From Power Line:
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
TIME MAGAZINE IS UNCONSCIOUS
A Freudian Slip is is a verbal mistake that is thought to reveal an unconscious belief, thought, or emotion.
Do magazines have an unconscious? This is a relevant question because it certainly seems that Time Magazine made a Freudian slip of gigantic proportions, and managed to convey their real feelings, thoughts, and beliefs:
CHAMPION OF THE DISPOSSESSED? "Jew-hating, Holocaust-denying, genocidal and oppressive fanatic" is somewhat more accurate; but CHAMPION OF THE DISPOSSESSED? Just ask the people who are unfortunate enough to live in Iran and who happen to disagree with him to see how he "champions" their "dispossession".
To think of Mahmoud "wipe Israel off the map / America will disappear" Ahmadinejad as a champion of the dispossessed--or as a champion of anything but Islamofascist thuggery and medieval barbarism--represents an inner psychological dysfunction so severe it is absolutely breathtaking. If you want to understand why this country is in grave danger of abject surrender and submission to the forces that want to enslave or destroy Western civilization, you need look no further for clarification.
Time Magazine's Freudian slip reveals the unconscious belief of one of our major news outlets (or at the very least, their complete and total unconsciousness). The fact that the slip was corrected in the second iteration, only proves that the original represented a belief that Time embraces in their heart, but don't really want their readers to fully be aware of.
At least I prefer to think that it is an unconscious belief--because the alternative explanation is that Time is deliberately and maliciously trying to distort the news and mislead the American public to further its own political agenda. And further, that they actually admire and support the enemy that has openly declared his intent to destroy us.
No wonder they somehow managed to restrain themselves from declaring him their "Person of the Year".
Their motives might have been a bit too obvious (read: conscious or deliberate and therefore, not a slip) for even the non-psychologically-minded....
Do magazines have an unconscious? This is a relevant question because it certainly seems that Time Magazine made a Freudian slip of gigantic proportions, and managed to convey their real feelings, thoughts, and beliefs:
Andrew Levy at The Daily Gut noted this outrageous description of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at TIME Magazine’s web site:
Well look at it now:
(Hat tip: BizzyBlog.)
CHAMPION OF THE DISPOSSESSED? "Jew-hating, Holocaust-denying, genocidal and oppressive fanatic" is somewhat more accurate; but CHAMPION OF THE DISPOSSESSED? Just ask the people who are unfortunate enough to live in Iran and who happen to disagree with him to see how he "champions" their "dispossession".
To think of Mahmoud "wipe Israel off the map / America will disappear" Ahmadinejad as a champion of the dispossessed--or as a champion of anything but Islamofascist thuggery and medieval barbarism--represents an inner psychological dysfunction so severe it is absolutely breathtaking. If you want to understand why this country is in grave danger of abject surrender and submission to the forces that want to enslave or destroy Western civilization, you need look no further for clarification.
Time Magazine's Freudian slip reveals the unconscious belief of one of our major news outlets (or at the very least, their complete and total unconsciousness). The fact that the slip was corrected in the second iteration, only proves that the original represented a belief that Time embraces in their heart, but don't really want their readers to fully be aware of.
At least I prefer to think that it is an unconscious belief--because the alternative explanation is that Time is deliberately and maliciously trying to distort the news and mislead the American public to further its own political agenda. And further, that they actually admire and support the enemy that has openly declared his intent to destroy us.
No wonder they somehow managed to restrain themselves from declaring him their "Person of the Year".
Their motives might have been a bit too obvious (read: conscious or deliberate and therefore, not a slip) for even the non-psychologically-minded....
Monday, December 18, 2006
NEWSWEEK IS STUNNED ! NEWS DOESN'T FIT THEIR TEMPLATE...
..so they can hardly believe their own reporting:
"Mother of all surprises", "Unreal"; absolutely shocking!
Bizzyblog mimics Newsweek's amazement at this reality: Double-Digit Growth and Reaganesque Tax Cuts Are Happening WHERE? and says:
Oh yes, and then there's this from Gateway Pundit:
I could ask sarcastically why it is that we just don't hear much about this sort of thing...but what would be the point?
Instead we get stories like this one, highlighting a type of error the military might make during a war that doesn't seem so very awful in the great scheme of things (except for the person who was detained by mistake); or this one celebrating the ongoing cuteness of the antiwar movement.
Ask yourself which of the four stories above fit the preconceived leftist "template" that the MSM is trying to foist on the American public, and which stories go counter to that template. Then you will understand why Newsweek was so amazed.
Personally, I'm amazed that they even printed the story, though as Tom at Bizzyblog points out, once every 11 months or so they seem to make some mistakes themselves and let some good news filter out, almost against their will.
If the antiwar movement really stood for anything except appeasement or the enabling of terror and fanaticism, then this would not just be clever parody, and I might have less contempt both for them and the MSM.
In what might be called the mother of all surprises, Iraq's economy is growing strong, even booming in places.
It may sound unreal, given the daily images of carnage and chaos....
Civil war or not, Iraq has an economy, and—mother of all surprises—it's doing remarkably well. Real estate is booming. Construction, retail and wholesale trade sectors are healthy, too, according to a report by Global Insight in London. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports 34,000 registered companies in Iraq, up from 8,000 three years ago. Sales of secondhand cars, televisions and mobile phones have all risen sharply. Estimates vary, but one from Global Insight puts GDP growth at 17 percent last year and projects 13 percent for 2006. The World Bank has it lower: at 4 percent this year. But, given all the attention paid to deteriorating security, the startling fact is that Iraq is growing at all.
How? Iraq is a crippled nation growing on the financial equivalent of steroids, with money pouring in from abroad. National oil revenues and foreign grants look set to total $41 billion this year, according to the IMF. With security improving in one key spot—the southern oilfields—that figure could go up.
Not too shabby, all things considered.
"Mother of all surprises", "Unreal"; absolutely shocking!
Bizzyblog mimics Newsweek's amazement at this reality: Double-Digit Growth and Reaganesque Tax Cuts Are Happening WHERE? and says:
Iraq's economic growth and wouldn't be so "startling" if it were reported more than once, oh, every 11 months or so.
Oh yes, and then there's this from Gateway Pundit:
Lawk Salih has this good news story from Iraq...The Iraqi soccer team just did a better job unifying Iraqis than the government has done in three years!
BAGHDAD — Army Lt. Ali Mustafa is ready for tonight. He has two clips loaded with bullets. He hopes to have a chance to empty them.
If Iraq's soccer team wins its match against Qatar tonight, he'll join thousands of other Iraqis in celebratory gunfire.
"The formation of our national team is a big blow to terrorism and sectarianism," says Mustafa, 30, a Shiite. "The power of football can unify all honest people of this country."
I could ask sarcastically why it is that we just don't hear much about this sort of thing...but what would be the point?
Instead we get stories like this one, highlighting a type of error the military might make during a war that doesn't seem so very awful in the great scheme of things (except for the person who was detained by mistake); or this one celebrating the ongoing cuteness of the antiwar movement.
Ask yourself which of the four stories above fit the preconceived leftist "template" that the MSM is trying to foist on the American public, and which stories go counter to that template. Then you will understand why Newsweek was so amazed.
Personally, I'm amazed that they even printed the story, though as Tom at Bizzyblog points out, once every 11 months or so they seem to make some mistakes themselves and let some good news filter out, almost against their will.
If the antiwar movement really stood for anything except appeasement or the enabling of terror and fanaticism, then this would not just be clever parody, and I might have less contempt both for them and the MSM.
THE CURSE HAS COME UPON US
Gerard Vanderleun has a very thoughtful and provocative post at American Digest (hat tip: Larwyn and Fausta) that exposes the silent question we in the West are asking about Islam:
He then argues that the "unthinkable" is being thought and concludes:
Read it all please. It is crucial that we in the West understand what is at stake in this war.
I made much the same argument in a series of posts earlier this year. In "Yes or No?" I discussed the strategic issue of our time, as Chester put it, "Is Islam compatible with a free society?"
As he [Chester] points out, President Bush has been acting on the basis of a YES answer to the question and our entire strategy in the Middle East is based on it. What is astonishing about this essay is that the author unflichingly looks at the logical consequences that are inherent in answering NO to the question-- and finds them pretty frightening for any civilized person or nation.
This is why Bush has insisted on formulating our strategy based on YES. This is why he has been very circumspect in what he says about Islam and how he characterizes the war. This is why he is so adamantly supportive of the Dubai ports deal -- because the opposition to it does reflect a "tipping point" in which people no longer believe that a moderate, reasonable Islam is possible....
Time is not on Islam's side, however. Leaders like the Mullahs and Ahmadinejad in Iran and Hamas in Gaza are acting in ways that will facilitate a confrontation. They foolishly believe that the West will back down--if not because of a belief in the superiority of Islam; then from doubts about the superiority of Western values and from a reluctance to act decisively and ruthlessly.
The psychopathic elements in Islam believe this is our fundamental weakness; but they are wrong. This is actually our fundamental strength. President Bush has bet that Islam can be changed if it is infused with some democratic opportunities and freed from some of the political and religious tyranny that has dominated the Middle East. If such a democratizing process had been started--and carried through-- a decade or two earlier, well who knows how much the situation might have changed by now?
And, contrary to the infantile imaginings of the antiwar and so-called "peace" movements, Bush's strategy actually represents the Best. Possible. Hope. For. Peace.
In "Inching Toward 'No'" I wrote:
In contemplating these pieces of a larger puzzle, it strikes me that more and more people (from the conservatives who now question the Iraq war; to the ordinary citizens adamant that it is not safe to have any muslim country--ally or no-- manage out ports; to independents like myself who have resolutely supported President Bush) are beginning to inch slowly toward a negative answer to the strategic question.
While many (probably most) muslims are decent, tolerant and yearn to be free; Islam in its jihadist incarnation which has taken over Islam worldwide, does not appear to be compatible with a free society.
This ultimate conclusion is breathtaking--and heartbreaking-- in its implications.
And its implications are exactly what Vanderleun has written. Three years ago, Wretchard also penned an absolutely brilliant post, "The Three Conjectures" which lays out with ruthless logic the consequences that would ensue if the implaccable, unmodifiable elements of Islam were to obtain a nuclear weapon; which they most certainly would use.
The resulting escalation of nuclear exchanges would produce an almost unimaginable loss of life, and ultimately end in the destruction of Iran and other muslim nations, possibly Pakistan or Syria; but since the threat of terrorism is transnational, the threat's full eradication of necessity will escalate beyond Iranian borders.
Does Islam care about this possibility? In the almost three years since the conjecture was written there are clear signs that some Islamic countries are concerned and risking quite a bit to prevent this scenario. But the great majority welcome it as "Allah's will" and some even have intentions of precipitating it to give credibility to their own little religious sect. Events are moving too slowly in Iraq.
President Bush has bet everything on the hope that Islam can be changed if it is infused with some democratic opportunities and freed from some of the political and religious tyranny that has dominated the Middle East. If such a democratizing process had been started--and carried through-- a decade or two earlier, well who knows how much the situation might have changed by now? But it only began after a devastating attack within our borders finally spurred us to mobilize our resources and fight back both militarily and strategically.
...Contrary to the infantile imaginings of the antiwar and so-called "peace" movements, Bush's strategy actually represents the best possible hope for peace; even if that hope is slight.
It is a strategy that faces the grim reality of Islamic contradictions and historical brutality; yet has enough optimism and goodwill in it to be genuinely worth the price we are paying in Afghanistan and Iraq. If it works--and I haven't entirely given up hope yet-- millions of deaths might still be prevented. And if the peace crowd really cares about peace, then they would do well to reconsider their own perverse antics; and the Democrats their knee-jerk opposition.
Because, if they succeed in their determination to undermine American policy as it is now formulated; or if the extremists succeed in eliminating any voices for moderation and tolerance; then there will be only one strategic option open.
Whether it is appreciated or not, these last few years have indeed been our "Golden Hour" --the short time we have to deal with the threat that is represented by the radical elements of Islam. So much of the last three years has been wasted and frittered away by the left and their carping and undermining of Bush's strategic ploy. The continual appeasement, encouragement and cover given to those who would destroy us without mercy, has markedly diluted what we might have accomplished up to now with our aggressive pursuit of the YES Strategy.
The Golden Hour is down to only a few minutes at most. As the clock ticks down to answering NO to that fundamental strategic question; and as we creep closer and closer to the ultimate confrontation with a medieval, uncompromising and fanatically ruthless religion; there will be no deus ex machina --and no pointless protest march with clever placards--that will be able to save the millions of lives lost in that conflagration.
The political left, especially its lunatic wing which has been in denial for years, is already preparing to blame Bush and America if the worse happens. Rational people will recognize the truth-- that Bush has chosen a strategy and done everything possible to change the course of history. That the strategy was implemented too far along in the process to be able to wholly succeed; or that the enemy is even more nimble and eager to embrace death than western sensibilities could have possibly predicted-- are painful realities that may have to be faced.
Winston Churchill famously said, "One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half."
The problem is that for the kind of change envisioned by the Bush policy, decades is not too long a time to hope for some of the seeds to grow; and for rigid Middle Eastern minds to evolve and flourish within a democratic medium. And with the provocations and obvious intent of Iran--as repeatedly stated by its fanatical president--it becomes increasingly clear that we do not have decades.
