I wanted to thank those who commented on my last blog in which I vented about my dispair about what seems to be a never-ending cycle of violence.Some of your comments did prompt another question that has long puzzled me. As I pose that question here, maybe there's someone out there who can help me here... I hope so... :-)The question I asked in my last blog was whether or not you could declare war on an idea or on a misguided belief. In asking that question, I wasn't advocating a position. I was just venting. And I certainly wasn't suggesting we should do nothing. Absolutely not... The same now applies as I raise this new question: I'm just continuing to vent...Back to my last blog...The consensus of those who commented on my last blog was that we could (and should) declare war on an idea and on a misguided belief. Absolutely! There was no equivocation whatever here. Some comments even referred me to the lessons of history that ranged from the ancients to the Nazis, to the Fascists and to the Japanese.Some commenters captured my attention when they advocated the "total destruction" of those holding the ideas and beliefs upon which we would declare war... And this gave birth to this blog... You can blame them... I was helpless... I couldn't resist!While this "total destruction" scenario seemed pretty extreme to me, one commenter surprised me by her generosity. She was prepared to hold off on the "total destruction" path – if those holding the ideas and beliefs "unconditionally surrendered." She wrote that the surrender would then have to be followed by an "occupation by Allied forces" that, it turn, this would be followed by a "re-education program" to educate those holding the ideas and misguided beliefs. Those being educated would have to learn to change their ways and become good citizens in our image...
I have to admit that this particular gameplan sounded vaguely familiar to me. Somewhere in the historical spectrum I seem to have heard this before. Can someone out there help me here? :-)
So, here is my latest question:
Who exactly do the good guys target for "total destruction"?
To address this question, let's assume two groups of people, who ironically each face exactly the same conundrum in implementing their "total destruction" program–
The one group consists of those who'd like to destroy Muslims of particular shades of opinion and beliefs. This group would comfortably follow the program of total destruction, unconditional surrender, occupation and re-education programs. Some in the group apparently would even like to go further and target ALL Muslims.
OK, group, we all know who you are, n'est pas?
The other group consists of those who would like to destroy Jews and Israelis of particular shades of opinion and beliefs. This group too would comfortably follow the program of total destruction, unconditional surrender, occupation and re-education programs. Some in the group would apparently even like to go further and target ALL Jews.
OK, group, we all know who you are too, n'est pas?
Lets start with those in the group that hate Jews and who want to destroy us...
By some accounts, there are about 1.4 million Jews throughout the world. Again, I'm curious as to which Jews would qualify for "destruction"? Would we each be given a political and ideological litmus test that might spare us? Or would only those of us wearing Stars of David be destroyed? Or would ALL Jews – with or without Stars of David – be destroyed?
And what if some Jews, like me, are not devout? What if some, like me, do things on the Sabbath that Jews really shouldn't do? What if I only go to Temple on the High Holidays (in a good year)? What if I regularly eat shrimp, crab, lobster and other delicious shellfish? Would that save me? And what if I was married to a Muslim? Would I receive special dispensation from this group? Would I be spared? And, if so, should I go out to find a Muslim to marry me?
Moving on to those in the other group – those who hate Muslims:
By some accounts, there are about 1.5 BILLION Muslims throughout the world. Again, I'm curious as to which Muslims would qualify for "destruction"? Would each be given a political and ideological litmus test? Or would only those with ISIS identification be destroyed? Or would ALL Muslims with or without ISIS identification be destroyed?And what if my wife was Muslim? Would she receive special dispensation from this group? And what if some Muslims were totally integrated into Western society? Would they get special dispensation?
So, folks, who is the enemy we'll be targeting for "total destruction"?
Is it my imagination or could this "total destruction" not be as clearcut and easy as it might seem? POSTCRIPT
As an admitted ignorant non-expert, who has never even visited Israel despite having a lot of dear family there, I actually do see a potential solution. My only surprise is that the potential solution isn't front-and-center stage in the current political discussion being waged by all of our politicians, pundits and other lunatics. Maybe you sometimes need a totally ignorant whiner to show you the way... :-)
If someone is exceedingly nice to me, in my next blog, I might even share my ideas with you on this. At the very worst, it'll give you a good laugh! :-)