Even in this most trying of times, when our nation is threatened by an enemy that will stop at nothing to harm the U.S., even to his dying breath, there is a vocal minority that crawls out of the woodwork to decry our entire way of life. This minority marches across college campuses with their peace signs in hand, insulting the American flag and preaching the virtues of nonviolence.
These demonstrators represent only a minority of the American public. Their views are based on that rare sort of naivetÇ that can only exist in a country like the United States, and yet they can find nothing good to say about it. They think of America as the perpetrator of all the ills and evils of the world; that the U.S. is an imperialist aggressor, keeping the rest of the world in chains.
At the core of these beliefs is the idea that violence for any reason is always wrong. Yet so far, these advocates of peace have offered no alternative solution to the terrorism problem. Osama bin Laden and people like he will never be stopped by crowds of people singing "Kumbaya." The men of al-Qaeda are more than willing to die if it means harming America, and so, the only thing that will stop them is to have their lives ended before they can do so.
Looking around the world today, there are very few peaceful societies and many warlike ones. Even though it may never have occurred to the advocates of "world peace," there is an elementary historical reason there are so many more warlike societies; simply put, pacifism doesn't work.
One of the few examples in relatively recent times of a totally pacifist society was the Moriori. The Moriori were a small Polynesian tribe who lived in the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand. Because they were isolated from the world, they gave up war and resolved their disputes peacefully. As a result, they were completely helpless when Maori warriors from New Zealand arrived in 1835 and slaughtered them. The last full-blooded Moriori died in 1933.
This story probably played out all over the world in ancient times. Two groups of people would come into contact, and the group better prepared to defend itself would triumph. Today, there are few pacifist societies left, and the Tibetans, the most prominent of those, have been subjugated and scattered due to their unwillingness to fight for their homeland.
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Proponents of pacifism often point to Mohandas Gandhi and the independence his leadership gained for India. What they fail to realize is that, although his methods were nonviolent, Gandhi's strategy was as old as warfare itself. His massive application of passive resistance was in effect a siege on all of the British Empire's assets in India, eventually making it too costly for the British to retain control in India. It was an effective strategy for that place and time.
It is not a strategy that will work against al-Qaeda. No matter how many sit-ins are held, they will not impair the terrorists' ability to cause destruction. The Taliban are not interested in peaceful dialogue or constructive discussion. These groups want all Westerners, even the ones who yearn to understand their pain, to die horribly and burn in eternal torment. They deride other Muslims as polytheists and disbelievers. They have no love for anyone else and want no love.
So in the big picture, this conflict is between two incompatible ideologies. One of these philosophies says that every person has human rights, and that human beings should be free to pursue their lives however they wish. The other condemns all who don't follow its strict tenets with every waking thought. Such a conflict will never truly be over as long as both exist.
A great man once said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," and never were those words more true than today. On Sept. 11, a small sect of extremists showed the world that we failed to combat that injustice when it was far away. If there is any lesson from history that we should remember now, it is the futility of seeking peace in our time at the expense of the future.
As long as we tolerate the injustices of intolerant fanatics, they will be free to spread suffering and misery throughout the world.
by Craig A. Butler
Daily Lobo Columnist
