MARILYN PENN: 9/11 DIMINISHING THE LESSON
http://politicalmavens.com/
In schools, in politics and in the media, we are whitewashing the events of 9/11 by ignoring their connection to the ideology of Islamic Jihad. This can only backfire as we raise a younger generation that will have no memory of what we lived through and little comprehension of the forces we are up against. There is no point in urging people to be ever vigilant while you cloak what they need to be vigilant about in the dangerous deceptions of political correctness.
For a brief moment after 9/11, America, jolted by the shock of the assault, seemed to suddenly reclaim the values that had previously sparked its greatness. Our celebrity-infested media discarded its usual triviality in deference to the heroic valor of men in uniform. Firemen and policemen were restored to a place of honor in our society when all New Yorkers showered them with boundless gratitude and appropriate awe, while the rest of the nation joined in solidarity. There seemed to be hope for a significant culture change for the better, with a citizenry reminded of the challenges of war and the incredible regard for bravery in action.
Ten years later, we have discarded some of the most important lessons learned. At the memorial ceremony on Sept. 11th, the men in uniform will not be represented, nor will the clergy be invited. Our mayor has decided that there is not enough room at the inn for either, using different reasons for each exclusion. For the first, he claims that the physical space is too small to accommodate the families of the victims along with the firemen and police. Though there would have certainly been room for representatives of both, this is a different mayor than the one who led us through those difficult times with backbone and principle. As for clergy, the same mayor who spoke out forcefully about the need for a ground zero mosque in order to show respect for America’s freedom of religion now considers that inviting religious leaders would be a violation of the separation of church and state. Contradiction is a familiar trait of Mr. Bloomberg who first ran for office stressing the importance of term limits then got re-elected after strong-arming the City Council to reverse that law.
Our sense of the enemy has changed in ten short years. At first, they were simply Al Qaeda sponsored terrorists, but gradually scholars and political analysts acknowledged that there was a movement of Islamic Jihad that was sponsored by many Muslim countries and communities in Europe and throughout the world. We saw evidence of this in continuing violence and growing demands – killings of scores of individuals and ongoing massacres of entire African villages. For this tenth anniversary we have directives from the White House urging that at federal commemorations of 9/11, nationalistic pride (patriotism) be downplayed in favor of recognizing the international victims of terrorists. Imagine extending Veterans Day to honor the fallen of other nations in addition to our own. In a Nickelodeon t.v. program about 9/11 created for young teens by Linda Ellerbee, it took at least ten minutes before the word terrorists was amplified with a geographic indicator that these acts were all perpetrated by men from the middle east. Ms. Ellerbee was careful to use the word Arab instead of Muslim so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of liberals and those who accuse us of Islamophobia. Clearly this was filmed a few months back as a Muslim professor reminded the audience of how peaceful the young people of Tahrir Square were and how the Arab Spring demonstrates that Islam is a religion of peace. Fast forwarding to now, we see how naive those baseless projections were and how quickly spring has turned into darkest winter in Egypt, Syria and Libya.
Perhaps most disappointing among the myriad written reminiscences of the day is that of Elie Wiesel, a universally accepted voice of conscience: First, I remember, that day separated humanity into two categories: the terrorists and their sympathizers on the one hand, and their enemies on the other. That the suicide killers were Muslim created an atmosphere hostile to Islam – wrongly; it is always unfair to generalize.” (The Jewish Week, 9/9/11) How incredible that the premier spokesman for survivors of the holoccaust should worry first about generating bad vibes towards Islam. If there was a stigma, it didn’t come gratuitously nor out of generalities. It came because of actions that were performed by Muslims from Saudi Arabia in the name of Allah, cheered on by many Muslims in this country and throughout the world. To dispel that stigma, there should have been loud countervoices from the emirs, mullahs and local politicians. Instead, there was a litany of excuses blaming Muslim terror on the bond between American and Israel, her only ally in the middle east. There was a time when Wiesel warned President Reagan not to tarnish his and our country’s reputation by going to Bitburg and honoring the graves of Nazi soldiers with his presence. In 2011, his moral concerns center first not on the agony of the victims but on how we might have misjudged the enemy’s religion.
In schools, in politics and in the media, we are whitewashing the events of 9/11 by ignoring their connection to the ideology of Islamic Jihad. This can only backfire as we raise a younger generation that will have no memory of what we lived through and little comprehension of the forces we are up against. There is no point in urging people to be ever vigilant while you cloak what they need to be vigilant about in the dangerous deceptions of political correctness.
Comments are closed.
