Echoes – Growing Louder

It’s a small story – one that was mentioned only briefly in a few MSM outlets and ultimately drowned out by the now infamous Cheney Hunting Accident. And yet, it is worthy of comment.

Over a month ago, a young Jewish man, Ilan Halimi, was kidnapped in Paris by a terrorist gang of French Moslems, calling themselves “the barbarians.” From YNet:

For three weeks, the "Barbarians" detained and tortured Ilan Halimi. When he was found on February 13, he was naked, handcuffed after being dumped near railway tracks in a Parisian suburb. He suffered from severe burns covering 80 percent of his body. Traces of cigarette burns, iron burns, and various cuts (made by knives and scissors) covered his body. He passed away in an ambulance before reaching the hospital.

Police arrested about a dozen suspects so far. The gang leader's was finally arrested in the Ivory Coast where he went into hiding two days after Ilan's death. The "baits" used to trap Ilan, three women, are also among the suspects.

However, there must have been many witnesses to the crime, which spread over weeks. The shrieks and screams brought on by torture must have been heard by some of those living in the building where the horrific scenes were taking place. Yet not one soul, not even one anonymous caller, alerted the police in the suburb of Bagneux.

Not one resident of the Moslem neighborhood in which Halimi was tortured for 20 days and then murdered knew of this atrocity, no one helped, no one called police? No surprise, but echos of a time past in another European country.

Not a single voice from the Left condemned the torture and murder of an innocent young Jew. Yes, I understand it’s an “isolated case,” but since the “horrific” treatment of Moslem prisoners at Abu Graib prison caused such consternation, you’d think this significantly more horrific event might warrant a comment. It didn’t. No surprise, but echoes of a time past when the Left chose appeasement and silence in the presence of true evil.

In my last post, I discussed suicidalism -- an ideology that argues that good and evil are relative and debatable. Those who are perceived to be “victimized” get a pass when they commit evil acts. It’s a convenient mindset for the Angry Left, because it allows them to look the other way when their “victims” act like true barbarians.

Wretchard of the The Belmont Club comments:

Notions of good and evil, now derided as hopelessly old-fashioned, were the old bulwarks of mental sanitation. They permitted the public to possess a sense of outrage, a reflexive fear of things that call softly and menacingly out of dark places. They could bring out the village with torches and pitchforks against the Forces of Darkness.

Good and evil was later identified through the mechanism of free speech. But until recently the existence of right and wrong itself was unquestioned. Debate had closure; there were goals worth striving for; causes worth fighting for; and beauties worth dreaming of. Today the sense of right and it's inseparable companion Free Speech stand on the edge of illegitimacy. The light is about to go out from want of air: Ilan Halimi -- and other canaries -- have expired in the coal mine.

And so, the echoes grow louder.