Lee Smith at Slate repeats a question that has been posed across the Internet as Barack Obama prepares to speak in Egypt. He will be sending signals on many levels, of which the words he utters will be just one. But will he be sending the right ones? Smith writes about the danger of addressing Muslims as Muslims:
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini introduced many important ideas into contemporary Islamic practice and thought—especially the highly contested notion of vilayet e-faqih, that the religious guide should also hold supreme political power—but perhaps Khomeini’s major contribution was not an innovation but a simplification. To the question What does it mean to be a Muslim? Khomeini gave a one-word answer: resistance.
There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, stretching from India to Indonesia and from the United Arab Emirates to the United States, which makes Islam perhaps the world’s most heterodox faith. Some pray like this, others like that; some are white, some black; some are Arabs, some are Chinese; a minority think Ali should have succeeded the prophet of Islam directly, the majority think it turned out right with Abu Bakr following Mohammed. In addition to Sunnis and Shiites, there are Sufis and Salafis, Wahabbis and Zaidis, as well as dozens of other minority sects. Islam, despite the simplicity of its profession of faith—there is no God but God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God—is an esoteric creed with more than a millennium of jurisprudence and philosophy behind it. Islam is complicated. But Khomeini reduced this all to one big idea: Being a Muslim means opposition to the West, especially the United States. This is Khomeini’s Muslim world—not a caliphate or a wonderful mosaic of various practices and beliefs, but a unity forged on the anvil of resistance. This concept is what bridges, for instance, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni organization, and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Shiite militia.
This implies, given the idea that Islam means “resistance” in the street political context, that Obama, by giving his keynote from beside the authoritarians in Cairo risks empowering their opponents not with the idea of democracy, but with the notion of Khomeini’s “resistance”. He’ll be providing those who resent the authoritarians with a sense of identity and legitimacy — but of the wrong kind. Lee writes, “President Obama has unwittingly walked right into the middle of Tehran’s own public diplomacy campaign, one of the most effective PR efforts ever staged.”
In seeking to speak to the Muslim masses over the heads of their rulers, Obama, as columnist David Goldman (who usually writes under the name Spengler) explains, is undermining an important U.S. ally on his home turf.
“By addressing the ‘Islamic world’ from Cairo,” writes Goldman, “Obama lends credibility to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and other advocates of political Islam who demand that Muslims be addressed globally and on religious terms.” In other words, the American president is playing into the hands of those who seek to bring down the U.S.-backed order in the Middle East. … Washington’s Arab allies are telling Obama that Iran is the problem, but he can’t hear them while he’s doing Tehran’s public diplomacy.
Barack Obama may yet come to resemble Jimmy Carter in more than one way. We forget that Carter never thought his actions would finish up the way they did. Obama may intend to unjam the Middle East by doing something ‘innovative’ and ‘untried’ but wind up breaking the billiard rack in such a way that not Washington, but Teheran, gets to clean up the game.
Don’t create a bad set of initial conditions. Your opponents may run with it.
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Wretchard quoted Lee Smith:
“President Obama has unwittingly walked right into the middle of Tehran’s own public diplomacy campaign, one of the most effective PR efforts ever staged.”
Does anything Obama say or do in the Middle East have any relevance? The Saudi royal family along with the mullahs of Iran are not idiots. They must surely see that Obama is an aberration or more correctly a “malfunction” of the American political process. He’s just another permutation on the Jimmy Carter type. In less than 4 years, Obama will go “poof” along with his policies. The Saudis and mullahs will either ignore him or make the appropriate noises at him while trying to anticiapte who the next American leader will be.
Agree with you @1, Eggplant, but the Saudis and mullahs will take advantage of whatever openings Obama gives them to advance their interests and that may prove harmful.
Obama has trouble understanding what makes the USA a particular nation, with a distinctive constitutional and cultural history (perhaps which only those who cling to guns and religion believe exists); maybe his need to address the “Muslim world” stems from the same underlying deficiency in his imagination. I see a a mind that seeks to rule rather than to represent people and their differences, like an emperor reducing all peoples to the singular commands of state. Bondholders/shareholders, what’s the difference? why should I recognize debt holders as special?
