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Among the Intellectualoids
Brute Causes, Not Root Causes
In the nature of things, people do not ordinarily blame the victims as the intellectuals blamed America for 9/11.
(Page 2 of 2)
The anti-American indictments of so many Mailers, Sontags, and Saids and their perfervid European confreres, for all their spurious bravura, are palpably hollow. The intellectuals who chafe at an America rendered strong by the culture, values, and commerce they abhor found it irresistible to indict it when the Islamists who mean to destroy it attacked it for those very reasons. Such is the background to their symbiosis — not root causes, but brute causes.
More than 200 years ago, the philosopher Edmund Burke enunciated a trenchant insight into the global significance of the French Revolution that was at that moment devouring lives across France and was shortly to convulse most of Europe:
We are in a war of a peculiar nature. It is not with an ordinary community, which is hostile or friendly as passion or as interest may veer about: not with a state that makes war through wantonness, and abandons it through lassitude. We are at war with a system, which by its essence, is inimical to all other governments, and which makes peace or war, as peace or war may best contribute to their subversion. It is with an armed doctrine that we are at war. It has, by its essence, a faction of opinion, and of interest, and of enthusiasm, in every country.
Revolutionary politics and armed doctrines find an echo in every country. Communism was able to bridge seemingly impenetrable cultural and geographical divides. The response of the intellectuals to the barbarities of 9/11 put us on notice that Islamism has done no less in our own time.
About the Author
Daniel Mandel is a Fellow in History at Melbourne University and author of H. V. Evatt and the Establishment of Israel: The Undercover Zionist (Routledge, London, 2004). His blog can be found on the History News Network.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (21) | Leave a comment
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martin j smith| 9.12.11 @ 7:43AM
There are at least two issues for me on this "blame the victim " matter. One is that we have a so called Democrat Party which is really now as far as I am concerned the SOCIALIST PARTY aligned with the EU's policy of appeasement. Second I am troubled by the LEFT Control of the media esp[ecially when they are the ones who cry"fairness doctrine all the time".
This "blame the victim" concept is but one propaganda tool used to basically destroy this nation. Its a template or a bum[er sticker. The Conservative side needs more money to get the right rescources to counter this garbage,
ENOUGH ROPE| 9.12.11 @ 4:02PM
Boycott the liberal media, end public school K-12 in every state, and boycott liberal higher education. The left dominates those institutions. We in the center and right can end those institutions simply by not consuming their products.
The progressives/liberals hate God, religion, Judeo-Christian morality, America, freedom, capitalism, families, the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution, private property, American Exceptionalism, and America''s superpowerful military.
There are more of us centrists and conservatives than there are progressives/liberals. Boycott their organizations and repeal public schools. Then they will be far less powerful to destroy us, which is their goal. Do you have any doubts that if they gained fascist or Marxist type power that they would put us in concentration camps? Doubtful? Google the topic about the FBI undercover agent who infiltrated Bill Ayers' Weathermen group. The agent asked Ayers how many people would have to be killed to lessen dissent. The answer, then, was 25 million people.
Alan Brooks| 9.12.11 @ 6:43PM
Gore Vidal blamed America for Tim McVeigh- poor Timmy, he didn't get enough butter in his Maypo when he was but a little Laddie.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 9.12.11 @ 7:55AM
An examination of comments made by elected Democratic officials could have proven your points, and more simply.
Here are a few examples:
Cong. Murtha:
"Well, I say that the fight against Americans began with Abu Ghraib. It began with the invasion of Iraq. That's when terrorism started."
(Murtha, Nov. 17, 2005, News Hour with Jim Lehrer)
Sen. Durbin (On the floor of the U.S. Senate):
On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. ..... On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.
If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.
Sen. Reid:
This war is lost, and that the surge is not accomplishing anything, as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday.
Speaker Pelosi:
I think it is very difficult for the President to sustain a war of this magnitude without the support of the American people, and without the support of the Congress of the United States. That's why Congress will vote to oppose the President's escalation.
In short, the real enemy is the enemy within, and that would be the Democratic Party.
