The Internet Monk 

"the power of opinion, the phenomenon of speech, the impact of truth"

A Webjournal edited by Michael Spencer

The End of Innocence

by Michael Spencer

"But this is the end...
            This is the end of the innocence"        

I doubt if any semi-intelligent social observer would ever get away with calling our nation innocent. With drive-by shootings, explicit rap lyrics, teen pregnancy, Columbine, Monicagate, sex education, internet pornography, divorce, Marilyn Manson, Oklahoma City, R-rated movies and the rest of our cultural decline in constant rotation, America hardly seems to qualify as innocent. Yet, in ways that have suddenly become important, our country is awakening from a long innocent dream to a stark and frightening nightmare.

Americans have not had a war come to their own soil since the Civil War. That experience defined not only the generation that experienced battle and loss, but the consciousness of the nation right up till the present. The bombing in Oklahoma City was the first disturbance of the national nap, but it soon became apparent that the nation was not under attack, but that a particularly audacious malcontent had vented his personal hatred of the country on a building of innocents. Though the media looked to make the militia movement as a potential enemy, it was impossible to take such speculations seriously.

This is different. We have people who hate us. They are capable, dedicated, well-funded (would our Saudi friends like to get anything off their chest?) and bold. While they have gathered strength attacking our embassies and military outside of this country, there is now no doubt that they intend to bring the battle directly to America, and to violate our imagined invincibility. They have been successful, and I expect we are a long way from seeing the last of it. It may be a truck bomb, crop dusters, more planes, biological agents or nuclear weapon, but the enemies of our nation have decided to bring the battle to us.

At first glance this seems absurd, but it is actually quite brilliant. I have coached chess for a few years, and, in general I would never recommend a bold attack into enemy territory. The circumstances where such an attack might be worthwhile are rare, but also quite simple: if your opponent has abdicated his defenses against such a bold attack, then strike quickly and with lethal force. While your opponent will surely respond, the loss of material and morale has tilted the game decidedly in your favor. To suddenly and mercilessly take the queen is usually to win the game, and at the least, it stuns your opponent into a chaotic and unplanned defensive game. Bad move follows bad move, despair and anger take over, checkmate is unavoidable.

Bin Laden and company have made such a strike, and followed it up with touches of bioterrorism designed to play upon the increasing fears of a nation robbed of its innocence and security. America is not prepared for a war of terror on its own soil. Liberal policies have gutted America's sense of prudent defense against internal threats. We have simply been put to sleep by the lullabies of those who refused to consider the disastrous results of letting down our defenses against the unthinkable on our own shores. Now, suddenly shaken awake by these events, our groggy nation is stumbling about, unsure of what to do next. Our opponent may be rash and unstable, but he has us worried and fearful. This is not good.

What we must do is clear, but the political voices willing to say what must now be done are not going to be heard easily. We are attempting to hold on to the image of our innocence. It is a counter-productive fantasy. The innocence of this nation is over. We need leaders to tell us the truth. And it will sound something like this:

Afghanistan must be occupied, and a stable, pro-Western government installed. Saddam Hussein must be killed, and his opponents empowered with our help. Iran and Syria should shut up and get in line. The Saudi's- I don't even want to think about it. In short, these pro-terrorist states need to be our sandbox, and we need to kick all the bad boys out.

The debate on racial profiling is over. If you are middle eastern or look like it, you are probably going to be asked to step out of the line. Be cheerful, because if it's your country too, then it's for your own good. If it's not your country, smile because you are our guest, and we can be nice or not. It's your choice.

If you are in this country illegally, or on an expired visa, or on a student visa, work permit or other temporary residence, you better get out or have your act very together, because some people are going to leave and why not you?

Flying is not going to be easy. We need to check every marginally suspect person down to the embarrassing parts, arm the pilots, give stun guns to the attendants, security check the airport staff and search every bag going on and off a plane. Or something like that. If you can't deal with that, go to a country without planes or stay home. This is a big deal, and its permanent not temporary.

Every flight needs to be accompanied by several people with weapons who really want to shoot bad people and don't mind doing so on a moment's notice. (And the airlines need to pay for this, not the government, so the price is going up.)

If you intend to drive a truck on the streets of America, you need to be a demonstrably sane person without any intentions of blowing something up. So I think some more serious licensing and monitoring are going to go on.

If you run a flight school, you have a new friend at the FBI. If you have a crop duster, turn in the keys.

Since we have never really considered what bio-terrorism is all about, it is no surprise we aren't ready for it. We are going to have to talk to the kids, talk to the people who handle mail and talk to the general public so they will know the difference between salt and anthrax.

We need some vaccinations and some antidotes. A lot of them.

We need to tell people that its time to call the police when the neighbors are up to something suspicious. If that upsets anyone, sorry, but if the pizza guy sees something that looks like a bomb, he needs to know it's important for him to forget the tip and call the police. If it turns out to be the water heater, all is forgiven. If it turns out to be a nuclear weapon, then we'll all be glad, I'm sure.

Now this is important: Our children and young people need to be told, over and over, about the very bad, evil people who want to hurt them. We have told our kids that everything is OK, and that is a lie. Everything is not OK. Every culture is not equally good. In fact, some cultures ought to treated like a rabid dog. People who hate us, who hate Wal-Mart, Disney, cable tv, Wall Street, your house, your dog, your little brother and our nation- these people are trying to do terrible things to us. They must be stopped. Many of them must be killed, and that is the right thing to do when really bad people are trying to kill innocent people just out of hatred and jealousy. Our children need to be told that our country is great and good, that the people in police and fire and military uniforms are heroes, and they should grow up and become heroes by wearing a uniform or protecting us from bad people. Kids, our country is worth all this trouble, and anyone who questions should be pitied or egged.

I realize a number of liberals are quite sweaty at that last paragraph, but this is where we are. Our innocence is over, and if we try to protect our children or the flying public or the nation in general, we are going to see the beginning of a new dark ages. If you don't believe me, take a course in world history and note the following- all the civilizations before us, at some point, fell apart and someone else took over. It can happen to us. Ask the Romans.

Michael@internetmonk.com                                                                             Post a Comment