of the shakedown artist theme. They differ widely in the violence that is actually employed. The most accomplished use little violence; fear and theater are his real weapons. Recall the scene in the "Godfather", just after they've knocked off Don Corleone; the Gangster-on-the-way-up tells the Robert Duvall character, 'I don't like violence, Tom. I'm a businessman. Blood is a big expense.'
Unions, trial lawyers, terrorists, climate scientists, Barbary pirates a couple hundred years ago, Cap-and-Trade senators, and environmental doomsday prophets -- they are all creative con-men who should be seen as talented innovators. To their credit they've adjusted better than most of us to an economy based on government, funny money, media entertainment, and Fear.
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