Call ISIS What It Is - Islamic Evil ---
On Wednesday, August 27, 2014 12:48:00 PM UTC-5, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > Calling ISIS What It Is – Evil > > Posted By *Mark Tapson* On August 27, 2014 > > If any Americans remained unconvinced that barbaric evil is at the > cold-blooded heart of the terrorist group ISIS, their recent beheading of > journalist James Foley made it graphically undeniable. The moral divide > between ISIS and us is clearly marked. And yet there are those among us who > still cannot bring themselves to use moral terminology to describe the > enemy. > > Michael J. Boyle > <http://www.lasalle.edu/politicalscience/faculty/assistant-professor-political-science> > > for example, an associate professor of political science at La Salle > University, contributed an op-ed > <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/opinion/the-moral-hazard-of-calling-isis-a-cancer.html> > > to the *New York Times* Saturday on “the moral hazard” of using terms > like “evil” and “cancer” to describe the terrorist group ISIS. Sure, he > concedes, ISIS has committed thousands of gruesome human rights violations > and war crimes, but Boyle wants to put the brakes on the “disturbing return > of the moralistic language once used to describe Al Qaeda.” > > “Condemning the black-clad, masked militants as purely ‘evil,’” he writes, > “is seductive, for it conveys a moral clarity and separates ourselves and > our tactics from the enemy and theirs.” How is this a problem? Moral > clarity is an ideal state of affairs, especially in a world in which moral > boundaries so frequently seem blurred. But Boyle believes that using > judgments such as “nihilistic” to describe a group “tends to obscure the > group’s strategic aims and preclude further analysis.” In other words, it > discourages us from understanding the enemy. > > I’m skeptical that Boyle himself understands ISIS’ strategic aims. He > insists that ISIS “operates less like a revolutionary terrorist movement > that wants to overturn the entire political order in the Middle East than a > successful insurgent group that wants a seat at that table.” The notion > that Islamic fundamentalists want only a seat at the political table is > short-sighted, if not deluded. ISIS and their brethren *absolutely* want > to overturn the political order of the world, not just the Middle East, and > replace it with their own. This may seem comically unrealistic to us, but > our opinion is irrelevant; all that matters is, *ISIS* believes it to be > not only possible, but inevitable. They are executing their vision in a > bloody swath across Iraq, and will continue until someone with the moral > clarity and military power to stop them does so. > > But this is another issue for Boyle. He is concerned that moralizing about > the enemy is a slippery slope toward another Middle Eastern military > quagmire: > > The Obama administration needs to ensure that the just revulsion over Mr. > Foley’s murder and ISIS’ other abuses does not lead us down an unplanned > path toward open-ended conflict… The strategic drift produced by this > moralistic language is already noticeable, as an air campaign first > designed to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe has morphed into an effort > to roll back, or even defeat, ISIS. > > Isn’t rolling back and defeating ISIS a desirable outcome? In any case, > whether we acknowledge it or not, we already are in an open-ended conflict > with an enemy – Islamic fundamentalists – who are committed to a forever > war. The way to prevent a quagmire is not to be tentative about military > force, but to unleash hell and finish the job. > > The *New York Times* wasn’t alone in its moral unease. A similar piece, > “Should > We Call ISIS ‘Evil > <http://us.cnn.com/2014/08/22/opinion/dawes-isis-evil/index.html>,’” > appeared on CNN, as *National Review Online*’s Jonah Goldberg pointed out > <http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/386071/none-dare-call-it-evil-jonah-goldberg>. > > James Dawes, director of the Program in Human Rights at Macalester College > in St. Paul, Minnesota, wagged his finger at Goldberg for tweeting that > ISIS is obviously evil, and for the same reason as the *Times*’ Boyle: > such simplistic terminology doesn’t do justice to the “complexities” of the > ISIS phenomenon. Dawes too claims that calling someone evil “stops us from > thinking”: > > If we are to have any hope of preventing the spread of extremist > ideologies, we must do more than bomb the believers. We must understand > them. We must be willing to continue thinking… > > We can say they are evil people doing evil things for evil ends. Or we can > do the hard work of understanding the context that made them, so that we > can create a context that unmakes them. > > Inexplicably, Dawes seems to believe that understanding our enemies *and* > identifying them as evil are mutually exclusive. Then he goes from the > inexplicable to the offensive: “There is only one good reason to denounce a > group as evil – because you plan to injure them, and calling them evil > makes it psychologically easier to do so. ‘Evil’ is the most powerful word > we have to prepare ourselves to kill other people comfortably.” > > *What a crock of academic moral equivalence*. The reality is that we call > ISIS evil not so Americans can have an expedient justification to go out > and “kill other people comfortably,” but because ISIS beheads innocents, > buries children alive, sells women into slavery, and massacres thousands. > If we can’t objectively describe that as evil, then evil doesn’t exist. > Perhaps for Dawes, it doesn’t. > > There is no question that understanding the enemy is always vital. No one > argues otherwise. But moral judgment is vital too. However, since 9/11 (and > even before), the news media, academia, politicians, and even our own > military establishment have done their best to deflect understanding *and* > judgment of Islam and to explain away the evil done in its name as > everything *but* Islamic. Islam is peace, they say. Jihad isn’t holy war, > it’s inner struggle. Terrorism is blowback for our own oil-grubbing > imperialism. The Ft. Hood massacre was workplace violence. Al Qaeda has > hijacked and perverted Islam. Hamas are freedom fighters pushing back > against Israeli occupation. ISIS is just an insurgent group seeking > political legitimacy. And so on. > > We will begin to win this forever war when remove these politically > correct obstacles to understanding the enemy, and embrace the moral clarity > to identify evil and eradicate it. > > *Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: **Click here* > <http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=david+horowitz&rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&qid=1316459840&rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&sort=daterank>*. > > * > > *Subscribe* > <http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&id=c761755bdf>* > > to Frontpage’s TV show, The Glazov Gang, and **LIKE* > <https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang>* it on **Facebook.* > <https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang> > ------------------------------ > > Article printed from FrontPage Magazine: *http://www.frontpagemag.com > <http://www.frontpagemag.com>* > > URL to article: > *http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/mark-tapson/calling-isis-what-it-is-evil/ > <http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/mark-tapson/calling-isis-what-it-is-evil/>* > > > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected] <javascript:>> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmZzMybmQ0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0MDkxNTQwMzU-> > > > > [image: Yahoo! 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