Ghost of a flea

The inevitable

American Digest believes a nuclear attack on the United States might at last awake the sleepwalkers (via Quotulatiousness). On the contrary. When that increasingly inevitable day dawns, we may expect to hear the following:

- the nuclear explosion was an accident and the United States military is to blame
- this is come-uppance for Hiroshima and Nagasaki (the name Okinawa will remain unspoken) and the United States military is to blame
- this is about Iraq, no matter what al-Qaeda cites as its purposes, and consequently the United States military is to blame
- this attack could not have been carried out by al-Qaeda, therefore Israel must be to blame
- this attack was carried out by militant activists, therefore Israel is to blame
- "cui bono?" they will say and blame "the Jews"
- the Reichstag Fire will be raised by latter-day appeaseniks and fascist-sympathizers who would have lit the match themselves
- if al-Qaeda could be proven to have carried out the attack then the United States had only itself to blame for this or that point on a laundry list of grievances and American "war crimes"
- if al-Qaeda could be proven to have carried out the attack then the accused should be tried as criminals in an "international court of law" because the accused could not be given a fair trial in the United States. anything else will be described as a "war crime"
- pleas for calm and an end to "the cycle of violence" will be followed by violent street demonstrations against American "arrogance"
- outrage that anyone should blame Islamists for their religious beliefs will be coupled with outrage at "religious fanatics" who use metaphors like "crusade" or "justice"
- expressions of solidarity and sympathy with the innocent victims, "We are all Americans" now, will be followed by mass street protests against American militarism and description of the innocent victims as "little Eichmanns"
- and then there will be those who express open agreement with the atrocity, as I heard someone gloat the night of September 11, 2001: "This is the first blow in the Revolution!" (they were off the Christmas card list)

I am certain I have missed more than a few equally inevitable reactions. Just as sure as I am that no matter what the day or time of year some idiot will want to coin a cutesy 9/11, 3/11, 7/7 expression clunkier than just saying the vexed date. Given the deaths of hundreds of thousands to nuclear fire, shock and radiation, I realize this will be a picky point to worry about when the time comes so I mention it now to get it out of the way.

Update: The Jawa Report offers a caption contest on the same theme.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at August 10, 2005 08:34 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.ghostofaflea.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4362

Comments

Post a comment