The unthinkable is being thought. The unimaginable is being imagined.
The curse has finally come upon us.
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott. - Tennyson
LURKING BENEATH OUR INTERNAL ARGUMENT concerning the relentless demographic expansion of Islam into the West without assimilation, is the persistent background question, "Oh, my, whatever shall WE do with THEM?"Vanderleun goes on inexorably to the conclusion that we are "toying with genocide" as we try to reform Islam and/or assimilate it in the west. He asks an important question:
What if, as has been repeatedly stated by Islamic spokesmen in their media and their capitols and their mosques, Islam has neither the interest in nor the capacity for assimilation?
What if Islam continues, as it has for many centuries, to be implacably hostile to the West?
...A common catch phrase of Marxism is that "The capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him." I dread the coming catch phrase, "The Muslim will supply the West with the excuse to eradicate Islam," but that is clearly lurking in one of our possible futures; a future that although unthinkable is not inconceivable....
I would submit that this approach to war against Islam is clearly one driven by the current policies of the West that aims to, essentially, talk Islam out of its current obsessions and madness. It is the very small stick wielded alongside our softly spoken words of "democracy," "freedom," and "prosperity." In a way, the West's manner of war with Islam at present is essentially a kind of tough love: "Please learn to control your acting out. Please learn play well with others, or we're going to have to give you a time out."
Put somewhat baldly, the argument within the West on what to do with Islam is now between those who believe it should not be spanked at all but have its self-esteem boosted, and those who think that a small spanking now followed by the hot fudge sundae of freedom will result in acceptable behavior.
Either could be right, but if both are wrong the next level of discipline is typically expulsion. And by "expulsion" I do not mean that Islam will simply be sent to its room.
He then argues that the "unthinkable" is being thought and concludes:
This is why I still deeply believe that the current effort in Iraq and the Middle East to counter and expunge Islamic terrorism and turn Islam from the road it is on towards one of reformation and assimilation is the best path that can be taken at this time. Indeed, for all the ineptitude of the current administration, for all the expense in treasure and lives, this shoot-the-moon, Hail Mary of a foreign policy in Iraq is not just a policy to make America safer at home. It is the only thing that stands between Islam and its own destruction.
Read it all please. It is crucial that we in the West understand what is at stake in this war.
I made much the same argument in a series of posts earlier this year. In "Yes or No?" I discussed the strategic issue of our time, as Chester put it, "Is Islam compatible with a free society?"
As he [Chester] points out, President Bush has been acting on the basis of a YES answer to the question and our entire strategy in the Middle East is based on it. What is astonishing about this essay is that the author unflichingly looks at the logical consequences that are inherent in answering NO to the question-- and finds them pretty frightening for any civilized person or nation.
This is why Bush has insisted on formulating our strategy based on YES. This is why he has been very circumspect in what he says about Islam and how he characterizes the war. This is why he is so adamantly supportive of the Dubai ports deal -- because the opposition to it does reflect a "tipping point" in which people no longer believe that a moderate, reasonable Islam is possible....
Time is not on Islam's side, however. Leaders like the Mullahs and Ahmadinejad in Iran and Hamas in Gaza are acting in ways that will facilitate a confrontation. They foolishly believe that the West will back down--if not because of a belief in the superiority of Islam; then from doubts about the superiority of Western values and from a reluctance to act decisively and ruthlessly.
The psychopathic elements in Islam believe this is our fundamental weakness; but they are wrong. This is actually our fundamental strength. President Bush has bet that Islam can be changed if it is infused with some democratic opportunities and freed from some of the political and religious tyranny that has dominated the Middle East. If such a democratizing process had been started--and carried through-- a decade or two earlier, well who knows how much the situation might have changed by now?
And, contrary to the infantile imaginings of the antiwar and so-called "peace" movements, Bush's strategy actually represents the Best. Possible. Hope. For. Peace.
In "Inching Toward 'No'" I wrote:
In contemplating these pieces of a larger puzzle, it strikes me that more and more people (from the conservatives who now question the Iraq war; to the ordinary citizens adamant that it is not safe to have any muslim country--ally or no-- manage out ports; to independents like myself who have resolutely supported President Bush) are beginning to inch slowly toward a negative answer to the strategic question.
While many (probably most) muslims are decent, tolerant and yearn to be free; Islam in its jihadist incarnation which has taken over Islam worldwide, does not appear to be compatible with a free society.
This ultimate conclusion is breathtaking--and heartbreaking-- in its implications.
And its implications are exactly what Vanderleun has written. Three years ago, Wretchard also penned an absolutely brilliant post, "The Three Conjectures" which lays out with ruthless logic the consequences that would ensue if the implaccable, unmodifiable elements of Islam were to obtain a nuclear weapon; which they most certainly would use.
The resulting escalation of nuclear exchanges would produce an almost unimaginable loss of life, and ultimately end in the destruction of Iran and other muslim nations, possibly Pakistan or Syria; but since the threat of terrorism is transnational, the threat's full eradication of necessity will escalate beyond Iranian borders.
Does Islam care about this possibility? In the almost three years since the conjecture was written there are clear signs that some Islamic countries are concerned and risking quite a bit to prevent this scenario. But the great majority welcome it as "Allah's will" and some even have intentions of precipitating it to give credibility to their own little religious sect. Events are moving too slowly in Iraq.
President Bush has bet everything on the hope that Islam can be changed if it is infused with some democratic opportunities and freed from some of the political and religious tyranny that has dominated the Middle East. If such a democratizing process had been started--and carried through-- a decade or two earlier, well who knows how much the situation might have changed by now? But it only began after a devastating attack within our borders finally spurred us to mobilize our resources and fight back both militarily and strategically.
...Contrary to the infantile imaginings of the antiwar and so-called "peace" movements, Bush's strategy actually represents the best possible hope for peace; even if that hope is slight.
It is a strategy that faces the grim reality of Islamic contradictions and historical brutality; yet has enough optimism and goodwill in it to be genuinely worth the price we are paying in Afghanistan and Iraq. If it works--and I haven't entirely given up hope yet-- millions of deaths might still be prevented. And if the peace crowd really cares about peace, then they would do well to reconsider their own perverse antics; and the Democrats their knee-jerk opposition.
Because, if they succeed in their determination to undermine American policy as it is now formulated; or if the extremists succeed in eliminating any voices for moderation and tolerance; then there will be only one strategic option open.
Whether it is appreciated or not, these last few years have indeed been our "Golden Hour" --the short time we have to deal with the threat that is represented by the radical elements of Islam. So much of the last three years has been wasted and frittered away by the left and their carping and undermining of Bush's strategic ploy. The continual appeasement, encouragement and cover given to those who would destroy us without mercy, has markedly diluted what we might have accomplished up to now with our aggressive pursuit of the YES Strategy.
The Golden Hour is down to only a few minutes at most. As the clock ticks down to answering NO to that fundamental strategic question; and as we creep closer and closer to the ultimate confrontation with a medieval, uncompromising and fanatically ruthless religion; there will be no deus ex machina --and no pointless protest march with clever placards--that will be able to save the millions of lives lost in that conflagration.
The political left, especially its lunatic wing which has been in denial for years, is already preparing to blame Bush and America if the worse happens. Rational people will recognize the truth-- that Bush has chosen a strategy and done everything possible to change the course of history. That the strategy was implemented too far along in the process to be able to wholly succeed; or that the enemy is even more nimble and eager to embrace death than western sensibilities could have possibly predicted-- are painful realities that may have to be faced.
Winston Churchill famously said, "One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half."
The problem is that for the kind of change envisioned by the Bush policy, decades is not too long a time to hope for some of the seeds to grow; and for rigid Middle Eastern minds to evolve and flourish within a democratic medium. And with the provocations and obvious intent of Iran--as repeatedly stated by its fanatical president--it becomes increasingly clear that we do not have decades.
The unthinkable is being thought. The unimaginable is being imagined.
The curse has finally come upon us.
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott. - Tennyson
Sunday, December 17, 2006
DO THE RIGHT THING
Wretchard writes:
In a separate post at One Cosmos, Gagdad Bob astutely notes:
Let's be honest, as Bob suggests, and admit that there has never been a single country on the face of the earth; nor could many even imagine a country, that is as decent and good as America; and which is so committed to the idea of human freedom that it's people would fight and die to bring freedom to another country. Bob aptly describes this as "the unimaginable goodness of America."
I wholeheartedly concur. All my life I have counted myself almost unbearably fortunate to have been born in the wonderful country. I choke up whenever I think about it; whenever I ponder the philosophy of the Founders, who despite their very human flaws were able to creat a nation that could not have even been imagined by most of the people of their own time; and still cannot be imagined or appreciated by the supposedly progressive and advanced people of the modern world.
What an incomparable achievement America was and is! We are most certainly not burdened with the need to be perfect (only the insanely unrealistic and out-of-touch-with-reality political left suffers from that toxic brand of narcissisism). And we frequently have strayed and stumbled from time to time--it cannot be otherwise for any human endeavor. But what a marvelous triumph of freedom, of progress, of human achievement America is! A living, breathing and real-world expression of the abstract ideas of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" .
So much do we love the freedom and values of this country, we have always been willing to put our lives on the line, not only to insure that the blessings of liberty will be passed onto our own children, but to pass it on to all people; all races; all religions.
Russ Vaugn, at American Thinker reminds us that, "America is good enough to die for even when she is wrong"; and goes further to identify what it is about America that is so splendid:
When faced with touch choices, America has almost always chosen to do the hard thing; to take the more difficult course; the road less travelled--because more often than not, it is the right thing to do. And it makes all the difference.
I wrote in a previous post titled "What is Easy vs What is Right", a comment on the most recent Harry Potter film:
There are many people in this country who always demand that we take the easy path. Those are the same people who put enormous stock in opinion polls and make decisions based on how popular they are likely to be. Somehow they have forgotten--if they ever knew to begin with-- that doing what needs to be done, the right thing, is not always the popular thing. The hard choices and the sacrifices necessary to see them through, are beyond the moral, intellectual, or physical capacities of such people--unless they can feel the polls are with them--then it magically becomes very easy.
But that is not what this country is about; nor has it ever been.
Sadly, it seems that many of these people seem to end up as our elected officials. I would also say that they are overwhelmingly overrepresented in today's Democratic Party, but they also exist in all segments of our society. When the going gets tough, they whine and then they give up.
The American public may be confused about exactly how well things are going in Iraq--they have good cause to wonder with all the violent images and negative words coming from the mouths of the media and from some of their elected leaders--but when push comes to shove, the public has a better sense of what is right than any of those posturing peacocks (and peahens) in the leadership positions of the Democratic party (or the Republican Party for that matter).
But in spite of the concerted effort to brainwash the American public into thinking that America's motives in Iraq--indeed, in all parts of the world--are fundamentally evil; made by a coalition of the the antiwar left, the MSM, and other elements ready to discard the values that America has always stood for; the American public still believes in the essential goodness of this country and the values she stands for.
The evil we are confronting in the world is not going to go quietly away. Denial and appeasement are the landmarks of the easy path. Pretending that the world's problems are caused by America and condemning this country for its essential goodness while placating those who truly are evil, will not be an effective strategy for dealing with the issues of our time. Thousands, perhaps millions of people (if Ahmadinejad, Zawahiri, and Bin Laden have their way) will pay the price of the pervasive moral relativism that has poisoned the world--and which even infects a portion of this country.
This moral relativism makes it easy to pretend that the only danger to life; to liberty; to peace; to civilization is America itself. And as the relativists babble on with their postmodern newspeak, and take delight in undermining and hobbling that which is good; the real evil is allowed to grow stronger and its shadow darkens more of the world with every passing day.
Dark and difficult times lie ahead. I hope that America will never shy away from the tough choices and blindly take the easy path... because, no matter how difficult or unpopular it may be to stand and fight for freedom and to defy tyranny, it will always be the right thing to do.
The attempt to establish a democratic Iraq, however disappointing the experience has been so far, is unlikely to be abandoned very easily in the near future -- and perhaps not for as long as a the ghost of a shadow of a chance remains that it may be attained -- not only because the current administration is so invested in it, but because the alternatives of divide and rule and naked power politics, which would have been adopted without a second thought by Empires in the early 20th century, are too cold-blooded and heartless to be easily embraced by an American public which genuinely wishes the Iraqi people well.
In a separate post at One Cosmos, Gagdad Bob astutely notes:
One of the biggest problems we face in the war on Islamo-fascism is that even the worst of us has such rudimentary decency that we cannot imagine how evil our enemies are, while our enemies -- and most of our friends -- literally cannot imagine how good the Unites States is....
Grotesquely, the same people who cannot imagine how evil our enemies are, fantasize that people on our side -- decent and selfless public servants such as Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney -- are in fact evil. How often does one hear the scurrilous charge that Vice President Cheney’s motives are entirely pecuniary, and that he just wants to enrich his friends at Haliburton or in the oil industry?
Let's be honest, as Bob suggests, and admit that there has never been a single country on the face of the earth; nor could many even imagine a country, that is as decent and good as America; and which is so committed to the idea of human freedom that it's people would fight and die to bring freedom to another country. Bob aptly describes this as "the unimaginable goodness of America."
