One so-called benefit for Hizbollah and those who cheered them on in the Arab world is judged to be Arab dignity:
"The biggest thing here is that Hezbollah and their small force has been able to restore the dignity of the Arabs. That is the bottom line," said Timur Goksel, an American University of Beirut professor who spent more than two decades as a senior U.N. adviser in south Lebanon.
Ah, how fleeting is dignity. Weren't we told that the opening offensive by Egypt and Syria in the 1973 October War restored Arab pride after the 1967 Six Day War? Didn't Saddam's Scud strikes in 1991 without Israeli retaliation boost dignity. I thought that was supposed to be the big dent in Israel's military reputation. I guess not. Wasn't Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 a boost to Arab morale after showing Israel was not invincible following Israel's eventual win in the October War and the rapid victory over Syrian forces in 1982 during that year's Lebanon invasion?
It seems like the results that boost self esteem are getting smaller and smaller. I'm just a history major, but that just can't be healthy.
But as in the past, the current boost will be short-lived. The loss of dignity isn't an external problem. The sooner the Arab world comes to grip with this problem the better. Innocent civilians are suffering too much for these brief bouts of dignity.
One would think the success of Arabs who move out of their culture and came to America where they succeed as other immigrants have would lead to a little more soul searching at home. Arabs aren't the problem, it's the culture of victimhood that demands infidel blood to bolster dignity rather than actual accomplishments.
Instead, so-called dignity comes from firing rockets at civilians, hiding among their own civilians, and avoiding complete destruction?
Respect must be earned. From everything from cartoon riots, to beheadings, to suicide bombings, to joy at bleeding on Jews in Lebanon, they've earned nothing so far.
