The Willing Suspension Of Disbelief
Posted on August 5, 2008 by Michael Paskel |
“Despite what I view as your rather extraordinary efforts in your testimony both yesterday and today, I think that the reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief.” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to General David Petraus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Sept.11, 2007
That phrase, clinging to the threads of reason like a truth too large to pass unimpeded through the fabric which filters hope from unreality, has to be one of, if not the most, eloquent expressions of doubt in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary ever uttered. It was, to paraphrase George Orwell, “the bumping up against a hard reality by wishful thinking.”
Today, almost a year since that testimony was given and that assessment made, the numbers of deaths of U.S. service personnel in Iraq has ground to a near halt. That’s the good news. It leads some to ask why at last we can’t just declare victory and leave before the fratricide is renewed with bloody zeal. Others believe our leaving would be the flash point of hostilities, inflaming the renewal of war which our hard fought efforts seem to have tamped down at least for the time being.
The expression of doubt has a place in the toolbox of anyone who would weigh carefully the assessment of experts on subjects about which most of us by training or experience have too few tools at our disposal. Similar measure could have been taken of the pronouncements by The Bush Administration of the imperative to launch the pre-emptive war in April 2003 as a result of the attacks on the U.S. of Sept. 11, 2001 by Al Quida. Instead, the lemming syndrome prevailed and 4,000 U.S. lives and 2 Trillion dollars of our treasure have been wasted.
It is this debate, which we did not have before our invasion that will define our moral center. For we cannot long ignore the growing threat of radical Islamic fundamentalism and the terrorism which is it’s chief tactic, and not be guilty of inviting the next and perhaps far worse attack on our nation. While we grouse over whether to stay of leave Iraq, Osama Bin Laudin freely walks the caves and canyons of Afghanistan and Western Pakistan no doubt planning his next move against the West.
The resurgent Taliban represents the greatest singular threat to Western Civilization that has ever presented it’s self. The technology exists today that- should it fall into the hands of men like Atta or Bin Laudin- could unleash death and destruction on this planet that would bring about a total reshuffling of civilizations and human politics in favor of despots yet undefined and unknown We must make the choice of whether destroying a growing enemy which presents such a clear and present danger, is less important to us as a country than a single lame duck President salvaging his tattered reputation.
If such questions were raised about the wisdom of steaming full ahead through the icy black waters of the North Atlantic known to contain icebergs the night of April 14, 1912, history would be absent the tale of horror of the thousands who perished on the maiden voyage of Titanic.
What causes one to willingly suspend disbelief in the first place can be as simple as self-delusion and fear or as complex as an emotional investment in causes which require irrational commitment in order to see the investment to fruition, all evidence to the contrary not withstanding. Doubling down on a bad bet– pouring in good money after bad– only brings about a quicker arrival to an inevitability that a losing gambler finds unacceptable but cannot prevent.
And sometimes it’s due to an unimaginative approach or even an unwillingness to accept an apparent providential outcome.
In all fairness, athletes sometimes overcome great odds to achieve victory by the simple act of ignoring the defeat, which stares them in the face. Armies have for centuries overwhelmed and routed greater enemies by similar means. So what’s wrong with a little self-delusion from time to time as motivation for doing great things?
Nothing, so long as the avoidance of an unpalatable outcome
doesn’t lead to stepping off a cliff; dodging a broken shard of glass in the road is meaningless if it puts you in the path of a semi.
During the run up to the invasion of Iraq certain assumptions were made which orthodoxy required following to ends that brought more dead soldiers home in boxes from George Bush’s war than were necessary. And the failure to vigorously challenge this orthodoxy is the primary fault not of the media, though fail they did, but of the American people who’s skin was very much in this game.
If we are to prevail against Al Quida, we must commit more than the paltry numbers of troops and resources currently engaged in the hunt for Bin Laudin. This is the time for the American people to decide that the invasion and occupation of Iraq has been an unnecessary distraction from the struggle against radical Islamic fundamentalism and that our actions today and going forward will either be our finest hour in this century or will necessarily seal our fate and result in our being cast upon the trash heap of human history.
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Another great post Michael!