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September 19, 2006
Raging at dark days
I'm going on a long trip for the next couple of days, and the problem with traveling is that it interferes with blogging. Might check in if I have time, but meanwhile there are several things worth reading. This week's RINO Sightings Carnival is hosted by longtime favorite jd at evolution, and the theme is how the tyranny of identity politics destroys freedom. And even life: The foriegn minister of Pakistan, noted bastion of religious tolerance and freedom, says of the Pope: “Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence.” Got it? The Pope made bands of Islamist militants murder a nun in Somalia.It's an old and tired theme, but (as jd oberved in an ealier post) just as a rape victim is blamed for the rape, the West is to blame for the violence inflicted against them because they gave offense: most Westerners these days will twist themselves into impossible pretzel shapes to avoid “giving offense”, and in some places the “freedom from offense” (which I do not believe exists) has been codified.jd asks whether there is any hope for a unity among people who enjoy freedom, and points to Judith Weiss's look at an alternatives to the UN. As Mark Coffey observes, a nuclear attack is more likely than ever. (But I guess we deserve it, for we have supported Israel, and tried to interfere with Iran's right to nuclear self determination.) Did you realize that you might be considered offensive and in need of political correction by a review board for dating members of the wrong race? I didn't either, but Digger has a great post on the subject of white men who get involved with Asian women. Unbelievable. jd did a great job with his analysis, and all the posts are worth reading. For more insight into the psychological mechanics of the metastasizing war against the West, Paula R. Stern has an excellent op ed titled "Where Synagogues Burn": The lesson of history, learned over the centuries, is that where synagogues burn, so too will churches. Just a year ago, the abandoned synagogues of Gaza were desecrated and burned. There was little condemnation, except by those of us who knew that a society that burns a synagogue, will also kidnap, murder and terrorize.There's a crucial difference between the West and its attackers: the bottom line is simply that we in the western world don't act that way. We don't riot when insulted; we don't burn when inflamed.That difference is what we in the West naively call civilization. We tend to assume that all people want to be civilized. The enemies of civilization don't. They want to kill us. For things like looking at the wrong pictures. For quoting obscure Byzantine emperors. And what do we do? We apologize, because among civilized people, an apology is seen as the civilized thing to do when someone is offended. The problem is, uncivilized people see apologies as weakness. No number of apologies is ever enough. Which means one is too many. jd is right to call these "dark days."
posted by Eric on 09.19.06 at 06:18 AM |
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