Most Don't Want to Know the Answer

David Brooks: Refusing to look a cult of death in the face

David Brooks writes a poignant piece about the enemy we face in the current great world conflict.

"We should be used to this pathological mass movement by now. We should be able to talk about such things. Yet when you look at the Western reaction to the Beslan massacres, you see people quick to divert their attention away from the core horror of this act, as if to say: We don't want to stare into this abyss. We don't want to acknowledge those parts of human nature that were on display in Beslan. Something here, if thought about too deeply, undermines the categories we use to live our lives, undermines our faith in the essential goodness of human beings."

I was watching Fox News when David Asman asked of a guest, "What would cause someone to do this?" There are those who could offer you an answer, but their contribution would be dismissed out of hand. David Brooks touches on it when he says, "Something here, if thought about too deeply, undermines the categories we use to live our lives, undermines our faith in the essential goodness of human beings."

Perhaps it would do us all much good to think a little more deeply.