That which must be named.

If you’re a Harry Potter fan you can probably see a strong parallel between J.K. Rowling’s brilliant literature and events happening right now before our very eyes.

Fans know that the denizens of Hogwarts were frightened of Lord Voldemort. Voldemort is the key villain in the series. He is to them what ISIS now is to us.

One of the key complications throughout the arc of the Harry Potter series is that it is completely impolitic to say Lord Voldemort’s name out loud. All references to the villain take the euphemistic form of “He who must not be named.”

Thus the Ministry of Magic – essentially the government in the Harry Potter series – avoids having to actually deal with the existential threat that Lord Voldemort poses. Only Harry Potter and Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore are sufficiently forthright as to call Voldemort by name.

In dealing with the threat of Voldemort, Harry and Dumbledore are clear thinkers and clear talkers. They confront the problem head on. And without wishing to spoil it for you, it is ultimately Harry and Dumbledore who bring Voldemort to heel.

I don’t mean to trivialize geopolitical terror by comparing it to a fantasy book series. But there is a lesson.

ISIS is gaining in strength and boldness and capacity to disrupt a free society like ours in large measure because our leadership – namely our president — refuses to call the problem by its name.

I have no such reluctance. So here it is.

Radical Islam.

Cloaking it in euphemism betrays weakness and lack of resolve. That’s a key reason that we woke up Sunday morning to over 100 innocent U.S. citizens dead or grievously injured.

Say it out loud, Mr. President. It’s time.

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Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

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7 Responses

  1. Jena says:

    We need to declare war on this group. They are like a cancer, they just keep spreading their poison and ugly deeds.

    • Paul Gleiser says:

      I watched the video before I approved this comment in moderation.

      What this woman is saying is, in a word, CRAP.

      There is no moral equivalence between what the United States did in response to an unprovoked attack on our two most important cities and what ISIS fully and persistently states that it wants to do and is currently doing to unarmed, peaceful civilians whose crime is nothing more than being of Western descent.

      ISIS and its ideological kin will not be defeated by “listening” to them. Anyone who believes that believes in unicorns.

      Neville Chamberlain “listened” to Adolph Hitler. Seven years later, 50 million people were dead.

      • Not having worn my country’s uniform — let alone risked this CIA agent’s experience — I’m less-comfortable disqualifying her perspective from the comfort of an armchair.

  2. The problem isn’t radical Islam. The problem is Islam itself. “Radical” Islam is just Islam practiced in its pure and natural form–the Muslims truest to the teachings of their religion are the Islamic jihadists. There is no avoiding this fact. The people in our government who are “fighting” terror are secularists at best, with no understanding of the power of religion.

  3. Linda E Montrose says:

    The problem we have is, people are lured into believing this is a religion of peace. There is nothing peaceful in a religion that wants to destroy everyone and everything that does not adhere to their belief. There are also NO moderates. That is a myth. As soon as the interloper stepped into the Whitehouse, he started putting muslims in as CZARS. No one objected but the ones who could see what was coming. Well, it is HERE in America now. We either deal with it as it needs to be dealt with or we be like Europe and let them run amok!

  4. C M Solomon says:

    The video referenced above is about Amaryllis Fox’s secret life in the CIA that taught her one lesson: Listen to your enemy.

    I don’t know how anyone with a brain could be taken in by this STUPID woman. Moral relativism and political correctness is like a cancer. Once you get it, your brain ceases to process rational thought. Wanting to kill/eliminate your enemy that prides itself in slaughtering innocent humans as if they were feral hogs is a RIGHTEOUS cause. Fighting evil is righteous because it saves lives and honors the God-given rights of freedom and liberty to each person in order to live a moral and successful life. Good and innocent people have to die when fighting evil because the forces of evil try to use the innocent as shields in order to test our resolve. It is clear that Amaryllis Fox can’t be trusted to DEFEAT the enemy on rational terms. It’s a good thing that she wasn’t in charge of WW2.

    Anyone that claims words and listening can cure the evil that has possessed your enemy is suffering from the Stockholm syndrome or worse. It is a fact of life that evil roams about the earth and is an agent of Satan (the god of death) and must be defeated by everyone that values liberty and the gift of LIFE. Otherwise, we will revert to the culture of the middle ages and the slavery of the peasants that live to serve the king/dictator whether it is Hitler, Stalin, Mao, or even Obama (if he could get away with it) in the modern age. Freedom hating dictators and their followers can not be reasoned with; they must be destroyed, otherwise the “Blessings of Liberty” will be extinguished and the misery of evil and death will consume us all. We just don’t have the luxury to adopt the fallacious theory that we can sweet talk the enemy into giving up his evil nature and the worship of his evil god.

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