A friend just sent me President Obama’s official statement “on the Occasion of Ramadan.” It’s short on words but long on mischief. It begins with platitudes and proceeds with mendacity.
The platitude:
“Ramadan is a time when Muslims around the world reflect upon the wisdom and guidance that comes with faith, and the responsibility that human beings have to one another, and to God.”
The mendacity:
“These rituals [fasting and so on] remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings. Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality. And here in the United States, Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country.”
What role has Islam paid in advancing justice? None. What role has it played in advancing progress, whether you understand the word in a technological or a political sense? None. What role has it played in advancing tolerance? Ask Daniel Pearl. “A faith known for diversity and racial equality”: absolute rubbish. And as for the the idea that “American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country,” name one.
Reading this preposterous statement, mulling over the administration’s position regarding the proposed mosque at Ground Zero — a mosque at Ground Zero! — thinking about the President’s obsequiousness to a Saudi prince, his exclusion of such words as “jihad” and “Islamofascism” from the library of permissible words, I wonder exactly where his loyalty lies. Not for the first time over the last 18 months or so, I ask myself: “So here’s President Obama: what, exactly, is he President of.”
“The United States, silly,” you say.
Well, that’s what it says at www.whitehouse.gov. But is he really the President of the Untied States? I am not, I hasten to add, suggesting that he wan’t born here or anything like that. No I am just thinking about that little word “of.” It’s a complicated semantic package, isn’t it? Look it up and ponder the page of nuanced definitions all of which suggest some for of union, contiguity, possession, adhesion, filiation.
But is Barack Hussein Obama President of the United States in any of those senses? Again, I don’t dispute his title. I just wonder what, in his case, it means.
It is, I submit, a question that comes up in his case in the case of Obama in a way that is historically unprecedented. America has had good presidents and bad presidents, popular presidents and unpopular presidents, honorable presidents and dishonorable presidents, competent presidents and Jimmy Carter. Never before, I believe, have we had a president whose tenure is surrounded by this nimbus of disaffection. You might have thought Jimmy Carter was a sanctimonious nincompoop. You never doubted that he was an American, by which I mean not just that he was a citizen but that his essential identification was with this country.
Can the same be said of Obama? Can it?
Mr. Kimball:
“I am not, I hasten to add, suggesting that he wan’t born here or anything like that.”
Why do you hasten? Have you seen his original vault copy Certificate of Live Birth?
Have you?
Why not?
“But is Barack Hussein Obama President of the United States in any of those senses? Again, I don’t dispute his title. I just wonder what, in his case, it means.”
What it means, in the Alleged Hawaiian’s case, is that he is the President of the United States’ federal government.
If you equate the federal government as identical with the nation of the United States, that’s your choice.
Reasonable people, however, may disagree.
It was obvious while perusing the two books that have Barack Obama’s name on them that the current president has an awkward and troubling relationship with the United States. He first, last, and foremost considers himself to be a citizen of the world. His love of his own country rates a distant second. I have long taken this for granted. It actually stunning to find out that Roger Kimball also didn’t realize this strong probability—a very long time ago.
Isn’t it time to question this oversimplified assertion that all religions are inherently equal?
(I’ve always thought that was simply a polite way of saying “they’re all wrong”.)
Every religion makes truths claims, claims about how the world operates and how we should treat each other.
By the Qu’ran’s own accounts, Muhammad killed people in war. By the Bible’s account, Jesus died as a sacrifice for others. Both religions hold these figures up as models to follow.
If you look at the central figures anchoring both religions, there seems to be vastly different models for how we’re to get along from the time of their teachings forward.
But is Barack Hussein Obama President of the United States in any of those senses?
Well, to coin a phrase, Roger…”it depends on what the meaning of is is.”
An administration is made up of more than one person. It is made up, usually, of like-minded people. They have different personalities, just like a baseball team has..and the manager, coaches, players…all present a sort of flavor or corporate culture to the style of game and the way they interact with the paying patrons…in this case…we the people.
So what team does this administration most resemble?
There is only one that comes to mind. The Chicago “Cubs”.
