Maybe it’s a symptom of living in Hollywood, but most of my left-leaning friends are rich. Very rich. They buy expensive (hybrid) cars, live in multi-million dollar homes with servants and “assistants” and take fancy vacations (often in second homes in upscale resorts). My left-wing media friends in New York aren’t so badly off either. Nearly all of them (on both coasts) believe the current global problem is a result of Third World poverty and nothing more. They cannot conceive that it is not about material wealth because so much of life is about just that for them (plus fame, of course).
Egyptian-Italian journalist Magdi Allam, an editor of Corriere della Sera currently visiting Israel to receive an award, sees it differently. An excellent article in Haaretz today details Mr. Allam’s thinking. Among other things he states:
“My goal is to free the West from the nihilism that has spread in its midst, from the lack of values that leads to the growth of radical Islam,” says Allam. “In the face of the threat from radical Islam, the West must be united and formulate a shared value system that sanctifies life and denounces the right to kill.”
In the parlance, read it all. (hat tip: Sheryl)
In my experience, the infinite valuation of life plays into the hands of the nihilists. They argue that we are equally as wrong for fighting a war against genocidal monsters as the monsters themselves. Through moral equivelency, the nihilists seek to tie the hands of the defenders of western thought.
While I very much respect the principles of Mr. Allam, I must reject some of his particulars. Defense of western thought against the vicious failures that assault it must allow for the taking of human life in the utmost necessity. Regrettably, Mr. Allam’s comments can be construed to place utmost necessity as only when the knife is at your neck. Bitter experience has shown that morally comfortable standard to a failure in practice.
We need a moral standard that allows the defence of western though to take place well outside our gates, let alone our homes. Respect for human life begins at the monster’s door.
–Respect for human life begins at the monster’s door. –
And they will be killed until they get it.
Roger:
“Dialogue for the sake of dialogue.” That’s the money line. Dialogue has been seperated from the results of the dialogue. It’s been reduced to let’s talk. I don’t care what you have to say, if what you have to say is evil it’s not my place to call it evil. As long as we are talking then it is good. No matter that the talks are being used as a cover to continue acting in a manner that is reprehensible, it is still more important to talk. I’m going to kill you. Let’s talk. You deserve to die. Let’s talk. No matter what you say I’m am not going to stop what I plan to do. Let’s talk. If you try to stop me I’ll kill you and anyone close to you. Let’s talk. Everything you stand for is bad and your ideas have to be eliminated. Let’s talk. We openly pledge to our God on the lives of our wives and children that we will not stop until the world is formed in our image and your world is going to submit or be destroyed. Let’s talk.
–And they will be killed until they get it.–
Sandy P,
This is why military people don’t take leftists seriously anymore, if they ever did. Victory or defeat is an event that occurs in the enemy’s mind, not on the battlefield. People stop fighting because they are convinced their cause is lost, not because they think they are going to die.
The War on Terror was lost by the terrorists on September 11th, because that was the day the US decided to fight. At our current rate of loss and expense, including 9/11, we can continue fighting terrorists forever. Despite everything the terrorists could do, our economy is growing, our military is more professional, and people are still seeking to join our nation. What we’ve been doing since 9/11 is convincing the terrorists of this reality.
War is a serious business and it is a shame that the people opposed to it are so frivolous in their appreciation of it.
“the West must be united and formulate a shared value system that sanctifies life and denounces the right to kill”
As one who was once a supporter of barbarism I now understand, feel and see that the extermination of 46 million human lives was not safe but rare (as I was led to believe) but is genocide. This is what happens when a culture lacks value, we all become barbarians.