Pragmatism Lost … How Unrealistic Idealism, Hurt Feelings, A Sense of Entitlement, and Lack of Accountability are Destroying Us.

The asshole you see above is responsible for the deaths of five Americans … not just Americans but five men who represented the best of America; men who put on the uniform to defend this nation from all enemies – especially shitheads like this guy. His cowardly act stunned Chattanooga, Tennessee – a place as American as you can get. As soon as he was identified as the shooter, authorities were quick to announce they had just begun investigating his motive. I can save them some time.

I know this douche-bag; I’ve seen his kind before. Sadly, so has everyone else in our current society. I would be willing to bet you that somewhere along the path of his pathetic little life, he got his feelings hurt because the world is not how he wanted it to be. Much like every self-pitying kid who’s decided that the answer to his problems is to shoot up the school, this asshole at some point decided that the only way life would have any meaning would be if he struck a blow at his enemies. Only then would he achieve his true purpose in life – because life is a struggle between the good (those who believe) and the infidels. The enemies of Islam are vulnerable if only we all submitted to Allah’s will and attacked. Horseshit, of course, but someone dangled that juicy worm of an idea in front of his insecure mind and he swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. Probably, as will no doubt soon be shown, during his seven months spent in Jordan last year he wandered across the border into Iraq or Syria and met up with his fellow ass-clowns – ISIS – who gave him the inspiration if not the training and mission. I would also be willing to bet that he got his little feelings hurt when he was fired from his first and only job as an electrical engineer at a nuclear power plant – apparently he couldn’t pass the background check (go figure, backgrounds actually do work sometimes!). He no doubt had issues getting girls to like him – possibly got dumped by one or more – and that only fueled his bitterness. Of course, he had to find someone or something to blame for all that had gone wrong in his life and militant Islam was only too happy to provide a focus for his anger.

He is only the latest symptom of a much, much, larger problem.

That problem is not radicalism, or even Islam; that problem is us! Our society – and I include the larger global society in this – has seemingly lost any capacity to look at the world through a pragmatic lens. It begins as most things do on the road to Hell, with good intentions. Idealist thoughts of how the world should be fill the minds of those who only want the world to get better. Don’t believe me? Watch the news tonight and every story – and I mean every single one – will be about a failure of someone or something to live up to an ideal. Life truly does seem to be nothing more than a struggle between those who seek an ideal world and those who are intent on crushing that ideal. Pick any topic and the theme is there, the teams have been chosen, the sides have staked their claims to the moral high-ground, and the battle has been joined. You must choose a side! And if you dare to go against one side or the other, you run the risk of offending someone. Once you do that, you’ve really done it; the gloves can come off and no holds are barred because you have disrespected someone. That someone is entitled to that respect simply because they exist and how dare you insult them!

We seem to have lost our ability to moderate our feelings about anything. No one knows how to lose anymore, because no one ever really does. Being a sore loser used to be a big deal but now it’s expected to throw a tantrum when you don’t get your way. People used to just suck it up and take it without flying off the handle and resorting to extremes to assert their “rights.” Sure, that wasn’t a time of wine and roses either – we had the opposite problem – no one gave a damn about anyone else and certainly wouldn’t stick their neck out to help them unless the oppressed were just like them. I can give you the genocide of multiple peoples as evidence if you’d like. But now, it seems the pendulum has swung further than anyone would have expected and instead of coming back the other way, it just keeps going. We live in a ridiculous age where a pragmatic outlook on life simply isn’t sufficient – you must push that view to the extreme and then keep pushing for what you believe.

Our children grow up (and have for at least two or three generations if not more) with a seed planted in their fertile mind that the child – the individual, not the community – is the center of the world. That child believes he is entitled to everything he receives and more. The child doesn’t see an education as a benefit, he sees it as a right – something society is supposed to provide him. And, he truly believes it should be provided to him; he should not have to work to achieve it. He has a right to play video games, a right to a cell phone, a right to do as he pleases, a right to be treated as an equal among adults. And because he and his ilk grow to adulthood with this notion of entitlement, they easily transfer that idea from themselves to the world around them. Any perceived injustice is cause for protest and, if necessary, violence to right the wrongs with society. Our “leaders” are only too happy to play in to this frenzy. It has now become all about the individual, with society’ institutions being the problem. Respect is demanded of others but not given to those who truly do deserve it. In today’s world, it is perfectly okay for a child to talk back to a teacher, or a parent, or a police officer, but God help the teacher, parent, or cop who – in the course of doing their duty – inadvertently disrespects the child!

