Show Tolerance, It is Our Best Side

For John, BLUF:  This is a call for tolerance, but with a certain degree of historic misapprehension.  But, the important point is a call for tolerance.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A 9/11 widower refuses to succumb to hate.  Can the country do the same?

From The Boston Globe, by Correspondent Mitchell Zuckoff, 4 September 2021, 4:04 pm.

Here is the lede plus:

The 20th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor came and went with little fanfare.

. . .

Editorial writers reflected on how much had changed — for the better — since the cataclysmic event that launched the United States into World War II.

“[A]s the first shock waves spread over America, it would have been hard for us to believe in the future that is now the present.  It would have been hard for us to believe that those who were our enemies … are now our friends.  But so it is,” The New York Times editorialized on Dec. 7, 1961.

“The old hates are dead,” it continued.  “We gain little by new hates.  On this day of memories there is no value in resentments against whole peoples.”

. . .

Yet something profound had changed over the previous 20 years:  Although Pearl Harbor remained a deep wound in the national psyche, it had been allowed to heal.

What a difference from today, as we approach the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 — day one of a war on terror that would not pause, much less end.

I’ve been living with 9/11 since the day itself, when I wrote the lead story about the attacks for this newspaper with help from numerous colleagues.  Later, for a book, I spent years listening to, and sometimes crying with, hundreds of survivors, victims’ family members, heroic responders, military and government officials, witnesses, and others, many still scarred physically and emotionally.

The theme is in the Headline.  Let us refuse to succumb to hate.  I am in full agreement.  Nothing good will come from hating, including hating the Taliban or other groups in the Middle East or South Asia.  Thank you Reporter Zuckoff and Mr Jack Grandcolas, who lost his Wife and unborn child on Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on 9/11.

There are very real differences between Pearl Harbor and 9/11.  For one thing, we defeated Japan, and Germany and Italy.  Those three nations changed and adopted values such as democracy.  They became our allies.  Nothing like that has happened with the groups of Muslim intent upon spreading their faith across the face of the earth.

When we think about the conflict between aggressive Islam, such as al Qaeda and ISIS, and non-Islamic nations, we should consider that this conflict has been going on for over a thousand years.  That conflict has seen successes for the West, such as 732 (Battle of Tours), 1492 (Expulsion of Moors from Spain) and 1683 (Siege of Vienna).  On the other hand, aggressive Islamic forces, in the early days, swept through Egypt and across the Maghreb.  And, Constantinople fell in 1453, becoming Istanbul.

While some in the West wave the flag of Islamophobia, the fact remains that there is a strain of Islam that would convert the world by the sword.  An example I would think Reporter Zuckoff would be familiar with would be the attack on the offices of the publication Charlie Hebdo.

Does there have to be emnity between the West and Islam?  Absolutely not.  We have good relations with many nations from the Islamic world.  For example, we have good relations with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.♠  On the other hand, we are fighting Islamic groups in a number of areas, from Africa♥ to Asia.  And, at home.

It is a difficult path we have to tread.  We must resist efforts of Islamists to impose Shira Law on the rest of us.  At the same time, we owe it to our fellow Americans, our fellow Westerners, to be open to them as fellow believers in Democracy, regardless of their religious faith.

As for our current imbroglio, withdrawing American Citizens and our friends and supporters from Afghanistan, we are in a pickle.  The Taliban holds the good cards.  We must work with them.  And I would like to think they see an advantage in working with us.  However, if it goes South,♦ then we must be ready to act decisively to save lives.  But, we should do it without hate for our enemy, nor for Americans who share the same faith as those who are our enemy.  Those Americans share a faith in this nation and in their fellow Americans.  As Boston Globe Columnist Jeff Jacoby put it in today's Opinion Piece, "Since 9/11, Americans have embraced their Muslim neighbors", we have good relations in these United States.  We should keep them.

Another thing we need to do, as Americans, is seek the truth and avoid overheated political rhetoric.  I thought Mr Zuckoff's swipe at those who went to our nation's Capitol on 6 January, wrong as they were in their actions, was such an overheated piece of political rhetoric.  The line "That gulf remains deep even after red hatters achieved what the thwarted hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 couldn’t on 9/11: visiting death and destruction on the US capital." left a lot to be desired, especially given that the only deliberate death was of an unarmed protestor by an armed Capitol Police Lieutenant.  He is lucky it wasn't in Kansas.  The line probably looked good at the time, but it flows against the theme.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  In the case of Saudi Arabia the leadership is working to liberalize its approach to government, without allowing extremists on either side to take down the Government, resulting in pushback from Progressive groups in the United States.

♥  For example, we support African nations resisting the predations of Boko Haram, including kidnapping young girls and disrupting schools.

♦  For example, if the Taliban, or some group operating in the shelter of their wing, elects to begin mass executions.