IN other words, he may find it impossible to represent a shared global reality in a way that builds on the many real and practical differences whose recognition can serve to formulate viable forms of reciprocity. He may make it yet more difficult for us to avoid conflict over differences that become understood in the most general and provocative (because thin and unstable) terms.
Oh well, those of us who want to be able to help pick up the pieces will have to remember what makes a difference.
I take Muslim disapproval of US values, policies, etc. as a good sign. And the reverse is also true–if Muslims approve of whatever the US is doing, that’s quite likely a bad portent for any infidel stakeholders in the vicinity. For instance, most Muslims are all in favor of Israel being ‘wiped from the map’, whether it’s by ethnic cleansing, forced resettlement or by naked aggression. Most Muslims also want Sharia introduced in Western states, at least as a parallel legal system, with it eventually superseding constitutional and common laws. And most Muslims are perfectly fine with treating infidels as dhimmis (just google ‘Pact of Umar’ to find out what this means), which instantly renders most of humanity as second class citizens (or worse) who are vastly inferior to the slaves of Allah.
These attributes tend to be true regardless of Sunni or Shia, Arab or Persian, Black or White. Muslims who say otherwise are either woefully ignorant of their own ideology or, more than likely, are whispering soothing lies to their Western counterparts (google ‘taqiyya’).
And then there’s Obama, who seems to have elevated American official naïvety vis-à-vis Islam to levels not seen since the late 1970s. Of course, one cannot forget that Bush 44 also was eager to proclaim Islam as a “Religion of Peace©” at every possible opportunity. Dubya also invited Muslim clerics to hang out with him in the White House more than once. Hence, following the precedent set by his predecessors in the Oval Office, Obama is merely taking American Official Deference to the Religion of Peace to its logical conclusion.
D’oh, Dubya was the 43rd president. Took me longer than Wretchard’s five minutes to realise that.
To the question What does it mean to be a Muslim? Khomeini gave a one-word answer: resistance.
And I thought it meant submission. But submission != resistance
Then again, I have watched the world turn into an Orwellian dystopia since I first read 1984 25 years ago – at least with respect to the use of language.
Tolerance == Speech Codes
Equality == Set Asides
Fairness == Progressive Taxation
etc.
Coming to think of it, does anyone have an idea of what exactly Carter thought he was doing?
#1 Eggplant
In less than 4 years, Obama will go “poof” along with his policies.
I submit that the fact of either the Mullahs and the Saudis, or Obama himself believing that [or even after 8+ years] have yet to be proved.
Subotai Bahadur
There is something special about Obama, as in teflon, as in sinister, as in supernatural. He has risen meteorically to what the West regards as the most powerful position in the world. And based on what?. Face it: the left is made up up many intelligent folks. But they can’t see past the personna. What most BC’ers instictively sniff out, his deceptions and thievery, is totally masked to them by his style, ethnicity and delivery.
But BHO doesn’t see the POTUS position as the top spot IMHO. He’s riding this wave all the way. His meglomania will not be quenched until he rules all peoples, and for him, Islam is the means.
In an earlier comment, Wretchard asked, “Why now, why there”, referring to his upcoming speech to “The hopeful Muslim World” in Cairo. What are they hopeful for? The 12th Immam? The destruction of Israel, perhaps? Do they see B. Hussein Obama as their “One”?
This is Obama’s best opportunity to maintain momentum. It will be interesting to see how “The hopeful” react to his overtures. Why?, because the Muslim world is made up of very intelligent folks too. And if he passes their sniff test too…
That will mean there’s something very “special” about BHO.
this pendulum swings, and all, or most, of our eyes watch intently it’s, predictable trajectory
the – whoosh – of it’s close slice is here, now
and it’s future sway, lays just ahead, inevitable.
the – alarm – produces preparation –
and this is a good thing
to sleep, and dream
and then to awake -
#9 – Enscout, Indeed, Lord “O” is ascending fast! It may be through Islam, but there’s more to Egypt than Islam. There are other Islamic countries too. Why the speech from Egypt? Why not Jordan or Syria…or even Saudi Arabia?
Control is indeed his game. Possibly he will do it through Islam, but I think Islam is more a foot stool. There is significance to Egypt, and it predates Islam!
