The coming weeks will feature numerous predictions of the future - especially for 2007. We will be deluged and disgusted or inspired and informed as we sift through all the pundits' prognostications.
As we face this onslaught of information, there is the danger of slipping into one of two equally self-defeating mentalities. The first is resignation and retreat. "The world is going to do what it is going to do, so I'll find my bunker-oasis-escape pod and hope for the best." The second mode is hyper-activism: "If we do not face these issues head-on right now, Armaggedon will arrive by St. Patrick's Day." How do we navigate between the Scylla of fatalism and the Charybdis of frenetic, unfocused activity?
Often we think we have no control over "big" things and only limited control over our own daily lives. As people of faith and integrity, however, we have more opportunities to impact the world than we may at first realize!
We can not control the weather - but our personal and community habits can change local ecosystems and perhaps give our children a better world! After all, we are swimming in lakes and rivers that were cesspools in the 1950s and 1960s.
We can not control our politicians - but we elected them and we can unelect them. We can communicate clearly on issues that matter. Most of all, we can take repsonsibility for our neighborhoods and cities and help create a climate free from fear.
We can not control the decisions of enemies bent on our destruction. But we can pray for peace, work for solutions, speak the truth in love and refuse to give in to despair.
We do not pull the world's economic strings - neither do the politicians in Washington. (They only think they do!) But we can give, save, spend wisely, and work with others to allieviate suffering and create alternative (legal) economies high on compassion, sacrifice and joy.
We do not (and should not) control the thoughts and actions of others. (Here I am not referring to appropriate parenting or project management.) We can however, speak persuasively, and by our actions compel others to consider their ways and perhaps join us in transforming our world.
In the end, we must learn the twin skills of self-discipline and releasing others from untoward expectations.
For 2007 - what can we expect? And what should we do? Consider the following:
We can expect in 2007:
More international tension - are our homes places of peace?
More economic changes - are we giving and managing well?
More crazy, immoral actions from celebrities - are we keeping our thoughts and actions (and computer screens) clean?
More egocentric politicians spinning the truth - are we telling ourselves the truth about the issues that concern us?
More information about just about everything - are we trying to be wise and not just "smart"?
Next week we will add detail to this list as we look at Iran, Israel and the USA at this moment in history. For now, let's be empowered and know that what we do DOES make a big difference!
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Thursday, December 21, 2006
1938
This Season is special. Christians around the world celebrate the birth of their Savior. Jewish families remember the miracle of the Menora as worship is restored in the Jerusalem Temple in 164 BC. Even a nation like Japan, with few Christian and Jewish adherents, allows time for festivities and gift exchanges, all because of events 2000 years ago.
The winter of 1938 was an auspicious time for the world and posits lessons for us as we reflect upon our current challenges. 1938 was the turning point in Hitler's march toward domination in Europe and the destruction of the Jews. In 1938 the forcible union of Germany and Austria occured without a shot fired or any strong protest by other powers. The infamous Munich Conference in the Fall dismembered Czechoslovakia while its architects declared "peace in our time."
These diplo-militaristic triumphs reiforced Hitler's hubris and opened the door for the campaigns that would plunge a world into war by September 1939. Hitler was emboldened to remove the last of the independent-thinking generals on his staff and make immediate preparations for consuming the rest of Czechoslovakia (March 1939) and destroying Poland (September 1, 1939). The failure of the West to intervene, in spite of superior manpower, opened the door for the temporary pact with the Soviet Union (August 22, 1939) that would ultimately enslave the eastern half of Europe during and after WWII.
But there is one more event that moved civilization toward the Abyss. That event was the Nazi-orchestrated, "spontaneous" destruction of Germany's Jewish people and property on November 8, 1939. This infamous Kristillnacht ("Night of the Broken Glass") resulted in hundreds of deaths, thousands of beatings and arrests and the final economic collapse of Jewish assets. The excuse was the execution of a military attache in Paris by a lone Jewish gunman. The real policy was a mix of greed and hatred and a testing of the national and international political waters. There were protests from around the world, but no significant action.
Kristillnacht was a critical step toward the "Final Solution" that would be implemented from 1941 to 1945 and result in the death of six million Jews and millons of other "undesirables."
