The Don Quixote's of Our Era...

(1st published on my Townhall blog - http://streetlevel.blogtownhall.com - on 8/20/07

After a busy day of traveling recently on a business trip, I finally reached my hotel room where I immediately unpacked, ordered from room service, found the remote and plopped on the bed. Powering on the tube I found little. Until I happened upon, of all things, PBS. They had a bio of Theodor Geisel. Or as he is better known, Dr. Suess the children’s book writer. I never knew that he came up during the depression/ World War II era and that he was an extreme left-winger. But as I watched the documentary I was fascinated by one glaring fact. And that was the left leaning Geisel and his New York liberal associates were not only for WWII but were aggressive about it. Wanting to contribute in some way to the war effort. As was the case with "most" of the other factions, groups, segments of that particular society during that particular time period in America. And this really started to stick in my craw. "What a rip!", I thought. "Why can't we have that kind of unity in our present generation?" I asked myself. I found myself really coveting what they had and began the process of analyzing why our generation is so different. Because if you stack up the Nazi’s side by side with the radical jihadists it seems to me that our current enemy has at least an equally sinister purpose as the Nazi’s. Or more so. So the motivation should easily be there to unify against this enemy, shouldn’t it? Are Americans so different now than they were 67 years ago?

Of course there is little resemblance between the modern day U.S. citizen and the “Greatest Generation” of World War II, generally. There are many wonderful exceptions, however. But for the most part our present generation has different priorities. Over 9 million Americans enlisted in World War II. Nine million volunteers! Sixteen million served in that war. And today the U.S. Military has some difficulty making their recruiting goals and keeping their 1.43 million troop force (active duty )up to strength. And these valiant few are carrying far too heavy a load. Less than one half of one percent are carrying the load for all of us.

So why the lack of enthusiasm for this war we’re waging against an obvious evil enemy? Wanting to always think “good thoughts” about my fellow citizens I seem to only be able to come to one conclusion. Too many folks these days are in deep denial. They no longer have, lets call it a “higher power” or a long standing set of traditions or values to fall back on or to turn towards for answers or direction. As a result they’re delicate ego is constantly having to balance their id and superego. And as that becomes more and more difficult the ego becomes raw. Inflamed. Threatened. Again, I’m speaking of people here that are on their own. They have rejected the Father/Son/Holy Spirit. The Bible. All legend and mumbo jumbo in their view. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you. Ha! So we have this external threat to the ego. The id and the superego are battling for the ego’s attention. Like the little shoulder devil and angel that we see in the cartoons. The ego gets confused and blows a fuse! Out of this anxiety the ego deploys an ego defense mechanism. Like denial. Another defense mechanism is displacement. How does that work? Well lets use a recent event in history to demonstrate. Terrorists crash multiple jet aircraft into buildings on 9/11/01 killing 3000 innocent Americans. We’ll create a fictional 25 year old "single" male named Tom. Tom is deeply disturbed and horrified by the event. His superego tells him he must do something for his nation in its time of need. His id tells him there’s nothing he can do. Ignore it. Forget it. The inner conflict goes on for months. Years. Tom is afraid to stand up and help his nation. The anxiety gets to be too much and Tom breaks. A displacement defense mechanism is deployed because Tom can’t admit to himself that he is actually a coward. That admission of cowardice would damage his ego. Tom redirects his fears and emotions from the fearful object of the Global War on Terrorism towards something much less threatening. Something that he can handle and deal with. Even if its something that he must invent. Preferably something that can be made to look like a threat but , in reality, is not a threat. Something that Tom can fight against but that won’t fight back at him. Tom is looking to displace his need to be a responsible, courageous citizen of his nation, with something that is less fearful and difficult. Tom has taken the cowards “way” out. The “path” of least resistance. As have millions of U.S. citizens, out of fear and anxiety. Now all possibly on a fast track to mild psychosis. In this sense the radical jihadist has had a certain degree of success by his use of terror as a tactic.
Hence, too many of our fellow citizens have this personality disorder and as a result have invented in their own minds a fixed fantasy. They have imagined and created their own “bogeyman” and have openly challenged this non-existent phantom, Don Quixote style, knowing full well that it won’t retaliate with physical violence. At least they have that knowledge in their subconscious. Which is “the” prerequisite in their choice of an adversary, by the way. Examples: Blaming America for 9/11. Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS). The “Blame America first crowd”. The continuous villainization of Dick Chenney and Halliburton. And the complete embracement of the Man-made Global Warming Myth. This “Global Warming/Sky is Falling” craze is probably the most common because it is densely populated with others of like mind. And it is headed up by a former Vice-President of the United States who, most likely, has a mental disorder himself. Having never come to grips with his loss in year 2000. Mr. Gore is only making things worse for himself, however. He’s digging himself into a deeper hole than he’s already in. Mentally. He has done our nation a huge disservice by distracting a large, weak minded portion of our population away from the truly serious issue of the Global War on Terrorism towards a non-issue. He has divided and significantly weakened our nation and one day he’ll come to realize what he’s done. And when that day comes it will be devastating for him. He’ll most likely not recover.
So how should we approach these looney nut-cases? Make fun of them? Call them names? That’s the common tactic used by our side. But not by me. No sir. You won’t catch me calling them looney nut-cases. In all seriousness, though, we should have sympathy/empathy towards them. Compassion. They could still be reached. Especially if they happen to be on their medication. We can’t give up on them. However, we can't let them determine the direction our nation takes, either. The scary part being that they do have a vote.

And to you "Tom's" who do know the true peril that our nation is in, recognizing the insidious enemy that we're up against and you continue to opt not to stand up (link) and defend her and do your duty, you deserve no respect. Darvin Dowdy

"A coward dies a thousand deaths, a soldier dies but once" William Shakespeare

"...for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands." King David to Goliath, I Sam 17: 47