RALF SEIFFE |
Chicago Columnist Illinois Leader Political Analyst Entrepreneur Business Advisor Chicago Illinois Review |
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SEIFFE: Flakey TerrorismFriday June 1, 2007 By Ralf Seiffe Father
Michael Pfleger’s exhortation to “snuff” a gun shop owner convicts him
as a terrorist and a community failure. Pfleger’s complaint is that there
is too much violence in his community and that guns are the reason why.
That is absurd; there is too much violence in his community because there
are too many violent people. With his own words, Pfleger has joined that
category. Beyond that, his vilification of the gun shop owners show
best evidence that Pfleger is just another failed social improver looking
for a new target in order to preserve his own relevance. My
definition of a terrorist is anyone who uses--or advocates--violence, in the
presence of media, to accomplish political goals. Terrorists use
violence to leverage their limited capabilities by creating the impression
that anyone can be a victim of their violence. By showing up at the
gun store and advocating the crowd “snuff” the owner, the priest is
guilty of advocating violence. The event was staged, no doubt, to
generate publicity so that meets my qualifications for the media component.
Advocating the “snuffing” of legislators who will not kowtow to the
priest’s anti-Constitutional, legislative agenda is certainly a political
goal and fulfills the last qualification to meet my definition of a
terrorist act. In
addition, Pfleger recommends the “snuff” of politicians who do not agree
with his twisted view of public policy. This is a serious matter,
essentially the same thing as an Islamic cleric issuing a fatwah justifying
the political murder of those same legislators because they will not repeal
the First Amendment’s religious guarantee. Either must certainly be
a crime. One wonders
if Homeland Security or the Chicago Police will see it that way. More
important, however, is how this stunt proves Father Pfleger a failure as a
community leader. Remington may make shotguns but parents and
institutions make people. Pfleger leads one of the biggest
institutions in his community; it should be his job to offer an alternative
to violence to those children who live there and change their hearts.
Apparently, that hasn’t happened. Pfleger’s
ministry must be a bust because he continues to appear every few
years to skewer a new demon that victimizes his community. Were he
successful in his mission, it would follow that he’d be completely
consumed improving his community because that yielded the best outcomes.
Instead, Pfleger's campaigned against rum, cigarettes and now guns
indicating that the priest must prefer concentrating on objects rather than
building souls who can resist these temptations. Pfleger is clever
too; the gun campaign misdirects those who might question his effectiveness
in his parish. The deaths
of the 23 children who attended Chicago Public Schools are tragic. I
agree with Pfleger that it must stop. But, Pfleger’s brand of
terrorism, aggravated by the thoroughly discredited social prescriptions he
stands for, are hardly the example his community needs. It will do
nothing but demonstrate that violence is acceptable to the very children he
claims to represent and, in the long run, lead to more dead kids. ©
2007 Ralf Seiffe Ralf Seiffe advises business start-ups and product launches from Chicago, Illinois and is a political analyst and columnist for the Illinois Leader and Illinois Review. Webmaster Contact: Alynn Patzer alynn11111@aol.com |