Comments Posted By Bat One
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In most Islamic societies across the globe, at least those not "tainted" with Western values, the society and everything in it are an extension and a construct of Islam. In our civilization, on the other hand, the various structures within our society, governmental and non-governmental alike, are ambivalent, tolerant and deliberately impartial toward any religion. It is this very fundamental difference that allows the Islamist to look at us and regard us as callow and weak, while we look at them and see an insular, wild-eyed cult. In each case, the values held dearest, by us and by them, are those which engender the most derision and disrespect from those on the opposite side of the fence. And in each case, those persons charged with governance, with making the fateful decisions on behalf of the rest of the society, are by law and tradition most representative of the differing values which separate us. It will not be an easy gap to bridge.
Second, you refer to President Bush's approach to the problem by bringing individual liberty and self-determination to the region as a means of promoting peace. I suggest that we should all hope, and pray, that it works, however long it may take. The only alternative will be cataclysmic, a true war between Islam and Western civilization.
Finally, You have twice used the word "forebearance." As you applied the term to your own efforts here, you are correct. However, to describe the actions of the media in reporting all this as "forebearance" is gratutious nonsense, a compliment of which they are are totally unworthy. One need only review the media's reporting of events over the past 5 years to recognize just how craven and unprincipled they have become. There is nothing in the record to justify the use of "forebearance" when describing the NYT, CNN, CBS, Newsweek, or any of the rest.
Comment Posted By Bat One On 6.02.2006 @ 23:23
Can anyone seriously envision John Kerry or AlGore getting into a 1955 Chevy Bel Aire coupe and playing “chicken?â€
AlGore would shake his head sagely at the suggestion, and explain that such behavior has a seriously adverse effect on the environment, what with the exhaust fumes, and smoking tires, and then he would lash out like a rhetorical flamethrower at those who would raise their children, especially boys, to be so irresponsible and contentious.
John Kerry would regale us in that halting Boston Brahmin monotone about the time he actually played chicken with James Dean… and of course, won. Dean was driving the “Little Bastard†Porsche in which he was later killed, you know, but he was gracious enough to offer Kerry a gift, a token of the day’s event… a black beret that he, Dean, happened to be wearing that day. And yes, Kerry still has the beret. It’s one of his most cherished possessions and he takes it out and wears it every time he and Teresa settle down in the townhouse to watch a re-run of East of Eden or Rebel Without a Cause. That Dean actually died long before Kerry had reached legal driving age is of no consequence. An attack on his patriotism, perhaps.
Of course it’s easy to poke fun at either of them, largely because the left simply isn’t very testosterone driven these days. On the contrary. If our society is really possessed of both a male and a female nature, it is clear that none of the left’s leaders are going to impress us with their rhetorical biceps… no matter how beautifully they sing the descant solos.
Indeed, it almost seems that at least half the anger so virulently displayed by those on the left is really little more than their fermented resentment over the ideological role they’ve chosen for themselves. What John Le Carre once referred to as “a waiter’s anger.â€
Real leaders like George Bush or Ronald Reagan are portrayed by the left as “reckless,†“unprincipled cowboys†who are lacking in “gravitas†and “nuance.†But it is not the “cowboys†who have led us into this situation. At least not our cowboys. Nor is it the capon we look to for leadership in confronting the danger.
The Islamists understand all this, for theirs is most certainly a male-based society, with little room for the “can’t we all just get along†drivel so prominent among today’s liberals. In a traditional Muslim society, the eunuch understood his proper place.
Comment Posted By Bat One On 3.02.2006 @ 14:18
CARNIVAL OF THE CLUELESS #31: THE "WHAT WOULD JACK BAUER DO?" EDITION
Wheew! Obviously the coffee is still potent, so it must be you ran out of cigarettes. You and Jack Bauer seem to have solved more of the world's pressing problems than all those lovelies in the last Miss America pagent. And all that on one pack of Basic 100s. Very impressive!
Comment Posted By Bat One On 31.01.2006 @ 01:07
