Posted on 10/12/2023 2:42:43 AM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan
Picture a large family living in one house. They may have been a cozy tight-knit family once, but years of resentments have turned them against each other. The mother and father are both having affairs. The in-laws have long resentments built up that evolved into seething hatred. The kids are dysfunctional, anti-social and escaping into their own delusional fantasy worlds or getting high on drugs.
And then one evening, someone opens fire on the house. Shards of broken glass and shrapnel fill the living room. Many of the family members are injured. Some are killed. In the throes of the crisis, they put away their grievances and hostilities. Wounds are bandaged and last words are whispered. Some drive to the hospital while others set out to look for the perpetrator vowing to avenge the dead.
The feelings hold strong for a few days, a few weeks and maybe even a few months. But then life goes back to normal. The perpetrator is never found. The old hatreds, always much nearer, are embraced. The brief period of unity is dismissed as insincere posturing. The different family members start to blame each other for the attack, for not having been watchful enough or even for secretly carrying it out.
And after the broken glass was cleaned away, everything in the house has gone back to the way it was. The family hate each other all over again. Maybe even worse than they did before. And just as they're back at each other's throats, it happens again. Once again there's bodies and broken glass.
This is America after 9/11. And all the attacks afterward. It's also Israel, Europe and much of the world. If the attack is bad enough, we briefly wake up, we pull together and rediscover who we are as a nation and a culture. What ought to be an empowering and invigorating experience never gels into anything because we are dysfunctional, because we live in delusional fantasy worlds, and because the idea that there is an outside enemy worse than our internecine hatreds appears impossible and unreal.
Islamic terrorism is reality. It's a hard and sharp edged reality. It's knives, bullets and bombs. It's fires and broken glass. It slashes its way through an unreal fantasy world of media and social media, of celebrity gossip, movie trailers, trending topics and the nonsense that fills our heads and our everyday lives.
It's too real because we've become unaccustomed to reality. The thing about reality is that it's ugly. Like a patient dying in an ICU or like the smell of a dead animal in a slaughterhouse, it's a reality we don't like to confront. And we've built elaborate systems to keep us from confronting it. A big enough attack, a massive spectacle, can cut through all the layers of imaginary things coating our brains and our eyes.
But only for so long.
The viral ideas that pass for reality quickly incorporate the latest attack into the realm of the unreal. Simple and straightforward brutality is overlaid with the sophisticated analyses of a decadent society. Academics pontificate on how the straightforward Islamic barbarism of over a thousand years is the result of globalism, colonialism and capitalism. Conspiracy theorists refuse to believe that a bunch of men named Mohammed really did and wire it into their favorite fantasies of secret agencies, multinational bankers, pharmaceutical companies and vast secretive movements. And eventually the actual reality of the attack disappears and the old worldviews that ruled the shadows of our minds reassert themselves.
We go back to the way things were before 9/11 or the latest Islamic terrorist attack. And to do that all we have to do is ignore Islamic terrorism. We have to explain what happened in terms of our resentments of each other and then the family dynamic can return. Things can be like they were.
Islamic terrorism is an unwelcome distraction because we don't actually control it and because it is all too real. It diverts us from whatever it was we were focused on before it happened. It forces us to sit up and pay attention to something that is real in a way that none of the abstract politics before it were.
But the familiar reasserts itself. Unity breaks apart. We start blaming each other and arguing over the right response. And we discover that we are much more comfortable fighting each other than Islam.
In Israel, it's beginning to happen already just as it did in America.
A week ago, Israelis on the left were seriously asserting that Netanyahu was planning to make himself king. And then suddenly a shocking and horrifying reality arrived. Will Israelis pull together? They have for the moment. But the usual political players are maneuvering for advantage. The families of the hostages are threatening to shake the government. There's grousing about inadequate preparation. And the conspiracy theorists have already arrived to explain that the whole thing was clearly done by the government because how else could it have missed the Hamas attack. (This shortly after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur during which the government missed a much larger invasion.)
