An Ideology Out of Time

The perils of fighting a war you’ve already lost

Hiroo Onoda, born 1922 in Wakayama, Japan, was conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1942, at the tender age of 20. He was trained as an Intelligence Officer at one of the Japanese Army’s finest schools, primarily in Guerrilla warfare. In late 1944 (less than a year before the end of WWII), Onoda was sent to Lubang Island in the Japanese-occupied Philippines. His mission was to lead a squad of Guerrilla fighters in destroying the island’s airstrip and main pier, thus hampering Allied attempts to re-capture the island.

Before leaving Japan, Onoda was given strict instructions from Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, a commander in the Japanese Special Forces: Under no circumstances was Onoda to surrender to the enemy, nor to take his own life. It was do or die.

Shortly after Onoda arrived on Lubang, US and Philippine troops invaded and, within a few short weeks, re-captured the island. All that was left of the Japanese forces were Onoda and three of his Guerrilla fighter compatriots.

Onoda led this small group into hiding in the mountains of Lubang, surviving on coconuts, bananas, and rice they stole from local Filipino villagers. In October 1945, the group discovered a leaflet informing them Japan had surrendered, and that the war was over. The soldiers concluded the leaflet was propaganda and carried on with their original mission—employing their Guerrilla training to wreak havoc on local military and police units. Over the next few years, the group discovered hundreds of similar leaflets that had been air-dropped onto the island and each time, they adhered to their original instructions, assuming the leaflets were a psychological tactic designed to lure them out of hiding. They couldn’t believe anything else—their programming was just too strong.

The years slowly turned to decades, until Onoda was the sole surviving member of the group. He finally surrendered on 10 March 1974–nearly 30 years after World War II had ended. Between the end of the war and Onoda’s surrender, the group claimed the lives of over 30 civilians on various raids and shootouts with local police. Onoda left Lubang and moved to a Japanese settlement in Brazil, writing an acclaimed autobiography describing his remarkable story.

Apart from being a fascinating sub-piece of history, Onoda’s story is also an important cautionary tale. It warns of the dangers of stubborn adherence to zealotry—and the consequences of instilling such zealotry in the first place.

Modern Political Warfare

In the last 9 months, our society has undergone a seemingly abrupt shift. Stances that have long been deemed ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unsophisticated’—on issues from race and immigration to sexuality and gender roles—are now common once again. Many would call this the ‘Trump Effect’ but it’s more than that. Trump has simply given common people the courage to say the things which they’d never stopped thinking privately. Though it’s uncertain what will replace it, the era of DEI, men competing in women’s sports, and general ‘Woke Leftism’ is over.

Despite this shift, a sizeable contingent of the media and political class, as well as a portion of the public itself, have doubled-down on their views, and ignored the broad public desire for common sense normality over performative extremism. Like Hiroo Onoda and his compatriots, this contingent of Leftist holdouts is a relic from a bygone era. And like Onoda, they refuse to acknowledge this fact, immobilized by the inflexibility of their programming.

Meet the New (Girl) Boss: Same as the Old Boss

Last week, Katy Perry, along with a gaggle of similarly self-righteous fools, took a trip to space (allegedly)—supposedly with the goal of ‘inspiring young women’ (??) and ‘fighting the patriarchy’. The only remarkable thing about this pathetic showing of ‘performatism’ was how out of touch and misguided the whole endeavor was. Despite the best efforts of the equally deluded media class, Perry’s Meaningless Mission to Nowhere has mainly generated disdain and ridicule from the public at large. Back in 2015? People may have actually gone along with the media’s more-than-charitable description of the ‘heroic’ Girl Boss space-ride. Instead, society rolled its collective eyes—revealing how quickly things have changed and exposing Katy Perry and her ‘crew’ as desperate clingers, attempting to manipulate public sentiment and boost their celebrity profiles.

We saw a similarly substance-less instance of faux-righteousness last week, when Senator Van Hollen decided it would be a ‘brave’ political move to fly down to El Salvador and have lunch with the recently deported illegal immigrant and gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Given that national polling indicates the majority of Americans approve of the Trump Administration’s immigration policies, Van Hollen has been roundly criticized for this decision. After all, how could a US Senator spend taxpayer funds to have a chat with a wife-beating, human trafficking, terrorist-sympathizing criminal?

Van Hollen was clearly attempting to paint himself as a passionate activist-politician and, with the media’s help, tug at the heartstrings of American citizens. The trip has backfired spectacularly, with some even describing it as ‘political suicide.’ But it isn’t that. Clearly not the brightest bulb on the circuit, Van Hollen obviously took a page straight out of the Democrat Social Justice playbook—a playbook authored in 2008 and long since out-of-date.

A less amusing example of outdated, bad-faith activism is the attempt by the media and social activists to transform Karmelo Anthony into a “Black Hero” akin to Malcolm X or Bobby Seale, rather than the cold-blooded murderer he is. The Left successfully played this wicked game in 2020—rebranding George Floyd (a career criminal and drug addict) as a working-class race hero.

The vast majority of decent people, both black and white, are appalled at the Karmelo Anthony story, and have ignored any attempts to confuse the narrative around his murderous actions. However, a non-negligible portion of society remains indoctrinated by their George Floyd-era programming, such that they inexplicably believe Karmelo Anthony was some kind of victim of white oppression and was thus justified in the murder of Austin Metcalf. It is these reprobates that are responsible for the influx of donations and the outpourings of support for Karmelo and his family, no doubt rubbing salt in the open wounds of the Metcalf family.

How Does it End?

Even as society moves in the right direction, a group of radical ‘holdouts’ continues to promote chaos and stupidity, endangering both current harmony and future stability. With sufficient brainwashing and rigid programming, such a group is more than capable of causing irreparable societal damage, long after the ‘conflict’ which produced them has ended. Just ask the 30+ civilians murdered by Hiroo Onoda and his Guerrilla crew in the decades that followed the end of WWII…

So where does it all end? Well, let’s consider what happened in Onoda’s case.

You may be wondering what prompted Onoda’s eventual surrender. After all—if he’d held out that long, it would be hard to imagine anything could compel him toward reason. It took the words of Major Yoshimi Taniguchi—the man who had instructed Onoda not to surrender under any circumstances—to convince him that the war had truly ended, and that it was time to lay down his arms.

Herein lies the problem. The radicals who continue to drag our society into the chaotic mire haven’t stopped because their overlords haven’t told them to. The puppeteers responsible—including politicians like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as high profile media outlets like CNN—have chosen not to rescind their race-baiting and divisive language. Just last Friday, Hillary Clinton praised Senator Van Hollen for his trip to El Salvador, commending him for “standing up for” Abrego Garcia. Whether it is stubbornness or pride, these provocateurs refuse to admit defeat, much less encourage harmonious resolution. Even if doing so is necessary to heal the societal cracks that they themselves caused. It’s sick.