Life imitates Art: A Noteworthy Pragmatist

How pragmatists lead to their own destruction and the destruction of those who would follow them

Harry Ellis 'negotiates' with terrorists in Die Hard(1988)

In the 1988 box office smash Die Hard, the character of Harry Ellis is played by Hart Bochner.  While the role of Ellis in the plot is minor, what cannot be ignored is how well this character portrays and is the perfect analog to the pragmatist in modern American politics.  In the end, Ellis gets what all pragmatists achieve, and it is instructive as to why a person on the side of the good, the right, and the decent should never align themselves or associate with the pragmatist.

If you do not remember the character of Harry Ellis, you may be forgiven, because like nearly all pragmatists, history only ultimately remembers them for their sell-outs, if at all. This character is no different, so for those of you who missed the movie altogether, let me set it up. The character of the protagonist, John McClane, is sequestered in an unfinished upper floor of a building taken over by terroristic thief and mastermind, Hans Gruber. Harry Ellis had met McClane at the Christmas party being hosted by the building's owner, Nakatomi Corporation.  McClane had come into possession of some blasting caps and other explosive ordnance, along with a radio, by killing a number of the terrorists.  The character of Harry Ellis, trying to live on life's center stripe, a smarmy cocaine-snorting corporate deal-maker, embarks on his own agenda to see the crisis ended, and speaking to McClane’s wife Holly, also a captive, says: "I'm tired of waiting to see who gets us killed first... Them[the terrorists] or your husband."

Notice how the character has already placed the terrorists on par with John McClane.  He sees them as equals, equally likely to cause his death. More, since he cannot reach McClane to affect his desired end, he will now deal with the terrorists.  He gets the attention of one of the underling terrorists, and is escorted to see Hans Gruber, and his go-to thug, Karl.

Unbeknownst to Harry Ellis, Karl makes a motion to Hans to ask "Shall I just shoot him?", but curious as to what one of his hostages could possibly want at this point, and with an imperceptible shake of his head, Hans declines Karl's offer.  Now Ellis makes his play, and it is instructive for anybody who finds themselves on the side of the good and the right, when facing evil.  Ellis puffs himself up and offers to deliver John McClane to Gruber and his henchmen.  He offers to talk to John McClane on the radio.  In making his pitch to Gruber to become Gruber's "White Knight," he asserts: "You make deals with a gun. I make them with a fountain pen... What's the difference?" Predictably, he is going to learn the difference.

Ellis takes a seat facing Hans, takes the radio, and begins to talk to John McClane, demanding ultimately that he just give up in order, Ellis believes, to end the danger to himself and all the hostages. He actually begins to tell McClane that "They're going to kill me if you don't..." before he is even aware that this is truly his situation. In the end, when he's finally realized the trouble he's now in, he hands the radio back to Hans at McClane's request, and shrugs with a laugh, just before Hans fires his gun and puts the pragmatist out of his misery.

This small scene, insignificant in the greater plot, is instructive for all who wish to consider the notion of the pragmatic middle, and where those so-positioned, will ultimately lead.  Unbeknownst to Ellis, Hans and his thugs intended to kill all of the hostages, as cover for their escape. Nothing Ellis would offer could change that calculus on the part of the terroristic thieves, but he had deluded himself into a string of faulty conclusions:

He put the good on par with the evil. He thought negotiating deals with a pen is analogous to coercing them with a gun. He was willing to sell out the good in the short run for what he believed, erroneously, would be a longterm benefit to him and others. In the end, all he accomplished was his death, and to place into question the motives of the 'good guy', John McClane, who would not relent and surrender to save Ellis' life, because he knew it would not, knowing instead the sort of monstrous killers Hans and his henchmen were.

What is also revealed by this episode is how the so-called pragmatists never understand the true motives of the evil-doers. In part, it is because they walk that center-stripe, partially obedient to law and right, but also partially disobedient when and where it suits them, having obscured the difference in their own minds. It is also because they mistakenly judge the motives of others based solely on their own.

So it is with our center-right pragmatists.  On this very site, you can find the pragmatist's plea to sell out the good in the name of a short run victory that isn't a victory at all.  What else can be the meaning of Jon Henke's campaign against Worldnetdaily?  Jon, like Ellis, is selling out the imperfect good in the name of a supposed victory, in this case, making the right appear not to be so harsh.  In the end, if he succeeds(and he won't,) all Mr. Henke will have accomplished is to disarm the good on behalf of the evil. In the end, he won't be greeted by the evil as a hero, and in fact, he will be among the first they discard once they have won.  For now, however, the left is happy to cheer on his assault on wnd.com, because he is helping them achieve their goals.  Don't believe me?  Ask Senator John McCain how quickly the media fed him to the lions once he actually got the nomination and became their opponent in fact.

History is littered with the names of the winners and losers, but the pragmatists seldom achieve such renown.  More often, they are the sell-outs who history reviles, and whose impotent surrenders, disguised as victory, make possible the destruction of the good.  Neville Chamberlain, anyone?  Mitch McConnell, anyone?  Yes, so long as you leave your course and your future in the hands of the pragmatists, evil will always win.