Peggy Noonan
Peggy Noonan voices her opinion without being afraid of people’s reactions. She is honest and seems very intelligent. In her column, “Bring Back the Girls – Quietly”, she expresses her opinion about what she thinks the United States should have done about the children that were taken by a group of terrorists in Nigeria. Noonan believes that America should have acted immediately to save the kids, with or without the permission of the Nigerian president. After saving the children, she thinks that America should’ve stayed quiet about it and not brag. She believes that if America did this, it would have reminded the world about how powerful America is. She states, “America has forgotten how to exercise power without swagger.” Do you agree with Peggy Noonan? Should America have acted immediately with or without permission from the Nigerian president? Has America lost it’s ability to show it’s power without “swagger”?
I think Peggy is 100% correct in saying we should have brought the girls back quietly, only because there was no need for the publicity because it could have created more problems, granted it didn’t but when you are dealing with foreign affairs like that, I think it should be quiet. I think she was wrong however in saying we should have acted immediately with or without permission from the Nigerian president only because it is foreign territory. It’s a place we do not belong, and we would have created a chance for conflict, and that is something the United States does not need. I believe with the Obama administration we truly have lost our ability to show power without making a big deal, with Michele Obama alone in the Nigerian girl conflict, there was a picture of her holding a sign saying “bring our girls back”that went viral and it truly was not needed and it was one of many instances where the gov’t cannot keep quiet about pressing matters.
I agree with Peggy Noonan and I believe that America should have acted immediately even without permission from the Nigerian president. The U.S. bragging about getting our girls back was totally uncalled for, she is completely right that we should have done it quietly. America truly has lost it’s ability to show it’s power without swagger because no bragging was needed. Getting the girls back immediately should have been top priority but in the process of getting the girls back, America should have just shut up. Sorry America.
Nicole,
I personally agree with Noonan that America should have just gone ahead to save the children because they were in extreme danger and the first priority should be to save them. However, I can see why they chose to get permission from the Nigerian president because it was respectful to him and the country. I also agree that America was too boastful, and I feel that America has lost its ability to show power without “swagger” because this country has become very self absorbed, which is part of why other countries hate Americans so much.
I agree with everything that Noonan is saying. I think that the majority of Americans would say to save them right when it happens because we want the girls to be safe and out of danger. Most would say that we can deal with the messy details with Nigeria after the girls are safe. If we kept it quiet and did not try to get attention for it, it would have made the aftermath less attention seeking. Most other countries probably would have supported America in our decision to bring back the girls quietly without talking to the Nigerian President. Instead of bringing back the girls quietly, we brought them back with a boom by boasting about it so everyone was aware of what we did. I think that as a country we have lost our ability to show power without swagger and that is a problem that needs to be fixed in order for us to be respected as a country.
I do not necessarily agree that the American government should have stepped in immediately to save the girls. I think it would be the best decision morally, but could have possibly created conflict with Nigeria and other African countries that could lead to future problems. I do agree with her that America has become too focused on the reward of doing good things for others. Saving these girls should have been something the American government wanted to do because it was right, rather than something to brag about in order to make them look better and feel better about themselves. We should show power in a discreet way, by saving people and helping other countries, without telling everyone about it. If we brag, this may anger other countries, and limit our ability to have allies. In conclusion, I think it would have been a rash decision to act immediately, and we should have done so in a quiet manner without bragging.
I agree with Noonan completely. In my opinion the United States did not need to ask the Nigerian president for permission to rescue the girls. The girls were taken by terrorists, not the Nigerian government. I think America has lost its power and looks weak to many countries. The government should have wanted to save the girls because it was the right thing to do. They shouldn’t have gone around and bragged about what they did. America used to be powerful and respected by other countries. Now America does things just to show off, not because it is the right thing to do.
I do agree with Peggy Noonan. America should have acted immediately to save the kids with or without permission because saving the kids was the most important thing, and needed to be done either way. America should have brought the children back quietly to prevent publicity that wasn’t needed. America should not have been boastful about it, but was. Therefore, I think that America has lost its ability to show power without “swagger”.
