First there was Kevin Barrett, the nutcase who thinks America orchestrated the 9-11 attacks as a way to fuel a war in the Middle East. Despite his wacky views, he was still hired as a part-time instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison last fall.
Just as bad, and possibly worse is David Bell, history professor at Johns Hopkins University. Bell claims that while the 9-11 attacks were unspeakable, the American response to that tragic day has been an overreaction. In fact, Bell calls it a “massive” overreaction.
In
a column in the Los Angeles Times, Bell minimizes and trivializes the savage murders of 9-11 by comparing them numerically to the 20 million deaths suffered by the Soviet Union in World War II. Sure, Bell says, there have been about 6,500 casualties in the war against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Bell scoffs at the totals, claiming the same number of people die on American roadways every two months.
Bell refers to political scientist John Mueller, the author of a book entitled, “Overblown.” Why that title? Because that’s how Mueller sees our reaction to the threat posed by terrorists. Mueller foolishly submits that the U.S. has overreacted to every threat in modern times, including Pearl Harbor. What were we supposed to do? Take the Russ Feingold approach, wave a white flag and hide under our beds?
We’re not supposed to get so emotional or so excited about terrorists, Bell adds, since they may possess the desire to annihilate us, but lack the ability. According to Bell, “not every enemy is a threat to our existence.” Try telling that to the surviving families of the 3,000 or so innocent people who were murdered on 9-11.
I find Bell’s assertions to be outrageous and offensive. And yet I’m not surprised. The extreme left has permeated American campuses. They dominate in teaching roles in college and university classrooms. So the kind of garbage people like Kevin Barrett and David Bell spew is what our students are hearing in lecture halls all across the country. Huge amounts of tax dollars fund their teaching positions, allowing them to spout their nonsense.
I’ve often felt that one of the national network or cable television talk shows or newscasts should open their program with video of the 9-11 attacks as a much-needed reminder. It is incredibly sad that far too many Americans have forgotten what happened on 9-11 and why brave young men and women fight the war on terrorism on foreign soil, so we can be safer at home.
The murders perpetrated on 9-11 were evil and sadistic. Supposedly learned men like David Bell who say America has overreacted ought to be ashamed of themselves.
