"Nigerian girls inspire international action,” reads the headline on the front page of the May 7 Washington Post. But nowhere in the story will you learn of any action actually being taken to rescue the 276 Nigerian girls abducted over three weeks ago by the Islamic terror group Boko Haram. You find reports of “an international uproar” and “a growing outcry,” of comments by President Barack Obama and phone calls by Secretary of State John Kerry, of warnings by U.N. officials, of a letter from all 20 female U.S. senators, which, according to one signer, “is the beginning of sending a very powerful signal,” and of possible preparations for a “team of specialists” to possibly go to Nigeria to possibly help the Nigerian government possibly do something.
In sum, you find what you so often find when you observe
modern liberalism: “the sorry spectacle of justice without a sword or of
justice unable to use the sword.”
The plight of the Nigerian girls also inspired former
secretary of state Hillary Clinton to take “action,” in the form of a
much-reported tweet:
Access to education is a basic right & an unconscionable reason to target innocent girls. We must stand up to terrorism. #BringBackOurGirls
Let us pause to note the near-perfection of the “Bring
Back Our Girls” hashtag. “Our Girls” nicely captures modern liberalism’s
cloying faux-universalism. “Bring Back” epitomizes the pseudo-tough use
of the imperative voice—but with no assumption of responsibility for
action by the speaker. The tweet commands, “We must stand up to
terrorism.” But does the former secretary of state have any actual
suggestion for action? Or are we to stand up for a while, and then sit
back down?
After all, as the intrepid Josh Rogin reported in the Daily Beast:
Continue Reading : http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/all-tweet-no-action_791176.html
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