I wholeheartedly concur. All my life I have counted myself almost unbearably fortunate to have been born in the wonderful country. I choke up whenever I think about it; whenever I ponder the philosophy of the Founders, who despite their very human flaws were able to creat a nation that could not have even been imagined by most of the people of their own time; and still cannot be imagined or appreciated by the supposedly progressive and advanced people of the modern world.
What an incomparable achievement America was and is! We are most certainly not burdened with the need to be perfect (only the insanely unrealistic and out-of-touch-with-reality political left suffers from that toxic brand of narcissisism). And we frequently have strayed and stumbled from time to time--it cannot be otherwise for any human endeavor. But what a marvelous triumph of freedom, of progress, of human achievement America is! A living, breathing and real-world expression of the abstract ideas of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" .
So much do we love the freedom and values of this country, we have always been willing to put our lives on the line, not only to insure that the blessings of liberty will be passed onto our own children, but to pass it on to all people; all races; all religions.
Russ Vaugn, at American Thinker reminds us that, "America is good enough to die for even when she is wrong"; and goes further to identify what it is about America that is so splendid:
Deceased author John D. MacDonald, who wrote the wonderful Travis McGee mystery series, once explained through his fictional hero, McGee, the way to make correct moral decisions and it is a simple wisdom that has stayed in my brain, but not always exemplified by my behavior, through the remainder of my life. It is nothing more than this: do the hard thing. When faced with tough choices, look to that course of action which is the one you want least to follow because it appears to be the most difficult for you; it may hurt personally, but almost always, it is the right course for you to follow for the good of others.
When faced with touch choices, America has almost always chosen to do the hard thing; to take the more difficult course; the road less travelled--because more often than not, it is the right thing to do. And it makes all the difference.
I wrote in a previous post titled "What is Easy vs What is Right", a comment on the most recent Harry Potter film:
...Rowling's series has become the metaphor of our times. Whether this is conscious or unconscious on Rowling's part is neither here nor there.
When Dumbledore says to Harry at the end of the movie (paraphrasing), "Dark and difficult times lay ahead. Soon we will have to decide between doing what is easy and what is right", he is expressing the critical moral issue of our own time.
There are many people in this country who always demand that we take the easy path. Those are the same people who put enormous stock in opinion polls and make decisions based on how popular they are likely to be. Somehow they have forgotten--if they ever knew to begin with-- that doing what needs to be done, the right thing, is not always the popular thing. The hard choices and the sacrifices necessary to see them through, are beyond the moral, intellectual, or physical capacities of such people--unless they can feel the polls are with them--then it magically becomes very easy.
But that is not what this country is about; nor has it ever been.
Sadly, it seems that many of these people seem to end up as our elected officials. I would also say that they are overwhelmingly overrepresented in today's Democratic Party, but they also exist in all segments of our society. When the going gets tough, they whine and then they give up.
The American public may be confused about exactly how well things are going in Iraq--they have good cause to wonder with all the violent images and negative words coming from the mouths of the media and from some of their elected leaders--but when push comes to shove, the public has a better sense of what is right than any of those posturing peacocks (and peahens) in the leadership positions of the Democratic party (or the Republican Party for that matter).
But in spite of the concerted effort to brainwash the American public into thinking that America's motives in Iraq--indeed, in all parts of the world--are fundamentally evil; made by a coalition of the the antiwar left, the MSM, and other elements ready to discard the values that America has always stood for; the American public still believes in the essential goodness of this country and the values she stands for.
The evil we are confronting in the world is not going to go quietly away. Denial and appeasement are the landmarks of the easy path. Pretending that the world's problems are caused by America and condemning this country for its essential goodness while placating those who truly are evil, will not be an effective strategy for dealing with the issues of our time. Thousands, perhaps millions of people (if Ahmadinejad, Zawahiri, and Bin Laden have their way) will pay the price of the pervasive moral relativism that has poisoned the world--and which even infects a portion of this country.
This moral relativism makes it easy to pretend that the only danger to life; to liberty; to peace; to civilization is America itself. And as the relativists babble on with their postmodern newspeak, and take delight in undermining and hobbling that which is good; the real evil is allowed to grow stronger and its shadow darkens more of the world with every passing day.
Dark and difficult times lie ahead. I hope that America will never shy away from the tough choices and blindly take the easy path... because, no matter how difficult or unpopular it may be to stand and fight for freedom and to defy tyranny, it will always be the right thing to do.
CARNIVAL OF THE INSANITIES
Time for the weekly insanity update, where the insane, the bizarre, the ridiculous, and the completely absurd are highlighted for all to see! This has been a week of rare idiocy (as always!). So, if you want to remain sane, the best thing is to poke some fun at the more egregious absurdities.Send all entries for next week's carnival to Dr. Sanity by 8 pm ET on Saturday for Sunday's Carnival. Only one post entry weekly per blogger, please. And you might read this before submitting an entry.
Thanks for all the submissions. I try to use as many as possible! SO MANY INSANITIES! SO LITTLE TIME!!!
1. Taliban "ettiquette for terrorists": it's oh so proper to kill teachers--but only in the name of God the kind and merciful please.
2. Bureaucratic warfare at its finest! Plus CNN efforts to encourage class warfare
3. Lifestyles of the rich and fascist. Lifestyles of the powerful and stupid. Not to mention the clueless and politically correct.
4. John Kerry and the Bishop: a morality play in one act! John Kerry and the dopes stuck in Irak.
5. A new kind of Nobel Peace Prize to fit the postmodern era! Why not nominate the two whackjobs in this photo? At least someone's starting to like those genocidal, anti-Semite, nuke-wanting mullahs! Probably not Wolf Blitzer, though.
6. Ahmadinejad to hold conference to study if earth really revolves around the sun? And a proposal for a counter-conference...
7. We all know who's responsible...watch the movie trailer! Olmert's big mouth (
8. The world will never know--not if the MSM has anything to say about it! They only listen to the real experts in this war. LOL! Personally I have no doubts about either his feminity or that he is an appeasement-monger.
9. A new email scam makes the rounds.... as does a new fashion statement. Can this company patent a ham sandwich? How about a hamburglar?
10. Liberty? We don't need no stinkin' liberty. And clearly, we also don't need no stinkin' journalists who are patriotic and have ties to the military reporting on the Iraq war!
11. And here I thought baseless conspiracy theories was what they were all about! Surely this must be a blow to their conspiracy fantasies....Yet another blow to their fantasies! Not a good week for them, I guess.
12. Guys and gals, looking for that perfect gift? Jewelry that says, "I hate you."
Probably not a good choice in this situation, however!
13. Scientific information from North Korea that will change your life forever!
14. Ask Gore when the movie about this serious environmental threat is coming out. Proof that human evolution is destroying the planet (see previous link). There's an Al Gore joke in here somewhere, too.
15. Ze worst disease in ze world. Next to insomnia, of course.
16. WWJD ? Refuse to debate of course ! Just what we need: a Ferengi in the White House?
17. Primordial precepts--the solar system inside out. You've got to keep the cosmos in perspective.
18. Something is up in the shlong sciences! And if you don't believe it, then check out "the small penis rule" Who knew? Just a cock and bull story. Exposing your kucinich in public??
19. Rush Limbaugh's cat (not related to Schroedinger's cat) and George Clooney's pig (not related to Charlotte)
20. I thought it already had peaked...well it better get on with it an decrease the surplus population! Bah Humbug.
21. OK, a little eye candy for the last entry in the Carnival...enjoy!
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If you would like to Join the insanity, and add the Carnival of the Insanities button to your sidebar (clicking on it will always take you to the latest update of the Carnival), click on "Word of Blog" below the button to obtain the html code:
Saturday, December 16, 2006
A SATURDAY MORNING TOUCH AND GO !
It's a beautiful December morning and time again for Dr. Sanity to do a flyover of the psychosphere and do a few touch and go's to see what all that psychological talent out there has been blogging about!Assistant Village Idiot (who surely has been promoted to "Associate" by now!) has an extraordinary piece that asks readers to "Change One Thing" in World War II to improve the outcome:
There are few rules, only that it has to be one thing. Intervene militarily when Japan attacks Manchuria is actually many things. We cannot replay history, of course, and the cascade of events you posit would result from the small action is highly speculative. But make a case for it anyway. What cascade of events could flow from your small change?
Example: Britain declares war on Germany over Czechoslovakia looks at first as if it would imply many actions. But we know in hindsight that a declaration of war was the signal that would have activated the German military revolting against Hitler. The Germans might then have solved the whole thing themselves. What would have resulted might have been no better; hard to see how it would have been worse, however. The most likely outcome is less war. It is also only a small change. Britain came very near to a declaration of war at that point, but drew back.
Think about it, all you armchair generals out there....
Next, Dr. Helen along with hubby Instapundit have an excellent podcast up discussing Male Suicide with Dr. Eric Caine, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, and an expert consultant to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, Caine is one of the nation’s foremost researchers in the field of suicide prevention and an expert on mental illness and suicide among the elderly. Check it out.
Siggy has posted "An Idiot's Guide to Zionism: What it is and why it really matters" over at SC&A:
As the ‘Holocaust Conference‘ in Tehran continues (”It is for public consumption in Arab countries…It is specifically directed toward deepening the gap between the people and their regimes and toward embarrassing the rulers so that the regional power vacuum, especially after Iraq, can be filled by Iran”), it is clear that even the pretense of civilized thought and behavior are not part on the Iranian mullahs ‘Islamic Republic’ agenda.
By embracing David Duke, et al, the Iranian regime, led by that gaggle of corrupt mullahs and their houseboy, Mahmoud Ahmadenijad, have made clear by association not only their feelings about the Holocaust, but of their attitudes towards Jews (they claim they are not anti Semitic), Blacks, Latinos, Asians and immigrants.
He goes on to explain what Zionism really is; and more importantly, what it isn't. An must-read post in this time of rising antisemitism around the world.
Meanwhile, ShrinkWrapped considers "Change and Stasis" on his blog and notes that, "True creativity is a rare trait. The number of people who have discovered truly new insights into the nature of reality are so few as to be memorialized as giants." Shrink can't help noticing that:
...societies that are structured to reward change can evolve and are now doing so at a rapidly accelerating rate. Societies that are structured so as to resist change are at risk of massive, catastrophic, disruption.
Now we head west through the skies of the blogsphere to visit Gagdad Bob and his various horizontal and vertical alter egos at One Cosmos, where the boys discuss the Founding Avatars of our nation and note that there was not an atheist among them. In fact, they understood that mankind possessed both a genetic blueprint (the horizontal) and a divine blueprint (the vertical). "This is a distinction," Bob says, "of which the founders were fully aware."
This hostility to atheism “was nearly universal in America, on the ground that where there is no omniscient Judge, political power knows no moral check.” Atheism is the exterior philosophy par excellence, completely denying even the possibility of interior evolution.
The founders categorically rejected atheism because it violated all common sense -- and America’s founders were nothing if not common-sensical. As Washington wrote, “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.”
GM Roper confesses over at GM's Corner that he is a warmonger:
I am a war monger, there, I've said it and I make no apologies for it. I support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, I support going to war against the Sons-of-Bitches that rule Iran and Syria and I support a takedown of the hypocrites that are the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I take this stance because I know full well the dangers of islamofascists and their ilk. I have seen the nature of the beast and I am worried that a majority of Americans and Europeans do not. I have seen the scourge of islamofascism in the hole in the ground once occupied by twin towers of stunning architecture and commerce, in the torn up landscape of a field in Pennsylvania and in the hole through offices in the Pentagon. I have seen it in the delusional and psychotic meanderings of leftists that purport to "prove" that Bush was behind the attacks. I have seen it in the cries of airline passengers blythfully going about their business, only to have their day disrupted in fire and death. In the agonized faces of their family members posting pictures of missing family members wondering if they were safe, or God forbid, murdered.One final stop at Neo-neocon's blog, where she too has a shocking confession to make!
I hereby join two other blogger, Michelle Malkin and Tammy Bruce, in officially declaring myself to be a woman of the Left.
Of the dominant left hand, that is. I'm not only a lefty, I'm very strongly left-handed, from an unusually left-handed family. Of the four of us--mother, father, brother, and myself--only my father was right-handed.Although my politics have shifted my handedness has not.
Time to head back to Dr. Sanity Internetional Airport! I have just had enough time for a few touch and go's--but you can spend as much time as you like at these excellent blogs. You might even learn a few new things and expand your psychological vistas!
WEBLOG AWARDS - UPDATE
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I would like to thank all those who voted for Dr. Sanity in the "BEST INDIVIDUAL BLOG" category! Voting is now closed, and you can check out the preliminary results at the links below. Final tallying will not be ready until Monday, December 18th!
I am proud and honored to have been considered one of the best individual blogs along with The Anchoress and Lileks and Riehl World View and the others nominated. Again, I want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement. It makes blogging a worthwhile and satisfying activity.
CLICK HERE TO SEE PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR BEST INDIVIDUAL BLOG
Click on the image below to find out the results in all the other contests!
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I would like to thank all those who voted for Dr. Sanity in the "BEST INDIVIDUAL BLOG" category! Voting is now closed, and you can check out the preliminary results at the links below. Final tallying will not be ready until Monday, December 18th!