Less than 200 days in office and how many casualties are left in this man’s wake?
Yet his minions still “hope” for more “change”.
They will get it.
“May run with it” HE double hockey sticks! They WILL RUN WITH IT! To save the Republic, Freedom itself and the only proven method to lift all levels of human life out oppression, Capitalism! We MUST NOW “REFREESH THE TREE OF LIBERTY WITH THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS!” (As our fore fathers have said and over throw this government of tyranny! There is no other way…
Surely someone else has put the pieces together by now:
Cross-match BHO with the Antichrist.
I get the impression Obama is going to try to appease the dictators of the Middle East, after all, if the governments of hte Middle East started respecting human rights than we’ld have no one to send captured intelligence rich terrorists to, to get worked over.
It definitely appears the situation is nearly the same in the Islamic world as it is here in the US. No one much cares for the policies he is putting into effect or is in charge of, but everyone thinks he is just super.
Maybe his talk will get the Arab Street agitated but I am sure the dictators of the Muslim world will also feel a freer hand.
I had some friends that lived in Malaysia and they said the locals there took their Islam a lot seriously than those in the Middle East. That would have been ideal to make this speech in SE Asia, try to tap the center of Islamic gravity in a more moderate land. However, some very powerful interests probably would not like that.
It is said that there are bold pilots and old pilots, but no old, bold pilots.
The reasoning behind the saying becomes clear upon reflection – flying requires an aversion to risk taking to achieve any professional longevity.
The analogy to piloting the ship of state is accurate…for many of the same reasons.
Such risk-taking by a neophyte, a tyro, an amateur, is madness apparent to all.
“Those whom the gods choose to destroy, they first make mad.”
I agree with Eggplant. Obama’s appearance in Cairo, as his persona in general, will provide opportunities for propaganda, but in itself I doubt it will have much effect but to prop up another Potemkin milestone in his “historic” presidency, and thereby service the requirements of The Narrative. At most it may become an event the Arab powers that be will have to make reference to for a week or 3. Chris Matthews will of course get a spiritual erection. But Obama and the Left are utterly self-referential, and life will go on as before in olde Araby. Unfortunately Israel will have to take a few hits. How’d their huge civil defense exercise go, by the way? Or is it still in progress?
sf/14: Cross-match BHO with the Antichrist.
I don’t buy into the Nostradamus or Eschatology schools, but what odd power does this guy have over people that Brian Williams would bow to The One?
I mean, seriously, I was raised to bow to no leader. The only bows I have ever done have been to be polite while doing business in Japan and Korea. I don’t have a problem with showing respect to people who do likewise. We really do seem to be in a scary time. I think that Yuri Besmenov was telling the truth, when he said that the KGB has spent generations demoralize and hollowing out American culture. Is it even possible to wake from this trance as a nation?
Why Egypt? Egypt has long been seen as the center of Islamic thought and the center of the Arab world. As a boy raised as a muslim, Buraq is following protocol and respectfully asking to speak to the great thinkers of Islam in their house, granting these jihadis great deference, much as a subject asks for an audience before a King. The great respect he gives Islam and its followers vis a vis the tremendous and stinging disrespect he gives America will be noted load and clear. His speech and actions in Egypt will only be taken by these same Jihadis as an open invitation and encouragement by our President for more violent jihad against America.
What is somewhat shocking is that it appears as an American loathing marxist muslim, Buraq Hussein Obama is the real deal; he is willing to kill millions here and abroad and destroy America for his anti American ideals and religion. He is far too reckless, angry and arrogant to be thought of having some sort of naive, but well intentioned pacifist agenda.
Sure he bobs and weaves like the great con artist he is, but it’s all just Taqiyaa. In the end, Buraq Hussein means to promote his marxist and Islamic friends above all else and cause America harm in the process. Where is this heading? I see only tremendous death and destruction.
It’s terrifying.
President Obama’s speech tomorrow in Cairo will focus upon three things: Obama’s Muslim upbringing; America’s historical enmity toward Islam; and the Jews. I cannot predict he will be able to hold himself in check and not again bow before an Arab king, but I can confidently predict he will blame the United States for all the troubles of the world, and ask forgiveness. In fact, these are not predictions, but certainties. I received part of his speech yesterday, and posted it on BC. I have just received the balance of the speech, I shall not say from whom, and share it now. Curiously, it rhymes.
