Classical Values :: Remembering the day they attacked the Enlightenment

September 11, 2007

Remembering the day they attacked the Enlightenment

A year ago (on what was the fifth anniversary of September 11), I felt the need to italicize what people seemed so eager to forget:

We are at war.

Nevertheless, 9/11 Truthers were (then as now) being hired to actually teach, and while it's easy to write them off as hardline fringe, a growing chorus of people were (then as now) in denial:

Wishing war away does not work, especially in the middle of a war. Might as well imagine that defeat is victory.

Then as now, pacifists demanded surrender:

Why is it that being "antiwar" always seem to exclude protests against the enemy?

How is it "antiwar" to submit to an enemy which calls for submission?

I know I've said this before, but September 11 is a day I'll always remember as a day for defiance. The enemy wants us to submit, and to submit is die. (In more ways than one.) The only "submission" coming from me is another blog post of deliberate defiance.

That was last year.

One week ago (on September 4), the New York Times whined in petulant anticipation of September 11, in a column with what I saw as a disgusting rhetorical title -- "As 9/11 Draws Near, a Debate Rises: How Much Tribute Is Enough?"

Is all of it necessary, at the same decibel level -- still?

Turning up my decibel levels to a vicious full blast, I posed a couple of rhetorical questions of my own:

We're in a war, right?

Yeah, I keep asking.

I hope I wasn't too loud....

But really it's not as if the decibel levels from the other side aren't audible. I have to say, it was pretty sickening to wake up this morning with a second cup of coffee on the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, only to contemplate pictures like these taken at San Francisco's "9/11 Truth March and Power to the Peaceful Festival." (Via Glenn Reynolds.) They take time to load, but they give a good idea of the power and scope of the denial machine and how it spreads and grows, almost virus style.

Norman Podhoretz touches on this in today's Wall Street Journal, and he sounds pessimistic when he recalls the early seeds of "America the Ugly":

On the one hand, those who thought that we had brought 9/11 down on ourselves and had it coming were in a very tiny minority -- even tinier than the antiwar movement of the early '60s. On the other hand, they were much stronger at a comparably early stage of the game than their counterparts of the '60s (who in some cases were their own younger selves). The reason was that, as the Vietnam War ground inconclusively on, the institutions that shape our culture were one by one and bit by bit converting to the "faith in America the ugly." By now, indeed, in the world of the arts, in the universities, in the major media of news and entertainment, and even in some of the mainstream churches, that faith had become the regnant orthodoxy.

But it would be a great mistake to suppose that the influence of these sectors of the culture was limited to their inhabitants. John Maynard Keynes once said that "practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist." Keynes was referring specifically to businessmen. But bureaucrats and administrators are subject to the same rule, though they tend to be the slaves not of economists, but of historians and sociologists and philosophers and novelists who may be very much alive even when their ideas have, or should have, become defunct.

It's a great read, and although he notes that in the case of the Iraq war that "the antiwar playbook of the Vietnam era is being very closely followed," Podhoretz nevertheless concludes on an optimistic note:

It is impossible at this point to predict how and when the battle of Iraq will end. But from the vitriolic debates it has unleashed we can already say for certain that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did not do to the Vietnam syndrome what Pearl Harbor did to the old isolationism. The Vietnam syndrome is back and it means to have its way. But is it strong enough in its present incarnation to do what it did to the honor of this country in 1975? Well acquainted though I am with its malignant power, I still believe that it will ultimately be overcome by the forces opposed to it in the war at home. Even so, I cannot deny that this question still hangs ominously in the air and will not be answered before more damage is done to the long struggle against Islamofascism into which we were blasted six years ago and that I persist in calling World War IV.

It certainly is World War IV, and I agree with David Rusin that in World War II terms, we are in 1942:

September 11 has taken its place alongside December 7 as a date that lives in infamy -- and one that is barely contemplated during the other 364 days. But consider the contrast. More than six decades have elapsed since the raid on Pearl Harbor, and the challenges made clear on that fateful morning were resolved in another age, by another generation. Conversely, the Long War with radical Islam that began in earnest merely six years ago stands closer to its outset than its denouement. In World War II parlance, it is still early 1942, and there has not yet been a Midway or a Guadalcanal to signal the turning point.

Rusin thinks that we should be angry, and he's right. (Frankly, anyone who's not angered by the Zombietime pictures is probably overdosed on antidepressants.)

