The Globalized Information Age we are living in is experiencing a Crisis of Belief. We are inundated with more information flow then ever - and our collective knowledge is expanding exponentially. While we have more facts at hand than ever before our democracies derive their legitimacy from opinion. Yet to wade through the information junkheap we are more dependant than ever on values to furnish us with the tools to discern right from wrong, and belief to provide us direction.
We are witnessing a Global Conflict between groups that have diametrically opposed belief systems: Western Democracy and Islamic Jihad. The islamofacists seek the destruction or subjugation of the West and the subjugation of their own people - of course! The West has no choice but to destroy the islamofacists - WHATEVER IT TAKES!
The supreme mouthpiece for the islamofacist movement, Ayman al-Zawahri, made a declaration which should illuminate the situation for us all. The islamofacists - al Qaeda, Hizballah, Hamas, et. al. - stand together as the enemies of West. This does not suprise me. What does shock me is that the leaders in the West lack the faith in their own beliefs and values to muster the courage to destroy their enemies.
Reliapundit adds: The faith of many in our own civilization's values has been destroyed by post modernism - a false creed posing as enlightened thought. It began in the aftermath of WW1, and now dominates the Left and through them permeates our culture, dominates our media and the academy. The moral relativism and cultural relativism it propounds makes those who believe in it unable to defend our own value system, and inclines them to support those who oppose ours.
That's why I have been saying for a loing time, "To defeat the jihadist enemy abroad, we need to defeat the Leftists at home." We can defeat the Left at the ballot box - sometimes, but we must also confront and defeat it in everyday discourse by attacking its amorality. Universal human rights and post modernism are essentially incompatible because the former does not allow the latter. And the only way humanity can end things like slavery and genocide EVERYWHERE is by belief in the latter.
As you point out, neither massive amounts of information or our affluence can re-arm us in this battle against islaomfascism. Nor can mere fear about losing our ability to have both. Only a deep and abiding faith in the universality of the sanctity of human life and human rights can can motivate us as we need to be motivated. Our Founders wrote about our inalienable, God-given rights - the rights endowed by our Creator. That's essentially what motivated them to defeat the strongest empire in the world and give birth to the world oldest and best democracy. Lincoln had this faith too - it was the only thing which enabled him to persevere in the face of the horrific losses during the Civil War. We need more. Faster please...
Reliapundit adds: The faith of many in our own civilization's values has been destroyed by post modernism - a false creed posing as enlightened thought. It began in the aftermath of WW1, and now dominates the Left and through them permeates our culture, dominates our media and the academy. The moral relativism and cultural relativism it propounds makes those who believe in it unable to defend our own value system, and inclines them to support those who oppose ours.
That's why I have been saying for a loing time, "To defeat the jihadist enemy abroad, we need to defeat the Leftists at home." We can defeat the Left at the ballot box - sometimes, but we must also confront and defeat it in everyday discourse by attacking its amorality. Universal human rights and post modernism are essentially incompatible because the former does not allow the latter. And the only way humanity can end things like slavery and genocide EVERYWHERE is by belief in the latter.
As you point out, neither massive amounts of information or our affluence can re-arm us in this battle against islaomfascism. Nor can mere fear about losing our ability to have both. Only a deep and abiding faith in the universality of the sanctity of human life and human rights can can motivate us as we need to be motivated. Our Founders wrote about our inalienable, God-given rights - the rights endowed by our Creator. That's essentially what motivated them to defeat the strongest empire in the world and give birth to the world oldest and best democracy. Lincoln had this faith too - it was the only thing which enabled him to persevere in the face of the horrific losses during the Civil War. We need more. Faster please...
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