Civilization

Over the weekend I wrote a pithy comment on the Diplomad blog site which received some favorable comment. Here it is:

As a reaction to the intermural savagery of the twentieth century, it would seem that the EU and many of its holier-than-thou members have inadvertenly composed a new lesson for us all -- there is such a thing as too much civilization.

Then, this morning, I read the follow-on comment which more than supported my observation:

Thank you, DiploMad, excellent piece.We had a terror attack in Stockholm this weekend. Four dead, among them, an 11 year old girl on her way home from school. She was deaf, probably didn´t hear the approaching truck. There you have a victim and a story that, if MSM brought it up, could change politics , at least in our country. But MSM is quiet here , media is just very neutral, "four victims", that´s it. They collude with the progressive politicians. Compare this with the picture of the drowned boy that contributed to the open border policy that now torment us and cause our many problems. Progressive media and politicians with their insane ideas direct this. They have caused the situation in Europe, they, very protected themselves, preach that terror is now "part and parcel" of life, we have to adjust, society must remain open. We the people have another opinion about the solutions, that´s why , hopefully, another brand of politicians will appear soon. 

The patina of civilization in much of Europe is reactionary and delusional. Is there such a thing as too much civilization? I can give you a few symptoms of this societal malady -- a flight from common sense, "safe spaces" at universities, an unwillingness to utter the term "Muslim terrorist", a fanatical obsession with open borders, naming carbon dioxide as an air pollutant, spending national treasure on anything and everything but self-preservation, an unelected governerning body, a media that runs away from objectivity, a society obsessed with "diversity" and "inclusion" ... you can take it from here.

Perhaps the notion that President Trump is crass and uncivilized is not such a bad thing. And I am suspicious of those forces that are trying to "civilize" him.

Tortured Logic?

Indulge me the following scenario: A Muslim man in his early twenties is picked up in Boston because his cell phone has been the source of a series of suspiciously encoded text messages to a known Al Qaeda operative in Yemen ("The pumpkin pie is in the oven," etc.) These intercepts were done by the NSA under the aegis of the American Patriot Act. (Trust me, they can do this.) He is then found to be in this country illegally ... and when his clothing is scanned by a Geiger Counter it exhibits a dangerously high level of radioactivity. His laptop computer is also found to have detailed and credible diagrams of a suitcase nuclear weapon. Other notable intelligence suggests that an illicit atomic bomb has been smuggled into the United States and is now hidden somewhere, ready to be detonated.

For you Pollyannas who believe that such an event is impossible, please explain 9/11. Now, how do you, as our head of Homeland Security, deal with this captured Muslim man to find out the who, what, when, where and how of this possible devastating terrorist attack ... knowing that it might kill hundreds of thousand of Americans and set back our economy for possibly a generation? And, obviously, time is of the essence. Would you immediately and continuously waterboard him until he spilled the beans or, perhaps, read him his Miranda rights and lawyer him up?