O land of Ra! The pharaohs’ gracious land!
Thy glories down the ages ring in ears
Together we must travel hand in hand
To spread Islamic kindness through the years
I’ve come today to ask you pretty please
To think not ill of us here by your side
I’m sure my words have put you at your ease
By saying West Bank Jews we can’t abide
The land of Palestine is truly yours
The Jews so long ago had moved away
They’re back and must be put down on all fours
The entity sha’nt live another day
There’s work to do before we say goodbyes
Israeli force and terror must be o’er
Hamas and Hezbollah are just good guys
Who want their place on earth however poor
Hold hands with us the people of the West
And help us understand the Muslim mind
Your truthfulness and kindness are the best
In Islam you will find no other kind
In parting I will leave you with one thought
You have a friend in DC and it’s me
You’ve heard I’m sure the US can be bought
But save your dough, I’m giving it for free
Buraq is said to be a flying creature much like Pegasus. If Buraq is like a horse, who is the rider…
…this time?
Mr. Khomeini, by simplifying Islam into hatred against the United States, may very well be destroying Islam in the process.
Islam proclaims itself to be a universal religion. Yet, by pitting Islam against everything American, Mr. Ruhollah Khomeini effectively shows Islam to be parochial religion with no universal teachings in it whatsoever. There is a key difference between worshipping the creator of the universe and worshipping nostalgia for ancient Islamic empires long vanished.
Mr. Khomeini’s version of Islam is effectively a form of polytheism.
Unsk @ 19
I see only tremendous death and destruction.
What we must do!
I must say this is interesting.
It is standard rolodex management style. Middle East? M…Ok Egypt. Here’s the number of the guy who runs it. We’ll chat.
There was a fascinating news report on CBC radio this afternoon about these events. Went on with the standard Bush was the problem, referenced Osama’s statements of yesterday (?), and said that no one listens to him anymore. Went on how Obama was resetting the relationships, blah blah blah.
Now, just a real dumb question. Why does no one listen to Osama anymore? Wouldn’t have anything to do with being discredited as leaders, losing badly the conflict of history in Iraq, and getting the sons of radical leaning families killed, would it?
But the rolodex speaks. E… Egypt, Mubarak. Wasn’t it Mubarak’s jailers that dehumanized the individuals that eventually became AlQaeda?
S… Syria. Assad. Must talk to him. European educated eye doctor. Must be reasonable.
This is strange.
Derek
Obama Is a Muslim. He hates the US as much as Ahmadinejad does, or Khomeni did.
So it’s not accident, as the Marxist said, that Obama is undermining his allies. He too subscribest to Khomeni’s views, and shares them regarding America.
Only problem is, a substantial amount of Americans believe the same things. About 52% or so. Because they think “only little people” will be killed in the next 9/11.
Enscout @ 9: “There is something special about Obama, as in teflon, as in sinister, as in supernatural. He has risen meteorically to what the West regards as the most powerful position in the world. And based on what?”
He may be The Deceiver.
Alexis @ 21: “Buraq is said to be a flying creature much like Pegasus. If Buraq is like a horse, who is the rider… …this time?”
The Lord of the Air.
The one true question. If The 0bamanation is truly intent on destroying the US Republic, what would he do differently than what he is doing now?
My answer: Nothing
I don’t think Obama is any more than a man; and I believe it would be a mistake to mystify him in any way for two reasons. First, it conceals the fact that President Obama is a product of larger and deep seated political trends. Even if he didn’t exist, someone like him would. It is the larger forces and trends that need to be met, not Obama the man. Second, making him the incarnation of some kind of cosmic force reduces anyone who disagrees with him to impotence. How can you fight the ‘Anti-Christ’? Or the ‘Devil’? Once you see Obama in these terms, the logical thing to do is to wait until the Angel Gabriel shows up. And that’s a recipe for paralysis.
The best thing to do is simply to act in little ways. Just do something. Write, hold a meeting, work to ensure your prosperity and survival. Surviving is winning. So if you go out and learn to rock climb or make ten million dollars, that’s effective political action. Dreading the Anti-Christ will unman us when we need to be men.
