PJ Media

One of the things which mystified the minds of the ancients was a conundrum which posed itself in the classic race between a Hare and a Tortoise. The Tortoise, given his slow nature, and to avoid a boring race and a complete rout, is given a head start on the Hare. After a suitable interval, the Hare sets out and the race is on.

The Hare can run ten times faster than the Tortoise. In the interval of time it takes for the Hare to cover the distance between itself and the Tortoise, the Tortoise will always be able to make additional incremental (though diminishing) progress against the Hare. If the Hare, running at 100 yards a minute sets out exactly when the Tortoise is 1000 yards ahead, it will take him 10 minutes to cover that 1000 yard distance. During this 10 minute interval, the Tortoise (who trundles along at 1/10th the speed of the Hare or 10 yards a minute for the sake of our little story) has covered an addition 100 yards. The Tortoise has added 10% additional distance now before the Hare can catch up and surpass him — In the 1 minute it now takes for the Hare to run that additional 100 yards, the Tortoise has covered an additional 10 yards, and so forth.

Conclusion: The Hare can never quite catch up with the Tortoise because there will always be an infinitessimally smaller distance for him to cover, and in the span of time it takes to cover that additional increment, the Tortoise will add 1/10th of it again for the Hare to traverse.

What is wrong with this formulation?

The answer is important, for it relates directly to the mindsets of many of those above who unquestioningly think this is worth all the attention it’s getting, and argue against those who utterly disagree (and note sometimes the silly vituperation above!)

So for all the Sisters Rosetta, the JDs, the Nancy Hunters and Arashes, the Khashayars and the Winstons, and the Mohammad-Reza Pardisans and the MarcHs, and the myriads just like them in the West — To all those who seem unable and unwilling to understand what is plainly before our noses I say this:

You opt for emotional exhibitionism over intellectual reflection, prefer gushy sentimentality over effective and worthy actions. You view the hugeness of our calamity with the absurd and microscopic scrutiny of the befuddled ancients, and do so at a moment in time when the minions of Islam are marshalling in every quarter and across the Globe to subvert and destroy that which makes it possible for persons such as you to persist in fantasist bubbles.