Know Thine Enemy

The news that Steven Spielberg has begun production on a movie based on the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics (which was the subject of a documentary, One Day in September, which I haven’t seen but by most accounts is powerful stuff) has, not surprisingly, raised the hackles of the conservative media over the pond:

Debbie Schlussel, a right-wing pundit, has blasted Spielberg for being too soft on terrorism and dubbed the project a ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ movie. ‘We don’t need more psychobabble about understanding the terrorists and why they hate us. Who cares why they hate us?’ she said.

Who cares why they hate us? Surely anyone who wishes to see an end to terrorism in our time cares why, I would have thought. It seems this loudmouth hasn’t heard of the phrase “know thine enemy” — a sentiment I would think is more relevant now, in this age, than it’s ever been. (That’s particularly scary knowing that Schlussel is apparently an attorney, and supposedly has “unique expertise on radical Islam/Islamic terrorism”.)

But I guess it’s tough getting that message through to Planet Ignorance, where the right-wing pundits reside.

Sun 10 Jul 2005 at 15:36   ·