History Lessons Percieved

The cliches are abundant… ‘History repeats itself’, ‘Learn from the lessons of history’, and on and on and on.

So these are not necessary lessons learned from history, but rather perceptions based upon historical events.

It’s always grandios to consider oneself posessing enough knowledge to write a book about history. Tom Brokaw has already written a couple and is about to produce yet another. Out of the limelight yet he still can’t get enough of hearing himself talk. Yes, that is filled with a bit of prejudic toward Tom, I’m not, I just like to point out oddities in the perception others have of themselves.

That said, I do want to share a quick quote taken from his book as a metaphorical decoder ring to societies social and behavioral change during the 60’s.

“[Society] got atomized in part [because] what they learned in the ’60s is how to organize … around reasonably, or in some cases, dramatically narrow interests, and make that narrow interest the leitmotif of their life”
– Tom Brokaw

I find plenty of truth to that.
Still today, possibly following the example of those of the 60’s, a small focus of individuals can become so entrenched in a single interest, that through emotion or happenstance, can gain momentum and steamroll through societies social fabric. There is both good and bad to this. The good, nevermind the good, it serves a worthwhiel purpose. The bad… that’s where society needs to check itself.

Who’s fault will it be when we learn Al Qaida was smarter than we thought.

It has been relatively peacefull over the last couple years. The war is thousands of miles away. The spooks seem to be catching bad guys before they can do bad things here at home.
The only violence seems to be in Europe lately. Is our attitude, better them than us?

What if the current silence ends up being the proverbail calm before the storm? What if domestic Al Qaida terror cells have not been flushed out as efficiently as possible and are just waiting for the right moment to start?

What if they’re even smarter than that? What if they see that their biggest road block happens to be the guy sitting in the White House right now. If that is their concern, then they should be happily waiting around for 2008. President Bush’s polls are the lowest ever, which could will most assuredly impact the subject matter during the election.

Bush’s hardline stance on terrorism doesn’t seem to be mirrored by many of those who care to replace his seat. In fact, most currently sound soft on the matter. They all want the troops home now. Well, who wouldn’t like that to happen? And now, one side of the Congress is demanding that the troops return home in 2008 — come hell or high water. So I added a bit at the end but the attitude shows.

The point is, if we were still being attacked here at home, then President Bush’s ratings would be sky high for his no tollerance stance on terrorism. Granted, depending on what he would do in the case of additional domestic attacks, his ratings might be different. But we would be chearing him for what most seem to be critical of now.

Could it be that Al Qaida is putting up such a fight in Iraq because they too know it is a critical front to being able to implement their war on everybody else.