Wretchard – agree.
Buck up people. He’s not the Antichrist, he has no magical powers, and he can’t suspend the laws of economics, or physics, or anything else. What he’s doing is not sustainable, and it doesn’t matter whether he or his supporters or cheerleaders wish it were.
How many of the 52% who voted for him did so out of sheer disgust with the GOP? I think many, and with good reason. But as I read these message boards he appears to many of his opposition as some sort of magical creature who can do whatever he wants, while avoiding all adverse consequences, and maintaining some sort of overwhelming loyalty from the masses of “sheeple” in this country. Poll numbers can go south very quickly.
In reality he is at best a man of very average ability, who, by a fortuitous set of circumstances, was elected President of the US. He would be lucky to rise to the VP level at any major corporation, and his election is a fluke, not evidence that this country has gone to hell in a handbasket.
He’s doing a lot of serious damage, but there’s not much that can be done about that at present. My concern is, once his ineptness becomes apparent, and it will, there is no true alternative to the prevailing CW (that being that all problems are best resolved by a bloated Federal Government.)
The GOP is attempting to push their way into this picture, and I assume their main selling point will be that they will remove our freedoms and destroy our system in a more efficient way, rather than the haphazard way the DEMS are doing it. They may be valuable in the short term to check some of his excesses, but they have nothing to offer long term except more of the same.
Our only bright spot is that the left has undisputed power now, so they have all the responsibility for what will follow. I think that scares the hell out of many on that side of the aisle. But once this all comes to a grinding halt there will be a need for a coherent opposing political philosophy for people to turn to.
There is none now, and if people don’t stop wasting time obsessing about Baraks magical powers, there will be none when the time arrives. Then we will get whatever – and we’ll deserve exactly that.
Lee Smith seems a little ignorant to me. Exactly who is it that contests the notion that, in an ideal Islamic government, religious and political authority reside in the same people? What meaningful differences in doctrine regarding the infidel are there between Chinese and Arab, Sufi and Salafi? Exactly how, with respect to the treatment of the infidel, do the various Islamic sects constitute a “wonderful mosaic” (as opposed to a dangerous one)? Mr. Smith seems to think that just because there is perpetual infighting between Muslims, that makes Islam complicated. It doesn’t.
“0″ is not the Anti-Christ (at least not yet, if ever) those that think he is need to reread the bible, it has many indicators of what will be happening in the Earth when he is here, we are still not seeing many of the physical signs (I do not mean the “Mark” of the beast) It does seem like we are surely ramping up to the condition for the Anti-Christ but we still are not there where his appearance comes forth. I think we are witnessing God removing his Hand/Angle from baring the way and that the conditions are steadily or could quickly build for the Anti-Christ to appear. I do think that evil spirits are rampant, in every aspect of our American culture (and the world) and especially our “Christian” churches here; the best example is a nationally celebrative abortion doctor is a member of a supposedly Christian church! Jesus was all about reaching the lost but Jesus would have never allowed an practicing evil doer/sprit to be a “member” of his group (please if you think me wrong point to one of his group that was still practicing evil while acknowledged by Jesus as saved or a follower) , he would reach out to him by all means but the evil would have been stopped before he would except the person as saved and able to partake in his minister in any form, those that think it was ok themselves are deaf to the words message and blind to God.
Wretchard,
I would add that we should chip away at the shallow and fallacious foundations of his thinking. Every person who resists being assigned to one of his victim or oppressor groups needs to keeping repeating, “He does not speak for me.”
“Our only bright spot is that the left has undisputed power now, so they have all the responsibility for what will follow.”
In a world with a fair and dispassionate mass media, yes.
The current world we inhabit, no. The infotainment industry will fly air cover for this guy under almost any circumstances, including abject failure evident from the facts.
I’m beginning to think that if BHO set fire to a busload of children, about 90% of the press and Hollywood would be falling over themselves explaining how it was a grand and noble thing he did (and give extra points if the kids happened to have parents who were devoutly Christian).