Why is this moment in 1938 relevant for 2007? We are watching the same demonic opposition toward the Jews and serious Christians by Islamofacist radicals. Like Hitler, they begin with propoganda to marginalize. For the past several years, Israel has been blamed for most of the unrest in the Middle East in various international and Islamic circles. Hitler blamed the Jews for everything from Germany's defeat in WWI to her economic and social ills. Today's mullahs do the same and they are joined by millions of willing accomplices who hate Jews and the State of Israel.
After marginalization and persecution comes terror and violence just short of open warfare. Kristillnacht has been reborn in the terror of Hamas and Hezbollah and the numerous spineless politicians who are willing to sacrifice the existence of Israel on the altar of oil profits. It is also the name of a neo-Nazi band and a code word for post-modern hatred of the Jews!
On January 30, 1939 Hitler warned the world of a coming war in Europe, stating that if war did come (and Hitler had all the Polish plans ready), it would be the Jews fault and result in their "destruction."
Today as we read Iranian prophecies of Israel's destruction and observe the growth of anti-Semistism throughout the world, the response of most people seems to be to ignore it and get to the next mall for "Holiday" shopping.
We must stay alert and not allow our fear or self-hatred to blind us to the current threats to Israel, Europe and the USA. Radical muslims are already demanding separate legal systems and some foolish Western intellectuals are proposing a "plurality" of norms to accomodate them, thus destroying 2,500 years of moral and legal progress. Well-meaning leaders must get free of the delusion that Iran, Syria and other parties will ever negotiate in good faith. The destruction of Israel and demise of the West is still the agenda for Damascus, Tehran and every Islamic group, including the terrorist front in the USA called CAIR.
We do not have to repeat the same mistakes of apathy and delusion of our predecessors.
Israel is not perfect. She must be held accountable for her mistakes. She has been and is willing to negotiate land for peace - as long as that peace includes recognition of her legitimacy to exist as a sovereign nation in secure borders. So far, unambiguous guarantees are not forthcoming from any party in the current conflict. The immanent nuclear threat of Iran and the overt hatred of so many nations justifies her vigilance.
The USA must not give in to Arab and Iranian demands; in fact, we should be demanding more accountability from nations whose wealth could ameliorate the poverty of the "Arab Street" overnight!
Poverty can incite violence - witness the bread riots throughout the Medieval times in England. Poverty, however, is not the cause of the animus toward Israel. Unrelenting hate-filled propoganda against the Jews and the USA fills the minds of the very people who could bring peace.
As we celebrate this special Season, perhaps we can pledge ourselves to peaceful and powerful activism for peace in the Name of the Prince of Peace. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." The peace we promote begins with humility toward God, grows as we are honest with one another and ends in real justice and shalom for all parties currently at war. There can be peace - if we learn from the past and create a different future.
The winter of 1938 was an auspicious time for the world and posits lessons for us as we reflect upon our current challenges. 1938 was the turning point in Hitler's march toward domination in Europe and the destruction of the Jews. In 1938 the forcible union of Germany and Austria occured without a shot fired or any strong protest by other powers. The infamous Munich Conference in the Fall dismembered Czechoslovakia while its architects declared "peace in our time."
These diplo-militaristic triumphs reiforced Hitler's hubris and opened the door for the campaigns that would plunge a world into war by September 1939. Hitler was emboldened to remove the last of the independent-thinking generals on his staff and make immediate preparations for consuming the rest of Czechoslovakia (March 1939) and destroying Poland (September 1, 1939). The failure of the West to intervene, in spite of superior manpower, opened the door for the temporary pact with the Soviet Union (August 22, 1939) that would ultimately enslave the eastern half of Europe during and after WWII.
But there is one more event that moved civilization toward the Abyss. That event was the Nazi-orchestrated, "spontaneous" destruction of Germany's Jewish people and property on November 8, 1939. This infamous Kristillnacht ("Night of the Broken Glass") resulted in hundreds of deaths, thousands of beatings and arrests and the final economic collapse of Jewish assets. The excuse was the execution of a military attache in Paris by a lone Jewish gunman. The real policy was a mix of greed and hatred and a testing of the national and international political waters. There were protests from around the world, but no significant action.
Kristillnacht was a critical step toward the "Final Solution" that would be implemented from 1941 to 1945 and result in the death of six million Jews and millons of other "undesirables."
