Through the Looking Glass

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?

Alice in Alice in Wonderland

As I look back at 2006, I sometimes get the feeling that many people have walked through the looking glass – that a form a madness has overcome a significant percentage of our population and that what we see and believe has relatively little correspondence to what is real.

In an earlier post, I lamented a lack of critical thinking on all sides of the political spectrum. But the “through the looking glass” syndrome is more than just a lack of critical thinking. Rather, it's a mass delusion – a belief system based on illusion, a world view based on fantasy.

In 2006, we saw this country continue its profligate energy consumption with the Bush administration doing nothing to promote serious conservation or alternative energy sources. That’s the same administration that is rightly concerned about nation security and the threat of Islamofascists but does nothing to rectify our indirect funding of these same Islamofascists via our consumption of ME oil. Through the looking glass.

In 2006, millions stood in long security lines at airports, where TSA representatives confiscated lip gloss and tooth paste from gray-headed grandmothers. When targeted profiling was suggested as an alternative, it was dismissed as unamerican. Better to inconvenience millions than to inconvenience only a few. Through the looking glass.

In 2006, we saw the leader of Iran repeatedly and unequivocally propose the annihilation of another country and its people, and then heard from “realists” like James Baker who suggest that it would be a good idea to negotiate with this man. Through the looking glass.

In 2006 we heard a newly elected Moslem Congressman,Keith Ellision, suggest to a Dearborn Michigan crowd:

Muslims, you’re up to bat right now ... How do you know that you were not brought right here to this place to learn how to make this world better? How do you know that Allah, sallalahu aleyhi wasallam,” (meaning peace be upon him) did not bring you here so that you could understand how to teach people what tolerance was, what justice was?... How do you know that you’re not here to teach this country?

Tolerance? Brought to you by the same people who deny free speech on virtually any topic that “offends” them. Justice? Brought to you by the same people who condemn to death those that leave Islam and convert to another religion. Through the looking glass.

In 2006, we saw Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch quickly condemn Israel for “war crimes” during the Lebanon War, only to learn that detailed after-action reports indicate that the claims were based on utter fabrications. Hezballah propaganda is immediately believable by AI and HRW, even though the Islamofascists are demonstrated liars and propagandists. Through the looking glass.

In 2006, we saw universities across the land espouse their role as a “marketplace of ideas.” Yet, when ideas that Left-leaning faculty and students disagree with are offered, they shut them down (sometimes violently). Through the looking glass.

In 2006, we saw the Kofi Annan of the UN lecture the USA of human rights and tolerance and then do nothing to stop massive human rights abuses across Moslem countries in North Africa and the Arab crescent. Through the looking glass.

In 2006, we heard the MSM repeatedly characterize CAIR as a "moderate Islamic civil rights group.” That’s the same CAIR whose senior directors and employees have been indicted and convicted of terrorist financing, connections to Hamas, bank fraud, support for terrorist training in Pakistan … the list is very long. Through the looking glass.

A wise man once said that everyone has their own truth, and I suppose everyone has their own reality. But far too many of us have walked through the looking glass, and I worry that those that have many never find their way back. They will, in 2007 and beyond, continue to live with their illusions and as a consequence, never see the threats we really do face until they are too close and too big to counter.

From the far side of the looking glass, all problems are caused by the USA and its imperialistic, hegemonic foreign policy. Wars must be bloodless when they are fought, or better, war should never be fought at all, regardless of the threat. We should be more concerned about the Patriot Act than the terrorist acts it is intended to uncover. We should inconvenience millions with ineffective and unnecessary security measures, and condemn well-targeted profiling out of hand. Very bad people can always be reasoned out of their evil intent. Islamic rage would disappear if only Israel ceased to exist. Islam itself is the religion of peace, sullied only by a small group of malcontents.

And so, those of us on both sides of the looking glass move into 2007. Happy New Year.