The First Stage of Grief

(As posted on Facebook) 

Wow.  My timeline is really angry about what happened in Orlando. And there’s a lot to be angry about - senseless murders, families suffering, horrible maiming, and the loss of a sense of security in a sacred place like the home of Disney World. 

Now we are going through the inevitable stages of grief.  You know them by now: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance.  The dominant emotion I’ve been seeing since the moment the attack occurred is anger.  Anger at the gun used, anger at the second amendment, and anger at the NRA.  But this anger emerged immediately after the attack.  You skipped denial entirely!  Could it be that this anger is actually denial masquerading as anger?

I think so.  Leon Trotsky said, “You may not be interested in war, but war may be interested in you.”  That’s a pretty darn harsh reality – too harsh to even face.  So naturally denial kicks in. 

9/11 was a big wake-up call.  Of course there were others before that, but we kept hitting the snooze button.  After 9/11 though, there was no denying we had a problem.  So we got busy.  The new president came up with a doctrine to counter the jihad. We fought back, we fought hard, and we had a global strategy.   Along with the obvious military, intelligence, and diplomatic efforts, there was a serious and covert operation called The Global War on Terror. This was not an easy task.  Regardless of what you ultimately thought of him, Bush was a leader who took the effort seriously and kept us safe for seven years.  The jihad went into retreat.  It dispersed.  The hotbeds of the jihad movement became, relatively speaking, stabilized.

But it didn’t always go as planned.  Wars never do.  Communication was weak.  Political critics saw an opening.  Our unity crumbled.  And we slipped back into denial.  Enter Barack Obama. 

Candidate Obama promised to end the Global War on Terror.  He was not interested in that war regardless of whether or not it was interested in him.  Sure, he would continue pinprick bombings and assassinations when the opportunity arose, but commanding a global war?  No way.  In fact, he took the opposite view.  The jihad wanted safe havens – he gave them safe havens in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and others.  They wanted no surveillance – wish granted.  They wanted a nuclear and missile program in Iran - he gave them that plus $150 billion dollars to fund it.  The Muslim Brotherhood wanted Egypt and Turkey – he supported them.  The jihad wanted hijrah (a demographic invasion) into Europe and the US - he supported it.  They wanted access to the highest echelons of U.S. government - he invited them in.  They wanted all references to Islam removed from government security training manuals - he did it.  They wanted NASA devoted to Muslim outreach - he gave it to them.  (Do you think that last one looks crazy? Here's Obama's NASA administrator proudly declaring NASA's foremost mission is outreach to Muslims.)      

The jihad wanted a complete end to the war against it, and Obama supported that goal.  The military ceased combat operations, then withdrew completely.  Hardcore GITMO terrorists were released.  No new captures were allowed.  No further interrogations were permitted.  No new human intelligence was gathered.  Even Voice of America was neutered so we had no way to counter the jihad over the airwaves or Internet.   

For his support, Obama got a peace prize.  He bought a selfie stick, a set of golf clubs, and took a seven year victory lap.  Most of you applauded the performance.  You were in denial.

But the wake-up calls kept coming.  And you kept hitting the snooze button.  Nadal Hassan?  Workplace violence - snooze.  Benghazi?  A video - snooze.  Boston? Homegrown – snooze.  San Bernardino?  Lone wolfs - snooze.  Charlie Hebdo?  Send James Taylor - snooze.  Paris (with some of the strictest gun laws on the planet)?  Change Facebook picture - snooze.  ISIS?  JV Team - Snooze.  Human disaster in Syria?  Give it to Putin - snooze.  Russian jetliner bombed out of the sky?  Look, Kardashians! – snooze.  ISIS takes western Iraq?  Not going back - snooze.  Boko Haram?  A hashtag will do - snooze.  Brussels?  Where’s Brussels? – snooze.  Another attack in Israel?  Only Jews – snooze.  Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Nusra, etc?  Too complicated – snooze.  Taliban back in Afghanistan? – Wow, look at my 401K! – snooze.  Iran wants nukes?  Ben Rhodes says it’s cool  – snooze.

How many of these would have been prevented if the second amendment were completely repealed?  None.  What if it never existed?  Not a single one.  There were no guns on 9/11.  Even in San Bernardino, where they illegally used guns, they had bombs too.  The jihadi in Orlando was reportedly a gun licensed government contractor. 

That’s not to say a second amendment debate is not worth having.  We’ve been debating it since before it was adopted, and we will continue.  But in the context of the jihad, the second amendment is not only irrelevant, it protects us!  Israel is the country most threatened by jihad and they protect themselves pretty darn effectively with, among other things,…guns.  But you are in denial.  

Jihad blood is now flowing in the streets near Disney World and you can’t just snooze this one away.  This is real.  Large numbers of Americans are dead.  This is not some unpronounceable distant land most Americans can’t find on a map.  This is Disney World, man.  Every American has either been there, or wants to go there. 

And somewhere deep in your heart, or deep in your subconscious, you know why this happened.  And you know you were complicit on some level.  You hit the snooze button.  You were in denial.  You supported Barack Obama and his disastrous jihad policy. 

Of course you never wanted to hurt anyone!  You wanted peace! That’s always how it goes with appeasers.  But your denial has cost lives and left a vacuum.  The world is a mess.  The jihad is on the march.  Europe is gone.  The Mideast, save Israel, is gone.  Turkey is gone.  Libya is gone.  Afghanistan is gone.  And we may be gone.  But the truth of all that is too painful right now in the face of all those bloody bodies in Orlando. 

So you are lashing out angrily at guns, the second amendment, the NRA.  Things that will have no effect on stopping the jihad - the war you are not interested in, but is very interested in you.  Sorry, you are in denial.