Wednesday, November 10, 2004

BBC NEWS | Europe | Blast wounds Dutch police in raid

Another attack. In the Netherlands, the heat is on...

My last posting about this brewing battle was intentionally over the top (hoping to spark debate that never came. sigh). There I argued that sometimes fighting against violence is the best means to protect a liberal society.

Is there a limit to how far tolerance can go before it erodes into nothingness? I have a strong suspicision that people who immediately criticized the bombing of the muslim school in the Netherlands are correct in generally repudiating violence to solve problems. Yet, I have a nagging voice in my head that wonders if that feeling is not somehow masking a cowardice to act that comes from too many years of peace -- an inability to face the difficult choices ahead.

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