I just saw pictures of the Eiffel Tower lit in the colors of the Belgian flag. Then I saw pictures of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin with similar lighting. That was followed by a "makeshift memorial" made of candles, flowers, signs and the like in Brussels near the site of one of today's bombs. Early today, I saw a tweet from the Speaker of the House announcing that the House held a moment of silence today in memory of those who died in Brussels. These symbols of standing with the Belgian victims of terror are everywhere. Indeed, the lighting of monuments in the Belgian colors came so quickly, that it seems as if the monuments were prepared in advance for all possible terror targets. But here's the truth: this is nothing but empty symbolism. It solves nothing. It helps no one. It just lets people think that they are doing something when the reality is that nothing is being done.
Consider this: how many ISIS terrorists are stopped by colored lights on the Eiffel Tower? By how long is the next terror attack delayed when the US House of Representatives holds a moment of silence? What message does ISIS get when it sees that the president of the United States spends less than a minute commenting on the attacks and then goes to a baseball game. Is there anyone anywhere that thinks that Obama's later comments to ESPN (that's right ESPN) while sitting at the game had any effect on stopping the next attack?
We simply cannot continue these phony "efforts" which are nothing but symbolism. They don't accomplish anything. Everyone knows that.
Let's look at a typical act of symbolism. Think about Black History Month. It was started to show the importance of African Americans in American history. Each year we hear a few public service announcements on TV about the same few figures, usually followed by some tag line like "CBS cares" or "the more you know". But ask yourself this: how much more do you know today about black history than you knew ten years ago? Has Black History Month changed anything? Wouldn't it be better to make certain that the American history curriculum in schools included blacks, whites, Hispanics, Native Americans and everyone else who has lived in the USA? Do we gain anything at all from having a month specially designated for black history? We need to do real things and not just engage in symbolism.
The sad truth is that many Americans have been taught that symbolism is more important than actions. For the last seven years, we have had a president who actually believes that what he says and its symbolic value is more important than what he does. For example, he talks about honoring those who served our country, but when these veterans are treated like dogs by the VA, he does nothing to change it. Oh, he talks about it (because that's what's important), but NOTHING CHANGES, NOTHING IS DONE.
America no longer has the luxury of doing nothing. There are millions of jihadists who want to destroy us. They don't care about symbols. They don't care what color the Eiffel Tower is. They really don't care what Obama says. They want to kill us and they are doing things to make that a reality. We have a choice: we can stick with symbolism and be destroyed or we can start taking action and save ourselves. That really is the choice. Just look at the response today to the Brussels' attack. Hillary Clinton said that America needs to exemplify our values. Translation: Hillary has no idea what to DO, so she is pushing symbolic language instead. Donald Trump, on the other hand, wants to close our borders to Moslems until we can guarantee that we are only letting in people who wish us no harm. I don't think that is the best course of action, but it really is action; it really is deeds; it really is doing something and not just making a symbolic speech. It's not hard to choose between those two.
Consider this: how many ISIS terrorists are stopped by colored lights on the Eiffel Tower? By how long is the next terror attack delayed when the US House of Representatives holds a moment of silence? What message does ISIS get when it sees that the president of the United States spends less than a minute commenting on the attacks and then goes to a baseball game. Is there anyone anywhere that thinks that Obama's later comments to ESPN (that's right ESPN) while sitting at the game had any effect on stopping the next attack?
We simply cannot continue these phony "efforts" which are nothing but symbolism. They don't accomplish anything. Everyone knows that.
Let's look at a typical act of symbolism. Think about Black History Month. It was started to show the importance of African Americans in American history. Each year we hear a few public service announcements on TV about the same few figures, usually followed by some tag line like "CBS cares" or "the more you know". But ask yourself this: how much more do you know today about black history than you knew ten years ago? Has Black History Month changed anything? Wouldn't it be better to make certain that the American history curriculum in schools included blacks, whites, Hispanics, Native Americans and everyone else who has lived in the USA? Do we gain anything at all from having a month specially designated for black history? We need to do real things and not just engage in symbolism.
The sad truth is that many Americans have been taught that symbolism is more important than actions. For the last seven years, we have had a president who actually believes that what he says and its symbolic value is more important than what he does. For example, he talks about honoring those who served our country, but when these veterans are treated like dogs by the VA, he does nothing to change it. Oh, he talks about it (because that's what's important), but NOTHING CHANGES, NOTHING IS DONE.
America no longer has the luxury of doing nothing. There are millions of jihadists who want to destroy us. They don't care about symbols. They don't care what color the Eiffel Tower is. They really don't care what Obama says. They want to kill us and they are doing things to make that a reality. We have a choice: we can stick with symbolism and be destroyed or we can start taking action and save ourselves. That really is the choice. Just look at the response today to the Brussels' attack. Hillary Clinton said that America needs to exemplify our values. Translation: Hillary has no idea what to DO, so she is pushing symbolic language instead. Donald Trump, on the other hand, wants to close our borders to Moslems until we can guarantee that we are only letting in people who wish us no harm. I don't think that is the best course of action, but it really is action; it really is deeds; it really is doing something and not just making a symbolic speech. It's not hard to choose between those two.
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