I just love that wonderful Goering quote. What does it prove? That any part of human existence and any human feeling can be manipulated? Of course it can. It was done since prehistoric times. Isn't why Shakespeare still current because he deals with the basic human feelings and tragedies? Does shameless manipulation renders everything false? I dare to disagree. If the fraise "I love you" was shamelessly used a couple of trillions times just to get laid, does it mean that it false every time? Think not. ... But I digress.
I think that the threat to civilization from the current fanatical barbarism (called whatever: islamofasicm, militant islam, islamism, radical islam, pick one or none) is real regardless of how Goering and Co manipulated Germany in the last century. I think that this new enemy indeed has "unearned power" (as termed by Mr. Pipes) and is different kind of enemy that Nazi Germany, Militaristic Japan or Communist Soviet Union were or Communist China may be.
I also think that the West itself contributed to the rise of this enemy buy not holding it accountable for their actions and inadvertently supporting their fantasy that our goodness is a sign of weakness.
This enemy is also expansionist. So if we decide to fold and hide behind two oceans, it won't save us anyway. Did not Osama said in answer to the question: all right, so what America should do? - First convert to Islam.
But isn't that dialectics? The onus is on the theorist to prove that the new enemy is different than all others, rather than begin with such an assumption.
"I also think that the West itself contributed to the rise of this enemy buy not holding it accountable for their actions and inadvertently supporting their fantasy that our goodness is a sign of weakness. "
Lets be clear the West contributed to the rise of the enemy in the sense that Western intelligence services employed radical Islam as a tool against Soviet expansion and failed to tie up loose ends after the war; they even tapped some the agents again to 'help' in Kosovo.
Its hard to take such abstract theorizing and world play seriously when American boys are in harms way, but I understand urbanites, like Mssr.Harris have little interest in those of us in fly-over country.