I am proud and honored to have been considered one of the best individual blogs along with The Anchoress and Lileks and Riehl World View and the others nominated. Again, I want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement. It makes blogging a worthwhile and satisfying activity.
CLICK HERE TO SEE PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR BEST INDIVIDUAL BLOG
Click on the image below to find out the results in all the other contests!
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Friday, December 15, 2006
THE GOLDEN AGE OF VICTIMHOOD
In an earlier post this week, I outlined (somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but only somewhat) a practical guide to obtaining and keeping victimhood. There is no question that our culture has entered into a "golden age" of victimhood, and I think it is important to understand how this has come about, because unless we know and appreciate the origins of this psychological insanity, it will be almost impossible to eradicate it from American culture.
One of the most insidious doctrines of the political left which has entered the mainstream in the last 25 years has been that of "multiculturalism". You cannot be anywhere near a K-12 school or a university campus without being delusged by the platitudes and slogans about "diversity". In fact, diversity has become so omnipresent in almost all areas of our cultural consciousness, it is impossible to escape its gooey self-righteousness and sanctified aura.
America has led the world in unparalleled prosperity and economic health; and with this success it has been made by the do-gooders of the left to feel more and more guilty about this success.
Generating this guilt dovetails nicely into the leftist agenda, which has always been to undermine and destroy the capitalistic underpinnings of this country and replace it with various assorted totalitarian/utopian socialist and communist policies--all in the name of "social justice", of course.
Multiculturalism posits that all cultures are of equal merit--a plausibly ridiculous assertion to begin with, but one which disguises the real intent, which is the corollary assertion:
All cultures are of equal merit, except for western culture which is uniquely evil and oppressive.
Western culture it is asserted, is responsible for colonialism, racism, imperialism, oppressive religion (i.e., Christianity) and of course the oppression of women and gays. Western culture has embraced objective reality and reason, thus reality and reason are not to be trusted and must not be used to judge those that are different from us. Anyone who is poorer, darker, non-male, non-Christian, non-American is thus by definition a "victim".
Terrorists have been reinvented by the doctrine of multiculturalism as underpriveliged victims of Western oppression; Islam is merely a religion besieged--not by the extremist elements in its midst, but by Islamophobia on the part of the West. As victims, they are given extensive moral latitude; indeed, it is almost impossible for them to do any wrong.
Thus systematic and institutionally approved beheadings and the brutal and deliberate murders of women, children and other innocents pales in comparison to the humiliations that were inflicted (with no deaths) by a small minority of American soldiers at Abu Ghraib; and the Israelis attempts to spare innocents are dismissed while the deliberate use of human shields by Hezbollah is ignored. Rampant moral relativism and moral equivalence are essential in order to give credence to the essence of multiculturalism--a sort of moral handicapping based on goodness. The more virtue you possess, the more you must be handicapped so that the pathetic cultures that should be roundly condemned and censured by any civilized person can be elevated to a sort of cultural sainthood.
Who are we to judges, we are admonished repeatedly.
What the left has created is a "Golden Age of Victimhood" (a phrase I believe was first used by Victor Davis Hanson), where every other culture --other than American, that is--is conceptualized as the victims of American colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. They are even willing to repackage the Islamofascist enemy to be the poor, helpless victim of America.
Multiculturalism--which perhaps started out as a sincere attempt to open everyone's eyes and celebrate the beautiful diversity (and I hesitate to even use that word because of its distortion by the ideologues) in our own country and in the world-- has become a virulent dogma that does not allow the exercise of critical judgement or rational thought. Everyone must bow before its graven image and obey its priests.
Anyone challenging the omnipotent power of this cult is automatically labeled as "racist", "sexist", "homophobic", "Islamophobic" and any number of other multipurpose derogatory terms bandied around liberally by the left.
And so we come to the present day, where instead of celebrating diversity, we are actually forced into the rigid egalitarian template of the left.
the Danish Muhammed cartoon controversy that has inflamed the Muslim world, the multicultural /politically correct mindset has now been fully exposed as a fraud. The shocking consequences and deadly potential of that fraud are suddenly becoming all too clear.
It is not, as Wretchard once commented, "... the universal chorus of harmony" that the multiculturalists have propagandized, "but religious conflict at its most primitive level." His comment about the the hysteria related to the Mohammed cartoons is actually applicable to all aspects of multicultural dogma--in other words, multiculturalism as a doctrine brings out the basist, most uncivilized and evil aspects of human nature.
Don't consider what the multiculturalist say in their high-minded rhetoric. WATCH WHAT THEY DO. It is in their behavior that you begin to see the toxicity of this ideology; the essentially oppressive nature of the politically correct behavior that multiculturalism demands of us.
One wonders how anyone could have expectd a different result?
Having given up any objective standard by which to mediate such vastly different perspectives and feelings; having abandoned reason altogether in favor of expressing one's feelings no matter what the cost; and, finally, having endlessly touted the critical importance and essential need to "belong" to one's race, tribe, religion or group first and foremost; the outcome is what Stephen Hicks refers to as "group balkinization" --with all its inevitable and inescapable conflict.
Why, in other words, would peaceful coexistence result from a movement that has done everything in its power to eradicate universalism and instead glorify the cultural differences (no matter how insane or irrational those cultural practices might be) into the public consciousness?
Multiculturalism teaches that what is truly important above all else, is not belonging to the family of humanity, but only belonging to one's sexual, racial, ethnic, or religious identity.
Like many of the left's dogmatic pronouncements, it should now be apparent to anyone with a brain, that the exact opposite of what is promised, is what ends up being delivered.
Just as the false promises of socialism and communism were found to lead to misery instead of happiness; poverty instead of wealth; enslavement instead of freedom--so too, has multiculturalism and political correctness encouraged hate and resentment between groups and brought lethal discord, instead of harmony into our society.
Where once we celebrated individuality and each of us were encouraged to pursue our own life, liberty and happiness; now our children are inculcated with the idea that "diversity" is more important than competence; that allegience to one's ethnic identity is more important than allegience to American values; and that achieving victimhood confers ultimate moral authority; while taking responsibility for one's life; becoming successful, and doing well is the hallmark of the race or gender "traitor", who has willfully joined the ranks of the oppressors. You are excoriated and ridiculed beyond belief if you are a successful woman, black, or gay person in this country and don't adhere to the victimhood template of the politically correct left.
And so the golden age of victimhood is upon us. In order to reclaim our values-- values which show compassion for the true victims of the world, but do not turn their tragedies into celebratory circuses to highlight the supposed superiority of socialist ideology; values which emphasize and celebrate our individuality and the personal responsibilies that go with that individuality; and do not chain us solely to the limitations of our particular ethnic or gender or cultural expectations--we must censure and completely abandon the cult of multiculturalism and expose it for the fraud it is; eliminate it from the curricula of our educational institutions; and replace it with an emphasis on celebrating intellectual diversity and the open, free discussion of ideas, critical thinking, and a renewal of our allegiance to reality, reason and truth.
Let us stop apologizing for being the best, the most free, and the most productive country and people in the history of the world. We will gladly and willingly continue to carry the rest of the world's economy on our shoulders (and we do), but let us no longer participate in our own subjugation by those whose goal is to destroy the fountainhead of our freedoms.
Let us stop supporting this culture of victimhood and cease glorifying the mediocre and celebrating those who champion tyranny. Then, perhaps, we will witness the birth of a neo-rationalism--a new golden age of reason.
One of the most insidious doctrines of the political left which has entered the mainstream in the last 25 years has been that of "multiculturalism". You cannot be anywhere near a K-12 school or a university campus without being delusged by the platitudes and slogans about "diversity". In fact, diversity has become so omnipresent in almost all areas of our cultural consciousness, it is impossible to escape its gooey self-righteousness and sanctified aura.
America has led the world in unparalleled prosperity and economic health; and with this success it has been made by the do-gooders of the left to feel more and more guilty about this success.
Generating this guilt dovetails nicely into the leftist agenda, which has always been to undermine and destroy the capitalistic underpinnings of this country and replace it with various assorted totalitarian/utopian socialist and communist policies--all in the name of "social justice", of course.
Multiculturalism posits that all cultures are of equal merit--a plausibly ridiculous assertion to begin with, but one which disguises the real intent, which is the corollary assertion:
All cultures are of equal merit, except for western culture which is uniquely evil and oppressive.
Western culture it is asserted, is responsible for colonialism, racism, imperialism, oppressive religion (i.e., Christianity) and of course the oppression of women and gays. Western culture has embraced objective reality and reason, thus reality and reason are not to be trusted and must not be used to judge those that are different from us. Anyone who is poorer, darker, non-male, non-Christian, non-American is thus by definition a "victim".
Terrorists have been reinvented by the doctrine of multiculturalism as underpriveliged victims of Western oppression; Islam is merely a religion besieged--not by the extremist elements in its midst, but by Islamophobia on the part of the West. As victims, they are given extensive moral latitude; indeed, it is almost impossible for them to do any wrong.
Thus systematic and institutionally approved beheadings and the brutal and deliberate murders of women, children and other innocents pales in comparison to the humiliations that were inflicted (with no deaths) by a small minority of American soldiers at Abu Ghraib; and the Israelis attempts to spare innocents are dismissed while the deliberate use of human shields by Hezbollah is ignored. Rampant moral relativism and moral equivalence are essential in order to give credence to the essence of multiculturalism--a sort of moral handicapping based on goodness. The more virtue you possess, the more you must be handicapped so that the pathetic cultures that should be roundly condemned and censured by any civilized person can be elevated to a sort of cultural sainthood.
Who are we to judges, we are admonished repeatedly.
What the left has created is a "Golden Age of Victimhood" (a phrase I believe was first used by Victor Davis Hanson), where every other culture --other than American, that is--is conceptualized as the victims of American colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. They are even willing to repackage the Islamofascist enemy to be the poor, helpless victim of America.
Multiculturalism--which perhaps started out as a sincere attempt to open everyone's eyes and celebrate the beautiful diversity (and I hesitate to even use that word because of its distortion by the ideologues) in our own country and in the world-- has become a virulent dogma that does not allow the exercise of critical judgement or rational thought. Everyone must bow before its graven image and obey its priests.
Anyone challenging the omnipotent power of this cult is automatically labeled as "racist", "sexist", "homophobic", "Islamophobic" and any number of other multipurpose derogatory terms bandied around liberally by the left.
And so we come to the present day, where instead of celebrating diversity, we are actually forced into the rigid egalitarian template of the left.
the Danish Muhammed cartoon controversy that has inflamed the Muslim world, the multicultural /politically correct mindset has now been fully exposed as a fraud. The shocking consequences and deadly potential of that fraud are suddenly becoming all too clear.
It is not, as Wretchard once commented, "... the universal chorus of harmony" that the multiculturalists have propagandized, "but religious conflict at its most primitive level." His comment about the the hysteria related to the Mohammed cartoons is actually applicable to all aspects of multicultural dogma--in other words, multiculturalism as a doctrine brings out the basist, most uncivilized and evil aspects of human nature.
Don't consider what the multiculturalist say in their high-minded rhetoric. WATCH WHAT THEY DO. It is in their behavior that you begin to see the toxicity of this ideology; the essentially oppressive nature of the politically correct behavior that multiculturalism demands of us.
One wonders how anyone could have expectd a different result?
Having given up any objective standard by which to mediate such vastly different perspectives and feelings; having abandoned reason altogether in favor of expressing one's feelings no matter what the cost; and, finally, having endlessly touted the critical importance and essential need to "belong" to one's race, tribe, religion or group first and foremost; the outcome is what Stephen Hicks refers to as "group balkinization" --with all its inevitable and inescapable conflict.
Why, in other words, would peaceful coexistence result from a movement that has done everything in its power to eradicate universalism and instead glorify the cultural differences (no matter how insane or irrational those cultural practices might be) into the public consciousness?
Multiculturalism teaches that what is truly important above all else, is not belonging to the family of humanity, but only belonging to one's sexual, racial, ethnic, or religious identity.
Like many of the left's dogmatic pronouncements, it should now be apparent to anyone with a brain, that the exact opposite of what is promised, is what ends up being delivered.
Just as the false promises of socialism and communism were found to lead to misery instead of happiness; poverty instead of wealth; enslavement instead of freedom--so too, has multiculturalism and political correctness encouraged hate and resentment between groups and brought lethal discord, instead of harmony into our society.
Where once we celebrated individuality and each of us were encouraged to pursue our own life, liberty and happiness; now our children are inculcated with the idea that "diversity" is more important than competence; that allegience to one's ethnic identity is more important than allegience to American values; and that achieving victimhood confers ultimate moral authority; while taking responsibility for one's life; becoming successful, and doing well is the hallmark of the race or gender "traitor", who has willfully joined the ranks of the oppressors. You are excoriated and ridiculed beyond belief if you are a successful woman, black, or gay person in this country and don't adhere to the victimhood template of the politically correct left.
