15 June 2010
Alien Ideologues
As Dorothy Rabinowitz writes in the June 9, 2010 Wall Street Journal, a distance is being revealed between the President and the people whose sentiments are increasingly shaped by jingoist right-wing ideologues. To remain true to his office, must a President be prey to the same misconceptions that have captured the most vocal of the public?
We are not at war against an “indisputable Islamist” enemy. As was shown by the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing attack and the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, this country’s liberal democratic system has always struggled to protect its domestic tranquility from disturbance by disaffected outlaws. Advances in communications and freedom of association have allowed them more easily to arm themselves with terrifying weapons. Even the Fort Hood shooter would not have been able to go berserk in such a harmful way in a repressive society.
Modern civilization is vulnerable to life-threatening screws in the works. We must stiffen our vigilance against these anomalies—not by demonizing unfamiliar beliefs or the champions of our better natures, but by remembering not to relax our guard against those among our neighbors who do not share in the benefits of our economic and social progress.
As Dorothy Rabinowitz writes in the June 9, 2010 Wall Street Journal, a distance is being revealed between the President and the people whose sentiments are increasingly shaped by jingoist right-wing ideologues. To remain true to his office, must a President be prey to the same misconceptions that have captured the most vocal of the public?
We are not at war against an “indisputable Islamist” enemy. As was shown by the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing attack and the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, this country’s liberal democratic system has always struggled to protect its domestic tranquility from disturbance by disaffected outlaws. Advances in communications and freedom of association have allowed them more easily to arm themselves with terrifying weapons. Even the Fort Hood shooter would not have been able to go berserk in such a harmful way in a repressive society.
Modern civilization is vulnerable to life-threatening screws in the works. We must stiffen our vigilance against these anomalies—not by demonizing unfamiliar beliefs or the champions of our better natures, but by remembering not to relax our guard against those among our neighbors who do not share in the benefits of our economic and social progress.
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