Individual accountability is dying a slow and painful death today On those rare occasions when students actually receive failing grades, it is the teacher who is responsible, not the student. When a person decides he can do what ever he wants, despite being told by a police officer exactly what he should be doing, and then that same person gets hurt or killed because of his actions, it’s not the person’s fault but the police officer. When a lunatic decides that black people are what’s wrong with the country and slaughters them in a church, it’s not his fault it’s the Confederate flag that caused such hatred. And it all started with that first soccer trophy that was given to all the kids, just for showing up and being alive. Since that fateful day, we have indoctrinated a nation – no, a world – of people that truly believe the globe revolves around what they believe and who they are. What started out as a well-intentioned idea meant to boost the self-esteem of all the kids – winners and losers – has turned into a cancer eating away at us from within, weakening our immune system, and opening the door for a host of other not so well-intentioned maladies to exploit our vulnerable idealistic selves.

Enter Islam.

As religions go, Islam is one of those – much like Christianity and Judaism – where if you truly followed ALL the rules, you would not be able to function in today’s society. That’s no surprise since all three religions originated thousands of years ago when times and society were much different than today. Therefore, it’s also no surprise that adherents to all three religions have had to moderate their world-view to a certain degree over the years to adapt. When you get right down to it, moderate Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, are those who choose to ignore the more radical and extreme dictates of their religions. But, of the three, only Islam has produced a significant contingent of those who would try to follow the old ways. The reason is built into the religion’s teachings – that the Koran is the holy verbatim word of God and must be obeyed … in total … no exceptions … no interpretations! There is not much wiggle-room there. Of the three, Islam is far and away the most idealistic religion – advocating the eventual domination of the world for Allah, at which time there will finally be peace. Christianity teaches this as an ephemeral thing. Islam teaches it as destiny, and one that can be achieved now.

This ideal – a perfect world in which all humans submit to the will of God and live according to His laws – is enticing to many. Just as communism enticed millions with it’s views of equality and fraternity among all men, Islam is a seductive idea that entices millions. This isn’t new, Islam has always taught these things. What’s new is the receptiveness of the audience. What’s changed is the mindset of the people – the young people – who find purpose and meaning for their lives in the promise of being a small part in the creation of a one-world Caliphate. Before now … before this generation of trophy-holders, the idea of striking a blow at the infidel sounded okay in theory but not many were willing to try because most were content with life as it was. The old generations saw their responsibilities to their families and society as being more relevant than any responsibility to wage jihad. These generations were not so full of bitterness and resentment because they had not been raised to believe that the world was against them. Today’s generation sees oppression in every rule, tyranny in every law, abuse in every action.

But how realistic is this ideal? Radical Islamists have convinced themselves it can happen – that victory can be achieved and God will prevail. Their message is simple: the only reason Islam has not conquered the world yet has been because of the evil of the non-believers and the complicity of the apostate regimes who have used force and violence to oppress Muslims everywhere. Get rid of the regimes, strike blow after blow against the infidels, and victory will be achieved. The only problem with this plan is that a big chunk of the world hasn’t bought into it yet. But that doesn’t stop them, because they believe. How dare anyone tell them their dream is a load of crap!

The idea of revenge is intertwined among the writings of the Koran and plays a huge role in its attractiveness to this generation. If you have been raised to believe that you started off in life as being perfect then any imperfections must be explained away. Either you accept responsibility for your failings, or you find someone, or something, to blame. Islam provides the answer and the focus for your contempt and scorn. What better way to make myself feel good than to find someone I can blame for screwing up society, line them up along a ditch, and shoot them in the back of the head. That will teach you to disrespect me, dammit! Militant Islam absolutely thrives on this idea of revenge, and who better to jump on this bandwagon than a group of guys with hurt feelings looking to return the value to their lives that was stolen by the evil around them.

Let me simplify this for you. If you want to stop Islamic terrorism, spank your kids when they need it, and support everyone else who does. Only when we raise a new generation that understands life is hard and not everyone gets everything they want, will we truly prepare these children for the life that is to come. They must learn patience, tolerance, self-responsibility, and most of all pragmatism – that life isn’t perfect and it never will be. It’s time kids everywhere learned this.

Of course, that’s not going to happen, so we should prepare ourselves for much more of what we saw in Chattanooga.

We reap what we sow.