If the Drudge Report is your home page, as it is mine, then
you might feel disheartened at the foolish remarks reportedly
made by our congressional leaders. Their naïvete is matched by
some European heads of state who seem to be more concerned with
the plight of polar bears than the latest atrocities committed by
radical elements around the world. Nevertheless, I am buoyed by
today's young adult generation, which might just rescue the world
from the baby boomers' leftist ideology.
Last Thursday I went to an eye-opening event given by Fuel For
Truth at the club Arena on West 41st. I'm not sure what I was
expecting, but I was surprised at the turnout of 500 young
attractive adults, who had been told they would hear the truth
about Israel, Radical Islam, and the reality of what is happening
in the Middle East. They came to hear the music, drink, and be
merry, and when it was time to listen, they did.
Two large video screens bore messages of the theme of the
evening: "Behind Enemy Lines." An hour and a half into
the festivities, the music was shut off and the presentation
began. The first speaker was Sergeant First Class Terry
Schappert, U.S. Special Forces, who explained that we here in New
York are the ones behind enemy lines. "Our enemies are
fighting an information war with us . . . , a war to convince us
that we are the cause of terrorism," he said. He then showed
slides on the screen with outrageous quotes by professors and
lecturers at our hallowed institutes of learning.
A visiting lecturer from Oxford, Tom Paulin, spoke at Harvard
University and said, "Jewish people living in Judea/Samaria
should be shot dead. They are Nazis, racists. I feel nothing for
them but hatred." Mr. Paulin also spent one semester at
Columbia University as a guest professor. Other quotes of similar
anti-Semitic import were displayed from professors at DePaul
University, and more from Harvard and Columbia.
Sergeant Schappert pointed out the terror cells operating in
America and he zoomed in on New York City terror groups, "Al
Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Jemmat Islamiyah, Hamas … looks
like New York is a popular place. Why aren't people marching in
the streets against this? Why isn't our media explaining what is
happening in our country? Why aren't people more aware about
this?"
Fuel For Truth believes the biggest problem today is the lack of
basic factual information reaching the entire American public.
Most importantly they target the demographic of 18- to
34-year-olds at clubs and college campuses. Thus far they've
hosted more than 60,000 young people who've gone on to volunteer
and recruit others.
Another speaker was Fuel For Truth's CEO, Joe Richards, who lost
a good friend in the attacks of September 11, 2001. He said,
"We go to colleges to dispel the misinformation being fed to
college students. We take our most social and well-trained alumni
advocates and send them back to their universities to recruit and
to teach people basic facts. We go to colleges because foreign
countries are buying the minds of our best students."
It was inspiring to watch these young club-goers listening
carefully to the speeches and signing up for more information.
I've posted their photos and more information on the evening at
nysun.com.
Then there are the clever founders of protestwarrior.com, Kfir
Alfia and Alan Lipton. I learned of their risky antics
infiltrating antiwar demonstrations in 2004 at the Republican
convention in New York. They carried signs that read, "War
never solved anything - except for ending slavery, fascism,
Nazism and communism" and "War is not the answer -
unless you're a socialist guerilla." These stalwart souls
have now released the hilarious "A Field Guide to Left-Wing
Wackos." Read it and laugh while identifying the 18 major
species of liberal protesters; e.g. the anarchists wear masks.
It's always tragic to view images of very young Muslim children
holding weapons and shouting hatred for Israel and enemies of
Islam, but teaching the young to hate is nothing new. Pope John
Paul II had been a young man in Nazi-occupied Poland where the
youth were raised on words of hate. The pope wanted our young to
grow up hearing words of hope and love so he initiated the Youth
2000 movement. An aura of peace is felt at all these
international pilgrimages every year when millions of youth from
all over the world gather together to pray.
It's hard to be disheartened by current events when witnessing
the possible future in the hands of this younger and wiser
generation, which may turn out to be the best of all.