And so the golden age of victimhood is upon us. In order to reclaim our values-- values which show compassion for the true victims of the world, but do not turn their tragedies into celebratory circuses to highlight the supposed superiority of socialist ideology; values which emphasize and celebrate our individuality and the personal responsibilies that go with that individuality; and do not chain us solely to the limitations of our particular ethnic or gender or cultural expectations--we must censure and completely abandon the cult of multiculturalism and expose it for the fraud it is; eliminate it from the curricula of our educational institutions; and replace it with an emphasis on celebrating intellectual diversity and the open, free discussion of ideas, critical thinking, and a renewal of our allegiance to reality, reason and truth.
Let us stop apologizing for being the best, the most free, and the most productive country and people in the history of the world. We will gladly and willingly continue to carry the rest of the world's economy on our shoulders (and we do), but let us no longer participate in our own subjugation by those whose goal is to destroy the fountainhead of our freedoms.
Let us stop supporting this culture of victimhood and cease glorifying the mediocre and celebrating those who champion tyranny. Then, perhaps, we will witness the birth of a neo-rationalism--a new golden age of reason.
EQUATION FOR PEACE
Triplets of Terror + ISG Insanity =
THE TRIPLETS OF TERROR:
ISG INSANITY:
Thursday, December 14, 2006
MORONS OF THE U.S. SENATE
I'm with Michael Rubin on this. First, he comments on the senatorial moron-in-chief, John Kerry:
Then he moves on to several other notable dimwits of the Kerry mold:
And yesterday there was Senator Nelson's really productive interaction with the assassin of Damascus. Can he possibly suppose that meeting with Assad does anything for his "image" except to bring him well-deserved scorn and ridicule?
What is the matter with these intellectually and morally challenged suck-ups? Can they not appreciate the damage they do to the cause of freedom in the world? Are they incapable of understanding the consequences of their self-serving grandiose ambitions--not only for their own country, but for the fragile dreams of liberty held by those under the boot of oppression in the middle east and around the world?
These are the same people who rage incoherently at how America's "standing" in the world has somehow deteriorated under President Bush, because he dared to call out the tyrants of the world. So, clearly, their present behavior suggests they are fearful that our standing with those tyrants and terror enablers is in desperate need of mending.
These are the same people who demand that the power of the Executive Branch be forcibly reined in; but, if you ask me, it is the unchained narcissism of the Legislative Branch that is out of control and far more threatening to the health of this nation.
What is next on their agenda? One-on-one negotiations with Bin Laden? Or Nasrallah? Photo-ops with Al Qaeda and Hezbollah? Attending the Holocaust Denial Conference to give support to Ahmadinejad? Hand-holding with Hamas?
Idiots.
John Kerry is in Egypt, and is praising Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s wisdom. What Kerry is not doing is speaking up for Ayman Nour, Muhammad Sharqawi, and other dissidents victimized by Mubarak’s crackdown. What does he think Egyptians feel when they hear Kerry saying that Bush should have listened more to Mubarak, whose domestic popularity make Bush look like Mr. Universe? Kerry could have spoken out for independent Egyptian labor unions. He could have spoken up for youth employment. Instead, Kerry stood up for Mubarak’s 2002 support for Saddam.(emphasis mine)
Then he moves on to several other notable dimwits of the Kerry mold:
Eli Lake reports on the trek of several senators, including Arlen Specter, to Syria. Specter has been seeking to engage Damascus for a decade. This 1997 interview about Hafez al-Assad is telling. As an aside, Specter violated his own caveats voiced in the interview when he subsequently engaged Iran despite its involvement in the Khobar attack. I’d be really curious for someone to ask the senators returning from Damascus to comment on how they think ordinary Syrians and the Lebanese seeking to free themselves from Syrian-sponsored terror will react to their visit. The senators might also report on what Bashar al-Assad said in response to their demands that specific political prisoners be released. This assumes the senators brought up the issue and did not just limit themselves to tasking the embassy to arrange squash games. (emphasis mine)
And yesterday there was Senator Nelson's really productive interaction with the assassin of Damascus. Can he possibly suppose that meeting with Assad does anything for his "image" except to bring him well-deserved scorn and ridicule?
What is the matter with these intellectually and morally challenged suck-ups? Can they not appreciate the damage they do to the cause of freedom in the world? Are they incapable of understanding the consequences of their self-serving grandiose ambitions--not only for their own country, but for the fragile dreams of liberty held by those under the boot of oppression in the middle east and around the world?
These are the same people who rage incoherently at how America's "standing" in the world has somehow deteriorated under President Bush, because he dared to call out the tyrants of the world. So, clearly, their present behavior suggests they are fearful that our standing with those tyrants and terror enablers is in desperate need of mending.
These are the same people who demand that the power of the Executive Branch be forcibly reined in; but, if you ask me, it is the unchained narcissism of the Legislative Branch that is out of control and far more threatening to the health of this nation.
What is next on their agenda? One-on-one negotiations with Bin Laden? Or Nasrallah? Photo-ops with Al Qaeda and Hezbollah? Attending the Holocaust Denial Conference to give support to Ahmadinejad? Hand-holding with Hamas?
Idiots.
DR. SANITY'S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO VICTIMHOOD
Getting It and Keeping It!
INTRODUCTION
Victimhood has, as is usual these days, been in the news recently. From the pathetic heroic attempts of John ("it was only a joke") Kerry to paint himself a "victim" of the "Republican attack machine" for his ignorant brilliant remarks about US military personnel; to the flying imams ongoing claims of oppression and victimhood as they extort money and publicity suitable compensation from their terrible ordeal even as they deliberately undermine airport security expose the evils of racial profiling and Islamophobia--the victimhood scams opportunities are neverending.
If you have any doubts about the power and sanctity that can be yours if victimhood status cand be officially confered upon you; or of the endless moral benefits of being "oppressed"; just consider that even a mean SOB like Saddam Hussein can be deemed a victim of American oppression--just ask Ramsey Clark how that is done! Or that, for the sake of the Palestinians--the most publicized and creative perpetual victims in all of history-- a group of "experts" are busy right at this very moment trying to prove that the entire world has been bamboozled by a clever Jewish conspiracy regarding the Holocaust! Those darn Jews!
The Holocaust Deniers are particularly noteworthy in the annals of victimhood, and demonstrate a degree of unsurpassable cleverness because they have managed to take the actual victims of a horrific episode in world history and twist that history to turn those real victims into oppressors! Surely one of the most magnificent applications of the new victimhood rules.
In the quasi-religious cult of victimhood that is part of today's leftist dogma, "victimhood" has been identified as the key quality deserving of attention and pity. This is in part because many on the political left have an intense narcissistic need to see themselves as "champions of the oppressed", hence the constant need to find and maintain an oppressed class of people to champion. But it also dovetails nicely into the the Marxist dialectic that underlies that ideology. The world is divided up into two groups, you see: the oppressors (i.e., white, male,heterosexual, Republican, Americans or Israelis) and the oppressed (everyone else).
The political left proudly stands in solidarity with the oppressed victims of the world; and it is worth noting that their stance is particularly ego-gratifying if those they champion are undeserving victims (i.e., similar to Alfred P. Doolittle's "undeserving poor"-- who have needs as great as the most deserving of victims; in fact, their needs are even greater! )
So, for the edification of her readers, Dr. Sanity has decided to reprint the following excerpts from her never-to-be-published book (without permission, of course); hot off the presses of Worlwide Victimhood, Inc. (WWV); a wholly owned subsidiary of Dr. Sanity Enterprises, a multinational conglomerate:
A SHORT COURSE ON HOW TO BE A VICTIM
Chapter I: THE ADVANTAGES OF VICTIMHOOD
This brief guide is for those searching for an expedited pathway into the exalted status of Victimhood. Becoming a victim --as we all have learned from famous TV stars, prominent politicians; religions, races, and even nations--is an advantageous state of being in many ways, several of which are:
-You are not responsible for what happened to you
-You are always morally right
-You are not accountable to anyone for anything
-You are forever entitled to sympathy
-You are always justified in feeling moral indignation for being wronged
-You never have to be responsible again for anything
As you can see, these are some heavy-duty privileges; and they are not given to just anyone. This list is not exclusive. There are many benefits of Victimhood; and in our current society, new rewards are continuously being discovered! You, too, may be someone who blazes a new path for future victims!
The badge of victimhood must be "earned" (ha ha, just kidding!) by one of two methods: (1) Membership in a special "victim" class; or (2) having something bad actually happen to you. Method 1 is definitely is superior in every way since it eliminates the need for something bad to actually happen to you (as long as it once happened to someone like you--you are set); thus this method is preferable and automatically puts all sorts of celebrities and famous people on your side. They will not be concerned if you are a good person or a bad person; just as long as you meet the basic victimhood criteria.
You are probably tempted to ask what that basic criteria is for most famous people to support you? Here is a tip (keep it under your hat): most famous people--especially undeserving famous people (i.e., people who are famous not for any particular talent they have, but because they might have a good publicist, for example) have an intense need to feel that they are "champions of the oppressed." This relieves them of the pervasive feelings of guilt under which they must function. Hence, all you have to do is to convince them that you are "oppressed" by one of a number of usual "oppressors", and you are home free!
Here is a handy list of possible oppressors that can be used by almost anyone searching for victimhood status:
- caucasian, heterosexual males
- Republicans (either male or female)
- conservatives (either male or female)
- businessmen or women (commonly referred to as "little eichmanns")
- capitalists
- rich people
- Christians (particularly Republican or conservative)
- the U.S. Military (all services)
- Americans (as a general group)
- Israelis (Jews)
Note: This list is not exhaustive, but it is a good place to start if you are pursuig victimhood for fun and profit.
Chapter II: THE BADGE OF VICTIMHOOD
Victimhood is automatically conferred if you are a member of one or more of the following groups:
- An underrepresented race (whoever is in the minority--the majority are barred from victimhood)
- An underrepresented gender(males are prohibited from victimhood)
- An underrepresented sexual orientation (heterosexuals are not allowed to be victims)
- A nation without land (e.g., Palestinians; Note: The Kurds aren't considered victims because they aren't the right kind of victim--they admire the U.S. and aspire to democracy & freedom thus, disqualifying them)
- Any nation the U.S. has a disagreement with
- A religion stuck in the Middle Ages (e.g., Islam)
- A person in jail (your crime is immaterial, but the worse the crime, the better)
Other individuals or groups may petition for Victimhood if they meet the following criteria:
- The Liberal Media confers it on them
- You appear on talk shows and spill your guts about some distasteful event that happened to you
- You use drugs or alcohol but get into treatment after you get in trouble
- You find God after you get in trouble
- You are very sorry for your reprehensible behavior or actions and have a reputable person to blame for why you did it (President Bush is always a good choice, but any parental figure--even God-- will do)
- If you are a nation or religion, it is always safe to be a victim of the Jews
- If you are incompetent at your job and unable to get ahead it is generally due to someone else's behavior; or it might be due to Adult Attention Deficit Disorder-- either way works.
- If you haven't achieved your proper level of power in the world (even if you are a dictator, surprisingly) you could be a victim of American foreign policy
-If you have economic problems, it is likely you are a vicitm of Capitalism (remember, that socialism, communism, fascism, and other ideologies are completely off the hook since they proactively blame Capitalism for all the problems of the world)
-If you are addicted to ANYTHING, you are likely to be a victim!
-If your feelings are hurt by someone--either intentionally or unintentionally-- you are a victim (call our toll-free number above if you have any questions, but most Universities have special policies that cover you)
- If you can attract Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Ramsey Clark, or Bianca Jagger to your cause, you are, by definition, a victim! Case closed!
Having something bad actually happen to you is the second method of achieving Victimhood. However, as mentioned in Chapter 1; it is a much less direct method than the methods listed above and is not recommended.
Why, you might ask? Simple! Waiting around for something bad to actually happen to you is an extremely inefficient way of becoming a victim. After all, you cannot control when or where natural disasters occur. Statistically, other disastrous events (e.g., lightening striking; plane crashes; etc.) do not occur frequently enough to be reliable. And it is important to note that many people who suffer victimhood in this natural way will eventually get on with their lives! And that is the LAST THING YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO DO! Remember the most politically correct type of Victimhood is the kind you can inflict on yourself! Be professional! Our motto at WorldWide Victimhood, Inc. is "Take Control of Your Victimhood!".
IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are lucky enought to already be a member of an approved victim group AND something bad happens to you (e.g., a hurricane or other natural disaster) well, that is, as we say in the biz, the best of all possible worlds (assuming, of course, that you survive the experience). Then you are a victim twice-over, and entitled to what we will refer to as the Platinum Club victimhood membership rewards. (Discussed in a Chapter yet to be written).
Chapter III : HOW TO EFFORTLESSLY MAINTAIN YOUR VICTIM STATUS
Here are a few helpful strategies to maintain your prized Victimhood status in spite of all efforts to placate, apologize to; help, or support you.
- Resist Resist Resist taking any responsibility for your own behavior. It can always be made to seem like someone else is at fault
- Have a ready list of other people, nations, religions, groups etc. to blame for your situation and do not accept help from those on your list
- Constantly demand your rights
- Use the medium of Television to tell your story as often as possible; however, any member of the media (print, TV, radio) is usually supportive of your goals and will work with you to best frame your victimhood to elicit optimal sympathy.
- Did I mention that you must NEVER take any responsibility for your own behavior? If I did, it is because it cannot be mentioned too often.