All of this is normal. But normalcy is exactly the problem.
The only way to fight Islamic terrorism is to leave a dysfunctional normalcy behind and rediscover what it means to be a nation fighting for its survival against enemies whose evil is utterly unmitigated.
Out of such stone, great nations, peoples and heroes were once carved.
But for many the reality of Islamic terrorism is an unwelcome distraction from whatever rabbit holes they've gone down. Fantasy is more malleable, more exciting and less painful than reality. In fantasy, you are a main character, whereas in reality, you're someone cowering under a table waiting to die.
And who wants to live in reality? Strong men and women, not necessarily physically, but mentally and morally, who are not easily swayed or crazed, who stick to common sense and hard choices.
Unfortunately the peoples of the world have become weak, crazed, deadened, maddened and, like the former citizens of Byzantium, determined to keep fighting each other to the last minute while the Islamic hordes advance.
Reality is inescapable. We saw that in Israel again, just as we see it with every act of Islamic terrorism. It's the outside world breaking through the illusions we've embraced and forcing us to look up from them. We can either wake up and stay awake. Or we can go back to sleep until we perish.
Rabbit holes are interestingly convoluted places, but spend enough time in them and you die.
Get out of the rabbit holes, stand together, fight the enemy and live.
Not to leave out the inevitable "......conspiracy theorists [who] have already arrived to explain that the whole thing was clearly done by the government because how else could it have missed the Hamas attack." I'm sure we have already seen such apopheniacs here on FR, and will see more.
Good article. Describes the reason for many posts people put up here too.
keep in mind...”civilized men who refuse to become barbaric to the barbarian will always be at the mercy of the barbarian” L.Star
I posted a sort of follow-up article yesterday on the former CFO who basically lost everything after uploading a video of him verbally abusing a Chick-Fil-A drive-thru attendant. . It was a big story in 2015, and this “where is he now” story got 79 replies.
However, a few FReepers didn’t believe that any of it happened. “ is any news or other evidence to back up this guy’s story, or is all of it, or most of it - as to what happened to him - just his unverified claims.” I tried posting stories and testimonials, but some people were ADAMANT that this was fantasy.
This is where we are in 2023. There are yuge numbers of folks - on BOTH sides of the aisle - who are CERTAIN that either Trump is a Russian asset or that Soros and the WEF control America blah blah blah.
Now, to be fair, over time there have been a LOT of ”conspiracies” that proved to be truths. Furthermore, the MSM have done a splendid job of aiding and abetting the Lie Factory in the CDC, White House, and other puddles of mud. Thus I understand the conditioning that’s been perpetrated and the resulting fears of the unseen.
But I also believe, as Daniel puts it, we've built elaborate systems to keep us from confronting our own faults and failures. I didn’t get that job because I’m not a diversity hire…that guy’s home is bigger than mine because he’s a globalist…nobody likes me because they’re all liberals…and so on. The energy wasted on Russia-Ukraine food fights could prolly help Trump get re-elected, but they’d require real work and real effort - it’s funner to type bravely from Mom’s basement that Ukraine or Russia is this or that.
Again, there is a big difference between discernment and rationalization. No everyone questioning a story is a tin-foil hatter. But I will say, for the past few days the clarity of focus has been refreshing. Alas, with Daniel I suspect it’ll be gone soon.
Islam is a war plan 14 centuries young.
Contrary to the notion that Islam fostered a momentary alliance with the Rats, it instead illuminated their egregious character.
Daniel Greenfield ping
But if he avoids reality by living in a fantasy world of easy distractions, he goes soft (and insanely so...like the Woke).
The magic it seems is to stay completely in touch with reality so as to not lose touch with it, but take regular breaks (just temporary breaks, not a divorce) so as to reinvigorate one's spirit.
There's a reason why wisdom in America was rural. Farms and the small towns near them are closest to the harshest daily reality of life.
