The Sentimental Factor

Photo Source

From one of the watchdog blogs, the writer was thinking through what can save the West from the onslaught of the passionate Jihadists from conquering the West. His answer was "freedom", it was the only thing the West cares about and can be passionate about to stop an Islamic Regime. Unfortunately, the kind of freedom the West and of most modernists is personal liberty. It is this ideal of personal liberty and personal right that brought forth a highly tolerant and pluralistic society.

Tolerance and pluralism are good things but there are boundaries when crossed become detrimental. At this point the tolerance and pluralistic levels had reached a point of relativism wherein rights and wrongs had been obscured even irrelevant. Individuals will be MOVED only when their personal liberty is threatened.

Personal liberty (right) is individualistic and is always in conflict with another's personal liberty. Such is the case with abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia. It is a society that runs on fractures wherein the most moneyed, the loudest, and most active are the arbiter of personal liberty. Thus, the kind of freedom the West wants will not be a polarizing factor against an expanding Islamic control.

Personal liberty thrives in a narrow view. It lives in a self-centered reality, thus, it is often desensitized to a wider reality. It is difficult to wake up a society unconscious or indifferent of what is happening around. It will be too late when the reality sinks in.

Personal liberty that had lost its boundaries has become dependent on government. To a certain extent, it has become a slave, too, except for speech and expression. A society whose prime value is personal liberty will welcome a tyrant, an atheist, a communist, a monarch, a caliph or whoever as long as there are promises of the desired personal liberty.

Fear, passionate nationalism, or a strong conviction of one's Religion can be the only force to turn the tide. Legitimate fear, though, is often ignored in the "positivist" prosperity gospel. In a self-centered reality, there is lack of sensitivity or an enduring concern for what's happening beyond his/ her personal realm. Thus, what is happening somewhere else is not scary. However, if the prospect of losing personal liberty is hammered in, fear will be a MOTIVATING factor to stand guard.

A conviction of Religious belief is the best defense because it is the one that is really at stake. The way things are, with many atheists, humanists, nominal believers, ecumenists, there is hardly religious conviction in modern society to counter the conviction of the jihadists.


Nationalism is the only way, that is, the love of one's country (and country of origin) and its tradition and heritage. We all hold precious memories no matter how imperfect our lives are. Those memories are imbedded in our country and country of origin. Even our cultural religion would be of some value. These are things we don't want taken away from us. We may call it "sentimental value" but it is perhaps the only thing we have in common. It is the homeland that links the precious memories of people, and it is the only polarizing agent to protect and defend it from aggressors.