That is a great point brought up by Peggy Noonan. I think that the USA used to be a powerhouse country, which everyone feared. Now, my view of the USA has changed. I think Noonan is very intelligent in her writing, and I totally agree with her writing about the USA and the issues with Nigeria. Noonan seems to be a great writer and seems to be very interesting to read. She definitely speaks her mind on issues without caring what other will say or feel, and that is a great trait to have as a writer. Thanks for sharing!
I agree with Peggy Noonan. The right thing was done because the United States should have done anything they could do to save the children. Instead of going around and making it known about saving the girls, when that’s really what should have been done in the first place. In my eyes, the United States have lost a lot of what they used to to have to other people. I think that the United States lost the ability to have “swagger” power. The decision the Uniter States was a good one, however it could have been done in another way.
In Noonan’s column bias opinions are displayed on the controversial topic on the way USA took action in returning captured girls from Nigeria. I feel that when authors are writing about controversial topics that the facts need to be displayed in order to support their opinions. With this topic, Noonan displays her opinion that the US should have taken immediate action in returning the girls from Nigeria, however, in my opinion I believe that immediately taking action without the consent from the Nigerian president is politically wrong. By waiting for the Nigerian president’s consent, the US would not risk any upcoming conflicts with other countries. The US already has enough conflicts to deal with involving other countries such as Iraq, so why risk causing more uprisings? Also, I do not believe that America has lost its ability to show its power without “swagger.” America is a great country with beneficial powers, and I believe we should take advantage of what we have. What’s wrong with a little bragging?
I do not believe that America should have acted on the missing girls in Nigerian territory. The United States has no reason to be there and sending in soldiers to rescue the girls would put their lives in danger. Without permission from the Nigerian President it would violate Nigeria’s sovereignty, and would hurt relations between the U.S. and Nigeria. I also do not believe that the United States could even accomplish this quietly and without making it a big deal, since invading a country illegally is a very big deal. There would be no way that America could do this without showing “swagger” as it infringes on another nation’s rights. America can show its power by asking Nigeria for permission to help, and if they are given it, then they can send in men.
I agree with Peggy Noonan, but at the same time, I disagree. The United States is certainly losing it’s rep as a powerful nation. We do not take nearly as much action as we used to. And when we do take action, the entire world has to know what we did. Arrogance makes us look foolish and overzealous. Several countries look at us and laugh. Many place the blame on Obama, others blame Hollywood and the rest of the media, and the rest of the people just think the other countries are insane (once again showing arrogance).
However, I must disagree with Noonan about America’s actions. This problem is within Nigeria’s borders, so they should be the ones to take action. America should, however, request permission to help from the Nigerian president. We would not hurt our standings with Nigeria, and we would still show the world that America will not stay quiet when trouble occurs. But if Americans were involved in the incident, then I would say we have every right to get involved without permission and that we should get involved.
Though this situation wouldn’t do much to show the world we are still powerful, as we are well beyond the point of one incident being enough to correct our mistakes.
I believe that Peggy Noonan has a good point in how we brag about our power. It’s at the point where we do use our power to our advantage, and maybe are a little too cocky about it. I do think we should have acted immediately, because otherwise that gave the Nigerian president to tell us we couldn’t help, and it would be more of a direct command. As Americans, i know we demonstrate intense nationalism, and so in that we don’t really know where the line is between proud and cocky.
No, I do not agree with Peggy Noonan. America should not have acted without the permission of the Nigerian president. No matter the circumstances, America has to get permission from a country before we start meddling around inside their borders. Of course, we should have worked as quickly as possible to get the girls back, but in doing so we shouldn’t overstep our bounds and just go barging into another country. We should work with that country, and not presume that they won’t be able to do anything without our help. America has done this far too many times in recent history, and it has led most of the world to view us with contempt and hatred. America needs to realize that it is not our job to police the world, and that we should cooperate with countries who need help, instead of shoving them aside and trying to solve their problems, which we often know almost nothing about. If America had acted to bring back those girls without the permission of the Nigerian president, it wouldn’t have led other countries to look up to us reverently and admire our power, like people like Peggy Noonan seems to think would’ve happened. Instead, other countries would have seen it is another example of America overstepping its bounds, thinking that it’s the only country in the world that can get things done, and feeling some sort of “white guilt” responsibility to intervene whenever anything happens in the world. Most of the world is already annoyed with this behavior from America, instead of learning to show power without “swagger”, we should learn to fix our own problems before presuming that we are the only ones who can solve others’.