Don’t be afraid to call evil by its name

http://bostonherald.com/print/news_opinion/columnists/joe_fitzgerald/2013/05/don_t_be_afraid_to_call_evil_by_its_name

What would help a lot right now, as the chilling reality of savagery engulfs us, would be a cultural green light to begin calling evil what it is, to begin calling it by its name, to stop dancing around demographics because of the fear someone, somewhere will take offense.

There is always someone, somewhere looking for a reason to be offended. Jesse Jackson has fashioned a lucrative career out of being perpetually peeved. It works if you know how to play the game.

And one of the reasons it works is that too many people who ought to know better allow themselves to be characterized as racists, xenophobes, homophobes, anti-Semites; it’s a long list.

It’s getting to a point where, even when you know there’s no hatred in your heart, you find yourself picking words the way a shopper picks tomatoes, looking for just the right ones, casting questionable ones aside.

This has been going on a long time.

Back in 1979, when the late Darryl Williams, then 15, was sentenced to live as a quadriplegic by a lowlife who shot him on the sidelines of a football game in Charlestown, this city refused to declare it a hate crime, evidence notwithstanding, fearful of possible ramifications in those turbulent days of anti-busing frenzy.

Misguided sensitivity trumped common sense, which it’s still doing today as civilized society tries to find ways to acknowledge we face a menacing foe while giving no offense to anyone wearing a burqa, hijab or turban.

It shouldn’t have to be pointed out that entire groups are not responsible for barbarians in their midst, but it also should not be uncomfortable to call those barbarians by their names, whether it’s in response to placing bombs at the feet of unsuspecting innocents, or the beheading of a young British soldier in broad daylight on a London street.

With their hands covered in that soldier’s blood, those self-proclaimed jihadists displayed their weapons to horrified onlookers, as one of them was heard to vow, “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. You people will never be safe.”

You people? Yes. Us, or the “infidels” as these madmen prefer to call anyone who doesn’t subscribe to the insanity of their toxic faith.

Remember, the last words of the hijackers who flew into the World Trade Center were, “All praise to Allah!”

Political correctness? Please.

If ever there was a time to deal with facts, not feelings, it’s now.

No offense to Allah, but God help us if we don’t wake up