I could have done something...

It's called Tribes, and it is one of the most beautiful things I've ever read. Go read it, now, otherwise the rest of this post will seem disconnected.

There is one part of Bill Whittle's essay that I wish someone could explain for me, and it is in a quote from "The Bulletproof Mind."

While there is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, he does have one real advantage -- only one. He is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.

You see, the thing is there is this information war going on. (No, I do not think I am fighting it with this blog - this is just side notes, like taking notes in the margins of a book. It's more for myself really - in the past month less than one thousand people have seen this page, and if spambots count then the number is much, much smaller.) Though we've been kicking the crap out of the Jihadists militarily, we've been losing the war for people's minds. Which is more important? Well, look at Vietnam. In this one way, the war on terrorism is like the Vietnam War. Public opinion was, and is, stronger than bombs. They, the "wolves" know it, and a small number of "sheepdogs" know it, too. The vast majority of people in the world don't want to believe that there are bad people out there who want to kill us, the infidels. They don't want to know and get quite angry with you if you make them look at the man getting his head cut off (Nick Berg, Paul Johnson, etc.), the woman being raped (some of Saddam's government officials carried personnel cards identifying their official "activity" as the "violation of women's honor"), or the children being shot in the back (Beslan, the Feyhadeen in Basra and other Iraqi cities). I won't post the pictures, but you know I could. So when LtCol. Grossman says, "He (the sheepdog) is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population," in the context of an information war, what does that mean? Does that mean that when 98% of the population says, "Too many bad things have happened. It's just not worth it. I give up," and votes accordingly, the other 2% still has a chance? Or does it mean that when 98% of the population has lost touch with reality because it refuses to recognize a threat, the sheepdog can still see the threat in time to react? If the other 98% doesn't want to be protected, what then? I'm just asking.