Here's a quote from Ann Coulter's Treason:
"Americans cannot comprehend how their fellow countrymen could not love their country. But the left's anti-Americanism is intrinsic to their entire worldview. Liberals promote the right of Islamic fanatics for the same reason they promote the rights of adulterers, pornographers, abortionists, criminals, and Communists. They instinctively root for anarchy against civilization. The inevitable logic of the liberal position is to be for treason." -- Ann Coulter, P. 292
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 9.12.11 @ 8:39AM
By the way, here's Hillary Clinton trying to turn the 9/11 remembrance into a communist/collective Holiday. Unbelievable!
http://www.aol.com/
"On this 10th anniversary we can help redefine 9/11 for a new decade as a symbol of resilience and dedication to helping our neighbors and one another. By committing a day or even an hour to serving others we can transform the memory of grief into a hopeful future. We can create a living memorial to all the brave men and women who showed the world the best that America has to offer.
This September, what will you do to remember? Will you take time to maybe help paint a school, or plant a tree, or tutor a child? Wherever you are from you can demonstrate the common humanity that binds us together and makes our societies and our world stronger.
So let's stand up and continue to build a more peaceful and prosperous world together. Let us remember, and let us recommit. Thank you and God bless you."
Skippy| 9.12.11 @ 1:23PM
I wanna spend the day killing Jihadis!
Hell, I wanna spend every day killing Jihadis!
I call that service to my country.
Petronius| 9.12.11 @ 11:45AM
The Ann's have it!
Timothy L. Pennell| 9.12.11 @ 8:56AM
There is something terribly wrong, with Self Haters. People who hate their own Race. People who hate their own Religion. Hate their own Country. Basically, they hate everything that is associated with THEM.
"I don't want to be a in any Club that would have ME for a member."
We all know Self Hating Jews. Jews who protest on College Campi, on behalf of a people who's SOLE WISH, is to see all of them DEAD.
We've all seen the Self Hating White. They will do anything to PROVE that they're not Racist. Obama's buddy - Billy Ayers - and his Weathermen, proclaimed it their DUTY, to Murder WHITE BABIES. Think about it.
And, of course, we have the "Blame America First" crowd.
"If there's something wrong in the world, it MUST be America's doing." Those other countries don't have any power. Kinda like: "Only Whites can be Racists."
Here's the problem. These "Americans" (Always come from Privilege, and always on the LEFT) cannot fathom the Forest, for the trees. They've always had Freedom. They've always lived in a Stable Environment, free of Dictatorship (until now) and Evil.
In the late 60's or early 70's, I don't remember, exactly, there was a Black Radical who fled this Country, to North Vietnam, after he was sentenced to a long Jail Term, here. He HATED America. He was against the War. He wanted to KILL THE PIGS. Not too long afterward, he came back. He said that "I would rather spend 10 years in an American Prison, than one more year under COMMUNISM.
The self hater has no reference points. He FEELS. He runs around with Fellow Travelers, of the same mentality. America IS, therefore she is to BLAME.
They would NEVER consult a former Refugee. NEVER talk to a former guest of The Gulags. NEVER consult a former Cuban Political Prisoner.
What for? They already know everything.
The idea that the Left SYMPATHIZES with the MURDERERS in Guantanamo. The idea that they would get Constitutional RIGHTS, and a CIVILIAN TRIAL. The idea that we would DO whatever was NECESSARY, to get Intelligence from the Masterminds of 911, is UNTHINKABLE.
The United States is the only Country that thinks this way.
Whites are the only Race that thinks this way.
Christians and Jews are the only Religions that think this way.
How does this end, any way other than BAD?
Bill| 9.12.11 @ 8:58AM
Dennis Prager raised an interesting question as a commentary on the kind of thinking that asks, "what did we do to earn the hatred of the Muslim fundamentalists?"
He asked as his commntary on that kind of thing, "What did black people do to earn the hatred of white people?"
TrueBlue| 9.12.11 @ 7:39PM
Something that nobody ever wants to mention, black people were sold into slavery BY OTHER BLACK PEOPLE. Warring tribes in Africa would sell their enemies to foreign slavers for money and weapons so they could take more territory.
As far as the Left and their view of appeasing Muslim nations, they wouldn't be so happy if they had to live there. Women's Rights? What rights? If America is so evil, and these other countries so great, why don't they go live there and leave this country to the people that actually like it?
Bob K.| 9.12.11 @ 9:05AM
When did liberal and/or left wing politicians and newspaper and television journalists become "intellectuals?"
Brian Mc| 9.12.11 @ 9:08AM
Good vs. Evil...Love vs. Hate. Goodness never utilizes deception whereas Hatred must constantly use deceit and lies to foment its ugly empirical nature over Love and Goodness. It is apparent in the body of this article and why a rage came over me during the course of the weekend. The more I watched live TV and period documentaries: Evil being explained away, (murder into tragedy), the more enraged I felt for my ineffectiveness against it. So, I must cling tenaciously to Love and pray for my enemies with the help of God's Grace.
