In attempting to understand 9/11, the first question asked by the world’s elites — exemplified by leading media and academics — was, “What did America do to provoke such hatred?”
Ten years later, that question is still asked by the same people. And it is as morally repulsive now as it was then.
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Such a question is on a moral par with, “What did the Jews do to antagonize the Germans?” Or, “What did blacks do to enrage lynch mobs?”
As long as people keep asking this question, nothing will have been learned from 9/11.
Sept. 11, 2001 was the tragic product of a human trait that is as evident today as it was when Cain killed Abel: The worst hate the best (and the second best and the third best and so on). Evil hates good.
The United States of America is a flawed society. Composed of human beings, it must inevitably be flawed. But in terms of the goodness achieved inside its borders, and spread elsewhere in the world, it is the finest country that has ever existed. If you were to measure the moral gulf between America and those who despise it, the distance would have to be measured in light-years.
If the academic and opinion-forming classes of the world had any moral courage, they would instead have asked the most obvious question that the events of 9/11 provoked: Were the mass murderers who flew those airplanes into American buildings an aberration, or were they a product of their culture?
As far as those elites are concerned, only the first explanation exists: The 19 monsters of 9/11 were, for all intents and purposes, freaks. They were aberrations, no more representative of the Arab and Islamic worlds than the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was of Americans. According to the elites, the hijackers just happened to be Muslims — only in name, we have been constantly reassured — but were not influenced by anything inherent to Arabic or Islamic society. Merely to ask whether anything in those worlds produced the 9/11 terrorists — or Britain’s 7/7 terrorists, or Madrid’s March 2004 terrorists, or the raft of Palestinian terrorists, or the Taliban, or Hamas — is to be a bigot, an “Islamophobe,” the ingenious post-9/11 label for anyone who merely asks such questions.
It can be said, therefore, that not only has the world learned nothing from 9/11, but it has been effectively prohibited from doing so.
The Muslim regime in Iran violently represses its people and, along with the Muslims of Hamas and of Hezbollah, bluntly vows to exterminate the nation of Israel. Muslim mobs murdered innocent people because of . . . cartoons, in Denmark. The Muslims of the Taliban throw acid in the faces of girls who attend school. Muslim mobs kill Christians and burn churches in Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, and elsewhere. But we are told that merely mentioning these things is an act of bigotry.
After 9/11, the normal and decent question that normal and decent people — people who fully and happily recognize the existence of vast numbers of decent Muslims in the world — would have posed is: What has happened in the Arab world and parts of the Muslim world?
But given that this, the most obvious question that 9/11 prompted, has not been allowed to be asked, what lessons can possibly be learned? The answer is none.
Still, that has not prevented our media and academic elites from drawing lessons.
And what are those lessons? One is that it is America, not the Islamic world, which must engage in moral introspection. Another is that we must oppose all expressions of religious extremism — Jewish and Christian as well as Muslim, since, according to the Left, America’s conservative Christians are as much a threat to humanity as are extremist Muslims.
Perhaps the best known exponent of these non-lessons has been Karen Armstrong, the ex-nun who is a widely read religious thinker. She was invited to give a presentation on compassion at the nation’s religious memorial service this past Sunday. And what was her message?
“9/11 was a revelation of the dangerous polarization of our world; it revealed the deep suspicion, frustration, and rage that existed in some quarters of the Muslim world and also the ignorance and prejudice about Islam and Middle Eastern affairs that existed in some quarters of the West. . . . ”
There you have it: Muslims have rage and deep suspicion; the West has ignorance and prejudice.
If that is what the world learns from 9/11, then those who died that day perished in vain.
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. He may be contacted through his website, dennisprager.com.
I disagree that Americans have learned the wrong lessons. It's the elites that have chosen to USE this event as a way of pushing their already-believed notions about politics upon the rest of us.
It's cynical use of that event, and many others, for their own ends.
LindaF, the fact that the American politicians ("elites" as you call them) use an event has absolutely nothing to do with the facts surrounding the event. As Rahm Emmanuel aptly stated, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste." They are corporatist tools and that is their way.
