Who really poses the greater threat: Putin or the anti-American Left?
FrontPage Mag
by Dennis Prager
7/18/2017
Excerpt:
Last week, I tweeted, “The news media in the West pose a far greater danger to Western civilization than Russia does.”
To my surprise, the tweet went viral. And while there were more likes than dislikes, 99 percent of the written reactions were negative.
Typical reactions were:
—”F—- you.”
—”Move to Russia.”
—”Your very full diapers pose a very great danger, please change them.” That received 1,880 likes.
—”I’ve wiped s—- off my shoes more trustworthy and patriotic than your sorry a—.” That received 606 likes.
You get the idea.
But it wasn’t the ad hominem insults that I found troubling. What was troubling was the low state of logical thinking that so many responses reflected. This was exemplified by their reminding me how important a free press is to democracy (as if attacking the behavior of the media were the same as denying the need for a free press); their asking how many nukes the media have compared with Russia (as if a threat to lives were the same as a threat to a civilization); and their thinking that my tweet was about President Donald Trump (he was never mentioned, and the words were just as true when Barack Obama was president).
My tweet was about the Western left undoing Western civilization. My one regret is that I did not mention universities along with the media.
The tweet had nothing to do with the existence of a free press. Attacking what the media is doing is not the same as attacking the existence of the media — any more than attacking Trump is attacking the existence of the presidency.
With regard to Russia having more nukes than the media, those who noted this fact so missed the entire point of the tweet that it is almost breathtaking. When one speaks about dangers to a civilization, one is speaking ideologically, not physically. Of course, if Russia were to unleash its nuclear weapons against the West, it would kill vast numbers of Westerners. However, that would no more mean the end of Western civilization than the Holocaust meant the end of Jewish civilization. Civilization connotes a body of ideas and a value system.
Furthermore, a Russian nuclear attack threatening the West’s physical existence is an utterly remote possibility. Russian leaders, just as Soviet leaders before them, fear what is known as MAD (mutually assured destruction).
The real nuclear threat comes from North Korea and, above all, Iran, which constantly announces its intent to exterminate Israel. But while The New York Times cannot stop writing about the threat Russian President Vladimir Putin poses, it accuses Trump of “demonizing” Iran.
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