Prof. Paul Eidelberg, a political scientist, author and lecturer, co-founder of The Foundation for Constitutional Democracy published an essay in Israel National News about why the U.S. is not prepared to defend itself against the threat of Islamic Jihad.
He states, in part:
College-educated, pseudo-humanists of the media have eroded American resolve. A poll just days after 9/11 showed that 76 percent of Americans said they would support military action against Al-Qaeda even if it meant 5,000 troops would be killed. Today, a majority no longer identifies the war in Iraq as part of the wider War on Terror. Moreover, less than 10 percent supports military action to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
Why don’t college students know that a nuclear Iran would dominate the Middle East and the oil resources of the Persian Gulf? Why don’t they know that a pacifist Europe, already Arabized, would succumb to nuclear blackmail? Why don’t they know that the loss of Europe would wreck America’s economy and radically curtail the scholarships and funding on which the education and careers of these college students ultimately depend? Why is there this ignorance?
Relativism closes their minds. By denying the existence of evil, relativism erodes America’s confidence in the justice of its cause against Islamic terrorism. Like the mandarins of the BBC, those of CNN, ABC, NBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post choke on the word “terrorists.” To avoid being “judgmental,” these opinion-makers prefer to call terrorists “guerrillas” or just plain “activists.” But this is not all.
Relativism has degenerated into “moral reversal.” The clearest example of this metamorphosis is the media’s coverage of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Whereas the victim, Israel, is portrayed as the villain, the villains – Arab terrorists – are portrayed as the victims. This moral inversion is conspicuous on university campuses, where Israel has been demonized. But so has President George Bush been so demonized. It is precisely on those campuses where the anti-war movement has flourished. What is singularly significant, the anti-war movement facilitated the victory of the Democratic Party in the recent November elections.
Exceptions notwithstanding, the Democratic Party of today differs radically from that of Franklin D. Roosevelt or even of John F. Kennedy. The difference between today’s Democratic Party and the floundering Republican Party is not merely political; it’s also cultural. The Democratic Party now includes powerful anti-American elements. Some call them the “cosmopolitan Left.” I think it’s more accurate to call them the “anti-National Left” – the same Left that now dominates Europe and Israel.
I find it incredible that Americans do not recognize the very real threat facing our culture and way of life. So much has been published by writers such as Stephen Emerson, Daniel Pipes, Lawrence Wright, Walid Shoebat, Nonie Darwish, Bat Yeor and others about what Jihad is all about. Why is it that the educated elite, mostly on the Left, don’t recognize the threat? The doctrine of uncritical multiculturism and moral relativism will destroy the American way of life.
Prof. Eidelberg further writes:
Although America has always been multicultural, its ethnic diversity was based on a tradition of freedom, self-reliance and self-restraint modulated by Judeo-Christian ethics. Today, multiculturalism has been tainted by the dispiriting moral nihilism of academia. The most prestigious universities have educated America’s political, diplomatic and media elites, an increasing number of which are anything but champions of the American political tradition. American democracy is in trouble.
Since the American government is not about to curtail the freedom of expression on which the universities and the media depend – and which Muslims exploit – America can hardly win the war against its most dangerous enemy and still retain its reputation as a democracy.
I am more optimistic and feel that ultimately Americans will rise to the challenge. I just hope it isn’t too late.
Read the whole article.
BEAR TO THE RIGHT 