The U.S. president goes into secret meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood and sends them millions of our tax dollars - a group of militant Islamics classified as terrorists in the U.S. and many other nations by the way. The fact of the matter is, according to Islamic prophesy, the signs are right for the return of the 12th Imam. That means it's time to destroy Israel and the west in order to recreate the global caliphate. I don't really expect you to believe me, but if you ever heard speeches delivered by the Brotherhood (all on You Tube)or read transcripts on line, or listened to an interview by one of their members, you would gain a better understanding of the events surrounding 9/11.
Amen. Amen!
As always on moral questions or understanding human choices, Prager is on the money.
From the first minute on 9/11 when newscasters asked, "Why do they hate us so?", I knew that was a nonsensical question. This behavior is unacceptable and to ask it makes as much sense as asking why Hitler hated the Jews. Who cares why? Stop him, kill him.
What I learned is that Islamists are our enemy. We are at war. And those people who put those posters out saying "War is Not the Answer" are part of the problem, not part of the solution. When you are dealing with fanatics who want your obliteration, who want to replace your freedom with their Sharia law, the sometimes war is just the thing. That's what I learned.
And for those who ask me what are you going to have to do, kill them all, I answer that all that is needed is for the "free" countries of the world to hold together unequivocally affirming that this terrorism is unacceptable and will not stand. Then from that, let the enemy understand that we will fight them until we win.
In response to Ron Paul's or Garofalo's senseless arguments about war costing too much, the price of not opposing the tactics and the efforts of Islamists is much more expensive.
If our enemy understood that they will lose this battle because we are of one mind that they will lose, they would not win. But when free people become compassionate for the "problems" of Islamists and angry at the "arrogance" of free people, that does not represent unity of purpose and such attitudes play right into the hands of our enemies. Until free people are impatient and through with the Muslim Brotherhood, Cair, Hezbollah and Hamas and all other Islamists, in singular purpose, with no reservations, we will have learned nothing from 9/11. Prager is so right.
And our president doesn't help matters when he omits naming the country which is the biggest recipient of terror against its people, as he lists nations who have been victims of terror. But then, it gets more and more difficult to find examples of where Obama has helped matters.
Yes! Mr. Prager, you are so right. I'll go one more step: Evil hates, period.
What we do about this is a very difficult question. We cannot merely stamp out evil the way you might stamp out ants around an anthill. There are too many ants, and if you don't get them all, you leave ants who just form more colonies.
It's going to be a slow process, but "MTV" will bring down Muslim extremism the way it brought down communism. I say "MTV" as shorthand for the freedom and exhilaration of Western culture which can't be stopped at the border anymore because it's electronic. Once young people in Egypt and Somalia and Indonesia realize that they can lead rich, full, fulfilling lives, they will turn away from Islamism.
God help anyone who mis-learned the definition of "rich, full, meaningful life" from MTV and other never-lived-past-30 trash-marketing media products. Their only slightly better off than those trained by Islamofascist nutters because they'll tune in and drop out instead of turn out and blow up.
I can't believe I am doing this, but I need to defend MikeB here. As he said, he is using 'MTV' as shorthand for Western culture.
Yes, Western culture can be vapid, hyper-consumerist, etc. However, it's also a tremendous force for good in relation to throwback Islamicism. Western culture developed as a result of freedom, and despite all of it's imperfections, it's a far more appealing choice than barbarism and oppression. That is the point Mike is trying to make.
Now, back to the regularly scheduled head-shaking at the musings of MikeB :)
The chances of me agreeing with MikeB on a subject are slightly higher than the chances of ice water being served in Hades. Nevertheless, this is the smartest thing he's ever said on this site.
Thank you to Mr. Prager and Amen to Mr. Freedom. The one other note is that over the weekend and in the last couple of days I have been heartened by the response of Americans. As a people we do understand why 9/11 occurred and we do understand what needs to be done. When we get depressed about the babbling nabobs just recall what the entirely volunteer military has accomplished, of the dedication of those who serve to defend our country and our beliefs regardless of the self-anointed ones prattle. Here in a liberal enclave of Wisconsin, with the exception of the self-righteous (interesting word self) even many of my extreme left friends understand 9/11 and the real conflict and causes; they actually agree with Mr. Prager. God bless us all.
