When will they ever learn?

Submitted by Howard E. Cook (United States), Jan 9, 2010 at 15:33

"Islam offers no benefit to a society."
Society? What is a society? A civilization is a society, according to Toynbee. And great societies are produced by great religions. European civilization once had a great religion, as Henry Adams came to realize; but that religion fell victim to science, the Reformation and the Enlightenment. So now, in the words of W. B. Yates,"Things fall apart/ The center cannot hold.
Where is the center now?

Osama bin Laden saw clearly that it was The World Trade Center, and knocked it down. He intended to knock out two integrated centers: the White House and the Pentagon, but failed.
His victim, the USA, responded with a frenzy of flag waving, and by being duped into starting a futile war. Tancredo, one voice of clear-sighted reason, recognized that nuking Mecca, Islam's center, would have been an appropriate response. "We must crush Islam completely, discredit the leadership, and ban the symbols and rituals of the cult."
Absolutely!

But calling on Academia to begin the intellectual deconstuction??
Academia (they) comes to mind as I remember Pete Seger singing "When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?" And if they don't learn how can they teach?

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".