Live And Let Die.

I firmly believe in 'live and let live'.  But, it takes two to agree on that premise for it to work.  When one side does not believe in this and one side does - the latter to the point of denying reality - it is little more than a path to destruction for the latter.  This is what happens, to paraphrase a 60's hippy mantra, "if they gave a war and only one side comes".  The side that doesn't show up, dies. That is undeniable fact.

And today we in the West are dying.  Why?  Because we are at war. We refuse to admit it, and we won't show up.  Yes, we have gone to Afghanistan and Iraq in the "War on Terror", but we are fighting the wrong war, for the wrong goals. 

We must admit we are in a much bigger war.  A war for our culture and our values against those who want to destroy them.  It is not a war that came about because of policy decisions of the last 50 years, or our insensitivity, or George Bush's arrogance. 

We did not choose this war. It was chosen for us, 1,300 years ago.  Once upon a time, we defended our way of life against this threat - in places like Jerusalem, or at the Gates of Vienna. We in the West seemed to think the war is over.

But it is not over.  The side that chose it never really never quit. 

And nowadays our leaders and our elites do not defend our way of life - they apologize for it.  They denigrate our culture and our advancements outright, or give our hard-won freedoms and values lip-service at best.  They look to appease those who see our values as "filthy", and us as "infidels" not worthy of being treated as fully human. (Note:  It is not just the West our enemies see that way.  It is any culture or value system that does not agree with theirs.)   Our leaders and our elites refuse to name our enemy, because they refuse to believe we are at war with them.  And the more they do, the more our enemy presses the fight.


Which leads me to my point:  I sorry to say, but I'm having a very hard time disagreeing with this Pat Condell video:



I still have a hope that his conclusion is wrong, but it is very difficult anymore, as a person of reason, to not conclude that our enemy today isn't "Terrorism", or "Radical Islam", or "Fundamentalist Islam"... it is Islam itself.

For a decade I have been hearing about Islam as a "religion of peace", but seeing mostly violence in it's name.  I have been bombarded with admonitions not to hate Islam, but see mostly hatred for me and my values from those I'm not supposed to hate.  I have read of church burnings, temple bombings, Bible torchings, and the imprisonment, mutilations, and murders, of Christians, Jews, Hindus, Baha'i, and others, in the name of Islam with little or no reaction.  But a campy YouTube video or a simple cartoon always seems to generate riots, killings and renewed calls for Sharia-like "anti-blasphemy" laws in the West.  I have been waiting for that majority of "peace-loving" and tolerant Muslims I am repeatedly told are out there to denounce this war against the non-Islamic world. 

Do they really exist?  Or, is Pat right?

UPDATE:  Maybe some do exist after all:  Libyans fed up, go after local Islamists.