The war on "man-caused disasters"

Politically Correct Theater of the Absurd

Dear Robert,

Yesterday we emailed you the link to a video of an Islamist matter-of-factly discussing how easy it would be to smuggle anthrax across our border and kill over 300,000 people. Since then over 40,000 people viewed the video, demonstrating the reach ACT! for America currently has.

Juxtapose that video with the comments recently made by Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano. As the commentary below notes, Napolitano referred to Islamist terrorism as “man-caused disasters.”

As Diana West asks, “Is this a joke?” Unfortunately, no. Political correctness is running so rampant in Washington that the person charged with protecting our “homeland security” twists herself into an absurd rhetorical pretzel in order to avoid using the “I” word. Imagine the scorn that would have been heaped on Franklin D. Roosevelt if, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he declared war on “man-caused disasters”! That tells how much things have changed in Washington.

We asked yesterday “Why is our shared ACT! for America mission so important? Why is the Islamist threat so dangerous? Why is it essential that we overcome political correctness in America and awaken citizens everywhere?”

You see, we are not only fighting the evil of radical Islamists who are intent on destroying our way of life and replacing our law with shariah law. We are also forced to contend with the willfully self-deceived in our government who are more concerned with appearing respectable than with protecting our safety and liberty.

What can YOU do TODAY that will help us take one more step forward in combating this lunacy?

• First, forward this email to everyone you know, and urge them to log on to www.actforamerica.org and sign up for our daily email alerts.
  
  
• And second, call the Department of Homeland Security “Comment Line,” 202/282-8495, and let them know, in a firm but respectful way, that you are outraged and deeply concerned by Napolitano’s characterization of terrorism.

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The war on "man-caused disasters"


But what if the jihadist is a woman?

We're not fighting a War On Terror anymore. And we certainly aren't fighting a defensive action against the global jihad and/or Islamic supremacism. No, what we're doing is fighting a War on "man-caused disasters."

Feel better? Feel more politically correct? Less bigoted, racist, and Islamophobic? Good, because that's all you're going to get from this. You certainly aren't going to get any insight into who the enemy is, or why he (or she, Janet, you sexist) is doing what he is doing.

"'Away From the Politics of Fear,'" from Spiegel, March 16 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Janet Napolitano, 51, is President Obama's new Homeland Security Secretary. She spoke with SPIEGEL about immigration, the continued threat of terrorism and the changing tone in Washington.

SPIEGEL: Madame Secretary, in your first testimony to the US Congress as Homeland Security Secretary you never mentioned the word "terrorism." Does Islamist terrorism suddenly no longer pose a threat to your country?

Napolitano: Of course it does. I presume there is always a threat from terrorism. In my speech, although I did not use the word "terrorism," I referred to "man-caused" disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.

Diana West comments:

Is this a joke, a late-night skit's attempt to skewer PC lingo?

No, this is PC lingo. Having abandoned the idiotic but at least somewhat bellicose moniker "War on Terror," we are now into, what...the "Intervention into Man-Caused Disaster."

Of course, there are two PC problems with the "nuance" Mzzz Napolitano claims.

There is that pesky term "man"--sure to rile the feminists, let alone the female suicide bombers. Brace for the day when Secretary Janet discusses "Person-Caused Disasters."

But that leaves the fact that the kind of "persons" who cause the "disasters" in question believe that Allah, not man (and certainly not woman) causes everything. Remember Operation Infinite Justice? That was the name the US tagged onto the military campaign against the Taliban until Muslims complained (p. 166) on the grounds that they believe only Allah dispenses justice, infinite or otherwise. (And that was enough for Uncle Sam to changes names, natch.) This line of religious belief surely makes "Man/Person-Caused Disaster" practically a term of defamation. I'm thinking Madame Secretary will have to go with something else, maybe renaming the whole agency for further sensitivity's sake. Department for the Prevention of Allah-Caused Disasters, anyone?