Why is this moment in 1938 relevant for 2007? We are watching the same demonic opposition toward the Jews and serious Christians by Islamofacist radicals. Like Hitler, they begin with propoganda to marginalize. For the past several years, Israel has been blamed for most of the unrest in the Middle East in various international and Islamic circles. Hitler blamed the Jews for everything from Germany's defeat in WWI to her economic and social ills. Today's mullahs do the same and they are joined by millions of willing accomplices who hate Jews and the State of Israel.
After marginalization and persecution comes terror and violence just short of open warfare. Kristillnacht has been reborn in the terror of Hamas and Hezbollah and the numerous spineless politicians who are willing to sacrifice the existence of Israel on the altar of oil profits. It is also the name of a neo-Nazi band and a code word for post-modern hatred of the Jews!
On January 30, 1939 Hitler warned the world of a coming war in Europe, stating that if war did come (and Hitler had all the Polish plans ready), it would be the Jews fault and result in their "destruction."
Today as we read Iranian prophecies of Israel's destruction and observe the growth of anti-Semistism throughout the world, the response of most people seems to be to ignore it and get to the next mall for "Holiday" shopping.
We must stay alert and not allow our fear or self-hatred to blind us to the current threats to Israel, Europe and the USA. Radical muslims are already demanding separate legal systems and some foolish Western intellectuals are proposing a "plurality" of norms to accomodate them, thus destroying 2,500 years of moral and legal progress. Well-meaning leaders must get free of the delusion that Iran, Syria and other parties will ever negotiate in good faith. The destruction of Israel and demise of the West is still the agenda for Damascus, Tehran and every Islamic group, including the terrorist front in the USA called CAIR.
We do not have to repeat the same mistakes of apathy and delusion of our predecessors.
Israel is not perfect. She must be held accountable for her mistakes. She has been and is willing to negotiate land for peace - as long as that peace includes recognition of her legitimacy to exist as a sovereign nation in secure borders. So far, unambiguous guarantees are not forthcoming from any party in the current conflict. The immanent nuclear threat of Iran and the overt hatred of so many nations justifies her vigilance.
The USA must not give in to Arab and Iranian demands; in fact, we should be demanding more accountability from nations whose wealth could ameliorate the poverty of the "Arab Street" overnight!
Poverty can incite violence - witness the bread riots throughout the Medieval times in England. Poverty, however, is not the cause of the animus toward Israel. Unrelenting hate-filled propoganda against the Jews and the USA fills the minds of the very people who could bring peace.
As we celebrate this special Season, perhaps we can pledge ourselves to peaceful and powerful activism for peace in the Name of the Prince of Peace. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." The peace we promote begins with humility toward God, grows as we are honest with one another and ends in real justice and shalom for all parties currently at war. There can be peace - if we learn from the past and create a different future.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
History and Hope
Please keep reading! I am not going to give one more analysis of the recent non-elections or the hypocrisy of politicians and their earmarked spending habits. Nor am I going to issue another nostalgic paean to Thanksgiving - though it is one of the purest Holidays we have.
Today my mind is drawn backwards and forwards. "Back to the Future" is not only a fun trio of movies; it is one of my mottos for sanity. You see, when we look back, we find great resources for the future in the heroism and heartaches of our ancestors.
Politicians can be noble. William Wilberforce was probably the greatest social reformer in Western history, working tirelessly for the abolition of slavery for half a century and championing scores of other social reforms in late 18th and early 19th century England. Wilberforce was everything campus radicals of the last four decades claim they hate: He was an aristocrat, an evangelical Christian, a Member of Parliament and (gasp!) white. This diminuitive little man thundered like a prophet, divested much of his wealth, called his peers to account and kept England from the anarchy of the Continent! Where is the next one?
Preachers can be pure. As Billy Graham moves into retirement, we see a legacy of integrity worthy of emulation. A man on a mission, Rev. Graham found the balance between an unalterable gospel message and the necessity of personal growth and social flexibility. He never wavered in calling people to personal faith in Christ and in his firm commitment to racial and social equality. He willingly lost friends when he integrated his meetings in the South during the 1950s. When haircuts grew longer, he let his grow a bit and welcomed young people. As music styles changed, he opened the door to fresh talents while keeping the message clear. And through all of this he remained faithful to his wife and never allowed a hint of financial scandal to taint his efforts. Let's be thankful for such examples.