I mean, think about it, Roger. Elected on a wave of pure sentiment, “lovability”, with all the pastel colors and cozy confines of ivy covered walls and halls. These “cubs” had little or no solid experience to draw upon, but, gosh…they were so darn “lovable”. You could create a system that could push losing and failure to a new level, set up a century of futility and failure…but BRAND LOSING AS PART OF THE CHARM.
1) You can own the press and the press can own you, in a duality play that is only surpassed by its duplicity. A veritable Tribun-al of ready made puff pieces, buried stories of hypocrisy and failure…propaganda in your pocket that you can pull out at your whim. Like a plug of tobacco mixed with chewing gum…you can spit and/or swallow your own great expectorations. Usually upon the feet of your paying patrons. (also known as taxpayers)
2)Your highest paid and most visible “player” is called BANKS. “Let’s bailout two today!”
3)Sure, Robert Gibbs has had his Lee Elia moments, where he said that “his own” fans were lazy, good for nothing bums who didn’t work and did nothing but criticize the team’s blunders and how dare they criticize…they are nothing but professional “lefties”…but so far, these gaffes have not forced him to commit Harry Carey…or however you spell that.
4)These “Cubs” seemed to be at their most effective in the “friendly confines”, but it is important to check out which way the political winds are blowing. Right now, these “cubs” are in a slump. A losing streak that is likely to last all the way past October and into the beginning of November.
But, like we have said for a full century…to the fools who keep buying it…”Wait til next year!”
Bilgeman,
I saw Mr. Kimball’s essay in my reader and I said to myself, “How long, o Lord, how long before the first snarky birth certificate remark shows up?”
You did not disappoint.
As astute mind would understand that, in. this. instance., Mr. Kimball is being — and taking pains to be — agnostic on the birth certificate issue. His point here is to raise a much more fundamental and searching question which you would be wise to ponder and absorb.
“You did not disappoint.”
You’re quite welcome, neighbor. I DO try…
“Mr. Kimball is being — and taking pains to be — agnostic on the birth certificate issue”
This may surprise you somewhat, but I gathered that.
MY point was to get Mr. Kimball to consider the why that such a simple and reasonable line of inquiry has apparently in his mind been placed “beyond the pale”.
“His point here is to raise a much more fundamental and searching question which you would be wise to ponder and absorb.”
Awww, gee, thanks van.
With that much condescension, now I know what a pancake feels like when someone pours syrup all over it.
You and Mr. Kimball, (IMO), over-intellectualize the thing. The answer is quite simple.
Mr. Obama was elected to do a job…he’s an employee, not a leader.
(and his performance review from the electorate as their employee ain’t looking too hot!).
“As astute mind would understand that…”
I pray that my mind is never so astute that I fail to recognize a god-damned fraud when I see one, and nor that I should be so wise and circumspect as to not point out the manifestly obvious fact that gives away the entire flim-flam.
Don’t you know, chappie? It’s the intelligentsia and the educated who are most vulnerable to a scam.
Always has been, always will be.
The pleasure is to serve, Bilgeman. We can’t have you mucking out the lower depths of society all by yourself.
You barbaric yawp of outrage at the distant tyrannies is noted in your permanent conduct record. You may now pull out a plum….
Lord Obama and his court really do live in an alternate reality. Could that be a problem?
Should the article not be a bit more concerned with the denying of reality of the class of tecnocrats in charge of the country??
It’s normal that a politician had no contact with real live, other than pressing for financial aid, but has there been a administration so far out of touch of the real wolrd, not listening to people who actually have experience??
Every time I think can’t be worse than the last administration I do realize that it is far worse.
PRINCESS SUMMERFALL WINTERSPRING AND ISLAM
——————————————
Describing Islam as part of America is like portraying Christianity as part of Saudi Arabia.
After all, if mere presence is the defining component of what makes something part of a larger entity, the historical record clearly shows that Christianity existed in the Arabian Peninsula long before Islam was even a glint of things to come in the eyes of marauding Bedouins.
(And of course, let’s not forget: Christianity continues to exist in that part of the world….it’s just that in some places, you can’t practice it.)
So too did Judaism make a home for itself in that God-forsaken geographical cloaca long before the first muezzin’s call was the shot heard ‘round the Sahara.
And I’m talking about the ‘Islamic historical record’, not just the Western explanation of what took place.
