On the Way to Being an Absentee Nation

an excerpt from an article about a concerning trend:

(America is drunk….New data reveals that one in every six Americans downs eight mixed drinks within a few hours, four times a month.)

Think about that: A significant portion of our population wants to not be present for significant portions of every single week.
This is what is happening. It is critical we determine why it is happening.

My theory is that Americans are on a flight from reality. Faced with painful facts—including the precarious state of the economy, the gathering storm represented by militant Muslims, in general, and Iran, in particular, the crumbling state of marriage in this country, the fact that our borders are being overrun, and the fact that our health care insurance system is in shambles (to name just a smattering of the troubles we desperately need to address)—we as a nation are drinking, drugging, gambling, smoking, Facebooking, YouTubing, Marijuaning, Kardashianing, Adderalling, Bono-ing (as in thinking of Chaz’s sad flight from reality as good), Prozacking, Twittering, and Sexting ourselves into oblivion.

The fact that we are doing this as a culture is the single most ominous psychological trend we have ever faced. I am not exaggerating. 

Unchecked, it will literally create an absentee nation, unable to summon real vision to confront real threats, unable to summon real courage to defeat real enemies, unable to buckle down and take the tough measures necessary to restore real economic stability, unable to tell our friends that we will defend them—if necessary, to the death.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/14/america-is-drunk/#ixzz1je1VDfCQ

Muslim hatred of west

this clip from Daniel Greenfield’s blog gives some insight to the ongoing and deeply rooted animosity towards the west. It is a complex issue that shouldn’t be simplified by assuming this post “covers it”, but it is enlightening and seems consistent with what we see in Muslim world responses.

“The other aspect of it however is the prevalence of conspiracy theories throughout the Arab Muslim world. In Egypt, Nazi propaganda merged with traditional Islamic beliefs to give rise to Islamofascist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood. While Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are given little credibility in civilized nations– they are still highly popular in the Muslim world. Conspiracy theories are the best refuge of failed societies, and the panoply of conspiracy theories in the Muslim world have one common element, the theme of a vast Anti-Muslim conspiracy involving the CIA and the Mossad which prevents them from succeeding. “
article link