Posted by
John Caccese on Friday, August 04, 2006 11:37:22 AM
Victor Davis Hanson's riveting article this morning in NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE should be required reading for all. Here's the link. Entitled, "The Brink of Madness", it pulls together and frames well the threat from radical Islam that we all face.
Early in the article, Hanson describes a disturbingly long list all of the hot spots in the world where Islamic terrorism has struck, or where chaos reigns on a daily basis. He then goes on to say:
In nearly all these cases there is a certain sameness: The Koran is
quoted as the moral authority of the perpetrators; terrorism is the
preferred method of violence; Jews are usually blamed; dozens of
rambling complaints are aired, and killers are often considered
stateless, at least in the sense that the countries in which they seek
shelter or conduct business or find support do not accept culpability
for their actions.
Yet the present Western apology to all this
is often to deal piecemeal with these perceived Muslim grievances:
India, after all, is in Kashmir; Russia is in Chechnya; America is in
Iraq, Canada is in Afghanistan; Spain was in Iraq (or rather, still is
in Al Andalus); or Israel was in Gaza and Lebanon. Therefore we are to
believe that “freedom fighters” commit terror for political purposes of
“liberation.” At the most extreme, some think there is absolutely no
pattern to global terrorism, and the mere suggestion that there is
constitutes “Islamaphobia.”
Damn right.
Radical Islam is the greatest threat to our civilization and way of life as we go forward in the 21st Century. I'm not Islamophobic. However, I do object to those who would enslave or kill me for my beliefs. There's going to come a day, and quite soon I think, when Muslims will feel forced to stand up and say, "Enough. Stop the madness." If they don't, they'll wind up signing on to the Radical islam program the way the German populace did in the late 30s and then, by God, we will have a 21st century Holy war that will make the Crusades look like a picnic . . . and we'll be luvky to live through it.
I could quote the entire article, but please read it for yourself. Hanson's conclusion could not be more devastating in its candidness and logic:
It is now a cliché to rant about the spread of postmodernism, cultural
relativism, utopian pacifism, and moral equivalence among the affluent
and leisured societies of the West. But we are seeing the insidious
wages of such pernicious theories as they filter down from our media,
universities, and government — and never more so than in the general
public’s nonchalance since Hezbollah attacked Israel.
These
past few days the inability of millions of Westerners, both here and in
Europe, to condemn fascist terrorists who start wars, spread racial
hatred, and despise Western democracies is the real story, not the
“quarter-ton” Israeli bombs that inadvertently hit civilians in Lebanon
who live among rocket launchers that send missiles into Israeli cities
and suburbs.
Yes, perhaps Israel should have hit more quickly,
harder, and on the ground; yes, it has run an inept public relations
campaign; yes, to these criticisms and more. But what is lost sight of
is the central moral issue of our times: a humane democracy mired in an
asymmetrical war is trying to protect itself against terrorists from
the 7th century, while under the scrutiny of a corrupt world
that needs oil, is largely anti-Semitic and deathly afraid of Islamic
terrorists, and finds psychic enjoyment in seeing successful Western
societies under duress.
In short, if we wish to learn what was going on in Europe in 1938, just look around.
Moral relativism is a scourge in our modern-day society when we're faced with tyranny. Who among our leaders today will stand up and say, "Enough. Stop the Madnerss." The list is few. I can't think of one leading Democrat who would be willing to do so. What's worse, how many Republican leaders outside of our President are willing to stand up and do what's right to save us? The list isn't very long. I'll say that.