Cousin Clueless

By  Tabitha Korol

February 21, 2013

            There are many people who think and vote as I do, with an ever-vigilant eye to the security of America and Israel –two of the most dynamic, generous and productive democratic systems in the world.  Dishearteningly, however, many of us have discovered that some of our blood relatives, even close family members, are oblivious to the existential dangers that these nations face.  I am one of many afflicted with such kin.  For the sake of this essay, I’ll call my cousin Clueless (“C”), since his own name, defined as “wise” in Latin, is a mis-aptonym at best. 

            He recently re-entered by life via the Internet, after our dissociation in 1996 when he displayed an extraordinary lack of compassion and understanding for a personal matter.  But now, well over a decade later, he e-mailed me a superficial opinion of my latest articles that I assumed he had scrutinized.  A retired, successful professional, C wrote that he sensed a “drive” in my writing; I explained it as survival instinct. I actually wound up asking him if he was pro-democracy, and he answered, “Apparently.”           Certainly, I had hoped this man of few words might elucidate further.  Instead, he advised me, “We are both intelligent people and we could agree to disagree”– a mantra that the self-styled intelligentsia use to inform those on the lower strata that they are simply too evolved to discuss existential matters.  In point of fact, he discounts the distasteful, revises the worrisome, and blames the messenger for upsetting his harmony. 

            I wondered how C’s intelligence and expertise in Value Engineering helped him appraise the decomposition of our American Constitution, the destruction of the American Dream of freedom for our progeny, the evisceration of our military, and the increasing invasion of Islam worldwide – 20,392 jihad attacks to date since 9/11/01 – as well as the stealth jihad into the White House and our institutions of learning by the virulently anti-American, anti-Semitic Muslim Brotherhood.  Rather than disagree with hard cold facts, he resorts to his leftist “feelings” and denies reality.  He prefers his news in small, inoffensive portions and chooses to be “up-lifted.”  

            My cousin and his ilk consciously opt to rebuff the encroaching threats of Communism, Progressivism, stealth jihad, schools infiltrated by compliant professors with revised textbooks, Boycott-Divestment-Sanction rallies against Israel, ever-throttling American debt, diminished military strength, secret funding and weaponry for Palestinians and Egyptians, Muslims’ burning worshippers in their churches across Africa and murdering Christians worldwide, the rape of un-shrouded women in Malmo Sweden, terrorizing Jewish residents in Norway and Denmark, harming Jewish students in France’s schools, no-go zones in Detroit and Los Angeles, and car bombings and beating Jews in Brooklyn. How much longer must this list be before the Clueless populace “gets it?”   

            I urged C to recognize whom to fear, mentioning the Islamic catchphrase, “Today the Saturday people, tomorrow the Sunday people.”  He contests.  I told him about the 57 Islamic nations against one Jewish state – 1.5 billion people against eight million – and Obama’s pressure for Israel to cede more land.  He resists further.  Why?  Because he is the epitome of Winston Churchill’s appeaser – “One who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last,” but recall Ronald Reagan’s codicil, “but eat you he will.”              

            Inexplicably, without one word to address anything in my email, he wrote his brief bio, informing me of his father’s flight from the Russian pogroms to pursue the American Dream, mentioning the schools he, my cousin, attended (although some may no longer be safe for today’s Jewish students), and continuing his father’s loyalty to the Democrat party of the 1940s (whose President FDR “fiddled” while millions of Jews burned). 

            He said, “We Jewish people felt the necessity to help save the Jews that were being held in concentration camps by the Germans.”  Not so!  Neither he nor his father marched with the 400 rabbis who sought an audience with FDR through the front door while the President sneaked out the back.  This man would have been among the Jews who were bamboozled then just as he’s bamboozled now, and doing nothing. He blames the neocons for disrupting his desire for uplifting thoughts; he blames Daniel Pipes for reporting the truth! 

            And why is my cousin not dedicated to the Constitution that his father swore to uphold?  His duplicitous belief system helps to provide an explanation for his indifference.  He said he’ll continue “walking on a straight keel.”  With the Barbary pirates on one side and sharks on the other, he’ll be on the keel that leads directly to the ship’s edge and the depths beneath.  And with each new appointee, one more anti-Semite, Communist, or Muslim Brotherhood operative, one more enemy of Americans and of the Jews, Clueless will continue to focus in only one direction:  away.   

            Coincidentally, during these same weeks, I heard from an old friend who returned to her native England some years ago to live out her retirement.  She remains unaware that Sharia law has been accepted into her country; that Muslims are marching in London with signs “Death to the UK, Death to the US, and Death to the Jews”; that Anjem Choudary leads demonstrations for Islam.  She wants to share her new interests and occupation since she became widowed, but not to learn of my interests, and certainly not to discuss politics.  Here is another soul who believes what she believes because she believes, hoping to remain untainted by the ugliness of reality – another lamb who prefers to believe that wolves are vegetarians.   

            Clueless ended his email with a compliment to himself – that he found writing his bio to be cathartic.  (I found it unnerving and infuriating.)   If, by cathartic, he meant “purging,” a word with several nuances, then I might, just this once, agree.  But from this interchange, I have learned the truth of an old adage:  No man is completely worthless – he can always serve as an example.

 ***

 

Tabitha Korol, began her political writing with letters to the editor, earning an award from CAMERA (Committee on Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) "in recognition of outstanding letter-writing in 2009 to promote fair and factual reporting about Israel” during her first year. Her op-eds have appeared in Arutz Sheva (Israel National News), The Algemeiner, Right Truth, RenewAmerica, NewMediaJournal, JewishIndy, Canada Free Press, Israeli Advocate and others. She also proofreads for a monthly city newsletter.

A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, she composed the music for the school’s alma mater, and designed fashions and fabric in New York.  Once she and her family moved to Ohio, she wrote customer service correspondence for two major manufacturing corporations for a combined 25 years, and lifecycle events and obituaries for a specialty weekly newspaper before her retirement and entry into journalism.

 

Comments

[John]

I found this to be one of the most interesting and insightful posts that I have read in a long time.

[Susan Benton]

Brilliant as usual. Well done. Alas, what is the answer, how do we wake these people up?

[Kevin O'Neil]

John and Susan, I wholeheartedly agree with your comments. This essay is astute, witty and, above all, passionate. Regarding the rather odious C, I am reminded of the Biblical king of Israel who, depressed by the news that his kingdom was doomed, cheered up considerably when he learned that it wouldn't happen in his lifetime but in that of his children.

[Chavah]

Thanks so much for a great article.