 |
| HYPOCRITE! I BITE you! |
Because I understand how important hypocrisy is to the moral and intellectual giants on the left, it is with some embarrassment that I must admit difficulty in reconciling these two separate stories. Concerning today's attacks on US embassies, Rachel Lucas highlights this observation from Allahpundit at Hot Air:
The last time we went through the now familiar “insult to Islam inspires international incident” cycle, he begged Terry Jones publicly not to burn the Koran because doing so would endanger U.S. troops. That was clever insofar as it’s hard to resist an appeal to patriotism from the C-in-C but it has the same problem as the embassy statement — namely, placing the moral onus on the speaker not to speak rather than on the violent nut not to be nutty and violent.
Rachel then succinctly pins down the heart of the matter:
THIS. This is the one issue I will never back down from in an argument just to make the argument stop. I care more about this point – holding violent psychos 100% responsible for their acts no matter what the “provocation” – than I do about every single other social-political-religious issue combined.So do I.
If we are to remain civilized on this increasingly tiny planet, we must insist that people control their own behavior. Period.
So I couldn't help thinking of the Slut Walk. Yes, the Slut Walk. Of course it was held in San Francisco. Did you think this would happen in Kansas City?
The Slut Walk, where women proudly displayed their "assets" while insisting that no amount of provocation justified rape.
 |
| Don't worry. It's controlled. |
Got it.
But then we are to simultaneously believe that any provocation is justification for MURDER by Muslims.
What am I missing? Both positions are held by the left, and they seem entirely unconcerned with the obvious hypocrisy.
Rape -- no matter the provocation -- wrong.
Murder -- if you offend me -- perfectly understandable.
I am definitely missing something here.
What am I missing? Both positions are held by the left, and they seem entirely unconcerned with the obvious hypocrisy.
Rape -- no matter the provocation -- wrong.
Murder -- if you offend me -- perfectly understandable.
I am definitely missing something here.
The lefts thinking is so twisted up I don't know how they get through a day without a mental breakdown from all the inherent contradictions.
ReplyDeleteYou're back in form. Found your way out of the fire swamp did you?
HAHA! RG, I think they have all HAD mental breakdowns - that's leftism. We are observing the insanity.
DeleteThanks. You're a dear. I guess I just needed to get royally angry again. Yesterday was one of those forehead-slamming days where I simply could NOT say enough swear words. Good thing it was just me around the house. HAHA!
What's bizarre is that the Left's caricature of the GOP -- bible-thumping, wife-beating, gay-hating, gun-loving, xenophobic racists -- is what the Islamic Middle East *really is*, in word and deed. Yet somehow they're OK with that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should start a rumor that Muslims want lower taxes...
Jeff, I think the salient difference is that Christians won't actually MURDER you; Muslims will. In a heartbeat.
DeleteLiberals are cowards above all else.
And Muslims are exotic - the other. Liberals LOVE being able to prove their street cred by accepting the "other".
HAHAHA! Do Muslims even PAY taxes? I know they don't buy insurance. That's considered gambling. I think under sharia, they never pay taxes or interest on loans. Only us heretics do.
Right on, Buttercup. "If we are to remain civilized on this increasingly tiny planet, we must insist that people control their own behavior. Period." - BAM.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, it really doesn't seem like any leftists get their own contradiction. They are like children. I am losing patience with the whole thing.
Jeff - I have a gay friend who flat-out refuses to address the gay-hating aspect of Islam. He hates Christianity and that's that. It's the worst thing ever, and "maybe Christians don't kill gays but they want to and that's just as bad."
I really shouldn't call this guy my "friend" anymore, come to think of it. We pretty much stopped talking after that conversation. The funny part was that the discussion started in the context of my lack of a Christian faith. He did NOT LIKE IT when he realized that despite that lack, I will defend Christianity and Christians to the bloody end if it's the right thing to do.
Wasn't it Roseanne Barr who said that the Christian right was every bit as dangerous as the Muslims? How can people say such incredibly --- OBVIOUSLY --- stupid things and not at least blush from embarrassment?
Delete"maybe Christians don't kill gays but they want to and that's just as bad."
