In the comments thread on this post, Jeff Porten suggests I read the IHT editorial, America the Titanic, to prove to me that American hubris is leading to her ultimate demise.

Allow me to quickly summarize the editorial in bullet point form:

• The last American survivor of the Titanic sinking died in early May.


• The story of Titanic has lasted almost 100 years, because it's an almost mythical tale of hubris - the unsinkable ship that went down on her maiden voyage.


• World War I was the Titanic for Europe - the obstacle that sank the "unsinkable ship" of Europe.


• World War II was like the Titanic for America, but our losses were overshadowed by the unparalleled success we enjoyed after it ended.


• The Cold War was like the Titanic for America, except that by "sheer dumb luck," we navigated our way through it without destroying ourselves.


• Nuclear proliferation is currently like the Titanic for America, but like the captain of the ship itself, we don't see the danger.


• 9/11 was like the Titanic for America, but our losses weren't enough to open our eyes to the danger.


• The radical Islamic world, a demoralized Russia, a growing China, and an angry Iran are currently like Titanic for America, but we are not heeding the lessons of history and paying attention.

So basically, what we're saying is this: just as Europe "sank" financially, militarily and socially after World War I, America has come up against various obstacles since that could very well have destroyed her (except that we consistently fail to actually be destroyed). Given this history, it's amazing that we aren't predicting our own downfall given our current set of obstacles.

The morale of this story (IMHO): When your theory has no actual supporting evidence, explain why your evidence should support you, even though it doesn't. Then, triumphantly reach the conclusion you set out for in the first place.