There Are No "Good Cops" in Islam

I think this one falls under the philosophy category as well as religion...religion just happens to be the subject of the example here. I am unashamed to say this, and it bears repeating...the things that America and Western civilization have done abd accomplished over the last couple of centuries is amazing. It's an experiment in freedom that has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest imaginations, and it's worth fighting for and preserving. To quote Captain Picard from Star Trek: TNG, there must be a point at which we as a nation and a civilization say to the barbarians at the gate (most of them of the Islamofascist persuasion), "No more! This far and no further! It ends here!" Continued appeasement and capitulation only puts us at the end of the line to be eaten by the alligators...it will not save us.

This junk about censoring cartoons and plays b/c Muslims might get upset and start rioting (thereby showing what a "peaceful" bunch they are), about shooting nuns in the back b/c the Pope quotes a six centuries old speech (accurately describing the violent spread of Islam by the sword), and about beheading Christians in the "moderate" Islamic country of Indonesia just because they are Christians...well, if we expect to survive, all that has stop, like yesterday. Allowing this type of behavior to proceed without response is no less enabling than someone who refuses to cut off a drug addict financially...the problem will never get fixed without some tough decisions, concrete actions to follow up, and sometimes dealing with unpleasant consequences following from these decisions.

I'm not encouraged by the behavior of our so-called leaders, and I fear that by the time they wake up and smell what the jihadists are shoveling, if we aren't already defeated, it will lead to a clash of civilization versus the Dark Ages the likes of which no one has even contemplated...not because it's impossible, but because it's too horrible to think it might actually happen (something like "Ghostbusters" where if the proton plasma streams getting crossed, everyone's molecules implode and the world ends, only slower and bloodier). I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm not encouraged. Read Rusty from My Pet Jawa blog and his great example of what I mean here.

"The "moderate" Muslim activists in the West are the most distasteful of the lot, IMHO. At each stage, the game is: "accept this accomodation, or else we'll be replaced by crazies." At each round, the "this" is a little larger piece of flesh than last round. "Censor the Mohammed cartoons, or else." "Get rid of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, or else." "Make the Pope apologize, or else." "Institute Shari'a law, or else." At each step, accomodation is the short-term rational choice.

I wonder: is there a point at which we (the West) are no longer willing to play along with the "Good Cop, Bad Cop" game anymore? Is there a point at which we're willing, in the short term, to be irrational? In other words, is there a point at which we're no longer willing to negotiate over our fundamental principles, even if there is a significant price to pay? Is there a point at which we make our own demands? Is there a point at which we're no longer willing to accept half measures and lukewarm gestures from our supposed "allies?" Is there a point at which we will draw a line beyond which we are unwilling to go, to throw down the gauntlet and invite them to join us as we all descend together into the Hell and chaos that supposedly awaits us?

If there is such a point, where does it lie?

If we can never figure out when we've crossed that point, isn't our subjugation just a question of "when" rather than "if?"