OPINION: Winning the war of ideas
An honest idea quietly delivered can seem wimpy. No cinematic superhero, to my knowledge, vanquishes villains with a well-reasoned argument. Few tough guys — fictional or otherwise — are known to listen to a thoughtful presentation of the facts, mull the pros and cons and then go, “Oh dear. I was wrong.”
But despite the spectacle of terrorism, war, politics and militancy, every human conflict is ultimately a battle of ideas. An army can conquer a city, a car bomb can devastate a community, a gun can force a conversion, but in time — sometimes, admittedly, an excruciatingly long amount of time — right prevails because right ideas persuade.
Too optimistic? I can be guilty of being that. History has had far too many chapters where despots, bullies and demagogues held sway, where decent people were ignored, persecuted or martyred — too many jihads, pogroms and inquisitions — to believe that wickedness is a mere flash in the pan. Whether overt or subtle, pernicious ideas can do tremendous damage. Honest resistance and strong defenses help contain them, but in the end it is the inexorable spread of better ideas that defeats them. Better ideas often start small, but decade by decade they win followers by proving their worth. A few examples: the scientific method, human rights, self-government.
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.