Faced with graphic
photos of the tortured dead body of the late U.S. ambassador to Libya,
Christopher Stevens, being dragged through the streets of Benghazi by a
mob, one can't help but think that, together with the ambassador's body,
the country at the helm of the free world was also dragged through the
mud and humiliated. The attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi
this week was yet another
horrendous chord in the symphony of terror
that is offending the ears of the West. The West, for its part, is
shutting its ears and closing its eyes and avoiding the recognition
that, for quite some time now, it has been under existential attack.
Let's stop pretending
that these are just "radical Islamists" or "extremist Salafists" or any
other restrictive, politically correct definition meant to disarm the
West's defenses, instead of giving it the tools to deal with the
menacing Islamic wave that is threatening to destroy Western
civilization from within. The Western world shouldn't really care that
some idiot made a movie that desecrates Islam (titled "Innocence of
Muslims"). The Internet is full of movies and texts and lectures by
Muslims that desecrate Judaism, Christianity and other faiths. Freedom
of expression and freedom of thought are the foundations of Western
life. The madness of the Arab masses is their problem, but an attack on
an American Embassy as a result of an individual's exercising of his
freedom of expression — that is an attack on Western values.
The leader of the free
world issued a flaccid reaction, demonstrating the entire West's deep
seated problem. What Obama said was, "While the United States rejects
efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all
unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives
of these public servants." Take note: First he condemns the film,
providing the killers with justification for their actions. The Arabs
interpret this to mean that the U.S. leader is taking responsibility for
the deed. Second, he describes the barbaric lynching of his emissaries
as "senseless violence" that "took lives." God help us all in the wake
of this Chamberlain-style response.
It would be wise to
look into what kind of herbs former New York Times editor Bill Keller
was on when he described the White House response as "containing two
strong (!) messages" and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's
response as "either a complete misreading of a dangerous situation, or a
classic act of cynicism." A classic case of the pot calling the kettle
black.
David Remnick's
slander-filled piece in The New Yorker this week also demonstrated the
total collapse of the American Left in the face of threats not only to
Israel but to the entire West, including the U.S.
In 1972, Harold Glidden
wrote an important article characterizing Arab culture as a
"shame-oriented society," where honor is a top priority — not the law,
not freedom, and not any other nonsense flaccid liberals like to use to
mask situations that don't jive with their theories. Like other
disillusioned intellectuals, Glidden was crucified by the political
correctness brigade, but the recent events of the so-called Arab Spring
prove his argument.
The West needs to adopt
a zero tolerance policy for these types of violent acts. To paraphrase
King David, who knew a thing or two about vanquishing enemies, we should
say that when dealing with villains, one must be a villain. The West,
too, has its pride, and if someone humiliates us, we must respond with
force, not issue lukewarm reactions that only serve to embarrass the
West tenfold in the eyes of that same someone. Do we need another
wake-up call?
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