Monday, September 10, 2007
WW IV
I've said many times that I think the last part of the 20th century - and perhaps the 1st half of this one - will be seen as a long, drawn-out 4th world war. Now, thanks to Laura's link to a thoroughly thought-provoking article by Mark Steyn (does he ever write badly or trivially?), I learn that Norman Podhoretz thinks so, too, to such an extent that it's the fulcrum of his new book, World War IV. It certainly makes me feel astute and fortunate for being in such exalted company. But it's also depressing and sad because the current thinking in America is so hell-bent on blaming various entities of ourselves - based, I suppose, on the "well I would never go out at 4:00 a.m. in a bikini so it couldn't happen to me" theory that we city-dwellers sometimes turn to for solace after a crime. But as Steyn points out, all the suing and blaming of entities who could've and should've seen 9/11 coming (according to some of them and as if it isn't actually a cultural and religious clash) . . .
. . . invariably misses the forest for the trees. Sen. Craig should know that what matters is not whether an artful lawyer can get him off on a technicality but whether the public thinks he trawls for anonymous sex in public bathrooms. Likewise, those 9/11 families should know that, if you want your child's death that morning to have meaning, what matters is not whether you hound Boeing into admitting liability but whether you insist that the movement that murdered your daughter is hunted down and the sustaining ideological virus that led thousands of others to dance up and down in the streets cheering her death is expunged from the earth.Amen and may people come to their senses and may it not take another horrible event to wake people out of their "if only we had . . . " constructs.
Labels: headlines, reflections, world war 4
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