Business Leaders can be compassionate and ethical. The Owenite communities of England in the 1820s and 1830s were radical attempts to educate, house and train laborers for a better future. Malden Mills kept all the employees on the payroll while the factory was rebuilt in the 1990s. Today there are hundreds of business networks and investment firms going past the letter of the law and making sure that everyone - from the farmer to the retail clerk - gets a fair share of the revenue. Please patronize companies known for fairness and opportunity.
Families can be healthy. We hear about abuse and divorce; we are deluged with experts inventing new pathologies. In the midst of all this, millions of Americans are staying married, raising healthy kids, going to religious services and giving back to the community.
I guess this is a Thanksgiving essay after all!
Enjoy the food and the football - and make sure faith and family come first.
Today my mind is drawn backwards and forwards. "Back to the Future" is not only a fun trio of movies; it is one of my mottos for sanity. You see, when we look back, we find great resources for the future in the heroism and heartaches of our ancestors.
Politicians can be noble. William Wilberforce was probably the greatest social reformer in Western history, working tirelessly for the abolition of slavery for half a century and championing scores of other social reforms in late 18th and early 19th century England. Wilberforce was everything campus radicals of the last four decades claim they hate: He was an aristocrat, an evangelical Christian, a Member of Parliament and (gasp!) white. This diminuitive little man thundered like a prophet, divested much of his wealth, called his peers to account and kept England from the anarchy of the Continent! Where is the next one?
Preachers can be pure. As Billy Graham moves into retirement, we see a legacy of integrity worthy of emulation. A man on a mission, Rev. Graham found the balance between an unalterable gospel message and the necessity of personal growth and social flexibility. He never wavered in calling people to personal faith in Christ and in his firm commitment to racial and social equality. He willingly lost friends when he integrated his meetings in the South during the 1950s. When haircuts grew longer, he let his grow a bit and welcomed young people. As music styles changed, he opened the door to fresh talents while keeping the message clear. And through all of this he remained faithful to his wife and never allowed a hint of financial scandal to taint his efforts. Let's be thankful for such examples.
Business Leaders can be compassionate and ethical. The Owenite communities of England in the 1820s and 1830s were radical attempts to educate, house and train laborers for a better future. Malden Mills kept all the employees on the payroll while the factory was rebuilt in the 1990s. Today there are hundreds of business networks and investment firms going past the letter of the law and making sure that everyone - from the farmer to the retail clerk - gets a fair share of the revenue. Please patronize companies known for fairness and opportunity.
Families can be healthy. We hear about abuse and divorce; we are deluged with experts inventing new pathologies. In the midst of all this, millions of Americans are staying married, raising healthy kids, going to religious services and giving back to the community.
I guess this is a Thanksgiving essay after all!
Enjoy the food and the football - and make sure faith and family come first.
Monday, October 02, 2006
An ADD Generation
One of the most startling realities of our day is the short attention span of the public. We are daily exposed to new "factoids" and inherently unable to focus on the most serious issues for any length of time. I call this phenomenon the "ADD generation."
(One caveat: As an educator, I am aware and sympathetic to chidren and adults who struggle with ADD, ADHD and similar challenges. In this article. I am referring to the plurality of the public who are carried along by the hyperstimulation of our sound-byte era.)
As I write, another political figure is found to be sexually corrupt and resigns in disgrace. The timing of the expose causes his party to cry, "foul play!' while opponents assume a posture of moral sobriety completely contrary to their defense of adulterer Bill Clinton.
At the same time, tragedy strikes several schools, including murder in an Amish community. Psychologists, sociologists and a few celebrities will comment on the "culture of violence" and the ubuiquity of guns and call for more government involvement. Meanwhile, families will grieve, religious leaders will offer comfort, local communities will rally and the third planet from the sun will keep on spinning.
In the midst of today's headlines, far more serious issues are obscured. Borders are still porous, North Korea and Iran are still going nuclear, Iraq is a mess and our national debt goes up nearly $50 billion dollars a month! In spite of 24/7 internet communication, satellites everywhere and millions communicating, it is hard to find agreement on the most basic facts of current events. For example, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post argues that there are scores of attacks every week in Iraq while the Administration contends that slow progress is being made. Whom do we believe? It depends on your sources - but even more perniciously, for many, it depends on conscious or unconscious ideological assumptions that affirm or negate the "facts" of any matter.
