Our World War
Sep 11, 2007
Six years ago, western civilization was challenged, confronted with the indisputable fact of a hate and an evil that wanted to destroy it without mercy, without compromise, without exception.
This should have galvanized us, united us, resolved us, and committed us to wiping that evil from the face of the earth, without remorse.
And for some of us, it did.
But it also exposed a large population among us who, when the chips were down, feel the same as our enemies.
Quite right.
Those who want our destruction are fringe elements, though more respected than they should be.
Most of their apparent support is because of fault lines of distrust and frivolousness in the society.
A lot of people simply won't listen to the Republicans, don't know what's happening and will only listen to each other.
Oh and lots of intellectually weak people have no way to counteract their own psychological defenses. They easily fall into denial and it never occurs to them that a convenient attitude should be scrutinized precisely because it is convenient.
Posted by: Cafe Alpha | Sep 11, 2007 at 05:12 PM
"At the very least, Islam needs to be fractured by a Reformation..." I hear this said quite a lot. The Protestants of the Reformation believed they were returning to the original Christianity (the Catholics obviously disagree), and a better Christianity. Unfortunately, however, Islam has already returned to the original Islam, as I understand it, and it is not a better Islam. Wahabism, the Shiite theocracy of Iran, the Taliban, Al Qaeda--these are reformed Islam. Islam has had its reformation (if it ever strayed far from the path Muhammed laid out) and our current problems come from that. Islam can't have an Enlightenment, because unlike the culture of Europe, Muslim culture doesn't support the idea of open inquiry. I would be happy if Islam were to have a period known as "The Great Withering and Fading Away."
Posted by: Classical Liberal | Sep 11, 2007 at 10:06 PM
What I meant by a Reformation was more in the practical aspect, the splitting into forty-odd competing churches that police each other and keep each other in check. And Europe was not always open to open inquiry. Ask Galileo, for one.
Posted by: Ian Hamet | Sep 11, 2007 at 10:43 PM