Daily Times

‘Arab Spring’. I hated the phrase as soon as it was coined by mainstream media. I knew that the Arab Spring would be followed by a ‘Carbon Winter’. We are there now. And we scarcely know what to do. The news broke regarding protests in Egypt and the brutal murder of our ambassador in Libya. The anti-American protests continued to explode across the landscape. What we carelessly labelled as emerging democracies have shown themselves to be tinder boxes.

Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood conveniently use the Salafi flank to do their dirty work on the streets. The Salafi are the intimidators and enforcers. And provide plausible deniability. And so the US pays for protection. It is protection from the mob that is necessary for international business to thrive. The crowds are dispersed home. And whilst the Muslim world rails against the freedom of expression that America enjoins, the freedom of the newly emancipated is akin to that of cattle stampeding off a cliff. As I said to one dear Muslim friend, unless you are an American, you cannot grasp what freedom of expression means to us. You have to be born to it.

One of the symbols of resistance that I have followed for several years now is the simple black flag with Arabic lettering that has made an occasional appearance on jihad forums. This emblem was used quite a bit by Al-Shabaab of Somalia, and with more limited use amongst Iraqi jihadists. But of concern in recent weeks is the more popular use of this emblem of resistance amongst the swelling throngs of Muslim protestors who rail against the west, a world they scarcely understand and which some secretly hope to join. Groups of people formerly inoculated within their populations by the noose offered up by tyrants have found their freedom. But it is the freedom to present as the angry Arab street, the perpetually maddened Muslim. So while the bigger brains of science worry about a nuclear Winter, the rest of us merely worry about this emerging Carbon Winter.

“I count the centuries, until I come to the dark one. A hundred years of genocide and Third World Caesars. Someone has said, ‘Japan survived the bomb and prospered’. Blessed assurance! It is not the Geiger counter that ticks away our time. It is instead the weight of so much clay” –Mike Carter, PhD.

Yes, it is the weight of so much clay that bedevils us. And it is a Carbon Winter that will increasingly diminish the American footprint across the globe. Sure, we will continue to throw money at the problems, but we will no longer be able to give to you what is most needful: American talent and ingenuity. We cannot be on the ground unless travelling in a convoy and looking about anxiously.

The film that exposes the tinderboxes is not the act of a loving individual. But it is the exercise of the right of freedom of expression. Within communities at rest we barely give such things a second thought. Who has the time to view an amateur YouTube production, unless of course, part of an agitprop cell? Freedom of expression that has evolved to the extent that we enjoy in the US is experienced within a prosperous community at rest. Our community sports the faces and smile from people of every nation. Even American Muslims understand that a worm in one apple does not make the bushel bad. Those of us who honour the true tenets of our freedom are the long and loving shadow, which keeps such things in virtual darkness. Most Americans had not even heard of this film until it was hawked in Egypt and beyond to suit the purpose of hidden masters of intrigue. They got their wish. Carbon Winter.

Sadly, America has poorly managed our script abroad. When crowds storm our embassy in Egypt, an apology is offered for “hurt feelings”, as opposed to firmly reminding the Egyptians that we are unique in history, utterly unique, in the freedoms offered our citizens. It seems the current administration functions as a ventriloquist act. The first order of business is to throw their voice into volatile regions. The second order of business is to scarcely affirm what continues to make the US a damn good place to live. When an ambassador is brutally murdered in Libya we proclaim a digital film as vile and reprehensible whilst ignoring the intense pain of the American people as we watch the brutality unfold from Benghazi. It is an appeasement/comfort model that does not work well for either audience.

Some Americans have already entered an era of self-censorship because we are intimidated by the images we see of Muslims abroad. It is the image of the angry Muslim. Black flags, burned buildings and our diplomats under siege across the globe affect us on a far deeper level than a YouTube film. And sadly, when we enter self-censorship, we degrade the very freedom that has made our nation a wonderful place to live, grow and raise our families. We can say what we want without concern that as darkness falls, a mob intent on our death is quietly gathering outside our home. You have no such luxury where you live.

Even as I write this, I am reminded of the times when gracious offers have been extended for me to visit Pakistan. I would love to visit your nation, enjoy the sights and sounds of your streets, and to enjoy your hospitality. It will never happen. I would hate to end up like Ambassador Christopher Stevens. I have seen the images. My heart goes cold.

Therefore, Americans will continue to reduce their footprint across the globe within the tinderboxes of newly found ‘freedom’. We will send our tax money, but our talent will stay home. We will stay in the US, in a land where our constitutional right to freedom of expression must endure. We will resist self-censorship. For your sake. And for our own.

The writer is a freelance journalist and can be reached at tammyswof@msn.com