ISIS and Huck Finn

Recently John Bachelor interviewed a historian who spoke of the Vietnam War and how we lost it because the Vietcong set out to show more willingness to die for their cause than we for ours. The American public was led (misled?) into believing our effort was hopeless and too costly. We finally agreed.  Let the North gobble the South. I watched in shame as we abandoned our former friends.
I believe we are in grave danger unless and until we see to it that ISIS ceases to hold territory. I also believe that we cannot negotiate with ISIS. 
Now, ISIS loves killing and dying. We do not. This poses a problem for my belief that we must deprive Isis of its base, almost certainly by use of ground troops.
If we wage a military campaign we will inevitably need to recall it for political reasons. It seems futile to enter Mesopotamia since in short order we will lose heart for the fight.  
Will we have the heart for what is coming, I wonder.
Will we stand up to these barbarians who massacre the innocent and desecrate the classical heritage of antiquity, too?

Then I recall that

A committee of teachers and administrators agreed this week that the "community costs" outweighed the "literary benefit" of keeping Huckleberry Finn in in the high school curriculum. 
Nevermind that no one ever asks the majority of the parents what THEY might want in the way of decent education for their children.
Nevermind that Ernest Hemingway called Huckleberry Finn the "best book we have"--partly because it is realistic.
Nevermind that Jim is the most decent father figure in the book, especially compared with white trash Pap.
Nevermind that Jim is no Uncle Tom (pace Richard Ellison): he is righteously angry and reproves Huck for the practical joke Huck has played upon him in the fog.
Nevermind that Huck takes the lesson to heart and apologizes to the him
Nevermind that Huck decides he would rather lose his soul and suffer in Hell forever than betray his friend Jim: "Very well, then, I will GO to hell" he decides, instinctively knowing that Jim cannot be stolen "property."
Nevermind all that. These elitists have now declared that the author is racist or offensive or insensitive and that an illiterate reading of a classic text deserves respect and honor and even the force of  school law to enforce the little bit of their Sharia.

And we are the people who must stand up to ISIS and show them that we will fight and die for our principles MORE than they will for theirs?
Are we kidding? Should we just order our prayer mats now?