Norman Podhoretz, by the way, has a book titled "World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism," which I just ordered on Roger L. Simon's recommendation. It's the least I could do. The problem, though, is not just that such articulate voices are not being heard, it's also that the people charged with waging this war themselves tend to forget the importance of public relations. Here's Roger:

....the extraordinary inability of Bush and those surrounding him to understand and to respond to the paramount importance of public relations in asymmetrical war. Indeed, it can be argued that asymmetrical war is in essence about public relations. You would think, given the recent history of our time, the Tet Offensive, indeed the whole story of Vietnam, the administration would have known that, seen the inevitability that a powerful opposition would coalesce in the media and in the political classes (one that Podhoretz describes so well) and moved to head it off, to co-opt their opponents, but they did the opposite.

Unfortunately, the Netroots types tend to prevail in the propaganda war because they shout the loudest. In a long essay I wrote yesterday, I realized that the very idea of success in the war in Iraq is rank heresy to leftists, with most war supporters who talk about being regarded as deluded fools. "We need to pull out, and that's all there is to it!"

Unfortunately, partisan culture war politics have seeped into this, with (as Roger notes) predictable consequences:

They should have fought at every moment not to make this a partisan issue, because it is not. The very things the left wing of our Democratic party says they abhor - misogyny, homophobia, lack of religious freedom - are the very things Islamism represents and promotes. That should have been exploited and co-opted. We're all in this together in the defense of the Enlightenment.

Truer words were never spoken.

This is a war against the Enlightenment. If you don't think so, just take another look at some of the Dark Age gibberish being sputtered by the people who attacked and who are willing to lay down their lives to bring back the 7th Century. (And now they're updating the Dark Ages message with a little outreach to American nihilists.)

In remembering 9/11 today, I think it's also a good time to remember three war-related quotes from Churchill (the good Churchill, of course). On appeasement:

"Each one hopes that if it feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last."

On doing the right thing:

"Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities."

And on persistence:

"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

The least we can do is remember.

UPDATE: Via Glenn Reynolds, James Lileks remembers 9/11, and invites his readers to share "Where were you when you heard?" and "Are you tired of being asked to remember?" This has generated quite a collection of interesting comments, and I was even prompted to chime in:

I'd been up late, and I was half asleep listening to Howard Stern, who was my alarm clock because I for years I enjoyed waking up laughing to him. Suddenly, when I heard Howard say, "THIS IS WORLD WAR III!" I was jolted awake, because the tone of his voice was very serious. I turned on the TV, and I was shocked by the replays of the crashes. But no sooner had I felt some limited relief that the attacks failed to destroy the Towers than I watched them fall. Once I saw the Pentagon hit, I knew that this was more than a horrible terrorist attack, but that my life had been changed, and so had the world.

Judith Weiss remembers her own 9/11, and has a post-Punk 9/11 story.

And Rachel Lucas shares her thoughts on schools which are refusing to observe September 11. "We we don't want them to dwell on violence," said one principal. To which Rachel responds:

Wouldn't want them to dwell on reality or anything. The thing is, you don't have to make it about "violence". I learned about WWII when I was about 6 years old and I'm pretty sure it wasn't taught to me in terms of how many bodies the Nazis incinerated daily at Auschwitz. I just knew that bad people do bad things, and you know what, I was OKAY. I was shockingly able to move on and make forward progress. Seriously. That principal's quote is some of the stupidest bullcorn I've ever heard.

Unfortunately, it's not isolated bullcorn. (I wouldn't be suprised if the principal got the idea from the NY Times.)

posted by Eric on 09.11.07 at 10:40 AM

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Comments

On a day like this, 6 years to the day of the horrific attacks against the US, we should watch a video like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsF-RiMzGpk

It puts things into the proper perspective.

LYONSPOTTER · September 11, 2007 12:52 PM

Oh, I see it now! Bush is not Jesus.

Am I converted yet?

While promoting your own video borders on spamming, I'll leave it up in the spirit of the Zombietime pictures.

Eric Scheie · September 11, 2007 01:12 PM

Actually, the deeds of the Bush Crime Family (look into the history of the Bushes in the Congressional Record) have come home to roost. Make no mistake, the current administration has been criminally and willfully irresponsible in the way in which they have done everything since SCOTUS appointed him.

Not that Clinton was any better.

Bin Laden (most likely dead from kidney disease, btw) and his ilk are a CIA grown monstrosity under Bush, Sr. to destabilize Afghanistan and other Soviet strongholds in the Cold War. They, however, forgot that not even Genghis Khan wanted to deal with this group of nutters as subjects. He decimated - the real meaning of the world - their villages and tribes to subdue them. And, even then, they were barely subdued.

The USA does not have the stomach to complete a war started by the British over a century ago. The British could not contain them, and the Soviets barely contained these characters because Stalin was a right ba**ard. And it does take a right ba**ard to contain this aggregation of warring factions who would sooner slit your throat than lend you a hand.

