Our war against Islamic Terrorism shows our heart and soul

I won’t be doing much posting here until things get worked out behind the scenes.  I know as much about setting up blogs as I do about flying space shuttles.  Nonetheless, I couldn’t pass up this delicious little piece of internet junk.  It’s obviously a partisan hit piece.  The gist of it is that toddlers kill more people with guns than Islamic Terrorists!  Woo hoo!  Score that point.  Don’t worry about reasoned debate.  The point is we need to worry about kids with guns instead of terrorists.  Why?  Because look who kills the least number of people, that’s why!  And of course, that’s all that matters.

It got me to thinking, however, as I am wont to do.   World War II casts a big shadow over the world.  It defined a generation.  Not the generation that fought, though it defined that generation too.  No, I’m talking about the generation that came after those who stormed the beaches and flew the missions.  That generation looked back at the dust and concluded ‘Never Again!’  They shook their heads and realized, at least from their POV, that the US was just as destructive as the other countries.  The other countries used total war tactics and laid waste to entire regions.  We used total war tactics and laid waste to entire regions.  No difference.

Since World War II, America has embarked on a mission to more or less lose any war if it means locking horns with an enemy on that enemy’s terms.  And that includes this one.  What is this grand strategy?  Basically, admit that terrorists are going to kill Americans, but as long as it’s not you, then keep shopping and getting things and we’ll show’em.  Really.  Think of that.  We’re told that terrorism is no big deal.  Oh sure, it stinks.  It’s bad when it happens.  We weep.  We mourn.  Some waste their time praying instead of pushing for gun control.  But that’s about it.  For the survivors, it’s back to Amazon.com and the local town center.

And that’s our strategy.  We’ll wear them down that way.  Sure Americans will die, but hey, the odds of it being you are practically nil.  The few number of actual deaths by terrorist makes it all but a minor problem.  When terrorists strike, it’ll be someone else who does the dying, and that’s just fine by us.  We get to keep doing what we always wanted to do, and that’s buy, buy, buy.  Not bad as war strategies go.  I accept the death of others and get to keep doing what I wanted to in the first place.  That’s just the type of sacrifice we post-moderns crave.

When some suggest that this might not be the most noble approach the problem, it stands to reason we can expect instant references to Japanese interment camps, Hiroshima, Dresden, and for the more historically inclined, Operation Cobra.  The point is, look how bad we were when we watched the Russians single-handedly win World War II.  We don’t want to do that again.  So we’ve come up with a great strategy.  One that scratches all of those post-modern itches.  Though I can’t help but believe it won’t be a strategy that will inspire songs and poems from future generations looking back at us.

Just an off the cuff as we work on getting things running.  Happy Independence Day!