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As profoundly disturbing as the anti-Muslim sentiment has been in the wake of the terror attacks on the U.S., the sheer number of voices who have spoken out against this racism has been very heartening, and shows a greater intolerance for intolerance than I can ever remember. But besides the anti-Muslim sentiment, another negative tide has been rising that has not met with an equal counter. I'm talking about anti-Americanism. You see it everywhere lately. The jaundiced glee in the eyes of some people, who seem to be experiencing the same amusement we felt as kids when the teacher's pet got a comeuppance. Walking around with a smirk as they view the tidal wave of sentiment… clucking their tongues at the outpouring of outrage and grief. On TV, these self-appointed members of the intelligentsia dress up their prejudice and bias as lofty, principled and evenhanded commentary. They'll claim they're just being objective. These critics may even seem well-intentioned…but, like a nice pair of legs, they eventually make an ass of themselves.
Funny isn't it, how these alleged iconoclasts paint themselves as independent thinkers, but they all say exactly the same things, like a Greek chorus of morons. They pay lip service to the dead, then point out that the U.S has killed civilians abroad in military action. That U.S. foreign policy has resulted in some levels of misery in other countries. That America can sometime seem arrogant in it's flexing of military might. Okay, fine. So what's your point? That the U.S. somehow deserves what happened to it? That this is an example of, as Malcolm X called it, "the chickens coming home to roost?" It's ironic that so many of these pseudo- intelligentsia accuse the U.S. of doublespeak, when they employ the exact same tactic. These 'progressive thinkers' seem to view the loss of innocent life allegedly caused by American forces as a tragedy, and the death of innocent Americans as the inevitable price of U.S. actions abroad. But how can you view the loss of civilians in one country as a tragedy, and the loss of civilians in another as karma - if your concern is truly for the suffering of innocents? Innocence has no nationality. Or do they think that all Americans bear some responsibility for the actions of their government, but ordinary Iraqis or Afghanis, for example, bear no similar responsibility for actions taken in their name? Or that Americans, by virtue of their wealth, are less innocent than the impoverished masses in foreign countries? Either way you look at it, the truth becomes apparent - to these people, compassion is something we only accord to other, poorer nations…which is in itself a sickeningly patronizing western attitude. And that's even further irony - these critics who say the U.S. has an American-centric view of the world share the same blinders. Do they think the U.S. is the only country that has projected force or influence in other countries? Of course it isn't, but it's somehow viewed as the only country which deserves to pay for it with innocent lives. India and Pakistan have had ongoing tensions, there's been fraternal bloodshed between African nations, and the Russians, the Chinese and the Cubans all meddle in the affairs of other nations.…do these countries then deserve to have airplanes slammed into their urban centers? Of course not. But somehow, to these 'objective voices', the U.S. is the only country not worthy of our sympathy. And it strikes me as strange that, only now as the U.S. is poised to roust bin Laden militarily, these bearded Birkenstock brigades profess all manner of concern for innocent Afghani civilians. But where the hell were these reedy do-gooders over the last couple of years while the Taliban slaughtered it's own people and committed repeated acts of capital murder? Until the deaths come at U.S. hands, these part-time peaceniks don't care. So tell me again their concern is for innocent lives, and not building anti-American sentiment. No, what we are hearing clothed as objective commentary is just naked anti- Americanism. Wake up and smell the carnage! It's time to put aside your bias and recognize that it wasn't an institution or abstract concept of a nation that was killed, it was real people. Or as Rabbi Marc Gellman put it, "the searing death of one person, 6,000 times". And there is still some level of danger that more attacks could strike us here, even in Canada. And believe me, the bomb won't care of you're sympathetic to the plight of the suffering when it detonates. This is our battle as much as America's. And so far, I'm proud of America's restraint and methods in fighting it. We have the right to express our concerns and address the nature of our support, but we have no choice but to offer that support, and wholeheartedly. And during this immediate period of mourning, trotting out anti-American diatribes to lessen the degree of the tragedy is like going to a funeral and heckling the pallbearers. Of course, there will still be smarmy loudmouths walking around clucking their tongues… and to you I say - go cluck yourself.
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