From Gates of Vienna:
Sometime late last night Redneck Texan dropped by yesterday’s post about the frightened people of Charlotte County. He left a very cogent comment, part of which is excerpted below:
The American spirit that our ancestors harnessed to conquer this continent lies somewhat dormant today, especially in certain regions of America. Our ancestors woke up in a world every morning where there were other groups of humans in the woods with a uncompromising violent warrior ideology looking to butcher our families. In an environment like that you couldn’t afford to let political correctness dictate your responses. You couldn’t wait for the authorities to come protect you. You had to be willing to take responsibility for your family’s survival into your own hands, and if that meant you had to use your technological and tactical superiority in a preemptive use of locally organized violence, local law enforcement would understand. But the further the threat was pushed away from the backyards of the northeast political elite the easier it was for them to legislate a conscience.
Nowadays, at least until the next major attack on our shores, the good people of Charlotte County are simply reacting the way that they have been programmed to for generations now. For starters they know our system of justice is efficient enough to imprison them if they get caught defending their culture in an extra-judicial manner, but not effective enough to protect them from a local group of committed extremists adhering to a violent religious doctrine.
Mr. Texan, I would agree: the spirit of the Minuteman is dormant. But it is beginning to stir. So is Holger Danske, for that matter.The biggest problem for the sons of liberty is that the means of public communication have been strangled, so that like-minded people who detest the erosion of their liberties are cut off from one another, unaware of how many of us there are.But all that is changing even now.
The partisans are stirring in the forest.
5 comments:
On FOX's "Jihad in America" series they posted a poll showing that 88% of Americans think Islamist threats should be taken seriously.
So where the hell are they?
After 9/11 there were so many bumperstickers/flags/whatnot on the backs of cars you could hardly see out the rear window. Now I could swear I'm the only person in northeastern Massachusetts sporting "Defeat Jihad" (right next to my Giuliani 2008" and "Trust Snape" stickers). Wear a button, slap a sticker on the car. (If you're afraid of vandalism, slap it on a magnetic strip first, you can chuck it in the trunk if you get cold feet.) Let people know you are out there. Start a conversation.
It's not like we have the equivalent of a JF compound around here. All we have is two lousy halal meat markets listed as "mosques" in the phone book. But the pattern seems to be that no one pays attention until the threat moves next door. That's when they speak up, and that's when the automatic weapons and the lawyers get whipped out. Maybe if the little mosque and compound beavers saw more open signs of opposition, they would move on downstream.
That's my Sunday morning rant. Time for the second cup of coffee...
Good points, RRA. You have inspired me.
"The partisans are stirring in the forest."
Absolutely. Re: "...no one pays attention until the threat moves next door." So true. It's a question of perception. An example is that people have the perception that there is a lot more crime happing near their homes than there really is, because they see so much of reported from all around the country being projected right into their living rooms on TV. It's all gathered together in one place - the TV - and it seems like it's right outside their front doors. It's not, of course, and when we stop to think about it, we understand that it's not. And it doesn't help that the MSM is so one-sided.
But your point about "no one paying attention" is sort of the other bookend. People have paying the mortgage, seeing to it their kids are educated, getting the trash out on time, etc. higher on their list of concerns than they do some problem with Islam that they don't "feel on their skins." If a terrorist contaminated all the fresh produce in their favorite grocery store, they would re-prioritize, and Islam would be at the top of their list of concerns.
That's why so many of us understand that until the next 9/11 happens, many people are so content to let Homeland Security handle it - nothing WE can do!
Speaking of activism, have you all visited The Truth Project? If not, do go take a look; there's a lot of useful stuff for people who want to be "active" at an effective level, but less than cracking the case of the latest terrorist cell. I apologize for not giving the address - I'm very distracted this morning - but you can google it easily.
One of the "actions" that I like to take is to make up a bunch of business-card sized thingies with your favorite quotes, resource recommendations (sites, books, etc.), and so on, and spread them around wherever you can - buses, countertops, park benches, in the pockets of new clothes in a store, on a shelf at the grocery store, etc. I've even left them under windowshields in the parking lot!
Bumperstickers are great. You can get programs to make them up on paper sold for the purpose, or make up your own with a Sharpie and contact paper. My latest was "It's the Rules of Engagement, Stupid!" And something I made up a long time ago and intended to make as a gift (you know who you are! It's not in the mail yet, but close...) is a facsimile of that "Baby on Board" sign you see in back windowshields, only it says "Kafir on Board" instead.
There are all sorts of ways, other than the terribly important blogosphere, that we can help spread the word. The more antics the idiot Islamic aggressors engage in, the more receptive people become to things like this. The survey Revere refers to is evidence for this, as are the increased numbers of TV shows willing to portray Muslims as the enemy (over CAIR's protests!), the massive numbers of books, the hardening of views of some previously more tolerant experts, and, of course, our Friend Good and True, the Blogosphere.
I used to have almost daily Blue Funks about whether we would ever wake up, but I really think it's happening. Really. I'm not nearly as discouraged now as I was a year ago.
What woke me up and shattered my trust in the media were the blogs-driven discovery of all those scandalous photo-doctorings and photo-stagings during the Israeli-Hizbullah war. Reading the newspapers has never been the same for me since then. Blogs are now my new friends.
I do that thing with the cards Cubed mentions. I think I first spotted the idea at Truth Project. Just writing or printing them up is great for working off the frustration. Last month I spread them all around a UU church where some fool was giving a course on "America's Addiction to War". Wonder if they've found the ones in the bathroom yet. Love the "Kafir on Board" sign. For one thing, 99% of those who notice it are going to have to go home and Google it because they haven't a clue what it means. And that will be the start of their education...
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