On Moral Inversion:

I would like to comment on an excerpt from Inside Politics September 27, 2006 (Washington Times).

I could not agree more with Mr. Munsil's comments. And although he is discussing an Arizona project, I think his comments speak to a larger phenomenon. As some have argued (see here and here), the 9/11 memorial being created for ground zero and the new WTC is in fact a tribute to precisely the moral confusion and relativistic inversions of world events that allowed jihadism to strike us on that fateful morning. Bear in mind, the US had been struck before - 1993 WTC, hijacked airplanes, the USS Cole, African embassies - and we treated each as nothing more than isolated incidents. Bin Laden pronounced his fatwah in 1998 - 3 years before 9-11, and yet all of this is our fault.

No, it is not our fault. It is not our fault that others hate us, it is their problem that we are in a position of power and they are not - and we should not be ashamed of where we are. After all, we got ourselves here, and to be ashamed at our strength and might is to be ashamed of our heritage, to be ashamed of the hard work and progress sought by our grandparents and great grandparents - to be ashamed of our own success. One might argue that with this power comes equal responsibility to act benevolently in the world, but we are not intentioanlly tyranical, nor truly imperialistic - and it is not for us to bear the blame for the hatred and jealousy that lies in the hearts of others.

I could mention here that many refuse our help even when it is offered without political strings - polio vaccines were refused, emergency aid passed on in the aftermath of natural disasters (for example - here and here), and I would bet there are more examples that I cannot here recount.

But the point is this: just because another is unhappy with us does not mean that we are bad and they good, no matter how convincing their argument. There are ways for human beings to work together to achieve harmony with one and other - and suicide bombings, fomenting riots, attacks on civilians, and the rest of the panoply of terrorist tactics are not productive means of achieving civil discourse and correcting problems - they are means of intimidation, conquest, and outright hatred. So let's not miss the moral truth of today's situation. Terrorists/Islamists=bad. We may not be good, but there is no mistake that they are evil.



Moral relativism
The Republican candidate for Arizona governor says the state's new September 11 memorial should be torn down, calling it an insult to America.
"It reminds us of American failings and American mistakes, real and imagined, before and after 9/11. This memorial is a tribute to moral relativism," Len Munsil said yesterday, according the Associated Press.
The memorial features such quotations as, "You don't win battles of terrorism with more battles" and "Erroneous U.S. air strike kills 46 Afghanistan civilians," among other things.
"Only in the relativistic context of left-wing protesters holding 'Bush is a terrorist' signs do such inscriptions make any sense," said Mr. Munsil, founder of the Center for Arizona Politics.
"It explains why despite the outpouring of public prayer and the bipartisan singing of 'God Bless America' on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, there is not a single mention of God in this memorial," Mr. Munsil said.
"I'm just sorry that they're trying to politicize 9/11. That's just wrong," Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano said.