- Play up the victim's position of enhanced moral authority. Weep about your plight whenever possible. Do nothing to make things better.
- Become a spokesperson or a media darling for any of the groups who make up International A.N.S.W.E.R.
- Make commercials for Moveon.org; or at least let them use your story to explain how oppressive one of the oppressor groups listed in Chapter 1 are.
When using any of the above strategy, make sure you ACT like a victim--crying, whining, using anger effectively--all these can enhance other's perception of your Victimhood
NEVER take any steps to improve your situation--that way is the OPPOSITE of true, enlightened Victimhood.
Frequently going to see a psychiatrist or mental health professional can improve your Victimhood credentials (and you can apply the other strategies to resisting therapy to change); Other medical professionals are also useful in this regard, and a side benefit is that YOU CAN SUE THEM LATER if you don't like what they say; thus insuring further victimization!
Suicidal gestures are VERY helpful and can garner much sympathy. It is noteworthy that even large groups can use this strategy by encouraging suicidal behavior (or even homicidal behavior--which is counterintuitive, but fortunately often true!) on the part of the most vulnerable of their members (e.g., children or teens are good choices)
As you can see, there are many paths to Victimhood. Keep your head up and really look around for opportunities. One group in particular deserves special mention for their unfailing and extraordinary efforts at maintaining and feeding their Victimhood for decades. I am speaking of course, about the Palestinians. Through their previous president, Yasser Arafat, they creatively resisted worldwide attempts to ease them gently from their role of victim. Their efforts have inspired many others --especially people and nations in the Middle East. But the Palestinians are, without a doubt the Gold Medal Winner of our WorldWide Victimhood, Inc. Annual Awards. Note how, their current president has just provided lifetime benefits to those lucky enought to be members of the family of a suicide bomber! This deserves its own unique award as it represents extraordinarily creative efforts in the annals of victimhoodology.
We at WWV, Inc. encourage all of you potential victims out there to watch and learn from real professionals. They are out there--everywhere you are--and their example can be an inspiration to strive for failure and achieve nothing in Life but to make others pay for their sins against you.
************END EXCERPT******************
DR. SANITY DISCLAIMER: To all those real victims out there, who are struggling to overcome diseases; recover from disasters and events; and move beyond those traumas that have temporarily and painfully interrupted your lives--I heartily salute you and in no way aim to denigrate your efforts. Taking responsibility for your life will empower you and enable you to grow beyond whatever you have experienced. May you always rise above what Life has presented to you and exceed all expectations--even your own.
UPDATE: Welcome, Michelle Malkin and LGF readers! Thanks for visiting. Dr. Sanity is nominated in the Best Individual Blog category at the Weblog Awards. Feel free to go on over and vote for me if you like what you see. Or, you can vote for someone else if you don't!
INTRODUCTION
Victimhood has, as is usual these days, been in the news recently. From the
If you have any doubts about the power and sanctity that can be yours if victimhood status cand be officially confered upon you; or of the endless moral benefits of being "oppressed"; just consider that even a mean SOB like Saddam Hussein can be deemed a victim of American oppression--just ask Ramsey Clark how that is done! Or that, for the sake of the Palestinians--the most publicized and creative perpetual victims in all of history-- a group of "experts" are busy right at this very moment trying to prove that the entire world has been bamboozled by a clever Jewish conspiracy regarding the Holocaust! Those darn Jews!
The Holocaust Deniers are particularly noteworthy in the annals of victimhood, and demonstrate a degree of unsurpassable cleverness because they have managed to take the actual victims of a horrific episode in world history and twist that history to turn those real victims into oppressors! Surely one of the most magnificent applications of the new victimhood rules.
In the quasi-religious cult of victimhood that is part of today's leftist dogma, "victimhood" has been identified as the key quality deserving of attention and pity. This is in part because many on the political left have an intense narcissistic need to see themselves as "champions of the oppressed", hence the constant need to find and maintain an oppressed class of people to champion. But it also dovetails nicely into the the Marxist dialectic that underlies that ideology. The world is divided up into two groups, you see: the oppressors (i.e., white, male,heterosexual, Republican, Americans or Israelis) and the oppressed (everyone else).
The political left proudly stands in solidarity with the oppressed victims of the world; and it is worth noting that their stance is particularly ego-gratifying if those they champion are undeserving victims (i.e., similar to Alfred P. Doolittle's "undeserving poor"-- who have needs as great as the most deserving of victims; in fact, their needs are even greater! )
So, for the edification of her readers, Dr. Sanity has decided to reprint the following excerpts from her never-to-be-published book (without permission, of course); hot off the presses of Worlwide Victimhood, Inc. (WWV); a wholly owned subsidiary of Dr. Sanity Enterprises, a multinational conglomerate:
A SHORT COURSE ON HOW TO BE A VICTIM
Chapter I: THE ADVANTAGES OF VICTIMHOOD
This brief guide is for those searching for an expedited pathway into the exalted status of Victimhood. Becoming a victim --as we all have learned from famous TV stars, prominent politicians; religions, races, and even nations--is an advantageous state of being in many ways, several of which are:
-You are not responsible for what happened to you
-You are always morally right
-You are not accountable to anyone for anything
-You are forever entitled to sympathy
-You are always justified in feeling moral indignation for being wronged
-You never have to be responsible again for anything
As you can see, these are some heavy-duty privileges; and they are not given to just anyone. This list is not exclusive. There are many benefits of Victimhood; and in our current society, new rewards are continuously being discovered! You, too, may be someone who blazes a new path for future victims!
The badge of victimhood must be "earned" (ha ha, just kidding!) by one of two methods: (1) Membership in a special "victim" class; or (2) having something bad actually happen to you. Method 1 is definitely is superior in every way since it eliminates the need for something bad to actually happen to you (as long as it once happened to someone like you--you are set); thus this method is preferable and automatically puts all sorts of celebrities and famous people on your side. They will not be concerned if you are a good person or a bad person; just as long as you meet the basic victimhood criteria.
You are probably tempted to ask what that basic criteria is for most famous people to support you? Here is a tip (keep it under your hat): most famous people--especially undeserving famous people (i.e., people who are famous not for any particular talent they have, but because they might have a good publicist, for example) have an intense need to feel that they are "champions of the oppressed." This relieves them of the pervasive feelings of guilt under which they must function. Hence, all you have to do is to convince them that you are "oppressed" by one of a number of usual "oppressors", and you are home free!
Here is a handy list of possible oppressors that can be used by almost anyone searching for victimhood status:
- caucasian, heterosexual males
- Republicans (either male or female)
- conservatives (either male or female)
- businessmen or women (commonly referred to as "little eichmanns")
- capitalists
- rich people
- Christians (particularly Republican or conservative)
- the U.S. Military (all services)
- Americans (as a general group)
- Israelis (Jews)
Note: This list is not exhaustive, but it is a good place to start if you are pursuig victimhood for fun and profit.
Chapter II: THE BADGE OF VICTIMHOOD
Victimhood is automatically conferred if you are a member of one or more of the following groups:
- An underrepresented race (whoever is in the minority--the majority are barred from victimhood)
- An underrepresented gender(males are prohibited from victimhood)
- An underrepresented sexual orientation (heterosexuals are not allowed to be victims)
- A nation without land (e.g., Palestinians; Note: The Kurds aren't considered victims because they aren't the right kind of victim--they admire the U.S. and aspire to democracy & freedom thus, disqualifying them)
- Any nation the U.S. has a disagreement with
- A religion stuck in the Middle Ages (e.g., Islam)
- A person in jail (your crime is immaterial, but the worse the crime, the better)
Other individuals or groups may petition for Victimhood if they meet the following criteria:
- The Liberal Media confers it on them
- You appear on talk shows and spill your guts about some distasteful event that happened to you
- You use drugs or alcohol but get into treatment after you get in trouble
- You find God after you get in trouble
- You are very sorry for your reprehensible behavior or actions and have a reputable person to blame for why you did it (President Bush is always a good choice, but any parental figure--even God-- will do)
- If you are a nation or religion, it is always safe to be a victim of the Jews
- If you are incompetent at your job and unable to get ahead it is generally due to someone else's behavior; or it might be due to Adult Attention Deficit Disorder-- either way works.
- If you haven't achieved your proper level of power in the world (even if you are a dictator, surprisingly) you could be a victim of American foreign policy
-If you have economic problems, it is likely you are a vicitm of Capitalism (remember, that socialism, communism, fascism, and other ideologies are completely off the hook since they proactively blame Capitalism for all the problems of the world)
-If you are addicted to ANYTHING, you are likely to be a victim!
-If your feelings are hurt by someone--either intentionally or unintentionally-- you are a victim (call our toll-free number above if you have any questions, but most Universities have special policies that cover you)
- If you can attract Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Ramsey Clark, or Bianca Jagger to your cause, you are, by definition, a victim! Case closed!
Having something bad actually happen to you is the second method of achieving Victimhood. However, as mentioned in Chapter 1; it is a much less direct method than the methods listed above and is not recommended.
Why, you might ask? Simple! Waiting around for something bad to actually happen to you is an extremely inefficient way of becoming a victim. After all, you cannot control when or where natural disasters occur. Statistically, other disastrous events (e.g., lightening striking; plane crashes; etc.) do not occur frequently enough to be reliable. And it is important to note that many people who suffer victimhood in this natural way will eventually get on with their lives! And that is the LAST THING YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO DO! Remember the most politically correct type of Victimhood is the kind you can inflict on yourself! Be professional! Our motto at WorldWide Victimhood, Inc. is "Take Control of Your Victimhood!".
IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are lucky enought to already be a member of an approved victim group AND something bad happens to you (e.g., a hurricane or other natural disaster) well, that is, as we say in the biz, the best of all possible worlds (assuming, of course, that you survive the experience). Then you are a victim twice-over, and entitled to what we will refer to as the Platinum Club victimhood membership rewards. (Discussed in a Chapter yet to be written).
Chapter III : HOW TO EFFORTLESSLY MAINTAIN YOUR VICTIM STATUS
Here are a few helpful strategies to maintain your prized Victimhood status in spite of all efforts to placate, apologize to; help, or support you.
- Resist Resist Resist taking any responsibility for your own behavior. It can always be made to seem like someone else is at fault
- Have a ready list of other people, nations, religions, groups etc. to blame for your situation and do not accept help from those on your list
- Constantly demand your rights
- Use the medium of Television to tell your story as often as possible; however, any member of the media (print, TV, radio) is usually supportive of your goals and will work with you to best frame your victimhood to elicit optimal sympathy.
- Did I mention that you must NEVER take any responsibility for your own behavior? If I did, it is because it cannot be mentioned too often.
- Play up the victim's position of enhanced moral authority. Weep about your plight whenever possible. Do nothing to make things better.
- Become a spokesperson or a media darling for any of the groups who make up International A.N.S.W.E.R.
- Make commercials for Moveon.org; or at least let them use your story to explain how oppressive one of the oppressor groups listed in Chapter 1 are.
When using any of the above strategy, make sure you ACT like a victim--crying, whining, using anger effectively--all these can enhance other's perception of your Victimhood
NEVER take any steps to improve your situation--that way is the OPPOSITE of true, enlightened Victimhood.
Frequently going to see a psychiatrist or mental health professional can improve your Victimhood credentials (and you can apply the other strategies to resisting therapy to change); Other medical professionals are also useful in this regard, and a side benefit is that YOU CAN SUE THEM LATER if you don't like what they say; thus insuring further victimization!
Suicidal gestures are VERY helpful and can garner much sympathy. It is noteworthy that even large groups can use this strategy by encouraging suicidal behavior (or even homicidal behavior--which is counterintuitive, but fortunately often true!) on the part of the most vulnerable of their members (e.g., children or teens are good choices)
As you can see, there are many paths to Victimhood. Keep your head up and really look around for opportunities. One group in particular deserves special mention for their unfailing and extraordinary efforts at maintaining and feeding their Victimhood for decades. I am speaking of course, about the Palestinians. Through their previous president, Yasser Arafat, they creatively resisted worldwide attempts to ease them gently from their role of victim. Their efforts have inspired many others --especially people and nations in the Middle East. But the Palestinians are, without a doubt the Gold Medal Winner of our WorldWide Victimhood, Inc. Annual Awards. Note how, their current president has just provided lifetime benefits to those lucky enought to be members of the family of a suicide bomber! This deserves its own unique award as it represents extraordinarily creative efforts in the annals of victimhoodology.
We at WWV, Inc. encourage all of you potential victims out there to watch and learn from real professionals. They are out there--everywhere you are--and their example can be an inspiration to strive for failure and achieve nothing in Life but to make others pay for their sins against you.
************END EXCERPT******************
DR. SANITY DISCLAIMER: To all those real victims out there, who are struggling to overcome diseases; recover from disasters and events; and move beyond those traumas that have temporarily and painfully interrupted your lives--I heartily salute you and in no way aim to denigrate your efforts. Taking responsibility for your life will empower you and enable you to grow beyond whatever you have experienced. May you always rise above what Life has presented to you and exceed all expectations--even your own.
