Mick Hartley

Jackson Greenberg at Tablet, on the empty-headed pacifism that dominates progressive education in America:

Over the past several decades, a distinct and real set of politics has infected elite institutions—rooted in a moral relativism that is not just unrealistic, it’s dangerous.

“War is never justified,” proclaimed my middle school Spanish teacher, after America invaded Afghanistan. “Responding to the violence of 9/11 with more violence is not the answer. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind!”

I raised my hand: “But if America hadn’t fought against the Nazis, my grandfather would have died in a concentration camp, just as his parents and four brothers and sisters did. And I wouldn’t be here today. Was that war not justified?”

“No, Jaime,” she said, using the Spanish name she’d assigned me. “Violence is never justified. Callate.” …

My fellow millennials and subsequent generations have become conscientious objectors on steroids, proselytizing pacifists—no one should fight!—who type “taking life is never justified” on Instagram from gentrified neighborhoods separated from war zones by large oceans. This stance, that no one should fight to defend themselves and protect a democratic way of life, turns a blind eye to all of human history….

To my pacifist former classmates, to the 48% of 18- to 24-year-olds who don’t condemn Hamas, and to everyone else: We Jews are not asking you to fight. We’re just asking you to stop trying to inhibit those who are. Those who are trying, bravely, to protect your right to dance at Coachella without having to worry about paragliders with machine guns. Those trying to protect the right of women to dance at all. Those protecting Jews’ right to exist….

Because Hamas, like the Nazis and Bin Laden, must be defeated.

As George Orwell put it, "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."