And then afterward vote for him, over ANY opponent.
wildernesscalling, i think that is quite intuitive of you and i quite agree. we are entering the “beginning of the season” but i think that Obama will fail much as did jimmy carter. small things can be quite indicative – obama’s narrow shoulders, never the sign of greatness. it was a fluke. and there is no need to demonize him, as wretchard said. i think he believes he can make a difference through his idealism, and that is where wretchard said we can ‘chip away at the shallow and fallacious foundations of his thinking.’
i think it has alot to do with Obama not seeing that man is fallen and human nature carries the seed and dominance of original sin. a conservative understands that; but liberals and other leftists have a faulty view of human nature – its too rosy. its going to take a big wake up call, which i’m sure is just around the bend. i think obie believes his koolaid…he’s a salesman, done pretty well now, had a run of sales. but honestly, you can just see it coming, that he can’t change the intractible situation we are in strategically. the jihadists are the people that are intractibly fallen; when Obie spoke about the WTC terrorists once, you could see he didn’t understand that these were ruthless killers – evil men. like all leftists, he thought that these men were influenced a certain way in their upbringing or something – its laughable; they’d slit your throat soon as look at ya. so that’s what he doesn’t get it at all. his shuckster bluff it on through is coming up to the perfect storm – north korea, iran, iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan…it is an interactive axis of evil indeed – and when the storm gets going – tragedy will be the result, just as it would have been if chamberlain hadn’t stepped down and winston taken over. obie is a narrow shouldered idealist – he’s smart but naieve…it doesn’t cut it if he can’t see evil for what it is – evil. instead of obie being the antichrist, i’m worried that he will set it up in some way for the antichrist because of the mess he’ll create by his too rosey a view of what man is like; probably he has also a too idealistic picture about muslims as well. not a bad guy, obie, just way too naieve.
“President Obama has unwittingly walked right into …..”
Sounds like every other thing he’s touched, no plan, no original ideas….just smile and wave.
I agree that we need to ‘man up’ regarding our situation. Being able to adapt to change will be critical going forward.
I’m not saying that, for sure, he is the antichrist. It does appear, however that he possesses that same narcissistic, maniacal, psychotic spirit that was evident in Nero, Hitler and other evil despots throughout history.
I didn’t say he was Hitler…Hitler was Hitler. But a self-absorbed and evil spirit lurks there.
Truly we are in for some troubled times in our near (next 10-20 years at least)future. America’s world dominance is crumbling and that is a very, very bad thing for the rest of the world.
Many will die as a consequence of this man’s conceit. And the fools on the left, the evil that is Islam -and the useless girlymen otherwise- will magnify his negative impact on us all resulting in unintended disasters beyond imagination.
Is he the antichrist? I don’t know. He could be.
Are we living in the end times? It is truly looking like we are. As wildernesscalling intimated, the signs are beginning to appear. When multiple rogue states possess WMD’s – that’s a sign! When superpower governments become leaderless through the will of self-ruling people – that’s a sign!
I am preparing for the worst, while hoping for the best.
Michael Rubin was on Bennett’s radio show this AM. They were talking about the Speech. I didnt listen to the Speech. He makes my skin crawl.
Rubin said and it resonated with me that O is totally imbued with the idea that all cultures are equal. Nothing wrong with islam tied to the state and stoning women, its just their culture that they have chosen. He also as a consequence believes that there is no moral difference between the west (US) and the other countries.
It’s important to be aware that the Antichrist is not likely an individual but is rather the phantom of all mankind.
As others have implied, it is the infectious arrogance of the original sin, and it manifests in those who see man as able to control destiny, a delusion that inevitably leaves him a slave to fate. Nietzche, Marx, Hitler, Stalin, all were manifestations of, and ultimately were consumed by that overarching impulse or phantom.
It is correct, I think, to put current events in a cosmic perspective — not that all events aren’t best seen that way. The resulting awareness provides more clarity regarding the apparent fact that the things unfolding are unlikely to be just another stage in the development of the America we have all known. Rather, they will almost certainly go the way they always have when the Marxes and Hitlers of the world get traction and move forcefully toward darkness at noon.
Those who intuit what is happening are fortifying themselves in preparation for the moment when they assume they will have to head for the hills. Those who are not are taken up with the narcissistic impulse to make everything “right” through their own efforts and are thereby embarking on the suicidal path that such delusions always entail.