No. That's not just as bad. That is decidedly, demonstrably BETTER than being beheaded or hung or beaten to death. He should try it, just once, for contrast. Sit next to someone he THINKS MAY want to kill him but instead does NOTHING. Then get dragged through the streets and beheaded by a mob.
I think there is a clear enough difference to make a decision about which is worse. What a dumbass.
In the politically correct world, progressives are mentally challenged.
ReplyDeleteIn the real world, progressives are as crazy as shit house rats.
In a perfect world, they'd never vote.
In a perfect world, we would let them fend for themselves and they would die out of natural causes, because Gaia is just that bitchy.
DeleteOkay, now that I think I have more of the story, I am more disgusted with Dems. Actually, I guess that isn't true, the disgust bottomed out a long time ago. I keep pretending surprise so the nice cushy rock to climb under never starts to look better than staying above the rock. But I may have to bring a bottle and join you in the closet.
ReplyDeleteSo here is why the Dems feel 'outrage'.
From what I have seen, Dems are right on the words, but lacking on reaction. The original Egyptian consulate statement was made in context before any riot attacks. They made that staement in response to the mobs forming in the streets in an effort to appease. Then the attacks happened. Romney did jump the gun. He thought the released statement from the embassy was IN RESPONSE to the attack on the embassy. It was not, and in that context the embassy was right on in their statement. The Dems and/or MSM did not make this clear until later, however, so it sure looks like MSM or Obama set up and executed a gotcha moment on purpose. Haha Romney, good job Dems.
Here is the kicker, though. In setting up and executing the gortcha, Obama [em]and the press [/em]have really been reacting to Romney, not to the murders or the potential threat to other embassies. No actions other than a statement has been made. Past Mideast results:
Carter: Weak admin triggers the Iran hostage crisis while Carter wrung his hands.
Bush the elder: Kuwait invasion triggers desert storm. A weaker Prez could have had more hand wringing.
Clinton: Took the offensive on peace talks. Did a good job of appeasing all Mid-east nations by negotiating with Arafat.
W. Bush: 9/11 and threats of weapons of mass destruction triggers Iraq war. Fine job getting in, no exit strategy,[strong] but [/strong]no more attacks on Americans.
Obama: Allowed the continued search for Bin laden (this particular legacy however, was not credited to Bush). Deliberate attacks on American embassies triggers so far...campaign speeches. We'll see.
One thing that really pisses me off is that if it was Egyptian expat Jews who produced this online (not hollywood) mocumentary, why were Americans the target of reprisals/outrage?
You need < and > rather than square brackets to get italics and bold to work.
DeleteI understand the Dems feel they have something on Romney because of a fucking timeline, but really? No. No, they don't. It's manufactured outrage. And given the crazy events, and the FACT that the embassy knew there might be attacks as early as Monday, it sure looks to me like they "allowed" it to happen by not taking any credible action to at least show force. As you say, they just wrung their hands. Historically, hand wringing has been largely ineffective against Muslim extremists.
DeleteSo, for me, whatever criticism Romney leveled was important. There is plenty of blame here -- and it should all fall on Mr. I KILLED BIN LADEN WITH MY BARE HANDS.
If you're the star when it goes right, you're the asshole when it goes wrong.
For the press to waste ANY ink worrying about when we knew what, as the bottom line here is that Obama fucked up, is INSANE.
And I have to add that they weren't right on the words either. Appeasing a dog when it is baring its teeth just gets you bit.
And Tuerqas, there is always room in the closet.
DeleteWe are seeing Obama's strength in politics. Misdirection, obfuscation and false blame. Great for him, that the strengths of MSM are the same. He can hide dinosaur sized skeletons in his closets and use the Presidential seal to lock them.
DeleteI really wish I knew where the West came up with the whole "perfectible man" crap these last few years. When did Western Civ decide that all they had to do was ask nicely and everyone would act against their own personal best interest to give them the "perfect" world?
