9/10 Thinking in a 9/11 World
Michelle Malkin recalls not only what happened seven years ago, but how certain people responded:
In one of the “very serious” articles about Mr. Obama, called “Making It,” in the current issue of The New Yorker we are treated to his response to 9/11 as published in the September 19th 2001 edition of the Hyde Park Herald:
Even as I hope for some measure of peace and comfort to the bereaved families, I must also hope that we as a nation draw some measure of wisdom from this tragedy. Certain immediate lessons are clear, and we must act upon those lessons decisively. We need to step up security at our airports. We must reexamine the effectiveness of our intelligence networks. And we must be resolute in identifying the perpetrators of these heinous acts and dismantling their organizations of destruction.
We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. …
He goes on, but I can’t. I couldn’t then, I can’t now, I hope I never will. I want to understand my enemy’s madness only enough to use that knowledge to kill him. And then dig him up and kill him again. And then go after his family, his dog, his 3rd grade gym teacher, his mother’s hairdresser.
“Why do they hate us?” was the single question that drove me from decades of allegiance to the Left. Terrorist pathology was not my problem; our dead and dying, our grieving, our ruined buildings—those were my concerns.
But then, I wasn’t sitting in the pews listening to Rev. Jeremiah Wright expound on the causes of 9/11. Shoot, my bad.
While I was typing, I realized that a church nearby was tolling a bell. One ring about every ten seconds. I’m not aware how long the bell has been ringing, but if my calculations are right, and if it means what I think it means, the bell will ring for the next eight hours straight. I’ll keep listening.
martino said,
September 11, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
I was liberal while in college. One day my girlfriend asked what I thought about the fact that there were people in the world who wanted to kill me simply because I was an American. I explained that what people thought of me who have never met me wasn’t my problem, but theirs.
Her response was to explain to me that “if you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” We were walking across a common area on campus at the time. I stopped in my tracks. I told her that I have lots of problems but I don’t go around blaming total strangers for them. I gave the example of getting a flat tire. Do I have the right to point my finger at those driving by me, because they aren’t part of my “solution?” This was the seed of my conversion to conservatism.
Yes, this is an over-simplification of geo-politics. It doesn’t explain Israel, Iraq, Iran, etc. But since those who attacked us on 9/11/2001 have been at war with non-Muslims since the 7th century, I don’t give a lot of weight to the “reasons why they hate us” such as our support for Israel and our aggression towards tyrants.
I echo BTL: Screw their motivations. I just want them dead. Because only when they are dead will your and my children be safe.
Count to 10 said,
September 12, 2008 @ 11:21 am
Okay, so maybe their dogs are fair targets, and the gym teacher is debatable, but leave their mother’s hair dresser out of it.
Unless said hair dresser is part of the plot, of course.
JT said,
September 2, 2009 @ 11:18 pm
Hey Martino -
So you propose to kill every Muslim? (And by the way, your history is faulty … the “war with non-Muslims” began with the Crusades - launched by the Christians - in the 11th/12th century.)
Defending yourself and those you love is admirable, as is a determination to crush your enemy. However, a refusal to admit that we in the West have made contributions to the problem, and a refusal to seek peace EVER, is just plain stupid and dangerously close to a “terrorist mentality” in itself. It is black & white, fundamentalist thinking on both sides that causes the hatred and death. A willingness to think does not indicate weakness; rather, it indicates strength. I don’t always agree with Obama by any means, but he’s right in this case - there is a “profound lack of empathy” on our enemies’ part. They do not see us as humans, and thus they are willing to kill without thinking. We should be willing to kill as well, but if we do so without thinking - as you seem to advocate - we descend to their level and no longer have anything worth defending.