Calamity At Home

10/4/2001
by Karl Denninger

Almost one month ago a group of extremists awoke the sleeping giant of America by engaging in the worst act of terrorism the modern world has known.

As of today, it is clear that at least two, and probably three times, as many people - over 5,800 as of current counts - are either confirmed dead or missing and presumed buried under the debris in New York and Washington DC as were killed on December 7, 1941.

That is, at least, 5,800 families ripped asunder, and almost assuredly at least 5,800 children who have lost a parent in their life - and in some cases, children who have lost both of their parents.

We have a new "Date of Infamy" - 9/11/2001 - and as some have noted the first three numbers form the national emergency hotline that all of us know and hope we never have to use.

Current polls show that 88% - nearly 9 in 10 - Americans support the use of military force as a response to these attacks, and that there is overwhelming support for "bringing to justice" the persons and nations responsible.

The irony is that over the last 18 years we have born witness to thirty one million victims, each and every one of them innocent noncombatants - or more than 6,000 times as many as were killed in the heinous attacks on New York and Washington DC.

Most notably, these victims constitute a number equal to that killed or harmed in the WTC and Pentagon attacks - every single day!

And, along with them, has come a notable lack of outrage against those who perpetrate these atrocities.

What victims?

I will break it down for you.

Approximately 750,000 children are aborted every year (on average) over the last 18 years. In some years more, in some less. While a few (perhaps 5%) of those children had no hope of life in a form that most of us consider "humane", the huge majority were killed simply because their life was inconvenient to an adult.

Another 1,000,000 children suffer the death of their family, and in the majority of these cases (approximately 90%) it is the loss of their father from their daily life. And again, only a small percentage - 5% at most - of these are justified by a true threat by one of the parents towards the well-being of the children involved.

Why is there no outrage over these victims - almost as many (4700) each day as were killed in these attacks?

Several reasons:

1. These victims are created one at a time. Just as one random murder may make the news but does not provoke outrage in the general population, the enormity of this loss is blunted by the regularity of the event.
2. There are plenty of Americans who actually support these deaths, because they profit - either financially, hedonistically or emotionally - from their occurrence.

So, fellow United States Citizens, when do we stand up and say "enough!" to this carnage, just as we have said "enough!" to the concept of people crashing airliners into our buildings and people?

Good question.

As we watch our nation, the administration, and our country ponder the response that will be served upon the terrorists of 9/11/2001, let us pledge as people in this nation that it is unacceptable to cause the death and injury on our own soil that we, the people, perpetrate and tolerate upon the children and families in this nation.

Let us call upon our lawmakers and the public to stop the carnage.

Let us call upon our neighbors - and ourselves - to support as unacceptable the butchery of families and children for pleasure and profit.

If we fail - or refuse - to do so, then we are all complicit in the terrorism perpetrated upon families and children - with a "body count" almost equal to that of 9/11/2001 EVERY SINGLE DAY.

We have established a petition to ask the President of the United States to address these issues.

Please sign it!