Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Evil Fatigue?
As the crisis that would be a nuclear armed Iran heats up (consider SecState Rice's warnings last week) I sense a collective fatigue on the part of the American public. I think this has happened before in history, but more on that in a moment.
Taught Perelandra in Sunday School Sunday. We discussed that one of the chief weapons of the tempter in this Garden of Eden recast was fatigue. He was not that persuasive and often his evil was apparent - yet he came deparately close to winning the day through simple effort. He needed no sleep whereas his intended victim and his heaven-sent counterpart did. Evil nearly wins due to fatigue in its target and enemy.
Have we seen this in history? Oh, I think so. Hitler was evil on a scale I am still not sure we fully comprehend, and we well and goodly destroyed him. But in his wake came an evil as bad or even worse - Stalin. Stalin we let go. Why? I think fatigue - evil kept on coming when we were too tired to fight.
Yes, there were all sorts of political and military complications in going after Stalin that were not there in going after Hitler, but, absent the fatigue of having fought Hitler, we likely would have found a way around them.
I think we are in similar times - we have ousted the evil that was the Taliban and Saddam. We have greatly limited the evil that is Al Queda. But beyond that lies the utter evil that would be a nuclear capable Iran. To date, nations with that horrible weapon have come previously equipped with a huge hesitancy regarding its use. Not so Iran, a nation guided by a cultural ethos that demands the destruction of its enemy by any means possible - a nation that would not merely feel justified in using the weapon in defense, but sanctified in using it offensively.
And yet, I cannot find much concern about Iran outside deeply involved clique of political watchers and commenters. Evil fatigue has set in, having dealt with so much, we have lost our ability to see even worse.
In an age where one such evil can kill so many with so little effort, we cannot afford such fatigue. The administration must find a way to energize the populace on this one - they cannot act without that populace support.
I am very concerned about this one. I pray for a diplomatic solution, but fear its ineffectiveness. If it fails it will be too late to try and build popular support then - our diplomacy will be that much more effective if Iran knows we are ready and willing to strike and strike rapidly if diplomacy fails.
Related Tags: nuclear weapons, Iran, diplomacy, fatigue, Hitler, Stalin, Perelandra
Taught Perelandra in Sunday School Sunday. We discussed that one of the chief weapons of the tempter in this Garden of Eden recast was fatigue. He was not that persuasive and often his evil was apparent - yet he came deparately close to winning the day through simple effort. He needed no sleep whereas his intended victim and his heaven-sent counterpart did. Evil nearly wins due to fatigue in its target and enemy.
Have we seen this in history? Oh, I think so. Hitler was evil on a scale I am still not sure we fully comprehend, and we well and goodly destroyed him. But in his wake came an evil as bad or even worse - Stalin. Stalin we let go. Why? I think fatigue - evil kept on coming when we were too tired to fight.
Yes, there were all sorts of political and military complications in going after Stalin that were not there in going after Hitler, but, absent the fatigue of having fought Hitler, we likely would have found a way around them.
I think we are in similar times - we have ousted the evil that was the Taliban and Saddam. We have greatly limited the evil that is Al Queda. But beyond that lies the utter evil that would be a nuclear capable Iran. To date, nations with that horrible weapon have come previously equipped with a huge hesitancy regarding its use. Not so Iran, a nation guided by a cultural ethos that demands the destruction of its enemy by any means possible - a nation that would not merely feel justified in using the weapon in defense, but sanctified in using it offensively.
And yet, I cannot find much concern about Iran outside deeply involved clique of political watchers and commenters. Evil fatigue has set in, having dealt with so much, we have lost our ability to see even worse.
In an age where one such evil can kill so many with so little effort, we cannot afford such fatigue. The administration must find a way to energize the populace on this one - they cannot act without that populace support.
I am very concerned about this one. I pray for a diplomatic solution, but fear its ineffectiveness. If it fails it will be too late to try and build popular support then - our diplomacy will be that much more effective if Iran knows we are ready and willing to strike and strike rapidly if diplomacy fails.
Related Tags: nuclear weapons, Iran, diplomacy, fatigue, Hitler, Stalin, Perelandra
