Pick Your Side: Good or Evil

By LARA BERMAN
If Facebook represents the average Joe, G-d help us.
I log on to see “Go Egypt, Go!” as my friend’s status update.
My newsfeed reads, “3 people have liked the Virtual ‘March of Millions’ in Solidarity with Egyptian Protestors...who through Peaceful Demonstrations are Demanding Freedom and Democracy.”
Are we talking about the same demonstrations? ‘Cause, I gotta ask: which part is peaceful? The vans attempting to run over people in the streets? The kidnapping of journalists? The fire bombs? Hundreds of thousands of people (600,000+) joined this group.
I get the sense that here in America, most folks have no idea what they’re supporting. They hear “Egypt wants democracy” and without any further context, they’ve picked their side. I’m all for democracy too, by the way, but I’m hip to reality - institutions don’t materialize overnight. The U.S. government unwisely urges Mubarak to abandon his post yesterday - who do they suppose will fill that void? If these riots caught the world off guard, as everyone claims, then there are no political parties waiting in the wings ready to unveil their latest campaign slogans.
But there does seem to be one organized group in this story and that’s the Muslim Brotherhood. Yes, the common man started this swell, but the Muslim Brotherhood has fanned it’s flames across the Middle East. I’m skeptical that Yemen, Egypt, Jordan and Syria all had spontaneous outbursts within the same 2-week period without any behind-the-scenes coordination. Are we all buying that? I suspect, the events in Tunisia lit the match and the Muslim Brotherhood seized the opportunity to instigate this unrest in the hopes of furthering its hateful agenda.
Oh, but I spoke too soon! The Muslim Brotherhood’s not so bad. They’re misunderstood. Hey, they’re like the tea party! Or, evangelical Christians!
There is only so much political correctness and ignorance I can stomach. We’re so busy tolerating the intolerant! Let’s break this down. To understand them, let’s stick to who we know: ourselves. Our parents raised us to embody the morals and values that were important to them. Right? Sure. We’d all agree on that. Well, so too did the Muslim Brotherhood bring up their offspring, Hamas and al Qaeda with ideologies and world views critical to them.
Rather than simply threatened with it, do ABC’s journalists actually need to be beheaded for us to realize who we are dealing with? Are bruises and concussions not enough? Did Anderson Cooper need permanent brain damage to warrant the realization that these folks aren’t like lil’ Sarah Palin from Alaska?
People run the streets in Egypt like rabid animals, beating each other mercilessly. Our enemy, Iran is celebrating - that should be clue enough - and chanting “death to America.” Rage and blood thirst pours through my television set with every image, every interview, every live shot. But this is no movie.
Where is the leadership? Who will lead Egypt? “Democracy!” the West cries. But there are no heroes in this fight. We Americans love instant gratification, but forcing a make-shift, insta-election only provides fertile soil for a theft of power by extremists under the guise of democracy.
And speaking of leadership, Obama’s silence and disappearance this week spoke volumes to me and to the world.
The perceived success of these riots grants dangerous momentum to extreme Islam’s quest for a Muslim caliphate and the enforcement of global sharia law. The world is about to divide between those who agree with that world order and those who don’t; and Obama, as leader of the rest of us, of the free world, retired. He went behind closed doors. Unprecedentedly, he shut out the press. Today, due to pressure, he agreed to a press conference and answered one question. Hey, Mr. President, I know it’s tough to be unscripted. 
Dan Gillerman, former Israel ambassador to the U.N. spoke in several news interviews recently. And I must say, after days on this volatile sea, his wisdom and experience shone like a lighthouse in the absence of our own captain.
In a New York City rally, a supporter of the Egyptian, common man’s cause held up a sign saying, “long live the Egyptian intifada.” The Muslim Brotherhood already stated its intention to wage war on Israel, dumping former peace treaties should they come to power, G-d forbid. Syria too decided to join in the fun; rallies have sprung up there. Synagogues and Torah scrolls already burn in Tunisia. Heinrich Heine, a German Jew said in 1821, “where they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people.” We are being given clues, messages to heed.
If there is one blessing in all this, it is that the difference between the “good guys” and the “bad guys” is glaringly obvious. As a young woman, this situation is the worst I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. The stakes demand strength of character from each of us. And even if Obama did this week, we must not choke.
I hope those entrusted with authority get smart fast and handle this delicate situation with wisdom. But meanwhile, may we, as lovers of freedom do our part. May we unite, be swift enough to put the pieces together, and have the strength of character to speak up for our way of life, for Israel, and for human Life, against those who wish for and glorify death. We have freedom. May we use it for good and may we win.