By arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Yesterday, former U.S. Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, penned an article in Human Events Online about how the United States is now involved in World War III. The piece followed a weekend of interviews, including an appearance on Meet the Press where Gingrich talked about the third world war that is currently underway. The former speaker was quoted by David Postman of the Seattle Times as saying that "america is in World War III and President Bush should say so."
The thrust of Gingrich's argument is that several recent events such as the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the bombings in Mumbai, the plot to blow up the Holland Tunnel in New York and the terrorism-related arrests in Miami and Toronto are all interconnected. When we connect all of the dots, we will see that there is a world war between civilized societies and the terrorists who, as Gingrich notes, "wish to impose a new dark age — with them in charge."
Newt Gingrich makes a valid point. In order to confront the enemy we have to understand exactly what it is that we are fighting. But unfortunately this is not likely to happen. If Gingrich is waiting for George Bush to announce that the United States along with Western society is engaged in a world war with radical Islam, he's going to have a long wait but no doubt he already knows this.
The world has changed a lot from the time when World War I and II were fought and this change could very well result in the downfall of civilization as we know it. The world is governed not by notions of right or wrong but is completely ruled by post 1960s notions of political correctness. Had political correctness been around during the first half of the last century we wouldn't have had World II either. While the president of the United States would be making "Germans are a peaceful people" speeches, we would all be trying to understand exactly what poor Hitler's grievances actually were. Why is he acting this way? No doubt his childhood would be found to have been a major factor. The media would be consumed with the tragedy that beset all of those poor peaceful Germans who were forced to leave their families and jobs to take part in the invasion of Poland or man the gas chambers. and the allies would be cautioned at length not to participate in the war that would undoubtedly be constantly referred to as "immoral". Every death of a civilian would be treated as a reason why the war should be stopped. The only thing that would be missing in this scenario would be the fact that the state of Israel had not yet come into being to blame everything on.
We live in times where there is no right or wrong. Fighting evil might be acceptable but it is irrelevant since there is no evil. We have taken the notion that every human being is equal and extended it to every culture, every religion, and every set of values is equal. and when a culture or a religion mandates that others be conquered or destroyed, well, that's just the way it is.
Many people who grew up during the time of post World War II peace and prosperity simply cannot fathom the reality that there is a well organized enemy who is plotting to destroy our way of life. as a result, they tend to minimize and localize much of the fighting and terrorist activities that are taking place today. Wars on the magnitude of World War I and II are, much like knights in shining armour, something that is relegated to the distant past. This is why some people will go to any length to avoid, as Newt Gingrich says, "connecting the dots". It is simply beyond their comprehension. This type of "head in the sand" thinking occurs every time there is a terrorist attack. a good example was what took place after the arrests of the 17 people on terrorism charges in Toronto. Why it happened became more important than what actually transpired. Excuses for these "poor misguided individuals" abounded. The doctrine of the presumption of innocence was used, not as it was intended to be used to ensure that each of the 17 individuals could not be convicted of a crime unless it was proved, but to argue that there was absolutely no proof of terrorist activity. Too many people, including those in positions of power, are too fearful to even want to glimpse at the big picture.
Unfortunately, Newt is not going to see his World War III. and this does not bode well for our way of life.
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