Until the last two generations, historians and philosophers argued vigorously about the meaning of events and ideas; however, they were, for the most part, deriving their conclusions from the same body of information. Today, the pessimism of the powerful who were trained in the 1960s unites with postmodern agnosticism concerning any "facts" to produce a lethal alchemy of subjectivism that daily reinvents the universe . When this poison is mated to a short attention span, finding knowledge and wisdom becomes even more daunting.
How do we battle this epidemic? We can not retreat to a premodern existence. We can not avoid our civic and moral responsibility to be informed and take action for the world. Let me suggest the following mental pathway to sanity. I am stating these ideas as personal affirmations:
(One caveat: As an educator, I am aware and sympathetic to chidren and adults who struggle with ADD, ADHD and similar challenges. In this article. I am referring to the plurality of the public who are carried along by the hyperstimulation of our sound-byte era.)
As I write, another political figure is found to be sexually corrupt and resigns in disgrace. The timing of the expose causes his party to cry, "foul play!' while opponents assume a posture of moral sobriety completely contrary to their defense of adulterer Bill Clinton.
At the same time, tragedy strikes several schools, including murder in an Amish community. Psychologists, sociologists and a few celebrities will comment on the "culture of violence" and the ubuiquity of guns and call for more government involvement. Meanwhile, families will grieve, religious leaders will offer comfort, local communities will rally and the third planet from the sun will keep on spinning.
In the midst of today's headlines, far more serious issues are obscured. Borders are still porous, North Korea and Iran are still going nuclear, Iraq is a mess and our national debt goes up nearly $50 billion dollars a month! In spite of 24/7 internet communication, satellites everywhere and millions communicating, it is hard to find agreement on the most basic facts of current events. For example, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post argues that there are scores of attacks every week in Iraq while the Administration contends that slow progress is being made. Whom do we believe? It depends on your sources - but even more perniciously, for many, it depends on conscious or unconscious ideological assumptions that affirm or negate the "facts" of any matter.
Until the last two generations, historians and philosophers argued vigorously about the meaning of events and ideas; however, they were, for the most part, deriving their conclusions from the same body of information. Today, the pessimism of the powerful who were trained in the 1960s unites with postmodern agnosticism concerning any "facts" to produce a lethal alchemy of subjectivism that daily reinvents the universe . When this poison is mated to a short attention span, finding knowledge and wisdom becomes even more daunting.
How do we battle this epidemic? We can not retreat to a premodern existence. We can not avoid our civic and moral responsibility to be informed and take action for the world. Let me suggest the following mental pathway to sanity. I am stating these ideas as personal affirmations:
- I am personally responsible for much of what occurs in my life, especially my reactions to circumstances, the quality of my relationships and my moral choices.
- In a representative republic such as the USA, I bear responsibilty - with my fellow voters - for the quality of government we have. My apathy or activism makes a difference. My own moral compass impacts whom I vote for and how I hold politicians accountable for their actions.
- I owe it to myself, my fellow-human beings and future generations to learn all I can about the critical issues of our day and to think seriously about the implications of public policy.
- I can not solve every problem or even understand every issue perfectly, but I can assess whom I trust to partner with to tackle the issues.
- I must SLOW DOWN inside my own head and heart and be careful about hasty conclusions or refusing to consider evidence contrary to my prior notions.
- I need to be clear about my guiding moral and spiritual principles and find others who will help me develop into a more mature person.
- I choose humility daily, refusing to capitulate to the arrogance of the immediate or fuzzy nostalgia.
- I will learn from history even as I realize that my choices create history every day.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Self-Hatred is Self-Destruction
As I survey the world scene and the ideological coloring of all reporting - whether domestic or foreign - there is a shrill refrain that that attacks my sensibilities.
I am speaking of the visceral hatred for the USA, Israel, Great Briain and the few other nations willing to name the enemies of freedom and combat the perfidious evils of our day. Here is just a sampling of the idiocy that passes as significant political discourse, followed by the proper response to such refuse:
Lie: "Zionism is colonialism and racism"
Truth: The founding of the modern State of Israel is the reversal of colonialsm and a proper response to a world that wants all Jews eliminated. Please show me another real democracy in the Middle East.
Lie: "The neocolonial, capitalist machinations of Bush and others keep millions of Arabs in poverty and fuel terrorism."
Truth: Yes, world capitalism props up corrupt Arab regimes; however, there are enough petrodollars controlled by Muslim powers to ensure that there is no poverty!
