Reader Mail
Bad, Bad War
Readers think foreign. East and West. Fade to Blackwell. Plus more.
(Page 2 of 4)
ENLIGHTENED OPINION
Re: Christopher Orlet’s Myth of the Secular West:
Oh, come now, Mr. Orlet. If you are wringing your hands worried people will think Conservatives are “anti-intellectual,” save it. That train left the station long ago and launching fireballs at imaginary “Christian Jihadism” won’t change that.
Conservatism itself is a reaction to the excesses of the Enlightenment. I should think we would have a little more skepticism toward the fabled achievements of the Enlightenment touted by its modern day acolytes. In fact, the chronological era we refer to as the Enlightenment is something of a historical fiction itself and “it” was not that sharp of a break with the past as many would have it. “It” didn’t happen all over Europe at the same time from the same metaphysical assumptions resulting in the same notions.
The “ideas” of the Enlightenment, as you list them, did not spring forth whole from the head of Sweet Reason. They were developments from a long chain of concrete and particular historical experiences in the West. They were hard won, often times poorly understood, inconsistently lived-up to, and difficult to transplant into non-Western cultures (I said “difficult” — not impossible).
Having said all this, we are all “children of the Enlightenment.”
It is a heritage we cannot run away from and an inheritance we
would not sell for all the golden pottage the rest of the world
has to offer. But it is the Conservative demure from the blind
faith in and the over-application of rationation that earns us
the demonization of “anti-intellectual.” It is the Conservative
insistence that reason is powerful but not all-powerful, that
reason cannot and should not attempt to solve all the world’s
ills, that brings contempt.
— Mike Dooley
You are misinformed about the “suicidal Swedes.”
Suicide rates in Sweden have never been particularly high. Sweden is far down in the European suicide table, in 15th place. According to the World Health Organization, Sweden is about average, with 20.0 cases per 100,000 population. This is about the same as in Canada (21.5) and the U.S. (19.3).
The highest rates are in Lithuania (73.7) and Russia (72.9).
The source of the rumor about suicide in Sweden was a speech
given by U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960, in which he
managed to mix up the statistics.
— B. Anderson
Stockholm, Sweden
DEPT. OF BOLD PREDICTIONS
Re: George H. Wittman’s Putin’s New Year Tests:
A petrostate with sickening demographics, Russia relies almost exclusively on oil and gas exports to prop up the Potemkin Village that is Putin’s Russia.
As he watches the Russian economy — and not coincidentally, his legacy — collapse around his fur-warmed ears, it will occur to Putin that the only way to maintain the Russian economy will be to drive up the price of oil, as high and as quickly as possible, and the only way to do that will be to reduce the supply to the industrial world.
He also will conclude that this will necessitate a war in the Middle East, one that shuts the Persian Gulf and threatens the economies of the industrialized world. To this erstwhile KGBnik, the obvious candidate is a (preferably nuclear) war between Iran and Israel, which is already in its preliminary, slow-motion phases.
This rationale appears to be ineluctable, so prepare for
$10-a-gallon gas and a 19th-century lifestyle, courtesy of the
Bolshethugs in the Kremlin.
— David Govett
Davis, California
Letter to the Editor View all comments (10) | Leave a comment
More Articles From Reader Mail
http://spectator.org/archives/2008/12/31/bad-bad-war
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Screwtape Talks Turkey
- What’s in a Name?
- Downton’s Class System — and Ours
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
frost| 12.31.08 @ 7:49AM
Poor Mr. David. Israel rocketing the terrorist factions in Gaza? Ah, if he were to check (and maybe be honest), methinks he'd find that the Hamas (and maybe a few Hezbollah) have been lobbing their rockets into the civilian landscape of Israel on pretty much a daily (if not hourly) basis. Hey, when you're outnumbered 100-1 and are surrounded by the multitudes wishing to kill you/drive you into the sea, and, when you've withdrawn your forces to the Arabs could have their "self-determination"?
No, I'm not Jewish, and I have no ax to grind, 'cept in the pursuit of simple justice - - only to hear the supercilious argument about "proportionate response" which is bordering on laughable, if it weren't so tragic a rejoinder....
And Dubya speaks, and Dr. Rice (now an apparent Foggy Bottom convert to Pabulum Puke diplomacy) - - and the world condemns?
We're in a world'o'hurt, gang; may the New Year bring some fresh ideas and common sense, please!
carol hellman| 12.31.08 @ 10:22AM
Not to worry though. Our eminently qualified president-elect (obama) will quickly dispatch his supremely qualified secretary of state (hillary) to make everything hunky-dory.
Never in the course of history have two more unqualified people been put into positions of responsibility.
Well, this is "the change we have been waiting for". A year from now I'm going to start asking
"how's that change you voted for working out?"
