Coinciding with this past weekend’s “No Kings” rallies around the nation and the world was the costly flop of a military spectacle in D.C. The June 14 (Flag Day) military parade to “celebrate” the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of the U.S. Army was an exercise in intimidation more than celebration. While would-be protesters of the display were threatened they would be met with “great force,” they were undeterred. Michael McPhearson, veteran and director of Veterans for Peace, responded, “We are the actual people who put uniforms on because we believe in the freedoms this country is supposed to be about and we will not be intimidated into silence.” Neither were the estimated five million “No Kings” protesters intimidated into silence, those who gathered peacefully – and loudly – to exercise their First Amendment rights. In Missouri, Governor Mike Kehoe declared a State of Emergency ahead of the “No Kings” rallies, and called up the National Guard preemptively, under the guise of proactive law enforcement assistance. He said, “While other states may wait for chaos to ensue, the State of Missouri is taking a proactive approach in the event that assistance is needed to support local law enforcement in protecting our citizens and communities.”
Perhaps this is a key learning moment: Intimidation tactics seldom persuade the recipients of bullying that the bully’s argument is valid.
The informal fallacy known simply as “the appeal to force” (not to be confused with “the Force” of Star Wars fame; >L. argumentum ‘ad baculum’ – an argument ‘to the stick’) suggests that an argument’s conclusion should be accepted not on its logical coherence and validity, (i.e., that the premises support the conclusion of a logical syllogism), but that a threat of force requires assent. It’s a logical fallacy, employing force, coercion, or the threat of negative consequences, rather than providing relevant evidence or logical reasoning. Ad baculum argumentation essentially replaces logical coherence with intimidation. Here’s an example of ad baculum intimidation: “Agree with my conclusion, or I’ll beat you up.” It’s a bully’s anthem.
There is an extraordinarily admirable orange Monarch we can learn from in this ongoing struggle with bullies and their intimidation tactics: the Monarch butterfly. Their defense systems are passive – no bully intimidation tactics needed. Their lives are brief (adults live 4-5 weeks), brilliant (two pairs of brilliant orange-red wings, featuring black veining and white spots along the perimeter), and highly adaptive, due to their pollinator dance with wildflowers, and with plant and animal species dependent on flowering plants. In other words, the whole Earth.
Sadly, Monarch butterflies are facing extinction. Urban sprawl and big ag expansion means millions of acres of milkweed have been paved and plowed under, so an urban revolution has begun to plant milkweed for the survival of these pollinator heroes whose existence is required for biospheric ecosystem health.
Another lesson from the Monarch: Adapt. Travel lightly. Move with purpose and take the long view. Their extraordinary migratory and transformative abilities are astounding. They travel between 1,200 and 2,800 miles or more from the NE United States and SE Canada to the forested mountains of Central Mexico, seeking optimum climate conditions to hibernate from early November to mid-March. Their habitat is being rapidly destroyed due to deforestation, urban sprawl, and unabated climate change. Significant habitat loss requires significant change at scale. It requires profound investment and commitment by elected legislative representatives to effect change, so large-scale environmental protection efforts can proceed. Monarchs are enlisting the aid of us humans, their fierce enemies who have driven them to the brink of extinction, by being too beautiful for us to ignore.
Biodiversity is the fabric of healthy life in our common Home, Earth. Lesson for would-be monarchs: “Transform. Heal. Adapt. Take the long view. Lead like a butterfly.”