Morally Paralyzed (Thomas Sowell)

Townhall.com ^ | July 24, 2007 | Thomas Sowell

[jazusamo]

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[onedoug]

Are we France? Are we morally paralyzed, perhaps fatally?

Good post. Thanks.

[Iconoclast2]

Are we France? No, but Israel may be.

[185JHP]

“Purblind worldlings” still at work...

[rockinqsranch]

I find it difficult to believe that America could be “Morally Paralyzed” if not for the daily doses of disinformation, and/or misplaced priorities of news and information presented as truth by our MSM.

Americans need to know, otherwise we as a Nation are “Morally Paralyzed”.

[Billthedrill]

Sowell BTT. Always good.

The Iranian leaders are not going to stop unless they get stopped. And, like Hitler, they don't think we have the guts to stop them.

They are correct.

[jazusamo]

Agreed, but we do get the daily doses of it from the MSM while they ignore much of the positive.

[Garden Island]

A very good article!

Save the Planet! Nuke Iran.

[jazusamo]

Yes, and Sowell is right on the money.

[TAdams8591]

"Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran and its international terrorist allies will be a worst threat than Hitler ever was. But, before that happens, the big question is: Are we France? Are we morally paralyzed, perhaps fatally?"

Great question. The answer is yes. Immediately following 9/11, we couldn't even stop immigration from countries who harbor terrorists, AND build a fence across our southern border. Too many people seem to think, we had no right to protect ourselves, because taking such protective measures would not have been "nice."

As much as it may be warranted, with the ongoing war in Iraq, the United States will NOT stand up to Iran.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

We are "armed to the teeth and pacifist to the core"

The need for popularity, the need to hand the masses their happy fictions so as to maintain your own exalted and safe position amongst the political elite, aka Chamberlain's overwhelming popularity in 1938, will be the demise of western democracy as a governing concept. And that demise will result in a devastating dark age.

[jazusamo]

As much as I would like to disagree, I fear you are right.

[LjubivojeRadosavljevic]

It's easy to identify a problem. And, it's even easier when you know the answer to the problem.

In other words, the author identifies the problem with Iran, yet, offers nothing to solve the problem.

Similar arguments (ahem, problems) could be made in the context of North Korea and China.

[Mordacious]

Sowell is right on the money.

He usually is.

[Billthedrill]

I do think there's a significant chance we are looking at the world's first nuclear war here. I also think there are several national governments who'd like to see it just to see what will happen. I place the governments of Russia and China firmly in that category and sadly, there are governments within the EU who are equally sanguine about the whole thing despite lip service to the contrary.

Easier to let it happen than to stop it. And if Russian and North Sea oil triples in price as a consequence, well, that's a bad thing for the consumers and a good thing for the sellers. And China has been very, very friendly with Iran with just that in mind.

[lepton]

Similar arguments (ahem, problems) could be made in the context of North Korea and China.

I believe Dr. Sowell has done articles on that subject as well. The way to deal with North Korea is to hold China responsible.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

If those are the calculations of other countries (or of the Left here), then they're in for quite a shock. Any serious nuclear exchange would cause the world economy to collapse for a significant period -- of course that would hurt America the worst because we have the farthest to fall. Our economy is powerful but brittle and a collapse here will send the world economy reeling. The amount lost overnight in the aftermath would be astounding and devastating for years.

They will find out quickly that all such calculations go out the window...like that little piece of paper that made Chamberlain so enourmously popular. It's funny how people, taken in the mass, love those who let them run happily and ignorantly over the cliff thinking that they're just jogging to nice dip in the ocean.

[JennysCool]

It's easy to identify a problem.

Indeed. We know the problem. It's a problem that has been faced time after time in past centuries. The enlightened vs. the barbarians. We seem to give the barbarians the ball at the 20-yard-line because, gosh, they're so underprivileged compared to the rest of us.

The touchdown will be entirely our fault. And you don't want to see the end zone dance.

[Christopher Lincoln]

Sowell overlooks an important reason for this “moral paralysis”. Anti-Semitism was the Nazis’ unsecret weapon. It was not only that it made traitors for the Nazis, which it did, but more: anybody who proposed to resist Nazi aggression had to face the accusation of being a tool of the Jews. Attention was largely diverted from the fact that the Nazis were the enemies not only of the Jews, but of civilization. I mention this because in this respect also, history is repeating itself.