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Saturday, February 25, 2006Sent to Jim Geraghty (TKS) in response to the piece linked at his name:I agree that government and newspaper response to the cartoons is awful. But conservatives and libertarians are supposed to know better than to think they're where the action is. From the secret distribution of books and pamphlets to internet chatter to faxes to mobile phone communication, the people talk, as individuals. Whether it's Muslim radicals in Paris, bloggers in America or democracy activists in China, people are talking and governments that try to stop them are at their wit's end while newspapers and media that try to ignore their voices are being tuned out. When a Senator talks, does anyone care? When the President talks, do all the networks even always cover it? When the average citizen walks buy a newspaper stand, does he drag out a quarter? The reason the comics and sports aren't above the fold on the front page is that if people could read them for free, they wouldn't buy the paper. While we lament the State Department's tendency to send diplomats to talk to other diplomats, those of us who grew up in an earlier framework think the same way. We think the governments set the rule, the media sets the tone, that concentrated power is of the essence. In reality, it's just easier to see - and by design, lest people consider alternatives. But the alternatives are always there. Ask the Communists about the masses that swarmed to save them when the Soviet government crumbled. Ask the Taliban about the millions who organized mass movements to maintain their chains. The great thing about the cartoon wars is they have caused individuals to come out of the cracks, google for images to find out what the fuss is about and discover that the newspapers and government alike are full of .... Is this not what conservatives and libertarians want? I know that if you read the papers or listen to the important people and the mobs shouting the loudest, things sound awful. But they're caught in a cycle where government and the mob think they're important because the newspapers cover them and newspapers think they're important because that's what they've chosen to cover. But it's paper tigers talking to paper tigers while people the world over go to work, do their jobs, take care of their families and do their best to stay out of it - to make it not matter. The story of the next century will be how the Chinese joined the Soviets in their inability to have enough freedom for growth without setting the stage for their own overthrow. Will be about Muslims joining Jews and Christians in relative secularism as overreaching mullahs make it more painful to go along with their newest whip up the masses foolishness than to ignore them. Will be about those governments that seized on terrorism as a tool for increasing power falling democratically or by force as the case may be. The thing about totalitarianism of any stripe is that it's easier to go along with than fight it up to a certain point. And that gives totalitarian systems and ideologies the appearance of having the power and the staying power to outlast champions of individual liberty and freedom. But totalitarians want total control. This always leads to overreach - and self-destruction. Every totalitarianism ever to challenge us has fallen apart. This one will too. So before you prepare for the world's surrender to Islam and America's failure to stand tall, go read the newspaper op-eds from the 70s about how rough it's going to be for us in the future if we don't cooperate with the communists now. This struggle will be won. 
posted by gbarto at 10:07 AM |
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