UPDATE: Welcome, Michelle Malkin and LGF readers! Thanks for visiting. Dr. Sanity is nominated in the Best Individual Blog category at the Weblog Awards. Feel free to go on over and vote for me if you like what you see. Or, you can vote for someone else if you don't!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
POSTMODERN LEFTIST TRIPE
Let me be very frank here. Who the f**k cares that a poll in the middle of the second term of President Bush claims that the generic "American public" thinks that history won't be kind to him? Why the hell would any reputable newspaper print that sort of crap in the first place? (Forgive me, but this kind of nonsense really infuriates me).
Well, there are two reasons we are being subjected to this kind of propaganda. The first is that historical revisionism is not something that is confined to psychotic regimes in the Middle East who convene "scientific" conferences to "prove" that the Holocaust did not even happen (I'll bet a Gallup poll in Iran, or anywhere in the muslim world for that matter, would have even more than 54% of the population agree that it didn't. Are we supposed to believe that such a poll has anything to do with reality?).
The second reason is that in our lovely postmodern world, where reality and truth are only relative and anybody's "reality" is as good as anybody else's; is is just a matter of a poll or two, constructed along ideological lines to fit a particular template; that can somehow determine today, what history will say many tomorrows from now. With enough repetition and passion, "history" can be set in stone in the temporal present.
I mean, why bother to wait for time to pass when you have a leftist utopia to build today?
You've got to ask yourselves what the lunatic political left even know about history--except that it is something to be constantly revised to dovetail with their ideological spin du jour. Take this particularly assinine bit of pseudo-intellectual pablum resentfully spat out about the time that Ronald Reagan died:
Read it all to get the full flavor of spite and bitter resentment the author describes that the mere election of Ronald Reagan fomented in his aching breast. He will "leave it to history" even as he revises and rewrites what history has already seen. Clearly, the writer understood then--as the pathological liars of the left understand now--that their day is passing into twilight. That is why polls are reverently worshipped and so essential for them to get out their message. They are incapable of rational argument to support their ideas (or lack thereof), so are desperately trying to prove that their ideology is at least more popular.
For them, popularity will always trump truth and reality. They will never acknowledge, let alone take responsibility for the millions that their ideology killed in the last century and the unbelievable depths of human misery their ideas wrought. They will only continue their con, protected by the fog of postmodernism.
Today's political left might have a few transient moments of glory left in them, but the perfidy and nihilism that is destroying civilization and which is relentlessly promoted by their mindless minions through the irrational postmodern rhetoric we've come to expect from the MSM has now been fully exposed.
The left deeply fears neoconservatism and the economic and political freedom that it supports, and will stop at nothing to discredit its ideas. But they cannot do it using reason, reality, and truth; so these impediments they must abandon.
As I noted in "What the World Needs Now":
So today's polls seriously presented as meaningful and full of import by a somber MSM at the behest of their political masters is nothing more than an attempt to hijack history and historical analysis. To strip it of its very meaning in the true postmodern tradition, and to ensure that it cannot be used by true scholars to expose the pathetic lies, abject economic failues and horrific human legacy of leftist thought.
I don't know what history will ultimately make of George W. Bush's policies--those policies and their implications are still reverberating and having an impact in the world. Change--particularly change that has historical consequences-- is never tranquil and will always be messy and tumultuous. My own opinion is that, like Reagan's actions in the Cold War --deeply controversial and heatedly denounced at the time--Bush's actions in this war will ultimately set the stage for civilization's ultimate victory against the tyranny and oppression of Islamofascism. There are many factors that will have to be considered by future historians; not the least of which is the advantageous and treasonous alliance that the political left of America has made with the Islamic fanatics and which is an attempt to mitigate Bush's policies.
But at least, I am willing to wait and let rational and non-hysterical scholars of the future sort out those factors.
Everything else we read today is just more of the usual postmodern leftist tripe.
Well, there are two reasons we are being subjected to this kind of propaganda. The first is that historical revisionism is not something that is confined to psychotic regimes in the Middle East who convene "scientific" conferences to "prove" that the Holocaust did not even happen (I'll bet a Gallup poll in Iran, or anywhere in the muslim world for that matter, would have even more than 54% of the population agree that it didn't. Are we supposed to believe that such a poll has anything to do with reality?).
The second reason is that in our lovely postmodern world, where reality and truth are only relative and anybody's "reality" is as good as anybody else's; is is just a matter of a poll or two, constructed along ideological lines to fit a particular template; that can somehow determine today, what history will say many tomorrows from now. With enough repetition and passion, "history" can be set in stone in the temporal present.
I mean, why bother to wait for time to pass when you have a leftist utopia to build today?
You've got to ask yourselves what the lunatic political left even know about history--except that it is something to be constantly revised to dovetail with their ideological spin du jour. Take this particularly assinine bit of pseudo-intellectual pablum resentfully spat out about the time that Ronald Reagan died:
In hindsight, it's easy to see that Reagan's election was the end of many things - the end of the '70s, and the mood of experimentation that went with it (the '70s were when the '60s went mainstream); the end of the "Vietnam syndrome," and the temporary popular revulsion against imperial military adventures; the end of the political alignment that emerged from the New Deal, the end of the New Left and its hopeless ambitions - the end, really, of the post-World War II era....
But I'll leave the pluses and minuses of Reaganomics for the historians. At this late date, it's hardly worth arguing about. Reagan's foreign policies, on the other hand, still make my blood boil, even after all these years. His decision to challenge the Soviets on every front - which, given the senility and paranoia of the Breshnev-era Soviet leadership, could easily have led to war - is, of course, relentlessly promoted by the conservative propaganda machine as the masterstroke that ended the Cold War. In reality, it was the end of the Cold War (made possible by Mikhail Gorbachov's rise to power) that headed off the disaster that Reagan's recklessness might otherwise have triggered.
Read it all to get the full flavor of spite and bitter resentment the author describes that the mere election of Ronald Reagan fomented in his aching breast. He will "leave it to history" even as he revises and rewrites what history has already seen. Clearly, the writer understood then--as the pathological liars of the left understand now--that their day is passing into twilight. That is why polls are reverently worshipped and so essential for them to get out their message. They are incapable of rational argument to support their ideas (or lack thereof), so are desperately trying to prove that their ideology is at least more popular.
For them, popularity will always trump truth and reality. They will never acknowledge, let alone take responsibility for the millions that their ideology killed in the last century and the unbelievable depths of human misery their ideas wrought. They will only continue their con, protected by the fog of postmodernism.
Today's political left might have a few transient moments of glory left in them, but the perfidy and nihilism that is destroying civilization and which is relentlessly promoted by their mindless minions through the irrational postmodern rhetoric we've come to expect from the MSM has now been fully exposed.
The left deeply fears neoconservatism and the economic and political freedom that it supports, and will stop at nothing to discredit its ideas. But they cannot do it using reason, reality, and truth; so these impediments they must abandon.
As I noted in "What the World Needs Now":
The problem is countering the source of this pervasive nihilism, promulgated and promoted by the West's own intellectual elites under the pseudonym of postmodernism.Indeed, the left said pretty much the same thing even before Ronald Reagan got elected in 1979. It was wishful thinking then, and it is wishful thinking now.
And the only intellectual remedy brought forth in the last five decades to nullify postmodern philosophy and rhetoric is neoconservatism.
If you listen at all to the MSM, you might begin to think that neoconservativesm is either in dissaray, dead and abandoned by
all its former adherents.
Today's left is a nothing more than the hallow shell of what was once known as "liberalism"; and it is held together by the empty and meaningless rhetoric of postmodern intellectual nonsense, otherwise known as political correctness and multiculturalism (or, cultural relativity).
Neoconservatism as an intellectual theory actually arose from the observation in the 1960's that classical liberalism had been hijacked by the left and its essence literally reconstructed to suit the needs of socialists and communists who were beginning to realize that the jig was up for them.
All over the world it was becoming apparent that political and social collectivism was an abject failure. Where implemented, such policies led to intractable poverty and misery economically; and unbelievable oppression and the crushing of the human spirt politically and morally.
I have discussed elsewhere how the recent revival of socialism and its collectivist/totalitarian agenda in the late 20th and early 21st century was made possible by the adoption of postmodern epistemology, rhetoric and politics by western intellectual elites....
The rise of neoconservatism represents the only modern intellectual counter and the only known antidote to the infection of postmodernism and its resultant toxic effects on philosophy, rehtoric, and politics.
In order to succeed in undoing and undermining the clear and unambiguous evidence of socialism's and communism's utter human toxicity, the totalitarians of the political left had to undermine nothing less than reality, reason, and truth. Furthermore, they had to deconstruct and invalidate human consciousness, making sure that the everyone understood that the only apparatus available to humans for perceiving reality--the mind--was completely unreliable, and that the evidence of the senses must therefore be discounted. This intellectual strategy resulted in a pervasive cultural relativism and intellectual nihilism that permeated all aspects of society and intellectual thought. Words and language were redefined to mean whatever one wanted; history was deconstructed--ostensibly to expose it's lies, but really to render it meaningless; and the ideas and values that were the foundation of Western civilization were mocked and shown by postmodern "logic" to be no better than any other random ideas.
So today's polls seriously presented as meaningful and full of import by a somber MSM at the behest of their political masters is nothing more than an attempt to hijack history and historical analysis. To strip it of its very meaning in the true postmodern tradition, and to ensure that it cannot be used by true scholars to expose the pathetic lies, abject economic failues and horrific human legacy of leftist thought.
I don't know what history will ultimately make of George W. Bush's policies--those policies and their implications are still reverberating and having an impact in the world. Change--particularly change that has historical consequences-- is never tranquil and will always be messy and tumultuous. My own opinion is that, like Reagan's actions in the Cold War --deeply controversial and heatedly denounced at the time--Bush's actions in this war will ultimately set the stage for civilization's ultimate victory against the tyranny and oppression of Islamofascism. There are many factors that will have to be considered by future historians; not the least of which is the advantageous and treasonous alliance that the political left of America has made with the Islamic fanatics and which is an attempt to mitigate Bush's policies.
But at least, I am willing to wait and let rational and non-hysterical scholars of the future sort out those factors.
Everything else we read today is just more of the usual postmodern leftist tripe.
THE SANITY SQUAD TACKLES IRAN AND ANNAN
The Sanity Squad podcast tackles a particularly nasty form of psychological denial in our day and age--those who are trying to pretend that Hitler's "Jewish experiment" never happened. And, it can't reist discussing the psychopathology of the outgoing Secretary General who has brought the UN to new depths of dysfunction.This week, join Siggy , Neo-neocon , Shrinkwrapped and myself as we take on the holocaust deniers and the chief pirate of the UN. Neither stands a chance against the analyses of the psychological Fab Four!
First, the Squad asks its listeners to imagine what it would be like choosing to live your entire life as a psychotic episode, as it discusses the out-of-touch-with-reality holocaust deniers and their homicidal sponsors in Iran-- the poster children of psychological denial and projection; then it switches the psychological spotlight to the soft-spoken psychopath who has calmly led the UN into unparralled corruption and some of the most depraved scandals of its existence; all without taking one iota of responsibility for his pivotal role in destroying whatever remains of the international body's credibility. Like all psychopaths, he externalizes all the blame on...guess who?
Previous podcasts of The Sanity Squad can be found here; and you can also download them from iTunes.
(The Sanity Squad cartoon drawn by Eric Allie, whose political cartoons can be found here and here)
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
PARANOIA AND PROJECTION - THE 'DE-MOTIVATORS' OF ARAB / ISLAMIC CULTURE
Lisa Beyer writes about the Middle East's "big lie":
Indeed, if Israel did not exist, the Arab world would have to invent it, because without Israel to blame all their problems on, the nations of the middle east would not be able to go on.
David Frum suggests in an article, "Why is it Always About Israel?":
Frum is correct in suggesting that the problem cannot be fixed by negotiation, but he is off the mark about the source of the problem. While it is true that Arab radicalism deliberately promotes the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and continually disrupts any possibility of resolving it, the cause of that dispute lies in the psychological dysfunction of the Arabs themselves.
Just as in a clinical case of mass hysteria (which it resembles), Arabs as a group have closed off their rational, thinking minds; and with the encouragement and justification of their religion are operating on the basis of the most primitive and dysfunctional of unconscious needs and feelings. They are indulging in group projection and paranoia--deliberately developed and encouraged by their dysfunctional leaders--in order to maintain their dysfunctional identity, as well as their dysfunctional political and pseudo-religous agenda.
There doesn't seem to be any limit to the self-delusion that is rampant in the middle east.
Psychologically, it is very difficult to abandon a delusion, particularly when that delusion serves the purpose of accounting for an unacceptable status quo. For too long the so-called leaders in the middle east have --in a manner similar to Jim Jones--been quenching the thirst of their people with poisoned Kool Aid. They have made it easy to believe that all their problems and troubles are caused by the Jews (or America or the West). Maintaining the delusional system and nourishing it regularly is crucial to their identity as individuals and as nations--otherwise it would be necessary to look inside their own hearts and souls for the underlying causes of their political, economic and spiritual stagnation.
SC&A write:
As Siggy points out in his remarkably astute post, the behavior of the Arab world is not really about pride...indeed, what do they have to be proud of? They have perverted beyond all recognition a religion that once upon a time could compete head-to-head with Christianity or Judaism in what it contributed to the whole of humanity. They long ago abandoned the ability to create, and now only possess the capacity to destroy. Their people live in poverty and oppression, controlled only by the belief that their situation is the fault of "the Jews" or America.