Let’s not forget that the “Prophet”(صلى الله عليه وسلم) ordered the wholesale slaughter of Jewish tribes in the city of Yathrib (now Medina Al- Munawwara) (Medina the Illuminated One) as Islam was spreading in the peninsula. This is according to both the “traditional” Islamic and Western description of events.
(Seems like when it comes to “slaughter” and stuff like that, everyone is in agreement).
So if you’re talking at this basic, juvenile level, I suppose you can say that not only Islam, but Buddhism, Jainism, Shintoism and so on have all been and continue to be “part of America”.
Whether you take this seriously or sarcastically or have a hard time holding back peals of laughter when you hear this, well, that’s up to you.
‘Course, Princess Summerfall Winterspring would undoubtedly take exception to all this “Islam is part of America” talk.
Her “tradition”, after all, was here in the Americas eons before either the “Resurrection” or “Ramdan” existed anywhere.
To her, all this talk about what rightly belongs to the American tradition is pure sanctimonious and self-serving blather.
try to remain calm, Roger. [chuckling]
there is good historical precedent for the current presidency. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_the_Arab
on the whole, history has judged Philip’s reign favorably.
I can’t quite agree that the Islamic world has never advanced human progress. It has. It’s just that the last time it did so was a very long time ago.
Once upon a time, many centuries ago, Islamic scholars were responsible for advancements in many fields, particularly mathematics, in no small part due to their use of hindu-arabic numerals. Arab mathematicians essentially invented algebra (I’m sure some would say this should be added to their list of wrongdoings). They also preserved works from Greek philosophers which would otherwise have been lost.
Those days are long past.
Western civilization eclipsed the Muslim world during the Renaissance. Not only that, but the Muslim world itself has actually regressed! Meanwhile the west only continued to advance. Not only technologically, but in every way that progress can be measured. Thanks to the enlightenment most nations in the west are republics. We are not ruled by kings. We are literate. We are educated. We are, for lack of a better term, enlightened. We have our problems and our limitations, but we’re still the best of what the world has to offer. We kick ass.
Meanwhile the Muslim world of today is a primitive backwater, befuddled by superstition, oppressed by ignorance and illiteracy, and made hellish through constant tribal warfare. They suck.
This will undoubtedly change. An inferior culture, when constantly confronted by a superior one, will either adapt or it will die. The world gets smaller every day. There is no corner of the earth where the Islamic world can exist without the wider (and categorically superior) world impinging upon it. Islam will adapt, or it will die. I don’t care which one happens. If they join the civilized world and become productive members of modern society, then I’ll be happy. If they all drop dead, that is just as well.
@ 10 Lee Reynolds
“An inferior culture, when constantly confronted by a superior one, will either adapt or it will die.”
Don’t bet on it. Roman civilization vs the barbarians? Who won, ushering in the dark ages?
In fact, primitive, militant Isalm offers an existential threat to the west. Not in conventional warfare, but because of the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the hands of grubs and lunatics like North Korean junta, and, soon, the theocrats in Iran; to say nothing of the perilous state of Pakistan’s arsenal. Imagine nuclear devices at the disposal of the Taliban or Al Qaeda.
A few nukes going off in major western cities could lead to retaliation and all-out conflagration, which could easily send us back to the dark ages, if it didn’t anihilate us altogether.
an existential threat on a demographic basis too
#10 – Mr Reynolds
I agree that it is a grievious error to declare that the Islamic world “never advanced human progress”.
However, it is an even greater error to let that statement stand without further commentary.
To do so, would be to leave a reader with a complete misconception of what exactly it was that the Islamic world did contribute.
1. Nearly 100% of what could be called the intellectual contribution of the Islamic world was derivative in nature. There is nothing wrong with this….a derivation can be just as important as is a fundamentally new idea or invention.
Still, it is somewhat surprising that pure inventiveness (i.e. scientific curiosity) was nearly non-existent in the Dar al-Islam.
2. Nearly 100% of the “intellectual class” that flourished in Islam’s heyday, be they scientists, scholars or writers, were non-Arab. The actual ‘Arab’ contribution in these fields was practically nil.
Most were of Persian, Indian, Turkish, Greek, Mesopotamian and even Iberian origin. Although writing in Arabic, their true identities were anything but Arab.
This is a little known fact but it has far-reaching implications to anyone really interested in this field.
