What is Shibboleth?

An interesting question, this is, on how to understand why tyrants, racists, and all around bad people are coddled and given moral approval. Shibboleth is a password that comes from the Old Testament. It involved the half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (now Gilead). Ephraim was mad at Gilead for not helping his brother battle the Ammonites. So, Ephraim comes to attack Gilead loses and retreats. Trying to cross the Jourdan, Gilead holds the pass and kills all Ephraimites it discovers. The discovery of Ephraimites gives us 'Shibboleth.' Ephraim cannot pronounce the word and is thus identified as the enemy and killed.

Today, Shibboleth as password still exists. Whole political narratives are formed around these ideas and strange bed-fellows come to pass as a result. For example, Walter Duranty (NYT reporter) won a Pulitzer Prize for his glowing stories out of Moscow on Uncle Joe's 5 year plan. Because Stalin was creating a 'worker's paradise', the designed killing of 17 million Ukrainian farmers did not call into question the morality of this tyrant. Likewise, Fidel Castro is mollycoddled because he has 'free health care' while giving his political opponents free housing (in gulags).

One of the most unquestioned Shibboleths is 'Peace.' Just say you want peace and you are guaranteed to get a large number of people on your side immediately. This is how Jimmy Carter was duped. Russia wanted peace so Jimmy said 'Amen' and signed 'peace treaties'. Gerald Ford did the same thing by declaring Eastern Europe under Soviet influence (read control) understanding that the USSR would tone down its aggressive stance and militarization of East Europe. Both were proven naive when USSR invaded Afghanistan and placed short range nuclear missiles in East Europe. It was not until Reagan rightly called the USSR the Evil Empire that the moral equivalence of the Soviet Block fell to the background, much to the howls of the leftist intellectual and media elites. Appeasement gave us the Taliban and Osama in Afghanistan. Moral clarity tore down the Berlin Wall.

Because of the word 'Trade', few stand up to China. Because of the word 'Choice', unborn children are dehumanized. Because of the word 'oppression', we are told to hate the West. Because of the words 'oil and ally', Saudi Arabia is given a pass.

If you say the right word to the decision makers, you are allowed to pass. There must be a ontic moral referent (God) that outweighs idealism, lest we get lost in our own perceptions of right and wrong.