Silver Bullet World Peace
After Greta from Hooah Wife left a comment here, I flew on over to her blog. It’s been a while since I graced her blog-step and felt, time to do some readin’! I found a little snippet there from Silke where she wraps The Daily Show and George Will’s latest column into a question, “Is the Bush administration right? Are we defeating terrorism by promoting democracy in Iraq?” Her information sources from which to draw a conclusion are continents apart in respect to their circles of knowledge and influence. And the overall thrust of her piece, what I came away with, is that the Bush Administration is looking through a hollow tube in respect to fighting terrorism and terrorists. George Will’s quip, as you’ll see, is the narrowing of that tube.
Now, bear with me, ’cause The Daily Show and George Will are extremes in the ways of logic and breadth of knowledge imparted to the consumer (either the viewer or reader, respectively).
Tackling the first “outlet” or source I wondered, is The Daily Show where everyone should be getting enlightening and informative content or instruction? The content there, even though from the outside it’s goal is humor, actually hides the tip of a spear plunged into the heart of truth. Jon Stewart hardly makes me think. In fact, that show hardly makes me chuckle anymore. In the day, with Craig Kilborn, the funny bone used to get a good tweak! Now, all this show does is confirm my realization that today people are far less interested in learning and more interested in feeding their own isms. You don’t have to work to get the news and you can laugh at the same time!
It’s hard work to learn something. Shows like The Daily Show are easy to watch and therefore spoon feed the consumer tainted facts and news items. And, since there is news in there, well, learning is great! Hmmm …
Now, George, poor George … you always raise the bar just too dang high! Or, maybe it’s not a bar but a pretzel? Once we’ve taken the time to look up all your “cool” words, you’ve tossed us into the weeds at 70 MPH. Sometimes we need a curling iron to straighten out a few of those cryptic sentences you always love to throw at us. Yet, I have to credit you on a sentence fragment that captures your view, albeit tainted by Inside The Beltway ooze. The quip, “F-16s are not useful tools against terrorism that issues from places such as Hamburg …”, really shows the fact that you think all George Bush is doing requires an F-16 and a Striker or two. So very myopic, Mr. Will, in my estimation. You leave the reader with this view you’ve offered as the only option George Bush and this administration have chosen. How very pedantic of you (to those of you in Rio Linda, pedantic is narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned: UNIMAGINATIVE, PEDESTRIAN).
To be true to the entire effort, or the defeat of terrorism, does not require just one thing. There is no silver bullet (not the beer, doh!) to get to world peace. The Silver Bullet World Peace brigade, led by the Main Stream/Drive By Media, are so far from seeing the real solution as a whole concert of strategies, tactics, and tasks. They truly have deserted any clear research because it is too hard to stay in front of the bloggers and folks like Stratfor.com. And none of these elitists have ever experienced what it takes to defeat an enemy such as the likes we have today. They sadly grew up forgetting what the WWI and WWII generations faced. To actually have men like Neville Chamberlain selling you up the river without a spoon?! Appeasement and group hugs, as I have said before, are not going to stop the evil we face today.
While George Will’s sound bite, more appropriately a written quip, is cute and snags the reader, it falls disastrously short of carrying the real water to the fire.
George Will knows better; he is a man that studies history. It seems he has fallen into the same old same old world view lethargy. Inside The Beltway Pundits fail us all and have tainted the “gene pool of ideas”. The only place anyone is going to find the answer to the question Silke posed, is to study history. It’s a chore I know, but nothing of value ever comes without work. And armed with that knowledge, one must apply, with metered adjustments for today’s world, a strategy and action plan that is executed with strong conviction. To not learn from the past is to provide fertile soil for self destruction. Again, George Will has studied history, yet he is clouded by the tarnish found on all the media types revolving inside the beltway centrifuge.
I remember, as many of you ex-Military types do, we had to study world, US, and military campaign history. In basic training we had study hours devoted to these subjects. I loved to learn about how a certain campaign or individual battle was thought out, planned, and then executed. And at every level commitment and conviction were the keys to a resounding victory. As our brethren in the blogosphere are so quick to forget, or never learned as we did, a battle requires logistics that boggle the mind. We cannot win this war on terror without looking at the bigger picture, or more to the point a map to the future.
To many are stepping into the fray without the greatest weapon of all: historical context of war with an enemy hell bent on innocents being destroyed.
To those that say Democracy is not capable of defeating terrorism, riddle me this: when compared to every other despotic country or system, pick one that is more capable? And, no matter your answer, remember that tin horn dictators care less about the system as long as they are still in control and can still kill those that oppose them. Oh, and just remember, to Achmed-any-jihad, you are an infidel. Even though you side with him now, when he takes over you are also fated to die. You’re not safe either, Code Pinkos … you he likes least of all. He is using you as his tool to defeat us all.
Sad. Truly sad … Atlas doesn’t shrug, Atlas heaves with cries of agony at our myopia (a lack of foresight or discernment: a narrow view of something)!
TAGS: Fix4RSO, Milblog, Military, World+Peace
August 17th, 2006 at 12:00
I wandered over from Greta’s site thinking you might have somewhat more to say on the subject, I can’t remember who right now, but the quote is “there’s nothing more terrifying than ignorance in action”, my greatest concern is this lack interest in the enemy we face today, does this country have the wits and patience to fight for their freedom? I wonder. It looks like It’s about 40/60 against right now.
shortly after 9/11 I bought a paperback copy of the quran for six bucks, thought investigating the philosophy/religion of our self declared enemies worthy of a bit of attention, yet, it looks to me like even our leadership have yet to peruse this book, and the media simply won’t, nobody wants to take the likes of Ahmadinejad at face value, I think they’d better, and soon! or bad things are going to happen, and you can’t say they didn’t warn us, I think that nutcase has every intention of carrying out his Islamic world domination.
August 17th, 2006 at 12:51
Mark,
Your words there in Silke’s post at Hooah Wife and Friends, and here, are very insightful. It is true that to some, just add water types, they are not willing to fight the fight. The bulk of these folks are not ready to sacrifice anything since they still are not facing the true power coming for them.
And, I place that lack of awareness squarely on the shoulders of the Main Stream Media. No one is learning from the outlets they are tapping.
And, even though I have not read the entire Quran, I am very aware of it’s precepts and the direction the current psychos wish to apply their, interpretation … I, like you, fear that no one, even the administration, is really seeing this as it really is as well.
The British are a PERFECT example. It’s almost like a Chamberlain-like malaise has drifted over England, like a sleeping gas. I hope they awaken soon, ’cause their closest neighbors have chekced out long ago …
Thanks for coming by, Mark!