And there's a reason that cities and universities are the most divorced from reality (and liberal). They are, collectively not individually, the most distant from the harsh realities of daily life.
As human society becomes more distant from kind of reality that is metaphorically represented by farms, we had better figure out how to stay in touch with reality. Otherwise, we will continue down the easy path of decadent and hedonistic avoidance to our extinction.
I think there is much truth in what you say. But if I may…
I lived in a small town.
I worked in Manhattan for a long time. Indeed, most of my career was spent in concrete jungles.
It’s real easy to become divorced from reality in Manhattan. Indeed, when the Village Voice still has the ability to laugh at itself, it referred to Manhattan as “that tropical little island off the coast of America.” The leftists I met there were off-the-charts. The few conservatives I met tended to be intellectuals or Objectivists - and I doubt many of them owned a gun. A fireplace to them is a pellet stove.
But the same is true of life in a small town. In my small town, everyone looked and talked like me, generally had the same values, and rarely left town. It was sort of nice. But…mention NYC, and you got a dystopic, Alex Jones-ish description that clearly came from someone who’d never been there.
Some of the best FReepers are folks who get around and get out often. They bring a perspective that’s empirically-grounded. They may live in a small town or Gotham. But their philosophy is American.
It will always be my first love.
BTW, I hate small towns because I am a freak in them.
When I mentioned small towns in my comment, I had in mind those small towns that were basically tiny farm towns (i.e., little towns dominated by the farms around them).
I completely agree with what you say about small towns being completely insular.
I guess the small towns I was thinking of might not exist anymore.
The reference to "we" in this posters statement is too broad. It would better read, "a majority of Americans". The point is that not all Americans are blind but a great number are. The attack on Pearl Harbor resulted in American declaring war on Japan. 9/11 should have resulted in American declaring the followers of Islam terrorists and a declaration of war against Saudi Arabia and every other Islamic nation. We've had fools like George W. Bush and Obama who failed to declare war on our enemies. Today, Islam, the CCP and invasion on the Southern border are America's foremost enemies. We have a feckless government with their globalist and corporate supporters who fail to treat our obvious enemies as enemies. If 9/11 failed to wake us up, what will? A nuclear strike? I don't think even a nuclear strike would change the ignorance we see in our government and nation.
“As human society becomes more distant from kind of reality that is metaphorically represented by farms, we had better figure out how to stay in touch with reality. Otherwise, we will continue down the easy path of decadent and hedonistic avoidance to our extinction. “
Reality always finds a way to reassert itself,.. of making sure you don’t ignore it.
It’s the old battle of reality vs fantasy, conservatism vs radicalism. It’s a battle that has been going on forever and will most likely continue forever. It’s in our nature. It’s the disease of “Affluenza”.
Kipling captures it rather well in his “The Gods of the Copybook Headings”.
“As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man-—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:-—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return! “
https://www.poetry.com/poem/33442/the-gods-of-the-copybook-headings
But the familiar reasserts itself. Unity breaks apart. We start blaming each other and arguing over the right response. And we discover that we are much more comfortable fighting each other than Islam.
In Israel, it's beginning to happen already just as it did in America.
A week ago, Israelis on the left were seriously asserting that Netanyahu was planning to make himself king. And then suddenly a shocking and horrifying reality arrived. Will Israelis pull together? They have for the moment. But the usual political players are maneuvering for advantage. The families of the hostages are threatening to shake the government. There's grousing about inadequate preparation. And the conspiracy theorists have already arrived to explain that the whole thing was clearly done by the government because how else could it have missed the Hamas attack. (This shortly after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur during which the government missed a much larger invasion.)
All of this is normal. But normalcy is exactly the problem.
An excellent article, voicing the thoughts that we all have. Please read and share. Reprinted in full here ... Thank you, Chad.
Ping out to the Daniel Greenfield Ping! List.
