losing New York is quite enough of a nightmare to motivate me
This whole debate, whether it takes place on a national, local, or even SI basis, is taking a historically familiar pattern.
Despite there being more than adequate evidence that a fanatic minority is succeeding at taking over a great religion for its own purposes, which include the destruction or sundering of the West in order to impose their sanguinary laws and beliefs upon us, a large majority of us refuse to acknowledge the obvious and to accept the unalterable fact that the radical minority means to do exactly as it says. It is well-funded, driven by fanaticism, and extremely focused on its goals. It is therefore naive in the extreme not to take them seriously, at their word.
It is human nature, Nadine. No one wants to accept the idea that a real threat faces us, that we face incalculable death and destruction from a group that wears no uniforms, that won't face us on a battle field, and that has no compunction about targeting innocent civilians. Moreover, as Iran acquires nuclear weapons, we are now facing a nation state as a primary actor along with any number of shadow groups.
We are minimizing the greatest and most difficult problem facing us as a civilization because dealing with it requires us to take steps which are antithetical to who and what we are. Thus, we see incomprehensible statements to the effect that it would be no big deal to lose NYC. Apart from the unnecessary loss of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of our most talented, the effect on our economy would be a cataclysm.
History indeed repeats itself. Unfortunately, while the familiar historical processes play themselves out before our very eyes, the destructiveness of weapons advances relentlessly. Thus, there will be no repeat of 12/07/41, in which it took a whole fleet of Japanese air and naval power to cause damage which in effect was comparably less than the damage caused by 19 terrorists on 9/11.
I don't pretend to have the answers on how to deal with the phenomenon of Islamic fascism which is threatening us and which will make our children's lives difficult and complex in ways we cannot yet imagine. I do think, however, that the first step is to recognize the nature of the threat we face.
Those who don't recognize what is plainly before us and who minimize it will, despite their good intentions, regret what they have done. That I am sure of. |