Thomas| 12.31.08 @ 10:57AM
Mr. David seems to be a bit informationally deficient in his description of the situation in Gaza.
The violence in Gaza has been going on between Arab and Jew for far longer than 40 years. When still a British protectorate, tensions between the groups culminated in the Palestinian Riots of 1929. This resulted in the expulsion of the smaller Jewish population from Gaza by the British. This did not halt violence between the two groups which continues until the present day. Following the rejection of the UN mandated Palestine Partition Plan by the Arab population, the Arab world attempted to drive the Jewish citizens of the newly created state of Israel into the sea. The Jews held the coastal partition set aside for them and it became the modern state of Israel. Egypt occupied the Gaza and administered it until it was taken, by the Israelis, during the War of 1967. Gaza shares a common border with Egypt to this day, so it is hardly Israel, exclusively, that is blockading Gaza.
Now, it is a matter of record that all during the "ceasefire" cum "truce", Qassam missiles have repeated been fired into Israeli territory from Gaza. It was these continuing attacks that caused Israel to tighten her border security. As for the missile attacks, by the Israelis upon targets in Gaza during the "truce", he neglects to point out that those were directed at high level, wanted, Hamas terrorists who were reportedly engaged in active terrorist activities against Israel, including firing Qassam rockets into the country.
As to Qassam rockets entering Israel from the Gaza causing no casualties, this statement is just plain incorrect.
There is certainly an unbalanced Middle East Policy in this region, but it does not stem from the Israelis and the U.S. It stems from the rabid anti-Jewish Palestinian Arabs of Hamas, Fatah and the smaller jihadist groups in the region. Since the 1990's, Israel has attempted to force a two-state solution to the problem and the Arabs have refused to this compromise time and time again.
So, it might be a good idea to start with accurate historical Facts rather than cherry picking those, or inventing those, that bolster your position. Groups like hamas, Fatah, et al., want it all. By that stance, they may lose everything.
Lu| 12.31.08 @ 4:18PM
The Palestinian "people' have a country, it is called Jordan. We should study the history of that area of the world. There has never been an independent Arab "Palestine' nation nor Palestinian people. Palestine came into existence in one of the many occupations by Roman Crusaders. To insult the Jews, the Romans renamed Judea Philistia, after their enemy the Philistines. The Philistines died out thousands of years ago. They are not the same people calling themselves "Palestinians" today. The Palestine and Palestinians is a figment of Arab propaganada.
Mark Long| 1.1.09 @ 9:59AM
Regarding Christopher Orlet's "Myth of the Secular West": Orlet seems to be praising the concept of Separation of Church and State which, as a legal doctrine, has done great damage to our country over the years. Along with many of the disastrous social and educational policies of the 1960s and 1970s, removing expresses of faith from schools, court houses, and other public places have brought about numerous social pathologies such as the breakdown of families, increased crime, poverty, teen pregnancies, and suicides. From a legal standpoint, even a layman like myself can see that it is a flawed doctrine. First of all, its origin was a private letter by Thomas Jefferson to a group of ministers originally meaning the opposite of how it is understood today. Second, purely as a Constitutional concept I would think that religious freedom should be viewed as a whole. The First Amendment contains five separate rights (four of one counts speech and press together) and the Establishment Clause is immediately followed by "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." It stands to reason that they should work together. Any ruling, like many Supreme Court cases over the past 60 years, that emphasis only one part over the other is a grave injustice. Constitutional scholars might disagree but they also advocate the "Living Constitution" theory which is Orwellian Newspeak and just an excuse to rewrite it at will.
Mark Long| 1.1.09 @ 9:59AM
Regarding Christopher Orlet's "Myth of the Secular West": Orlet seems to be praising the concept of Separation of Church and State which, as a legal doctrine, has done great damage to our country over the years. Along with many of the disastrous social and educational policies of the 1960s and 1970s, removing expresses of faith from schools, court houses, and other public places have brought about numerous social pathologies such as the breakdown of families, increased crime, poverty, teen pregnancies, and suicides. From a legal standpoint, even a layman like myself can see that it is a flawed doctrine. First of all, its origin was a private letter by Thomas Jefferson to a group of ministers originally meaning the opposite of how it is understood today. Second, purely as a Constitutional concept I would think that religious freedom should be viewed as a whole. The First Amendment contains five separate rights (four of one counts speech and press together) and the Establishment Clause is immediately followed by "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." It stands to reason that they should work together. Any ruling, like many Supreme Court cases over the past 60 years, that emphasis only one part over the other is a grave injustice. Constitutional scholars might disagree but they also advocate the "Living Constitution" theory which is Orwellian Newspeak and just an excuse to rewrite it at will.
fewf| 3.9.10 @ 3:10AM
newenergy plays an important role!