Whiskey’s wrong, I think, about this being conscious on their part. Secular humanism is essentially nihilistic. Obama’s supporters hate themselves and externalize their own self-destruction, an unconscious acting out of their own internal struggle between the forces of light and darkness, in which the latter currently holds the upper hand.
maineman/37: Those who are not are taken up with the narcissistic impulse to make everything “right” through their own efforts and are thereby embarking on the suicidal path that such delusions always entail.
I couldn’t agree more. A few months ago, when octo-mom was in the news, I was gathered with some neighbors when that topic arose. They fawned over how sad it was that all eight of the children were on the cusp of death even at birth. I said that no extraordinary measures should have been taken (especially at taxpayer expense) to keep them alive. There was an uproar about how inhumane it was to pass a death sentence on innocents incapable of defending themselves, babies who did exist of their own volition. They said we had a duty to protect the weakest among us. So, I asked them all why the were such vehement supporters of abortion, to the point that several of them let that single issue tip them in favor of Obama over McCain? At that point, my wife kicked me really hard (again) for being antisocial. It was the end of that topic.
I am convinced that the connection between actions and consequences for these people are so remote, that they are simply sloppy thinkers. What frightens me is that the Statist/Fascist needs a populace that is comfortable holding two diametrically opposed ideas in his head simlutaneously to gain power. These are smart professionals of whom I speak, doctors, dentists, business executives, (formerly) successful real estate investors, and attorneys. Maybe they are too smart for their own good, and too dumb to realize it.
Which brings me to the assinine UK proposal that families should limit themselves to just one child. Another topic of conversation that evening. My dinner companions agreed that limiting the population was a grand idea to save the planet, as it is clearly over populated. They felt that two children was the right number, as each family (oddly enough) already has exactly two children. I pointed out that their two children’s carbon footprints were at least an order of magnitude larger than a poor child in Africa’s would be. Would they be willing to allow that family to have 10 children for each one that they reared? Well, no. Would they be willing to sacrifice one of their children so that ten other families in the Third World could at least have one? Certainly not! But a lesser population is a good idea – agreed. So, it would logically follow that committing suicide would be the ultimate commitment to saving the planet. If you really believed that humans are destroying the planet and the planet us supreme, do you not have a moral obligation to kill yourself, if you are not willing to sacrifice your children. Again, a kick to the shin.
Thank God I started wearing cowboy boots – it don’t hurt so much any more!
One thing I noticed about the video is that it’s much easier to run the table when you are solids AND stripes.
“I don’t think Obama is any more than a man; and I believe it would be a mistake to mystify him in any way for two reasons. First, it conceals the fact that President Obama is a product of larger and deep seated political trends. Even if he didn’t exist, someone like him would. It is the larger forces and trends that need to be met, not Obama the man. Second, making him the incarnation of some kind of cosmic force reduces anyone who disagrees with him to impotence. How can you fight the ‘Anti-Christ’? Or the ‘Devil’? Once you see Obama in these terms, the logical thing to do is to wait until the Angel Gabriel shows up. And that’s a recipe for paralysis.
The best thing to do is simply to act in little ways. Just do something. Write, hold a meeting, work to ensure your prosperity and survival. Surviving is winning. So if you go out and learn to rock climb or make ten million dollars, that’s effective political action. Dreading the Anti-Christ will unman us when we need to be men.”
One of the wisest things I have ever read online.
WG
@#38….
I have long observed that the entirety of the modern left rests solely upon a widespread manifestation of cognitive dissonance. How else can you reconcile the actions of modern liberal society?
Abortion is okay, but toddlers with no medical insurance is a travesty. A woman should control her body, unless of course she wants to get paid for sex. Racism is evil, unless it comes from a protected minority. Discrimination is evil, unless it is used to advance protected minorities. Criminals don’t choose to commit crime, society forces them too. A woman should be free to choose any profession she wishes, as long as it isn’t being a housewife.
Just look at some of the mindboggling things Obama has done without causing even an eye blink. Says earmarks are bad the day after he signs a bill with thousands of them. Says he will cut the deficit in half after he plans to increase it fourfold. Says he doesn’t want to take over businesses and then effectively takes control of two of the big three auto companies and most of the bigger banks through TARP. Just a few of the bigger ones..
