By David Harsanyi
Tuesday, June 06, 2017
The day after Islamic terrorists struck England for the
second time in a month, New York Times
columnist Paul Krugman offered the prevailing liberal talking point of the day.
Stop panicking. “I’m going to London later this week,” he mocked on Twitter,
“OMG! I might be stabbed! Or I might get hit by a drunk driver tonight, or run
over by a cab tomorrow.”
He might. And if he did, although tragic and sad, it
would have little effect on the population of England, for a good reason. We
are resigned to a certain level of random criminality and misfortune in Western
society. In free societies, we do our best to mitigate the damage without
trampling on civil rights, but it’s part of modern life.
Certainly, for the victims of violence—their friends and
family, as well—there’s little difference. The consequences for the rest of
society, though, can vastly differ. If an unarmed man were shot down by a
police officer, would Krugman tell his three million followers: “Relax, you
have a better chance of being run over by a taxi?” Of course not. Terrorism is
about more than just risk assessment. There are broader societal implications
to take into account.
Those who kill in the name of Islam are part of a unique worldwide
political movement that includes, to various degrees, radicalized men and women
from both great factions of the faith. They are on every continent, and they
give no quarter. There is no dialoguing. There is no realistic political
solution that might appease them. There is no legislative fix. Terrorism—as
well as the recruitment and propaganda tools by which they survive—is funded by
Islamic regimes and the radicals in them, and applauded by adherents around the
world. Every attack is about all of this.
Remember, as well, the magnitude of the violence is
alleviated only by the vigilance of the people fighting it. Comprehending the
depravity of the jihadist makes people nervous in the way random criminal
violence should not. Those who peddle Krugmanesque risk assessments also fail
to take into consideration the number of terror plots that have been thwarted.
The West spends hundreds of billions of dollars every year trying to avert
another 9/11, although we obviously struggle to stop these low-tech attacks.
The Mi5 reportedly have “500 current terrorism investigations, involving 3,000
current subjects of interest.” One of the London Bridge terrorists appeared in
a documentary called “The Jihadi Next Door.” This seems alarming.
Krugman went on to tweet: “I mean, seriously. Terrorism =
bad. But panicking about this stuff — or worse, inciting panic — is
unforgivable. Especially for POTUS.” So, wait, terrorism is merely “bad,” but
“panicking “is unforgivable?” (Juxtapose this comment with the hysterical
reaction to the United States’s exit from the toothless Paris Agreement.)
I’m not sure the president was “inciting panic,” but
let’s concede his tweets were foolish. No one is panicking now. No one has
panicked in the past. By “panic,” liberals typically mean you’ve failed to
discuss Islamic radicalism within the politically correct strictures they’ve
prescribed. “That’s exactly what the terrorists want!” goes the platitude.
Don’t get too mad. Don’t be too blunt, or you might create new terrorists.
Definitely don’t overreact.
Shouldn’t we, and the Brits, and everyone else, react to
terror in the most appropriate way, rather than contemplating how jihadists
want, or don’t want, us to react? After all, this wouldn’t be the first time we
fought in a war others had decided to start.
Perhaps the only worse thing than overreacting is
under-reacting. It seems to me that one of the underlying reasons folks
conflate terror and criminality is political. To admit that the Islamic world
has a singular struggle with extremism, violence, and illiberalism is a
unwelcome intrusion into debates regarding immigration and multiculturalism,
especially in Europe.
In the United States, it’s a bit different: Let’s not
overreact because we also have an
extremist problem. We also hate. We’re also violent. Every time some deranged
(genuine) lone wolf kills, the usual voices demand to know why we haven’t
treated the attack as we would an Islamic strike. Well, after the murderous
Portland train attacker is subdued, there is no terror cell to dismantle, no
funding to root out, and no worldwide death cult to liberalize. It doesn’t
diminish the odiousness of the crime, but it necessitates a different response.
Needless to say, while it would be tragic if a Nobel Laureate
were accidentally run down by a lorry driver, girls who are blown up attending
an Ariana Grande concert — or, for that matter, people who are forced to choose
between jumping off a Twin Tower or burning in it — are victims in a war that
pits liberalism against despotism. No, it’s not World War II, but it’s
dangerous enough. Treating its casualties as we would those who die in
accidents will only normalize it.
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