What I'm saying is not politically correct, but these are not Westerners, and they are not Asians. They really only have allegiance to their own tribe/family. They don't give a rat's tin fanny about anything else and are willing to take their entire tribe with them for some warped concept of honor.

What better group of people to use as a tool to introduce fear to your own people? Set such a people up as an enemy of your people. They are, after all, stateless so there is no one to claim as your enemy other than an amorphous other.

Relying on Halliburton, KBR, and Blackwater to wage war is not going to win the war, rather it is going to prolong it, while enriching those who back these companies. Machiavelli even warned against using mercenaries in war - their loyalty is always to the highest bidder.

And Islamofascism is not the only enemy we have in this war. Let us not forget the blasphemous doctrine of Dominionism that Bush, many in his administration, and the owners of Blackwater all subscribe to. This group believes they are on a mission from God no less than the Moslems who flew into the trade center towers.

But, none of this is new. Even the WTC incident was but a blip on the map of history when you look at it in the perspective of racial violence within this country - or the ongoing labor wars. How many even know the reality of violence within these borders? The Native American movements that turned violent out west?

Nothing, but nothing here is new. They are just using it to achieve a political agenda to control oil so that the Chinese do not. In the cold light of political necessity, I'm not sure it isn't the right thing to be doing (taking control of the Mid-East), but they are incompetent in their execution thereof.

Pax,

MLO

MLO · September 11, 2007 01:55 PM

This one's got better protest music dude

http://www.youtube.com/v/3sTcQueB3ek

Anonymous · September 11, 2007 02:26 PM

I was looking at the Lileks link and saw this posted a few times.

I'm not tired of being asked to remember. I'm furious at being told to forget.

Second that emotion.

M. Simon · September 11, 2007 03:33 PM

Uh, MLO dude.

Are you forgetting our first war against the jihadis. I recall something about "to the shores of Tripoli".

Here is the music. Perhaps it will refresh your memory of the words.

M. Simon · September 11, 2007 03:44 PM

On THIS day? In THIS place in time they post drivel about the Bush family?

Of course, we wouldn't be at war if not for Bush, that arch-criminal moron-genius. We'd all be pasturing on the fields of rainbows and living off moonbeams. And no one would want to kill us.

It's not two Americas. It's not two sets of values. It's two realities. Only it's like one of those sf dream thingies -- if they die in our reality, they'll be dead in theirs.

Perhaps they just want to go in their sleep.

Portia · September 12, 2007 12:39 AM

I'm not forgetting the shores of Tripoli - which is not the first historical war against jihadis. The first war was Mohammed's war of aggression into Christian lands.

There is a world of difference between the Barbary Pirates sponsored by the Turkish Empire and the present day tribal warriors that infect Central Asia. Lebanon, Syria, etc. are not the same people. Actually, most of the sane people now live in Paris or Metro Detroit.

Arabs are as diverse as any culture - possibly more so. I live in Metro Detroit and grew up with Arabs - Syrians do not live where Iranians live and Lebanese do not live where Iraqis live. They are distinct and not a singular force. Policies of the last 50 years have solidified some sense of Arabicization, but they are not monolithic. The Sunni / Sh'ia divide is not window dressing. It is as deep as any religious divide. I've heard Moslems deride the beliefs of that other group as blasphemous.

The war to be waged in Lebanon - or even Northern Africa, is not the war to be waged in Central Asia / Persia. There are sociopolitical and historical differences in the regions. Central Asian history seems to be a series of "I want them... um, nevermind you take them back." wars between the Turks and Russian during the 18th and 19th century. These are not an easy people to rule. Force and an iron hand has been the only consistency within these borders when anything resembling peace occurred.

I am very, very tired of the politically correct and those with no knowledge of history making decisions that are doomed to failure. Politicians are always crooks - they don't get there via honest, up-standing citizenship. And War Profiteering by politicians has a glorious history world wide.

Always follow the money. He who gains most by it will do best by it.

Pax,

MLO

MLO · September 12, 2007 04:37 PM

I will never forgive the barbarism of those that killed my fellow countrymen and attacked our Nation.

I will never forget those that died at their hands.

Never forgive.

Never forget.

No matter which guise they are, these are the enemies of mankind - hostis humani generis. I see no difference between the jihadi and the narcotics type and the killer for lands untold that attack humanity to have their way so that they can rule above all law. Their killing is wanton, their purpose ill and their outlook that of warlords to impose their will by killing.

There is no excuse for them.

There is no 'blowback' by our actions as they seek goals beyond law and justice - to BE law and justice.