All the while Evil marches merrily along with the help of the left and its media.
John786| 9.12.11 @ 10:01AM
19 Saudis using Saudi money following their Saudi leader carried out 9/11. what did the Saudis do this?What was the magical kingdom not attack. Where is the truth here. Why did citizens of the closest Arab ally so hate America. The truth will out someday.
martin j smith| 9.12.11 @ 10:17AM
The thing is we know the problem--the real issue is what to do about it ? I believe that the "root cause of the lack of fighTing back lies in the REPUBLICAN PARTY LEADERSHIT.
Melvin| 9.12.11 @ 12:45PM
After an analysis by Egypt of the lost the Ramadan War, it was determined by Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein that the Arab coalition would never at least back then defeat Israel militarily.
So Nasser and other Arab leaders decided to enter into a war of attrition with Israel.
Nasser and the Arabs knew full well that this war of attrition would not achieve results in the short term, but would take decades to achieve to position Israel into a position of weakness, and separating, politically, Israel from it's main benefactor the United States.
But Nasser and the Arab leaders needed a defacto army to nip at Israel's heels, that is where Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians come in.
They would be the non-declared foot-soldiers of this war, mostly through terrorism, and minor engagements with the Israeli military that are designed to publicly humiliate Israeli with the carefully orchestrated Palestinian propaganda, that choreographed Palestinians be chewed up under Israeli tanks treads.
Palestinians have been extremely successful of infiltrating US academia by winning the hearts and minds of college administrators and a extremely fertile college student body, that couldn't find Israel on a map, but wearing the Palestinian headscarf's on campus displaying solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
It is appearing that this war of attrition is coming to a critical juncture. World opinion is at a all time high against Israel, the United States has a anti-Israel President in Barrack Obama, and Israel's one time allies now have become Israel's harshest critics.
Unfortunately we have those in this Country who can't see past they're Palestinian head scarfs, because they have bought into the Palestinian propaganda hook line and head scarf.
From the very second after the Jews declared Israel a state, Arabs and non Arabs made a blood oath to seek Israel's destruction. But this fact seems to be lost on those who seem to care only about, "Does my new Palestinian head scarf make my butt look big?"
Gary| 9.12.11 @ 1:14PM
Mailer is one to speak. Sure, it was easy for him to say people are obsessed with money. He lived I'm sure a comfortable life. If you are out of work you ARE obsessed with money, the lack of it. I hate it when the liberal well off show disdain for money. It won't guarantee you happiness but it will remove many problems from you table. As for the other asinine comments from "intellectuals" who needs them? Most are so full of themselves that humility and modesty are unknown to them.
Karen Fish | 9.12.11 @ 1:18PM
The Temple of Love - The World Peace Religion
http://www.thetempleoflove.com
Interfaith Harmony
http://www.interfaithharmony.com
Simon Templar| 9.12.11 @ 3:50PM
I think your head is broken. It is not, "your religions are broken" as your web site says about 20 times a page but rather your ability to recognize truth and your unwillingness to stand up for it.
It is your moral relativism, your historical revisionism, and your delusion that you are somehow morally superior and know how to fix the world with your grand utopias.
don| 9.12.11 @ 1:38PM
I tell people, you scratch a progressive you find a fascist, scratch a little deeper you find a nihilist.
POST American| 9.13.11 @ 5:31AM
----------------------FINAL WORD----------------------
----Great piece.
BTW, everyone catch that piece
about the latest from BIG-agra
---artifical meat made with human DNA?
(SEE Alan Watt Red Cubit link)
-----------Oh, and they NOW admit they've
been putting human DNA into pigs since
the 1970's.
---------------AS EVER, keep following those
Globalists/USURERS and EUGENISTS
kiddies! ----They're takin' good care of you.
-----------------JUST KEEP A GOIN'
----------------BAH BAH ----BAH BAH----------------
---------------------------JUST KEEP A GOIN'
John Monaghan| 9.13.11 @ 2:56PM
On the morning of 9/11 we left for a driving tour of Eastern Alberta and Saskatchewan. We watched the news every night. Mostly we watched Peter Jennings. I looked for a mea culpa. There were none. In fact the opposite. On one occasion Peter Jennings stood before a gathering of children perhaps ranging from 7 to 13 years of age. A young girl put the question ( paraphrased) Is it possible the attacks are/were related in any way to things America has done here and elsewhere?. Peter walked away, did not answer, never came back to this girl.