However, as Wretchard said above, this is not in any way specific to Obama. It is endemic to modern American culture. Remember back to the spectacle of feminists flocking to the defense of Bill Clinton while actively attacking the victims of his womanizing. This is the culmination of a generational cultural decline that has rejected traditional values and enshrined immediate self gratification and moral relativism as high virtues.
there seems to be a lot of fear of obama somehow becoming a dictator or something. that’s pretty unlikely for obvious reasons. to me, he’s just another carter that needs to be waited out, so to speak. if his policies actually produce economic salvation, he will get a second term. if they result in four years of stagnation and decline, he will be turfed out in 2012.
and if we lose a city between now and 2012, he will most likely be forced to resign, and the democratic party will be out of power for a very long time.
i don’t like the guy but he’s not a stalin, just a scaled up david dinkins.
If he’s not the Anti-Christ, are we convinced that “he’s just a man”, and not a bought and paid for Manchurian Candidate? I see absolutely no signs whatsover that Obama is putting American interests ahead of ANYthing, but do see that he is willing on every single issue to sell America down the river in pursuit of his Marxist dreams.
Now that can either be a result of an over-educated idiot determined to stick daisies down the gun barrels of the world’s terrorists, or it could be because that’s what the puppet-masters who are funding him have told him to do.
As far as I am concerned, he didn’t bow to Saudi’s Abdullah this time because Saudi’s Abdullah told him *not* to, given the outcry the last time he did it. He’s doing what he’s told and it’s neither God nor Satan as an anti-Christ doing the telling.
P.S. Any one else pick up on the plug in his Cairo speech for Keith Ellison, Muslim Senator from Minnesota? Something about taking his oath of office on a Koran owned by one of America’s founding fathers??? Gag me with a spoon.
The best thing to do is simply to act in little ways. Just do something. Write, hold a meeting, work to ensure your prosperity and survival. Surviving is winning. So if you go out and learn to rock climb or make ten million dollars, that’s effective political action. Dreading the Anti-Christ will unman us when we need to be men.
I agree. Moreover, the propensity of our enemies to demonize us has a tendency to paralyze them; if America were truly the phantasmagorically evil essence Islamists claim we are, much of their support would wither away because we would be seen as the “strong horse”.
Let’s not repeat the mistakes of our worst enemies. A brighter day will come so long as we make it happen.
Hey, I own a Qur’an. On accounta I’m interested in learning about the world.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some “Founding Father” owned a copy of the Koran or the Bhagavad-Gita or a Tora, writings of the Talmudic scholars, of Al-Qwarizmy, ibn Tufail, Maimonides, et cetera. Probably all in their original languages, which people actually used to study so as to be able to read without depending on some pointy-headed censoring translator.
These days it’s unusual to find a congress-critter that has sufficient attention span to plow through a classics-illustrated version of the works that underpin the world’s culture.
But it don’t mean a thing.
In the fullness of time, this will pass.
Remember Y2K?
Alexander the Great was just a man. Adolph Hitler was just a man. Uncle Joe was just a man. They knew how to draw the right people around them and reach the masses.
One man, with the right/wrong ideology at the right time, can easily become the leader of the known world. Man as individual is powerful and often not easily misled; man an as one large family is as easily misled as a herd of sheep, by the right man.
The world is _more_ susceptible than ever to the right/wrong man. The global communication system allows one man to talk to essentially the whole world at one time. The right disasters combined with this persons easy sway over the masses and the right/wrong message. Easy.
Mad @ 45: Jefferson did. But he was the last genius we had as a leader, with the possible exception of Lincoln. And he didnt have time for trivia.
Let me second (third, or fourth, or …) wretchard #27 and dtmack #28. And also, I’d like to give whiskey a little bit of advice: you have an insight, to be sure, but it does not explain Everything. Try branching out a bit now and then. As it is, we your fellow commenters are going to die of boredom long before your predicted dystopia arrives.
Can you imagine Whiskey in Dodge City when men were men and women were hookers? He’d *still* be the crazy old coot holed up in the barn, tending his still and bellowing about the superior culture of the Red Indians.