ReplyDeleteSomeone years ago pointed out that the world's problems are caused by lots of people who find it too painful to admit to themselves that there are wolves out there. These sheep have decided that pain is bad, therefore pain must be avoided at all costs, and the best way to prevent ever having to feel pain is to pretend that any wolfish behaviour is simply caused by not being sheepish enough. Because admitting that wolves cause pain for fun, and don't care what the sheep do hurts their tender little underdeveloped psyches as much if not more than the actual injury from the wolf.
Those of us who are sheepdogs by natural inclination or by training (because we found pretending too difficult) are left screaming at a flock of idiots, who have decided that because we are the one making the noise, we must be the problem, not the wolves leering out from behind us.
I've seen lots of stuff about how this is middle east unrest is what Ø and the rest of the "elites" want, with plenty of somewhat believable reasons given. But Hillary's face and the comments from State today would seem to indicate it's simply a severe case of sheepitis. They seem to truly have no idea why those nice angry men in the Middle East don't like us after all we've done for them.
I think the idea of the perfectibility of man started with Rousseau. Apparently a very popular philosopher during the French Revolution, which is hardly a good sign.
ReplyDeleteThat was sort of what I was thinking, and you would think that any one with common sense would have figured out that it obviously didn't work then, men haven't changed since then, so there is no reason why it should be working now.
DeleteMy daughter and I have a tendency to recite in unison: "Common sense isn't common."
Bad philosophies are like vampires. You can kill one off but as long as it sounds nice eventually some fool will come along and pull the stake out of its chest.
DeleteRG and Library-Gryffon,
DeleteYou're right. As far as I know it was Rousseau who created the "natural man" born in perfection and destroyed by civilization. Yeah, right.
I read LORD OF THE FLIES. Even better, I BELIEVED it. We are born, if not evil, then neutral. Good is instilled through conditioning. And often that conditioning is painful. Civilization is create when we impose -- IMPOSE -- self-restraint and discipline on others. NOT when we "understand their pain." Fuck that. Get over it. Everybody's got pain. Everybody doesn't get to act like an asshole.
Those who never really assimilate the idea that we are REQUIRED to control our baser natures and overcome our impulses are doomed to fear and cowardice...and liberalism.
Dennis Prager says, "Conservatives want a free life. Liberals want a pain-free life."
I think this is very true because I believe that the great fight is between those who are courageous because they have defeated their own inner demons of impulse and desire and those who are cowards because the demons run the show. (see Sandra Fluke)
And RG, I'm saving that comment because it's going up on my header soon! THANKS!
Library-Gryffon, have you ever read this essay? Your descriptions of sheep, sheepdogs and wolves reminded me of it.
For crying out loud! I have reposted this three times for all the mistakes and screw ups. SOOO! Here is the link
DeleteOn Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs
Reminds me of those "You have to be taught to hate" PSAs, that ran back in the 80's or 90's. I always thought that was backwards. Maybe you're taught which group you're supposed to hate but generally you have to be taught not to hate.
DeleteExactly. Hatred is the norm. Love is hard, and rare. Prejudice and hatred never go away; the acceptable targets just change.
DeleteOh yes, I *love* that essay, I believe I first read it linked from the Lawdog Files. I think it perfectly describes things, and I know people in all three categories. I think I started life as a sheep, but over the years, while not a full sheepdog, I do believe in the need "to stand for something or you'll fall for anything". I also married a submariner, so the sheepdog conditioning gets a little stronger then too (though it's amazing how many navy wives are sheep, sigh).
ReplyDeleteI spent a lot of 2001 assuring women that their husbands/sons were safer underwater in the Persian Gulf than they were at home. It was amazing how many would start hyperventilating. I mean, really, you marry a guy who's already in the Navy, he's going to get sent on 6 month deployments, and sometimes, his boat is going to shoot at things. It really shouldn't be a hard concept.
Need a reference to Tribes in here too.
DeleteI started out a bit of a wolf, truth be told, and I think I mellowed into a sheepdog. I was never a sheep. But I love that essay too because it so perfectly illustrates who we react to life.
DeleteAnd TRIBES!!!! Of course. One of Bill's BEST essays. I am so glad I bought his book of these essays, "Silent America" because even though he has reposted all of them at Eject! Eject! Eject!, the formatting sucks and there are weird thingamajiggers throughout. Too hard for me to read. I will just settle into bed tonight with my book and read it again.
