Fine, I can see the logic in your position.
I, too, understand your point. I'm just not willing to accept the inevitability of a huge reaction. Seems to me it takes leadership, which we may or may not get.
I was positively surprised at how few anti-muslim attacks there were in the days directly after 9/11
That's a good example. If you recall, Bush came out and specifically spoke against a bad reaction there. What we got was too much, but not nearly as bad as it could have been.
I was very disappointed in the leadership, otherwise. What we got was fear mongering rather than the "nothing to fear but fear itself" speech. But different leadership could mitigate the reaction. Sure, we Americans are spoiled wimps with anger management problems. And our politicians, under pressure to "do something, anything" would be lining up measures such as a draft whether or not there was anything that draftees could do about the problem. But I still think there's enough national character that constructive leadership would be effective and the kind of reaction you envision is not inevitable.
Even if it were inevitable, it would still be our fault, our lack of character, triggered by but not solely a function of the evildoers doings. |
