Ignorance Isn't Bliss

When most of us hear the word “ignorance,” we might think of someone living in a remote cabin in the woods with no electricity, no smart-phone, no Internet (gasp!), maybe an outhouse with a half moon on the door in the backyard.

But ignorance is a lot more than being uninformed. The root of the word is “ignore,” the definition of which is “REFUSE to take notice of,” according to Webster. Heck, you could even be somewhat informed, and still refuse to take notice of something. So it’s not about being stupid, it’s a deliberate choice.

Officially, we have tried to ignore the human tragedy in the Middle East for years. It’s none of our business, we can’t afford it, Bush screwed everything up, let’s get out of there. Fine. But in Syria, almost 200,000 people have been killed and several million displaced. The civil war there isn’t news anymore. It’s a failed state, a vacuum. And it is being filled by ISIS.

Who’s that? The dog on Downton Abbey?  Where were they six months ago? Well,  they are the latest scourge of the Earth. The heads of Messrs. Foley and Sotloff were by no means the first to roll at the hands of ISIS, but all of a sudden, we are paying attention, thanks to some nasty videos. They were OUR heads.

I have heard analysts say, “It’s not about religion, it’s about power.” Really? Power is like money: worthless until used. And what do the goals of ISIS appear to be? The establishment of a great Islamic caliphate, with everyone in it subject to Sharia law. Not the first time in history this has happened, of course. These human impulses aren’t always religiously driven, but when they are, it’s real trouble.

Now it looks like we’re going to have to do something about this, though we have no taste for involvement in it. The symbolism of the President telling us what he plans to do on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary cannot be ignored. The case is going to be made that ISIS really is our business.

But I hope the President will minimize discussion of what we’re NOT going to do. I say, leave everything on the table. That doesn’t mean we have to serve everything on every plate, but we should leave the table set.

We have already learned the hard way that massive military invasions in these cases don’t work very well, but yes, we may have to put small numbers of well-trained boots on the ground (in whatever form those may be) with very specific, targeted missions, along with the usual droning and bombing. It’s all going to cost us something – but now we are seeing what the price of doing nothing – our refusal to take notice – has been.