Civilization is a code, and while we easily fall into the habit of
assuming that civilized norms are universal, they are limited to the
civilized. Kindness, humility and reaching out to the enemy are valid
behaviors only when they are likely to be reciprocated. Practicing that
code toward nations and cultures which markedly refuse to be civilized,
is the same thing as painting a target on your own back.
Because civilized codes of conduct only work when they are reciprocal.
They allow us to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves
and permit us to find common ground based on underlying principles. But
to those who choose to be outside the code, such concessions are a
weakness. Not a sign of moral strength, but physical cowardice. To the
Muslim who has been raised on the tales of the Koranic conquests of
Mohammed and his successors, only force represents moral truth. In the
Koran, the infidels negotiate in good faith, while Muslims negotiate in
bad faith. That is because Islam was meant to supersede the old tribal
codes with a superior moral system, based not on honor, but on
submission to Allah and Mohammed.
What we might consider foul
treachery, was to the Muslim only a means to an end. Because moral
behavior no longer had anything to do with trust, only with forcing more
victims to submit to Islam. Negotiating in good faith was itself a
symptom of a lack of faith. For the true Muslim could never honestly
accept any enduring compromise with an infidel that would lessen the
temporal power of Islam. He could only do so as a stratagem for
weakening the infidel. To do otherwise would be blasphemy and heresy,
two charges still commonly raised in the Muslim world against their own
leaders who make even the appearance of honest negotiations with Western
leaders. Meanwhile the willingness of the infidels to negotiate in good
faith, in the Muslim worldview only demonstrated their lack of faith.
Paradoxically the willingness to negotiate in bad faith, to
betray and assassinate shows a commitment to something greater. While
negotiating in good faith and treating your enemy kindly shows a lack of
confidence and principles. This attitude is not unique to Muslim
fanatics, it is just as ubiquitous the left of our own cities, which
considers radicalism and ruthless terrorism the mark of a true
revolutionary conscience. From Lenin to Mao to Che, Communists ridiculed
and murdered those who were not willing to be as ruthlessly amoral as
them. The Western left has long since absorbed that same attitude,
treating political activism as a kind of fevered passion that does not
answer to any moral code. From the Paris Commune to the Baader Meinhof
Brigade. From the Chicago Anarchists to the Chicago Seven. From the
Black Panthers to the PLO. The left admires most those who are willing
to kill or die, as evidence of their sincerity.
And such people,
whether they are Hamas members in Gaza or the descendants of the
Mayflower in Berkeley, are savages. Not savages by race, but savages by
choice. They know what civilization is. They have often benefited from
it. But they despise it as weak and unprincipled. To them the civilized
code is a sign of the cowardice of the infidel or the bourgeois, who
want to make limited concessions in order to protect their possessions
and privileges. To them civilization is the compact of materialism over
spirituality for the Muslim and passionate political engagement for the
leftist. And they are entirely willing to exploit it, but they have no
interest in honoring it.
When we treat savages as civilized, we
let ourselves be vulnerable by pretending that people who do not share
our code, are nevertheless entitled to its privileges. But civilization
can only be a reciprocal code, or it risks being overrun by the
barbarians at the gate. Because civilization only has value if
membership has its privileges. If one can be a savage and still benefit
from being treated according to civilized codes-- then civilization
becomes a mug's game. Such a conception of civilization cannot and will
not last.
Imagine if taxes were done on the honor system. Or if
stores were equally willing to extend credit to thieves as to valued
customers. Very soon, honesty and decency would become endangered
traits. Instead those who ripped off the system would thrive, while
those with integrity would suffer. And that is exactly the consequence
of extending the benefit of civilized codes to savages. Civilization
itself becomes a devalued and worthless commodity.
A savage can
be reformed only by providing him with the incentive to be civilized.
That requires a two tiered system. One for those who follow civilized
codes. And one for those who do not. The former are protected by mutual
agreements. The latter have no protection whatsoever. They are treated
as they treat others. They have no rights, but those which they are
willing to permit to others. If they are willing to live and let live,
so much the better. If they are not, then so much the worse for them.
Let them not hide behind words or excuses, because only civilized people
may be judged by their words-- savages can only be judged by their
deeds.
What is the savage then? He is not a savage because he is illiterate or
uneducated. He may have the finest education that civilization has to
offer. The savage may be wealthy or poor, but in the civilized world he
is more likely to be wealthy. He may be of any race and skin color.
These things do not matter. Only this does.
The savage seeks
power to rule over others. He lives by no true laws, instead laws for
him are means of achieving his goals. His word is worthless, as there is
nothing he will not betray for his greater aims. He may believe in all
sorts of things, but there is one thing he does not believe in, that
others have the same rights that he does. Therefore he cannot be a
citizen of any civilized nation. Alone he is a wolf seeking prey. When
he finds a pack, then he sets to sniffing around the walls of the city,
he looks for a way to bring down the city and all within it.
Mohammed, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Benito Mussolini,
Hassan al Banna Bill Ayers, Charles Manson, Eldridge Cleaver, Yasser
Arafat, Idi Amin, Lori Berenson, Abu Hamza and so many others-- all
savages. And when the savage stands in the light of civilization, his
only impulse is to burn it all down. The savage has cracked the code of
civilization and to allow him to exploit it, is to let the civilized
world burn.