Lie: "Israel is the aggressor in the current war and if she would just show restraint we might have peace."
Truth: Israel's soldiers were kidnapped. Israel's civilian population is targeted by amoral cowards hiding in villages. The 'freedom fighters' entire raison d'etre is the destruction of Israel.
Lie: "Israel's 'Lobby' controls America."
Truth: The USA is committed to Israel's well-being, but the State Department is full of people who dislike Israel and America is one of the few 'honest brokers' in the region.
Lie: "The USA is an uncultured bully, seeking to dominate the world."
Truth: The USA is one of several compteting power blocs, including the EU, China, India, Russia and OPEC - we hardly have a corner on money and power
The list could go on endlessly. Between doctored photos of Qana and Mike Wallce's outright treason, it is difficult to remain calm. Why do so many in academic and media circles promote such foolish and subversive thinking?
The root cause is a deep self-hatred of all things American, Christian, Jewish and/or Western by those nurtured by the radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s (some of which was fed by the unrepentant Marxists of the 1930s and 1940s!). All the evils of West are catalogued, commented on and castigated, with almost no appreciation for the fact that the only places freedom has a home are where these "out-of-date" values have been planted.
This self-hatred is so deep that some on the Left have joined (at least emotionally) forces with the Islamonazis to aid in the destruction of 3000 years of civilizing progress.
Such self-hatred is self-destructive of the very liberties that allow the venom to be published.
There is another even more sinister explanation: moral license. For half a century these self-anointed guardians of radicalism have urged us to cast off traditional morality and redefine decency, sexuality and family. The result is anarchy, disease and even greater contempt from our enemies. Sexual and financial restraint unleash amazing creativity and ptroductivity, while indulgence saps energy and motivation.
Let's not let the forces of license and self-hatred defeat liberty rooted in virtue.
I am speaking of the visceral hatred for the USA, Israel, Great Briain and the few other nations willing to name the enemies of freedom and combat the perfidious evils of our day. Here is just a sampling of the idiocy that passes as significant political discourse, followed by the proper response to such refuse:
Lie: "Zionism is colonialism and racism"
Truth: The founding of the modern State of Israel is the reversal of colonialsm and a proper response to a world that wants all Jews eliminated. Please show me another real democracy in the Middle East.
Lie: "The neocolonial, capitalist machinations of Bush and others keep millions of Arabs in poverty and fuel terrorism."
Truth: Yes, world capitalism props up corrupt Arab regimes; however, there are enough petrodollars controlled by Muslim powers to ensure that there is no poverty!
Lie: "Israel is the aggressor in the current war and if she would just show restraint we might have peace."
Truth: Israel's soldiers were kidnapped. Israel's civilian population is targeted by amoral cowards hiding in villages. The 'freedom fighters' entire raison d'etre is the destruction of Israel.
Lie: "Israel's 'Lobby' controls America."
Truth: The USA is committed to Israel's well-being, but the State Department is full of people who dislike Israel and America is one of the few 'honest brokers' in the region.
Lie: "The USA is an uncultured bully, seeking to dominate the world."
Truth: The USA is one of several compteting power blocs, including the EU, China, India, Russia and OPEC - we hardly have a corner on money and power
The list could go on endlessly. Between doctored photos of Qana and Mike Wallce's outright treason, it is difficult to remain calm. Why do so many in academic and media circles promote such foolish and subversive thinking?
The root cause is a deep self-hatred of all things American, Christian, Jewish and/or Western by those nurtured by the radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s (some of which was fed by the unrepentant Marxists of the 1930s and 1940s!). All the evils of West are catalogued, commented on and castigated, with almost no appreciation for the fact that the only places freedom has a home are where these "out-of-date" values have been planted.
This self-hatred is so deep that some on the Left have joined (at least emotionally) forces with the Islamonazis to aid in the destruction of 3000 years of civilizing progress.
Such self-hatred is self-destructive of the very liberties that allow the venom to be published.
There is another even more sinister explanation: moral license. For half a century these self-anointed guardians of radicalism have urged us to cast off traditional morality and redefine decency, sexuality and family. The result is anarchy, disease and even greater contempt from our enemies. Sexual and financial restraint unleash amazing creativity and ptroductivity, while indulgence saps energy and motivation.
Let's not let the forces of license and self-hatred defeat liberty rooted in virtue.
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