They set themselves outside the laws that allow Nations to exist with each other, to tear down all Nations for their grim desires.

All of their faces are equal: nothing excuses these actions.

We have had decades to call outlaws as they are and let all Nations know that these are our common threat above our internecine squabbles. Now we grow fearful to call them for what they are, and still we quiver, point fingers, and refuse to let our petty views go so that we may protect ourselves and our civilization from these outlaws.

Nations who think to use these barbarians find themselves put at peril, for they know no sanctity of actions and will do as they will even against their paymasters. They are beyond pay, beyond bribes, beyond payoffs, beyond begging, beyond pleas for mercy. They kill and glory in it to make us fear that nothing can protect us from them, these wolves that stalk us.

On 9/11 the wolves came howling and still we have those saying that these wolves are OUR OWN FAULT. They are not. They are their own masters and seek to be OURS. If we cannot come together for self-protection, then we are at their mercy. And they have NONE.

We have our RIGHT as a Nation to call these outlaws as they ARE. To warn all Nations that our hand will be turned against ALL that have attacked us seeking to use war against us and be held unaccountable. Our brother Nations should join us in turning their hands against them as the threat is against them just as much as us. The loss of all that we have spent centuries to build to return to personal and predatory war by warlords and tyrants of every stripe. They have chosen their path to go after Nations unaccountably. They undermine our law of nations to RULE over mankind by terror and horror inflicted by them upon us.

I do not put them in that category.

They put themselves into it by their actions.

I will not forgive those actions.

I will not forget those that die by their hands.

There is no equivalence between them and us.

NONE.

They do not seek to govern but to rule unaccountabley.

They do not build but glory in destruction.

And they will adhere to no law and will keep to no law, even those they say they want because those are dropped the moment they get in the way.

There is no equivalence to be had with them, no justification and no reasoning with them. They are unjust in the extreme, threatening all to win their ways.

They have no honor, not even that amongst thieves.

We have had time and more than time to drop politics from dealing with them and deal with them as the threat they are. Soon the time comes when we must ask: what good is politics if it loses us our society and our Nation by equating those that destroy with those that build?

We were attacked before 9/11 and numerous times by other groups around this globe, killing our countrymen, disrupting our lives and destorying our goods. Often by the ones and twos, sometimes in rapid succession, sometimes in a slow dribble, sometimes with a surge to kill hundreds. The Islamic one is the worse, of that there is no doubt, but the dripping of death from all sides that will not be held accountable still tallies up to this day.

In their diversity they are legion against us.

Give succor and aid to one and we show that we support our own destruction.

Point a finger in accusation for politics and three point back at YOU for not doing a damned thing to help and one to the ground to point to your final destination by accusing and not helping.

No matter what their name, what their excuses and what their causes, they are all outlaw. No exceptions. No 'freedom fighters' if they put on no uniform and will abide by no command and no accountability, they are outlaw seeking only for themselves. There is grand tradition to put on uniform, raise flag and declare an area to *protect* with your views on the world. That is the honorable path to show you will be made target in your beliefs, and your ability to fight for them and die for them to protect a people and hold your values forward for them. These ones that put on no uniform, endanger all people and seek to destroy have no place in this world.

They have chosen to live by the sword.

That is their motto and creed: death, death and more death. First, last and always is death.

Make excuses for them, who will take ANY path to power, and you are one step from joining them. Because you adore hatred and death more than you love life and building, you give them added strength and weaken those that need you to be civilized and turn yourself against them. It is time to deal with the killers of peoples and Nations before they deal with us. It would have been easy to deal with such decades ago, cheaper... but no one wanted to do so across the political spectrum.

To hell with that politics on all sides if it will not call killers and outlaws waging predatory warfare for what they are.

To hell with all who support poliltics FIRST.

Because that is where we are heading because of it: to HELL.

I will never forgive them.

I will never forget them.

ajacksonian · September 12, 2007 04:59 PM

Behold MLO, the very model of the modern Copperhead.

We all know who the Copperheads were: Democrats in the Civil War, lacking the guts to openly rebel, who remained in the North to stir up trouble, advocate for surrender, impede the war effort, and give aid and comfort to the enemy. After all, was it really worth a single American life to end slavery? Certainly not with the incompetent leadership of "Abe the Ape" (Chimpy Bush) who under the thrall of the extremist abolitionists (the Israeli lobby and the neocons) was ineptly and corruptly managing the war (HALLIBURTON!!!)!

The solution now is the same as it was then: Rope. Tree. Copperhead. Some assembly required.

SDN · September 16, 2007 02:35 PM

The reading comprehension of some of the commenters boggles the mind.

MLO · September 17, 2007 03:00 PM