Saturday, January 20, 2007

Who is your enemy?

You know I am not really sure how to react to this. There is a book out reviewed by the New York Times here". I really find myself at a loss to explain the logic of this author. But, maybe this snippet from the review might give you an idea why I find it so disturbing.


Susan Sontag never said we brought Sept. 11 on ourselves. Dinesh D’Souza does say it.

Dreadful things happened to America on that day, but, truth be told, D’Souza is not all that upset by them. America is fighting two wars simultaneously, he argues, a war against terror abroad and a culture war at home. We should be using the former, less important, one to fight the latter, really crucial, one. The way to do so is to encourage a split between “radical” Muslims like bin Laden, who engage in jihad, and “traditional” Muslims who are conservative in their political views and deeply devout in their religious practices; understanding the radical Muslims, even being sympathetic to some of their complaints, is the best way to win the support of the traditionalists. We should stand with conservative Muslims in protest against the publication of the Danish cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad rather than rallying to the liberal ideal of free speech. We should drop our alliance with decadent Europe and “should openly ally” with “governments that reflect Muslim interests, not ... Israeli interests.” And, most important of all, conservative religious believers in America should join forces with conservative religious believers in the Islamic world to combat their common enemy: the cultural left.

The “domestic insurgents” who, in D’Souza’s view, constitute the cultural left want “America to be a shining beacon of global depravity, a kind of Gomorrah on a Hill.”


Does that sound like rational? I certainly don't find it so. Try the thoughts of someone so convinced that his beliefs are correct that he fails to see the problems inherent in his viewpoint. I mean, who in the Western World, apart from a few Governments that sometimes find it inconvenient, really thinks freedom of speech is a bad idea? And since when is there a cultural war being fought in the USA between the Left and the Right? Most USA reporting is so far right wing anyway, they would not recognise socialism if it bit them on the bum.

And decadent Europe? Shouldn't that be the decadent USA? Or maybe decadent Australia, seeing we are the number one friend of the USA at the moment, or at least of its Govt, according to G Dubya Bush...

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