As always, please FReepmail me if you want on or off the esteemed Daniel Greenfield ping list.
Daniel Greenfield's website: The Sultan Knish blog
I am in the middle of reading Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization and that is the exact situation that I am currently covering in the book.
And I am not even out of the AD500 period, and instead of Islamic hordes, they are both making deals with, and fighting, the Vandals.
The human condition, indeed.
As the resident white guy, I don’t stick out in your average small town. I don’t know your specs, but if you’re not like me I can understand your feelings.
But we all have a genetic lineage that is often masked. I once had an exchange with someone who didn’t know of my ancestry. His ensuing soliloquy was a bigoted rampage, drawing upon every textbook stereotype of my ancestors. Btw this was in a city-like suburb of a Big City. This is not to say that I know exactly what it’s like to live as a non-white…I don’t. But based on that little taste I got….
Comedian Bill Burr made a point that racism is rarely like how Hollywood portrays it, where a buncha whites yell at a black guy. Something like “It’s more subtle…people see someone like them, look around, look over their shoulder, and THEN out comes the ‘n’ word.”
Now, let me be honest…some of the biggest bigots are lily white urban leftists. They’re racism is more subtle, usually masked in altruistic language, and reeks of a superiority complex. They’d NEVER say the ‘n’ word (unless you’re white and get them wasted) but as Malcom X said, The white liberal is the worst enemy to America, and the worst enemy to the black man. At the same time, my circle of colleagues when I worked in Manhattan looked like the UN, and I got a LOT of goodness and empirical data out of that which is counter to what I sometimes read here.
I also met some very un-bigoted folks in my small town. Often their Christian upbringing wins the day. They also tend to judge people on their actions and not what someone who looks like them did in Chicago the other night. But for the ones who never left home, they have blind spots.
I am hoping that what’s happening now, is people are realizing that race is waaay less important, and philosophy and mindset wins the day. We black and red ants are finally looking at the jar-shaker with anger. Hopefully.
So good to see another Freeper who READS, instead of parroting youtube videos. That sounds like a good one, it’ll go in mu queue.
Similarly, a keeper quote from a recent column:
“I am entirely indifferent to the moral judgments of people who refuse to take the essential actions required to maintain a civilized society.”
From here: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4188326/posts
It was in regards to cities coming apart, but it applies to dealing with Islamic terrorism as well.
Agreed - but I would urge even more wandering afield: go to the rest of the world and meet people there. Go to allies and adversaries (carefully) and see how they live, how they think and then come back.
I have had the good fortune to have spent a career traveling to most of the countries of the world (and occasionally fighting there) and those of us who have done that know much better what the other folks are like, how they live, and how great our country really is.
Indeed: how was it that most of the Kibbutz within easy range of Gaza didn't have arms closely available to every family and defensive works prepared for use?
How is it that Israeli intel missed or ignored the preparations for these attacks?
How was it that the IDF was too few/uncoordinated at the opening of these attacks? The IDF was finally present after most of the victims were already dead or kidnapped back into Gaza. They did a great job of policing up the bodies afterward.
Who were the bright folks that thought the security fences were unbreachable?
Who were the smart folks to site a large 3,000 person open-air party - without appropriate security - right next to Gaza?
The casualties would have been vastly fewer if someone with experience in antiterrorist experience (or maybe a healthy case of PTSD) was in positions of responsibility before this atrocity.
I find it interesting that the rave that bore the brunt of the attack was set up where it was. I’m curious as to what if any thinkingt led to that site being chosen. Not holding my breath we’ll ever hear an honest recounting or if any of the organizers are still alive. Yes there was an enormous intelligence failure as well and again not sure we’ll ever hear the truth about that either at least from those directly involved.
At least one kibbutz had proper security, and the leader opened up the locked up arsenal and distributed weapons to her action teams.
I seem to remember that most militaries keep weapons locked up in an arsenal to deter theft. Not sure how it works in Switzerland.
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