History Repeats Itself
Victor David Hanson notes that the world is partying like it is 1938:When I used to read about the 1930s — the Italian invasion of Abyssinia,
the rise of fascism in Italy, Spain, and Germany, the appeasement in France and
Britain, the murderous duplicity of the Soviet Union, and the racist Japanese
murdering in China — I never could quite figure out why, during those bleak
years, Western Europeans and those in the United States did not speak out and
condemn the growing madness, if only to defend the millennia-long promise of
Western liberalism.
It is still surreal to reread the fantasies of Chamberlain, Daladier, and
Pope Pius, or the stump speeches by Charles Lindbergh (“Their [the Jews’]
greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in
our motion pictures, our press, our radio, and our government”) or Father
Coughlin (“Many people are beginning to wonder whom they should fear most — the
Roosevelt-Churchill combination or the Hitler-Mussolini combination.”) — and
baffling to consider that such men ever had any influence.
Not any longer.
Our present generation too is on the brink of moral insanity. That has
never been more evident than in the last three weeks, as the West has proven
utterly unable to distinguish between an attacked democracy that seeks to strike
back at terrorist combatants, and terrorist aggressors who seek to kill
civilians.
Finally:
Yes, perhaps Israel should have hit more quickly, harder, and on the ground;Commentary:
yes, it has run an inept public relations campaign; yes, to these criticisms and
more. But what is lost sight of is the central moral issue of our times: a
humane democracy mired in an asymmetrical war is trying to protect itself
against terrorists from the 7th century, while under the scrutiny of a corrupt
world that needs oil, is largely anti-Semitic and deathly afraid of Islamic
terrorists, and finds psychic enjoyment in seeing successful Western societies
under duress.
In short, if we wish to learn what was going on in Europe
in 1938, just look around.
Father Coughlin's quote above is particulary resonant today, as the world questions the Bush-Blair axis as much or more than they question the Iran-Syria-Hamas-Hezbollah axis. The world can only be upside-down for so long before it starts to crumble. Down is not truly up, although we can convince ourselves of it for a while.
However, we have an able ally in Israel - perhaps they can deal a decisive blow to Hezbollah in spite of world opinion. If they can pull that off, they will immeasurably help our war on terror. Perhaps Bush has some tricks up his sleeve, and maybe he can defuse WW3 or 4, depending on your viewpoint. The greatest thing about realizing that this time in world history is akin to 1938 is that we still have time to do something about it.
posted by JM @ 3:20 PM
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