I was away from the internet most of the weekend while we refinished the livingroom floor. But I managed to read a few pages of Lee Harris' book Civilization and its Enemies: the Next Stage of History. It's fascinating. He discusses how Western societies have forgotten that there is such a thing as an "enemy". We value tolerance and cajole children from the cradle not to be "haters". In other words, we choose not to view others as enemies. We choose not to solve our problems with violence. That's all well and good. We can exercise control over our own opinions and actions.
But this near religious belief in tolerance neglects the other side of the equations. We often have no control over how others view us our act towards us. As Harris puts it: "We are the enemy of those who murdered us on 9/11. And if you are the enemy, then you have an enemy. When you recognize it, this fact must change everything about the way you see the world."
This is the problem with the "NO WAR" crowd. They assume everything will be fine if we just choose not to fight. I suppose that would be true if EVERYONE chose non-violent conflict resolution. But to state the blindly obvious "...if your enemy insists on a war to the finish, then you have no choice but to fight such a war. It is the enemy, and not you, who decides what is a matter of life and death."
It's a puzzle, because the values that make ours a largely peaceful and prosperous society are the opposite of the values needed to defend such a society. Definitely more on Harris' book later.
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