We are trampling our children

Submitted by Guatieri (United States), Apr 21, 2008 at 15:46

Apparently people's "right to swim" trumps people's right not to be discriminated against based on religion or gender.

The European examples made me chuckle as I am of the opinion that they have already surrendered, the Seattle example however, I found infuriating.

You can bet you won't be hearing anything about this on the campaign trail.

The question is – How far will cowardice take us? - Many people use the term "wake-up" in the context that ultimately Europeans and Americans will "wake-up" to what's going on. This analogy/expression infers that the subject (The Sleeper) is either unaware or distracted. I fear that the truth here is that we the sleepers (Western Civilization) are neither, but rather, we are in denial. And you know what that means, don't you? The familiar pattern associated with trauma.

First is Fear: 9/11
Then Comes Anger: Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Wire Tapping, Guantanamo,
Then Denial: Our current state of consciousness.
Then: ACCEPTANCE.

Bottom line is THEY the Islamists believe in something and will give their lives for it, while most Westerners are so consumed with their own fear of death that they are willing to subordinate themselves to any strong arm. There are, of course, notable heros amongst us.

It makes me think of the line from the recent John Adams movie where King George is dismissing "Ambassador" Adams from St.James Court and sincerely worries about how the Americans will fair "without a Monarch". Even John Adams seems a bit concerned about this!

In other words: What will we do without strong leadership? – Democracy's darkest weakness (and strengh) is its reliance on group think – which as we know from the "fire in a movie theatre" narrative can easily turn into mass panic and the most loathsome form of self preserving instinct.

When we in the West subordinate our freedoms to those of other "cultures" we are trampling our children as we run from the burning theatre.

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