To Mr. Knutsen

Submitted by David Wolf (United States), Nov 17, 2004 at 14:53

Mr. Knutsen,

I don't think the implication in saying that at least the conservatives among us were awakened by September 11th, 2001 is to say that those who did not "wake up" failed to do so because they were "liberal".

Rather, I think it is clear that "liberalism" is the symptom, and not the cause of this failure. Liberalism is part of a larger pathology that includes a willful ignorance of the pernicious aspects of other cultures in favor of well-intended tolerance.
Liberals, in my experience, are rarely the type of people who traffic in facts. Their stock in trade is emotionalism-- hence the reactionary embrace of false panaceas such as multiculturalism.

It is this syndrome of Liberalism, in my opinion, that resulted in the immediate reaction in some circles (to September 11th, 2001) of instantaneous and reflexive self-recrimination--what could we have done to cause the Islamists to hate us so much?-- and continues to inspire such ludicrous policies as the ones limiting by law the number of Arabs that can be singled out for searches at airports.

I truly believe that there are a great many among us (usually referred to as "useful fools") who, for reasons including their Liberalism, have refused to wake up; It's far easier for these people to cling to beliefs that Islam is the "religion of peace™", and that in some Derrida-esque manner, that the war between Islamism and the West doesn't really exist except as a minor cultural misunderstanding resulting from our respective "prisms" of perception.

Nothing could be further from true, as has again been demonstrated by the murder of Mr. Van Gogh.
Ours is the only misunderstanding-- that Liberal notions, such as the advantage of multiculturalism over melting-potism, are somehow preferable to real criticism of the ideology that inspires the current situation facing the West-- Islamism.

I don't see how you could construe Dr. Pipes' statement as having meant what you do.

Sincerely,

David Wolf

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