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Revelation - Does that mean Armageddon?Reader comment on item: Back to the Shores of Tripoli? Submitted by Michel C. Zala (Switzerland), Apr 20, 2011 at 10:04 I am not a Biblical scholar like you, but, if I am correct, will not Armageddon precede the return of Jesus? Any objective observer of the world's events at present can not help but come to the conclusion, that we seem to be in the beginning stages of global chaos. If I were some form of extraterrestrial, advanced being, observing us humans, I'd be horrified and advise my people to stay the hell away from this doomed planet. Humans have become a cancer, a virus, rapidly multiplying and devouring this once so wonderful planet. I never subscribed to conspiracy theories, but all these various doomsday predictions, starting with the Bible, Hopis, Mayas, Nostradamus etc. begin in my mind at least to make sense. Even I feel strangely compelled to nowadays read up on spiritual material and can therefore very much emphatize with people looking for solace in faith. I am however not quite there yet, as I feel first and foremost anger. Not by a longshot would the current challenges have to be considered as insurmountable, as it definitely is in our hands to change a sadly very predictable outcome. 200 years ago, our forefathers were faced with comparably much more severe circumstances and challenges, and they mastered them with honor. A George Washington could have easily been crowned King, as so many wanted to do so, but he gracefully parted with power and status and thus allowed for democracy to set roots. It would have been so easy for Abraham Lincoln to take the appeasement route and avoid butchery of unheard of scale. But he faced the challenge of history, aging ten years for every year of the civil war in the process. Kennedy stared down Chruschtchov, literally seconds away from nuclear disaster. And Reagan brought the evil empire, responsible for millions of deaths, to its knees, all the while restoring America's self esteem, self confidence and morale. We may disagree on the merits and responsibilities of the last administrations, but I am certain that you will agree that the challenges they faced in comparison to the aforementioned true leaders, were most definitely doable missions. Why they all since Reagan must be considered as failures, some of them weak, some of them moral failures, some opportunists, some idealists, but none of them a true leader, is astounding and must also be understood in the greater societal context. Keywords here are: erosion of our civil liberties and rights from within (abusers, Media, press, WikiLeaks, reverse discrimination, ACLU and overall entitlement mentality), Multimedia and consumption addiction, secularism which went overboard, multiculturalism, lack of assimilation and integration pressure, making America a patchwork of ghettos of various subcultures, and finally the forming of a political elite, mainly in DC, which is utterly disconnected from the American mainstreet - something which is confirmed almost daily by opinion polls, which nowadays are oftentimes even split into the political class and mainstreet, and where the political class almost always has a different opinion from immigration to economics, from foreign to domestic poilicy. What is expecially appaling to me, is the power of the media since the 1960s. Few Americans know, that the US was actually winning the war in Vietnam. Most still think that during this war, American soldiers behaved as depicted by one of the greatest traitors in history, John Kerry, who declared before Congress, that US soldiers were mass murderers, cut off ears and limbs and My Lai was not an isolated occurrence (like Abu Graibh), but the norm. While Jane Fonda (Hanoi Jane) and Kerry were applauded by the press, got coverage and exposure, several hundred POWs had to survive 2 more years of the most inhuman torture in the Hanoi Hilton. John McCain, one of the most honorable men amongst them, never yielding, never breaking and taking part in the North Vietnamese propaganda, up to this day can not lift his arms right and actually during the election was ridiculed for it by the likes of John Steward. A left slanted, liberal media was able to mute out those many Vets and POWs, who tried later to set the record straight and denounce Kerry's allegations (google stolen honor), while Michael Moorer's movies got the best PR. because of it, since 1960, every single war movie, starting with Apocalypse Now to Full Metal jacket depicts the Vietnam war as a dirty war, where our Vets behaved dishonorably and like a bunch of crazed, drugged sociopaths. When those Vets actually managed to get heard, the liberal media, starting with the NY Times depicted their ads and testimonies as "Swiftboating", smearing an honorable man, whereas it was Kerry who lied shamlelessly to promote his personal political agenda, while it was Kerry, whose medals are in fact questionable, as his entire chain of command up to his 3Star General were against him receiving any honors. Most deplorable of all, Kerry up to this day is a "respected" Senator, while nobody even speaks of the heros of the likes of Colonel Day, rotting in Hanoi, while he successfully undermined the war effort at home and even met with Hanoi officials in Geneva. And yes... it was the bad bad President Nixon, who bombed North Vietnam into releasing the POWs, something else, rarely anyone knows, let alone acknowledges. Hanoi JAne went on to a successful carriere as actor, Kerry to the Senat and our heros have been besmearched up to this day. At this time, I extend a heartfelt salute to the Vietnam Vets and POWs and would like to thank you for your service and return with honor. What has been done to you for 40 years now is a disgrace. That was the power of the media in the 70s, and that power has grown tremendously up to this day. That is why the American people are not to blame, as they do not have time to research the news but trust their local paper and news channels. But decades of leftist slanted news coverage, in the meantime encompassing even CNN, ABC and CBS, let alone PBS, NBC or the >Obama propaganda channel, MSNBC - with nothing but one network, FNC, creating some form of balance. The same trend is clearly recognizeable in Europe. From the very first gulf war to today, American engagements and interventions are depicted as unilateral, unwarranted and imperialistic, whereas they remain silent, when China or Russia projects power. (Georgia). While I understand the trend in the media, as the current generation of journalists are college graduates and all universities are always much more liberal and socialistic, than the mainstream, I nevertheless fault the media for the generally flawed understanding of history. As with the Vietnam War, there will be a time, when objective assessments by pragmatic and scientific historians, will redeem President Bush. He did the right thing (eliminating Saddam, a mass murderer responsible for more than 600000 deaths) for the wrong reasons (hindsight is 20/20, WDM could not be found). In my book a coalition of 48 nations of the willing is at least as legitimate as any engagement undersigned by a corrupt UN Security Council, comprised of oppressive regimes with veto power. Common sense again - how can we possibly ask or respect any political position on the issue of Libya by the likes of Russia or China? How can America dare to bow to the will of oligarchies and highly repressive dictatorships? That is sacrificing our entire sets of morale and values on the altar of political correctness. That is Obama. With a flick of his finger he could singlehandedly remove Gaddafi within a few weeks, but Hungary 56, Thechoslovakia 70s, Tianmen, Georgia repeats itself again and again. People die, while our president reviews polling results. The state of the affairs is best reflected in the Nobel Peace Award for Obama, where promises, speeches and image is being rewarded, before any tangible results or action. Common sense? I wish, I could widthdraw into my faith. Let it happen and find solace in the WORD. But I am angry, disgusted, appalled. 200 years ago we are able to stand up and decide the course of history ourselves. Blood and tears and determination plus faith. Faith in our abilities, our will to prevail, our GOD, our nation and its exceptional nature. Never give up. Never surrender. Never stop trying. Libya is symbolic for the exact opposite. We stopped trying, we gave up and we surrendered. We have become onlookers, watching a rape in a NY subway without even trying to step in. Who wins American Idol is more important, than the dying in Misrata. And our leader? More important to announce that he will be running for a second term and that he roots for the Chicago Bulls. What has happened to us, that we are more interested in some royal wedding, than saving lives in Libya? What is wrong with us, that we celebrate and respect Kerry, while we forgot about the true heroes he betrayed? It was the America of Reagan I loved, admired, which inspired me. It is the America of Obama, MSNBC and the ACLU which stripped me of most of my optimism. Wasn't it GOD who said: Help yourself, and I will help you? I fear that we are beyond help. Submitting....
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". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (106) on this item
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