I don't understand a lot of these protesters, whether Muslim or leftist. Anger I get, but this doesn't seem like normal anger. They revel in it, they get down and roll around in it like a dog rolling in crap. They actively seek out reasons to be angry and they want anger in return as an excuse for still more. How does a person live like that?
ReplyDeleteTwo essays which I think give at least partial explanations for this:
Deletehttp://drsanity.blogspot.com/2005/08/shame-arab-psyche-and-islam.html
and
http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/2006/08/guilt_vs_shame.html
Basically, I think we're trying to decipher middle-eastern/moslem behaviour from a western, judeo-christian view point, and they really aren't compatible.
Thank you. I think I read the Dr. Sanity one long ago. I'll have to read them both to refresh my memory and see if I can wrap my head around it.
DeleteInteresting, going to have to think more about that. The mention of terrorists wearing masks makes me wonder about the masks typically worn by Black Bloc anarchists. I wonder if the rejection of western/judeo-christian values by the left has resulted in their devolving to the less developed shame mindset.
DeleteLibrary-Gryffon - THANK YOU!!! I used to read Shrink Wrapped and somehow lost the bookmark. At any rate, it had fallen off my radar. THANKS!!! Love that blog.
DeleteAnd Dr. Sanity. She's been on my blogroll. Love her.
I agree with her that you can't separate Islam from the shame culture of the Arab. For one basic reason - Islam is not just a religion, it is a complete socio-economic political belief with the veneer of religion thrown over it to give it "sanction." Islam is who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Islam is the basis of their shame culture.
But you can fix that. When we dropped two atom bombs on Japan, they flipped from 5000 years of shame/warrior culture to a modern Westernized state in a few decades.
Drop the bomb. Now.
Pretty much anyone who knows about the middle east and is a practicing Christian or Jew says the same thing.
DeleteAdmittedly I don't think the Japanese shame culture was as far away from ours as the Arab one is. The willingness to commit hari-kiri(sp?) shows a certain internalization of honor; you don't see arabs killing themselves to reclaim the family honor, it's always someone else's fault.
But destroying Mecca would certainly have interesting results, since how could they continue to claim that their god is all-powerful if he can't even protect his own holy place from the infidel? And since the entire culture seems to be based on the "back the strong horse" theory, anyone who could destroy their god is obviously a very strong horse indeed.
Oh, I do think you see Muslims killing themselves to reclaim their society's honor -- suicide bombers come to mind. That is to destroy the embarrassment of the West and its superiority.
DeleteBut Mecca? Yes. I listened to a man who some years ago had written a book and was on all the talk shows, radio, etc., can't remember him name. He was a convert from Islam to Christianity. He said that you must bomb the black rock in Mecca. That it held supernatural power to the Muslims. He claimed that it's destruction would destroy their cult because it would undermine their belief in the nature of their god.
Seems like a good idea. Throw in Medina for good measure.
Bomb the black rock? How about if they drop containers of pig manure instead of bombs? A few thousand tons of that might make an impression.
DeleteI hadn't though about the suicide bombers. It's not like I've done an exhaustive study on it or anything, but it still seems, at least in popular western culture, that the oriental sense of honor requires personal cleansing, that is, they have brought the shame on themselves by their own actions, therefore the cleansing must be their own action. Arab shame seems to be strictly something that is done to them. So while a suicide bombing is a way to reclaim honor, it seems to be as much because of the damage inflicted on the infidel's honor by killing them as the suicide.
DeleteRG: I'd do both, bomb it to glowing green glass, and than air drop pig pieces/parts so that anything left, no matter how radioactive, is also unclean.
DeleteOverkill, whatever one does, is always the best policy.
Overkill, whatever one does, is always the best policy.
DeleteYes! We used to believe in UNCONDITIONAL surrender...as in the bad guys begging for it to stop.
We don't anymore. Now we believe in diplomacy which is the same as believing in the good guys begging for it to stop.
Doesn't work.