OT: Food for Thoughts 4

["Kevin Mulvihill" <kmulvihill@mediaone.net>]

"TODAY: I have been unable to think of anything substantive to write today.
It is almost as if the usual conventions of journalism and analysis should
somehow remain mute in the face of such an event. How can one analyze what
one hasn't even begun to absorb? Numbness is part of the intent of these
demons, I suppose. So here are some tentative reflections. It feels -
finally - as if a new era has begun. The strange interlude of 1989 - 2001,
with its decadent post-Cold War extravaganzas from Lewinsky to Condit to 
the
e-boom, is now suddenly washed away. We are reminded that history obviously
hasn't ended; that freedom is never secure; that previous generations 
aren't
the only ones to be called to defend the rare way of life that this country
and a handful of others have achieved for a small fraction of world 
history.
The boom is done with. Peace is over. The new war against the frenzied
forces of what Nietzsche called ressentiment is just beginning. The one
silver lining of this is that we may perhaps be shaken out of our
self-indulgent preoccupations and be reminded of what really matters: our
freedom, our security, our integrity as a democratic society. This means we
must be vigilant not to let our civil liberties collapse under the
understandable desire for action. To surrender to that temptation is part 
of
what these killers want. And the other small sliver of consolation is that
the constant American temptation to withdraw from the world, entertained
these past few years by many, will perhaps now be stifled. We cannot
withdraw; we cannot ignore. We live in a world where technology and hatred
accelerate in ever-faster cycles, and in which isolation is not an option.
Evil is still here. It begets evil. When you look at the delighted faces of
Palestinians cheering in the streets, we have to realize that there are
cultures on this planet of such depravity that understanding them is never
fully possible. And empathy for them at such a moment is obscene. But we 
can
observe and remember. There is always a tension between civilization and
barbarism, and the barbarians are now here. The task in front of us to
somehow stay civilized while not shrinking from the face of extinguishing -
by sheer force if necessary - the forces that would eclipse us."

Andrew Sullivan (www.andrewsullivan.com)
- 9/11/2001 09:46:06 PM