(One of these implications is that contemporary Islam – that is to say, the Islam that we know today – is largely a remolding of “original” Arabian Islam imposed on the nascent religion by the Persians. Today’s Islam is mostly a reflection of that metamorphosis that took place in the early stages of Islam’s development).
Persia – that is to say, Iran – has never forgiven, forgotten or accepted the Arab Conquest that brought Islam into Persia forever, but at least Islam was Persianized……. almost beyond recognition, actually.
The world renown and so-called “Arabian Nights” – is hardly a picture of actual Arabian society and culture……it’s a picture of royal courts in Persia and India, not Arabia – far from it).
3. Finally, and most importantly, it is vital to understand that whatever progress was made in the medieval Islamic world WAS MADE DESPITE ISLAM, NOT BECAUSE OF IT.
Whatever field of endeavor an intellectual medieval Moslem worked in, he first had to reconcile whatever he discovered or wished to say, with Islam. The intellectual mazes and contours many of these men had to make to appease a suspicious and uncompromising Islam and yet get their points across are astonishing.
And in the end, Islam silenced even the most temperate and limpid voices that didn’t toe the line exactly as expected.
By the 13th century and even before, Islam accepted nothing less than absolute obedience and would tolerate no criticism, which essentially meant the end of “progress”.
The result is that Islam hasn’t “progressed” since then. It simply would not allow it.
==========
For an in-depth exploration of this fascinating issue, Toby Huff’s “The Rise of Early Modern Science” is a must read.
Mr Reynolds- What is your take on Fjordman’s contributions? **
** http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/10/a-history-of-algebra-print.html
“Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings.”
Pure cant. Feeble, mendacious, sanctimonious claptrap.
“Justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings”??
Except, of course, if you are a woman found guilty, fairly or otherwise, of adultery, that is, having sex with someone other than your spouse, or having sex with the spouse of another. In that event, you may well get a hundred lashes on your bare back with a whip, then be buried to your upper torso, and be executed in the following manner: men will hurl stones at your head and face until such time as you die, in terrible despairing agony.
And unless of course, you are a teenager and get caught having some sort of confused teenage fumble with another teenager of the same sex. In that event, you can expect to have a noose put round your 16 year-old neck, be put on the tray of a truck in front of a jeering crowd, and have the truck drive off, and gently strangle to death over the course of several minutes.
<>
Muhammad Ali was a fine boxer and Kareem Abdul Jabbar had a funny scene in “Airplane.” I guess one could consider them contributors to something.
Although I’ve read that their respective commitments to Islam were more so political statements of racial solidarity than true pursuits of religious belief. Either way, hardly “extraordinary.”
And beyond those two I’m drawing a blank.
President 0.0 is just trying to make the Muslims feel good about themselves. You know, boost their self-confidence and all that. NASA is helping out. Maybe we should all pitch in to show Muslims that
they are smart enough;
they are good enough;
and dog gone it people like them.
In what way has Islam “always” been part of America? In that the intolerance and viciousness of Muslims forced Europeans interested in trade to try to find a new route to India? In which case, they have no one but themselves to blame for the discovery of the Great Satan To Be….
Islam did make a contribution to early American national history; the Barbary pirates occasioned one of our first foreign military expeditions. Beyond that, the president may know something I don’t and I am curious to see what other contributions Islam has made to America until recently.
If George Bush had made a similar statement (albeit about a non-approved victim group) it would still be a trope among the left. Here, then, is item # 4,291 to go into the “if this were Bush” file.
It’s sad and disgusting. Obama’s nothingness as an allegiant American should not encourage our people settle for Hillary. Obama and Clinton are two peas from one pod–as are any elites.
Never mind that the Cordoba House isn’t a mosque, and isn’t at Ground Zero. But we wouldn’t want mere facts to get in the way of the Two Minutes’ Hate, would we? Would we?
That’s an hysterical remark — I mean “hysterical” in both senses of the word.
That’s an impertinent response–I mean “impertinent” in both senses of that word.
Let’s assume it’s not a mosque, and it’s not at the exact site of ground zero.
Your point is?
(I was going to ask you whether it would be appropriate to build a german cultural center at Auschwitz. But I suspect you would think it a rather amusing idea.)
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