Short version:
- We don't understand them: they don't understand us.
- See the Indian Wars. We've fought a long war before against a foe we couldn't catch, who destroyed our towns and terrorized our populace. We are soft now: war will make us hard, and war is coming whether we like it or not. We didn't need to understand their culture or win their hearts and minds to pacify the Sioux. Someday, when we get a leader who can speak frankly about sacrifice to the American people, we will be on the road to winning this war.
- We will adapt. See Britain's new restrictions. Governments do what they think they need to in order to survive; see Korematsu v. US. We will restrict persons of Arab descent, immigrants, and whatever else we need to do to win when we are frightened enough. To borrow from the master, we are not at the beginning of the end, but the middle of the end of the beginning. It was an interesting gamble to avert a longer, bloodier war, and we have failed. We will win in the long run, barring random catastrophe, because we have more resources and because of the advantages nation-states enjoy. For example, it is difficult to pursue scientific research and development as a terrorist cell.
- Re: overeducated and underappreciated: welcome to the modern age, Holden Caulfield.
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