This is the legacy of psychological projection and paranoia. The unacceptable thoughts or feelings are denied ("not owned") by the person or group experiencing them, and instead are projected onto another individual or--as in this case--a group (racism, anti-semitism etc. are all projections). Thus, the person who originally had the offensive thought or feeling becomes the helpless victim of the evil "other" and they do not have to cope with the fact that the evil lies wholly within themselves.
Projection as a psychological defense mechanism can eventually lead to full-blown paranoia, where--even to the most casual of observers--the delusion (or projection) is completely out of touch with reality. And, there is plenty of paranoia to go around in the middle east. Even as I write this, the paranoid leaders of Iran are holding a "scientific" Holocaust conference in Tehran, intent on proving that the Holocaust has been foisted on the world in order to justify siezing Palestinian lands to create the state of Israel. And to prove how "scholarly they are, they have tipped the scales of research to make sure they get the conclusion they desire by banning anyone with a dissenting voice from the deliberations. One can only conclude the organizers want to put all their "scientific" and "scholarly" ducks in a row before they wipe Israel off the map. This is a story about the vision and the protocols worthy of these "elders of Tehran"--except, it is not fiction but fact.
We can assume that this conference, too, is not for any creative purpose, but only to justify more destruction and the wanton killing and genocide that has become the hallmark of Arab/Islamic decivilization; and which is the inevitable consequence when a group resorts to paranoia and psychological projection to defend against reality.
Frum mentions Despair.com's demotivational posters in his article, citing one to describe the insanity and foolishness of the ISG; but there is also one that suitably captures the essence of the Arab/Islamic world :
...the pan-Arabism that once made the Palestinian cause the region's cause is long dead, and the Arab countries have their own worries aplenty. In a decade of reporting in the region, I found it rarely took more than the arching of an eyebrow to get the most candid of Arab thinkers to acknowledge that the tears shed for the Palestinians today outside the West Bank and Gaza are of the crocodile variety. Palestinians know this best of all.
To promote the canard that the troubles of the Arab world are rooted in the Palestinians' misfortune does great harm. It encourages the Arabs to continue to avoid addressing their colossal societal and political ills by hiding behind their Great Excuse: it's all Israel's fault. Certainly, Israel has at times been an obnoxious neighbor, but God help the Arab leaders, propagandists and apologists if a day ever comes when the Arab-Israeli mess is unraveled. One wonders how they would then explain why in Egypt 4 of every 10 people are illiterate; Saudi Arabian Shi'ites (not to mention women) are second-class citizens; 11% of Syrians live below subsistence level; and Jordan's King can unilaterally dissolve Parliament, as he did in 2001. Or why no Middle Eastern government but Israel's and to some extent Lebanon's tolerates freedom of assembly or speech, or democratic institutions like a robust press or civic organizations with independence and clout--let alone unfettered competitive elections.
Indeed, if Israel did not exist, the Arab world would have to invent it, because without Israel to blame all their problems on, the nations of the middle east would not be able to go on.
David Frum suggests in an article, "Why is it Always About Israel?":
Might it not be closer to the truth to say that Arab radicalism is the cause of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute--not the result of it? There is no peace because Israel's neighbours--and too many of the world's Muslims--cannot accept the right of a non-Arab, non-Muslim minority to live unsubjugated in the Middle East. That is the true "core" of the dispute, and it cannot be fixed by negotiation.
Frum is correct in suggesting that the problem cannot be fixed by negotiation, but he is off the mark about the source of the problem. While it is true that Arab radicalism deliberately promotes the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and continually disrupts any possibility of resolving it, the cause of that dispute lies in the psychological dysfunction of the Arabs themselves.
Just as in a clinical case of mass hysteria (which it resembles), Arabs as a group have closed off their rational, thinking minds; and with the encouragement and justification of their religion are operating on the basis of the most primitive and dysfunctional of unconscious needs and feelings. They are indulging in group projection and paranoia--deliberately developed and encouraged by their dysfunctional leaders--in order to maintain their dysfunctional identity, as well as their dysfunctional political and pseudo-religous agenda.
There doesn't seem to be any limit to the self-delusion that is rampant in the middle east.
Psychologically, it is very difficult to abandon a delusion, particularly when that delusion serves the purpose of accounting for an unacceptable status quo. For too long the so-called leaders in the middle east have --in a manner similar to Jim Jones--been quenching the thirst of their people with poisoned Kool Aid. They have made it easy to believe that all their problems and troubles are caused by the Jews (or America or the West). Maintaining the delusional system and nourishing it regularly is crucial to their identity as individuals and as nations--otherwise it would be necessary to look inside their own hearts and souls for the underlying causes of their political, economic and spiritual stagnation.
SC&A write:
Many in the Arab world defiantly declare their ‘Arab pride,’ but of course, that really isn’t true. That is a kind of projection. If there really was Arab pride, they would be digging holes for the foundation of schools and factories, and not digging holes to bury IED’s. If the Palestinians wanted to reflect Arab pride, they would build hospitals and not rockets and missiles.
The Arab world is not fighting for freedom and democracy. They are fighting to retain the values of oppression, tyranny and dysfunction. There is so much self hatred of what they have come to stand for, that they are willing to blow themselves up in the process. Subconsciously, they must know what they are fighting to preserve and how they are fighting, is repulsive to any decent, civilized and religious adherent of any faith.
In truth, the Arab world cannot be proud of itself. The Islamic and Arab cultures that contributed mightily to the progress of mankind, have willingly become the poster children for religious intolerance, hate, violence and even genocide. There is very little the Arab world has to be proud of- and pointing to past glory only serves to highlight how far they have fallen. All the phony ‘Arab pride’ in the world has not motivated them to build. All they have done is destroy- and that destruction is a symptom of self hatred. People who hate themselves, destroy everything around them. People that believe in their higher selves, build. The same is true for nations. Nations, societies and cultures are not remembered for what they destroy. They are remembered for what they have built.
As Siggy points out in his remarkably astute post, the behavior of the Arab world is not really about pride...indeed, what do they have to be proud of? They have perverted beyond all recognition a religion that once upon a time could compete head-to-head with Christianity or Judaism in what it contributed to the whole of humanity. They long ago abandoned the ability to create, and now only possess the capacity to destroy. Their people live in poverty and oppression, controlled only by the belief that their situation is the fault of "the Jews" or America.
This is the legacy of psychological projection and paranoia. The unacceptable thoughts or feelings are denied ("not owned") by the person or group experiencing them, and instead are projected onto another individual or--as in this case--a group (racism, anti-semitism etc. are all projections). Thus, the person who originally had the offensive thought or feeling becomes the helpless victim of the evil "other" and they do not have to cope with the fact that the evil lies wholly within themselves.
Projection as a psychological defense mechanism can eventually lead to full-blown paranoia, where--even to the most casual of observers--the delusion (or projection) is completely out of touch with reality. And, there is plenty of paranoia to go around in the middle east. Even as I write this, the paranoid leaders of Iran are holding a "scientific" Holocaust conference in Tehran, intent on proving that the Holocaust has been foisted on the world in order to justify siezing Palestinian lands to create the state of Israel. And to prove how "scholarly they are, they have tipped the scales of research to make sure they get the conclusion they desire by banning anyone with a dissenting voice from the deliberations. One can only conclude the organizers want to put all their "scientific" and "scholarly" ducks in a row before they wipe Israel off the map. This is a story about the vision and the protocols worthy of these "elders of Tehran"--except, it is not fiction but fact.
We can assume that this conference, too, is not for any creative purpose, but only to justify more destruction and the wanton killing and genocide that has become the hallmark of Arab/Islamic decivilization; and which is the inevitable consequence when a group resorts to paranoia and psychological projection to defend against reality.
Frum mentions Despair.com's demotivational posters in his article, citing one to describe the insanity and foolishness of the ISG; but there is also one that suitably captures the essence of the Arab/Islamic world :
Monday, December 11, 2006
TAKE A HIKE
The chief clown of the U.N. departs today, and as Michelle Malkin says, good riddance to one of the most corrupt, hypocritical, pathological and dysfunctional world leaders ever lionized by the left. What Kofi Annan has learned in his tenure at the UN can be summed up in one word: NOTHING.
He was definitely the very model of a Secretary General.
SECRETARY GENERAL ANNAN:
I am the very model of a Secretary-General,
I specialize in matters both nefarious and criminal,
I know the heads of every state, preferring those inimical
to all the freedom-loving institutions democratical;
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters philosophical,
And implementing Marxist theories surely is most practical;
About Oil-for-Food, I'll stonewall anything that's new,
And keep on hiding facts about the way we scammed the lot of you!
ALL:
And keep on hiding facts about the way we scammed the lot of you!
And keep on hiding facts about the way we scammed the lot of you!
And keep on hiding facts about the way we scammed the lot of you!
SECRETARY GENERAL:
I'm very good at making statements quite ridiculous;
Pretending that the money from Saddam was quite miraculous;
In short, in matters both nefarious and criminal,
I am the very model of a Secretary General.
ALL:
In short, in matters both nefarious and criminal,
He is the very model of a Secretary General!
SECRETARY GENERAL:
In fact, when I know what is meant by "integrity" and "honesty",
When I can mumble all my lies with obvious sincerity,
And keep the free world all locked up in its myopathy,
And when I know precisely what they mean by my "psychopathy";
When progress has been made treating antisocial personality,
When I know more of leadership than Kerry knows reality--
In short, when I've a smattering of elemental management,
This Secretary General will say much more than "no comment".
ALL:
This Secretary General will say much more than "no comment"!
This Secretary General will say much more than "no comment"!
This Secretary General will say much more than "no comment"!
SECRETARY GENERAL:
Though my knowledge of dictatorships is sly and somewhat dastardly,
I think I will support them with great joy in this new century;
And still, in matters both nefarious and criminal,
I am the very model of a Secretary General!
ALL:
But still, in matters both nefarious and criminal,
He is the very model of Secretary General!
The time has finally come for him to go.
The time has come.
The time has come.
The time is now.
Just go.
Go.
GO!
We don't care how.
You can go to hades.
You can go ker-plow!
Kofi Annan, will you please go now!
You can go to Iraq
You can march with the Lebanese
You can go to Iran or Sudan,
But please go. Please!
We don't care.
You can take a hike.
You can go on a political retreat if you like.
If you like you can go visit Kojo in a zoo.
Jut go, go, GO!
Please do, do, DO!
Kofi Annan, we don't care how.
Kofi Annan, will you please GO NOW!
We said GO and GO we shout....
The time has come.
SO...
Kofi, get OUT!
Take a hike, Kofi.
UPDATE: Captain Ed says that Kofi learned Projection.
He was definitely the very model of a Secretary General.
SECRETARY GENERAL ANNAN:
I am the very model of a Secretary-General,
I specialize in matters both nefarious and criminal,
I know the heads of every state, preferring those inimical
to all the freedom-loving institutions democratical;
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters philosophical,
And implementing Marxist theories surely is most practical;
About Oil-for-Food, I'll stonewall anything that's new,
And keep on hiding facts about the way we scammed the lot of you!
ALL:
And keep on hiding facts about the way we scammed the lot of you!
And keep on hiding facts about the way we scammed the lot of you!
And keep on hiding facts about the way we scammed the lot of you!
SECRETARY GENERAL:
I'm very good at making statements quite ridiculous;
Pretending that the money from Saddam was quite miraculous;
In short, in matters both nefarious and criminal,
I am the very model of a Secretary General.
ALL:
In short, in matters both nefarious and criminal,
He is the very model of a Secretary General!
SECRETARY GENERAL:
In fact, when I know what is meant by "integrity" and "honesty",
When I can mumble all my lies with obvious sincerity,
And keep the free world all locked up in its myopathy,
And when I know precisely what they mean by my "psychopathy";
When progress has been made treating antisocial personality,
When I know more of leadership than Kerry knows reality--
In short, when I've a smattering of elemental management,
This Secretary General will say much more than "no comment".
ALL:
This Secretary General will say much more than "no comment"!
This Secretary General will say much more than "no comment"!
This Secretary General will say much more than "no comment"!
SECRETARY GENERAL:
Though my knowledge of dictatorships is sly and somewhat dastardly,
I think I will support them with great joy in this new century;
And still, in matters both nefarious and criminal,
I am the very model of a Secretary General!
ALL:
But still, in matters both nefarious and criminal,
He is the very model of Secretary General!
The time has finally come for him to go.
The time has come.
The time has come.
The time is now.
Just go.
Go.
GO!
We don't care how.
You can go to hades.
You can go ker-plow!
Kofi Annan, will you please go now!
You can go to Iraq
You can march with the Lebanese
You can go to Iran or Sudan,
But please go. Please!
We don't care.
You can take a hike.
You can go on a political retreat if you like.
If you like you can go visit Kojo in a zoo.
Jut go, go, GO!
Please do, do, DO!
Kofi Annan, we don't care how.
Kofi Annan, will you please GO NOW!
We said GO and GO we shout....
The time has come.
SO...
Kofi, get OUT!
Take a hike, Kofi.
UPDATE: Captain Ed says that Kofi learned Projection.
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