Posted on 09/11/2008 5:17:34 PM PDT by rmlew
A high school sophomore asked me this week whether Sept. 11 would always be remembered. Would it always be, as she put it, "somber"?
Lacking a crystal ball, I have no answer. And, frankly, looking back seven years to that cataclysmic jihadist atrocity, I realize I'm probably not the most dependable prognosticator because never would I have imagined back in 2001 how successful that heinous strike would be in utterly changing us and our world.
Blame ignorance, blame cowardice: The strangest effect of 9/11 has been, on balance, an accelerated campaign of accommodation of Islam's law in the West, a campaign boosted across the globe by the jihadist attacks of 3/11 (Madrid 2004) and 7/7 (London 2005) and many, many others. Paradoxically, such fast-track accommodation has occurred even as any and all connection between jihadist acts and Islam -- specifically Islamic war doctrine -- have been emphatically ruled out by our leaders, both civilian and military. It's not that they have disproven the connection. Worse, they have chosen to ignore it.
With this in mind, it becomes possible to understand how President Bush could this week vaguely invoke the spirit of 9/11, as it were, to spur Americans to "volunteer" more. Similar statements came out of the presidential campaigns with Barack Obama also talking up the "spirit of service," while he and John McCain jointly called on Americans to "renew" the unity of 9/11 (while honoring the dead, and grieving with those who lost loved ones). It's not that we shouldn't do such things -- but to what end? I mean, was 9/11 a catastrophic hurricane, or a jihadist act of war?
Meanwhile, the undermining reach of Islamic law stretches across American society, from the hilltop farm in rural Vermont, where goats are now raised to be slaughtered according to Islamic law, to Wall Street, where once-mighty financial institutions, some of them having become trinkets of Islamic potentates, now adapt themselves to Sharia banking practices, to Washington, D.C., where stately government buildings have been ringed in quasi-medieval, high tech anti-jihad defenses. It may be politically incorrect to notice this expansion of Islamic influence in the West, but it is also extremely difficult not to notice it. Then again, perhaps due to a 9/11 numbing effect, too few of us do.
Just last month, for example, publishing heavyweight Random House pulled a romance novel about Muhammad from its fall line-up out of fear of Islamic violence in New York City -- yawn. Also last month, Mazen Asbahi, Obama's director of Muslim outreach, resigned over ties to the Muslim Brotherhood -- snore. (According to Investor's Business Daily, Asbahi continues to work in some capacity for the campaign.) Last spring, the U.S. government issued guidelines for the Department of Homeland Security and others that "suggest" such terms as "jihad" and "Islamic terrorism" not be used; snooze. Earlier this year, revelations that the No. 2 man at the Pentagon, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, was closely assisted by Hesham Islam, "an Islamist with a pro-Muslim Brotherhood bent who has brought in groups to the Pentagon who have been unindicted co-conspirators," according to terror expert Steven Emerson, drew a big yawn, snores and a snooze.
Who could have imagined any of this, back when there was still a massive hole of burning ash at the bottom of Manhattan?
Today, of course, there is in downtown Manhattan a lavish memorial in the works, while at the Pentagon, what the Washington Post called "a memorial to loss" was unveiled this week. These and other such markers will note a day that will probably live on in somberness, to use the sophomore's word, rather than in what an earlier generation might have described as infamy. As a society, we appear to have decided to remember 9/11 as something akin to a natural disaster that came and went rather than as a part of a diffuse but discernible push to advance the law of Islam.
I am struck by the sharp contrast between this perspective and a very different kind of 9/11 commemoration, this one planned for this year's anniversary in Brussels.
According to initial press accounts, it was a small affair -- just 50 people led by Flemish separatist leader Filip Dewinter of the Vlaams Belang party. Like last year, when this same group was brutally dispersed by Belgian police, they gathered in front of the World Trade Center in Brussels not only to mark the attacks on America but to protest the Islamization of Europe. Some number of them were arrested by the order of the mayor, who had earlier denied the group a permit for the demonstration, citing the possibility of violence over the "sensitivity" of the event, the proximity of "sensitive" neighborhoods (i.e., Muslim), and the season of Ramadan.
A somber day, indeed.
Ping
We are not winning ping.
