Altruism is the Problem

Submitted by Alan N. (United States), Jul 18, 2006 at 12:45

The only ammendment I can think of to this excellent analysis and summation of the state of affairs between Israel and its enemies is that it is not just a sudden fatigue and hubris in '93, but a long, slow capitulation to bad philosophy. Israel, up to that point, had been increasingly secular. But it was the ascension of Likud and the religious factions and not just the Left, ironically, that have led to the altruistic loss of the sense of moral justification in acting in their own defense and ultimately in the giving up of territory and security, in the vain hope that self-sacrifice would lead to outside goodwill and peace. I think that Israelis bought the notion that they were somehow the aggressor in the ongoing conflicts and no longer the victim.

It is the same in the United States: The ascension of the religious Right and not just the Leftist Nihilist/Peaceniks that has undermined our own self-defense. Just as in Israel, the Altruism of the religious Right has disarmed us. The Left protests War as if any violence is evil, even if in self-defense, and the religious Right is defensive and apologetic and falls over backwards trying to show that they, too, want Peace at (evidently) any cost. They fight according to a rulebook of politically correct "measured" response, avoiding all "collateral damage," anything unseemly, anything un-Christian, or un-Jewish, and back away when they are criticized. The other side is not required to use this rulebook; their religious construct is simpler and far more primitive: They are clearing the world of infidels and they will not stop till they're all dead, or until we wake up and take back the moral high-ground. We have the right to defend ourselves and their initiation of force against us entitles them to nothing but annihilation or surrender. The fine points can be worked out after their ability to wage war has been destroyed and they are ready to rejoin the civilized world.

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