As a conservative Catholic, I much prefer Dennis Prager's manly Judaism to the namby-pamby nonsense of those CINOs so beloved of the liberal media. Even worse are those "mainstream" Protestants whose love and compassionate somehow manage to include a virulent antagonism to the State of Israel...Thank G-d for Dennis Prager!
By "magical realism," of course, you're referring to the notion that MTV will transform the young people of the Islamic world into westernized, peaceful, tolerant, multiculturalists, yes? I'd say you're half right. That is magical. It's just not realistic.
According to the left,
"America’s conservative Christians are as much a threat to humanity as are extremist Muslims."
This is not true. It appears that to the Left, America's conservative Christians are a GREATER threat to America then extremist Islam. Their harshest,most intolerant rhetoric is reserved for Christians. All their rules of tolerance and civility go out the door when it comes to conservatives and especially conservative Christians.
According to Big Sis, Janet Reno, pro-lifers, and returning military veterans, and biblical fundamentalists deserve greater scrutiny then the radical Imam of the planned NYC Victory Mosque.
Why is this? I suspect that Islam and the extreme left are of the same spirit. Their lust for power is insatiable. Their solutions to the great human problems are rooted in their view of power. They both want to see an all powerful government. So for now, they have a common enemy; small government,freedom loving conservatives.
What never ceases to amaze me is this simple observation:
If everyone followed Jesus' example there would be peace on earth. If everyone followed Muhammad's example we would endless war.
[quote]“9/11 was a revelation of the dangerous polarization of our world; it revealed the deep suspicion, frustration, and rage that existed in some quarters of the Muslim world and also the ignorance and prejudice about Islam and Middle Eastern affairs that existed in some quarters of the West. . . . ”[end quote]
Isn't that always the libs answer for everything they believe in? Not just 9/11 but it fits with their thinking of blacks vs. whites also.
Our leftist elite love nothing better than using co-opted Catholics to justify their positions.
The rage in the Islamist world is Islam's problem. The west has neither the cause nor the cure for this malaise.
Islamists are working to implement their rage all over the world - with a stated aim of taking down the west.
I have been mystified by the unholy alliance between the left and radical Islam - because it is plainly suicidal. If radical Islam attains its objective, elite Islamist apologists from the left will be their first victims.
One common "value" both groups seem to share is their contempt for human life.
The elite view Mr. Prager questions is unfortunately widespread in the academy. At Vanderbilt University's interfaith service of remembrance on 9/11/11, we were enjoined to honor the Vanderbilt alums killed on 9/11/01 by....."working to educate ourselves on world religions."
Not ensuring prevention of similar attacks, not justice, not righteousness. The education would no doubt be more of the same "all- religions-are-equally-problematic" pablum Mr. Prager exposes.
Karen Armstrong's substantial body of scholarship, popular writing and career as an exponent of clear, rigorous, and thorough analysis of major world religions does not need my defense.
It is enough to note that she knows whereof she speaks.
The primary question arising from 9/11 is why in the world a suicide kamikaze attack on a couple of notable buildings caused the world's greatest power to become unhinged. Instead of tidying up our security processes and gauging a proportionate response, we watched as, for largely ideological interpretation of false data, the USA launched imperial style wars in response, thereby creating any animosity within the Muslim world that did not previously exist.
Al Quaeda should have been the focus of an intense and abrupt campaign. Ultimately this group of primitive mad bombers were teated with far more official fear and deference than they have ever deserved.
Nope. By my logic the US should have identified a nation state bent on military domination of the Pacific basin through able use of naval warfare and staged invasions, and declared war against Japan. Oh wait...that's what we did! Yay! And we won WWII in 4 years because we clearly could identify an enemy and a proportionate response. Yay!
I say the reason we are mired in an undefined struggle in Iraq and A-stan (quick! give me a concise reason we still have an imperial occupation force in two countries we are not at war with) is that we never had a good objective, a clear picture of an "enemy", and an idea of what success would look like.
Here is something I do know: Even W and Cheney affirmed we are not fighting Islam as an enemy. So why do so many folks posting here identify Muslims as "the enemy"?
We may not be engaged in a war against Islam, but I'd bet the ranch that every Al Quaeda jihadist is Muslim. Of course, you have the right to spew your venom and think the way you will, but you should seriously go live under Sharia law for a while and have some "quality time with Muslim scholars."