Almost 20 years ago, a psychologist told me once that the best way to get people to agree with you is to shock them. Apparently, after the initial shock, many people look inward to wonder why they were shocked. It is at this point that they blame themselves for responding in such a manner and start to first re-examine, then change their attitudes. Eventually, many will come to accept what initially shocked them.
When I first heard this, I was very skeptical as this is not the way I personnally work. To me, a snake is a snake. But, over the years, I’ve come to think he was right. Most people are wired completely differently, in ways I cannot comprehend.
I guess that the generation that remember December 7th, 1941 is going away. That is so sad.
I hope all that will change in a McCain/Palin administration. Else, their election will mean nothing.
“I guess that the generation that remember December 7th, 1941 is going away. That is so sad.”
Those still with us are in their late 80’s, early 90s.
I was writing a list of the things I’ve learned in America.
- The world powers trend lefter & lefter & even 9/11 couldn’t stop it. Israel must adapt to this reality or face even bigger problems than now.
- The immigrants who come to America & refuse to assimilate/hate the country a lot of times are not bringing these attitudes with them from their home countries - they’re actually learning it HERE. From the media, the schools, the culture that tells them to resent & despise American (i.e. white) culture.
- The underclass behaves in similar ways whether they are blacks in America, Mizrahim in Israel, Shi3a in Lebanon & Ba7rain. Conspiracy theories, resentment over even the smallest things, joy in their ability to physically intimidate the upper class, & they are even attracted to similar types of music. The upper classes also share things in common: mostly unaware of the resentment bubbling up beneath them, denial, that’s all in the past, everyone mostly gets along now, hey I know of many mixed marriages, incidents & the occasional shocking comment overheard written off as the work of a few crazies. Anyone who spends real time in these neighborhoods knows different. Underclasses are also always the most loud, emotional, & hot tempered in the country. What’s up with that?
- (Don’t really understand this yet & I’m not old enough to have seen this firsthand...but it looks like there’s just been a complete loss of confidence in the west. Like they just don’t like themselves very much anymore. Something like that.
- Underclass claims of discrimination have basis in reality but their primary use now is just the joy of unleashing their aggression on the other party while neutralizing their reaction by calling them racists bigots & oppressors.
- Liberals don’t actually care about the minorities that they champion, whether Muslims or terrorists or whatever. They are tools in some kind of superiority competition with the other people in the country.
- Moral superiority is one of the most important things to westerners. In Israel too. Other people don’t care about moral superiority that much - they just care about winning. Whoever wins becomes morally superior.
- Jews are very good at these victimhood games & Palestinians learned from the best. Oops.
If you hadn’t seen this already, though you might be interested. Parallels our comments earlier.
Are we commemorating a hurricane or jihadist attack?
“- The underclass behaves in similar ways whether they are blacks in America, Mizrahim in Israel, Shi3a in Lebanon & Ba7rain. Conspiracy theories, resentment over even the smallest things, joy in their ability to physically intimidate the upper class, & they are even attracted to similar types of music. The upper classes also share things in common: mostly unaware of the resentment bubbling up beneath them, denial, that’s all in the past, everyone mostly gets along now, hey I know of many mixed marriages, incidents & the occasional shocking comment overheard written off as the work of a few crazies. Anyone who spends real time in these neighborhoods knows different. Underclasses are also always the most loud, emotional, & hot tempered in the country. What’s up with that?”
Oh my goodness. That right there would get you banished in most places, real and e-world!
Nah man, I am one of those hot tempered emotional underclasses. Oh yeah you know what? That’s another thing I only noticed when seeing similar behavior in other types of people. We are kinda proud to say these things about ourselves - for example: “yeah we’re hot blooded people, we don’t take crap from anybody!” - (we like to point out our differences) but do not like when it mentioned by OTHERS, even in a benign, matter of fact way.
The saddest commentary that I’ve read on 9-11.
I didn’t post this to make people happy but to provoke a response. Liberalism is civilizational AIDS. We now face a deadly secondary infection and are unable to deal with it.
I am the daughter of a WWII vet and to know that time is passing and soon they will all be gone and it makes me feel old. I hope we never forget our history.
Yes, I know how you feel. My dad is an 88 yr old WWII vet, and still in good health for which I am very grateful.
We grew up surrounded by the WWII generation and took what they provided us for granted. I still think that they had a maturity that somehow wasn’t passed on to most of us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.