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New York Times columnist David Brooks proposes the ‘good crusade’

by wsws (reposted)
Right-wing columnist David Brooks of the New York Times has weighed in on the anti-Muslim cartoon furor. In a piece entitled “Drafting Hitler,” Brooks offers himself as a spokesman for Western Civilization against Muslim Savagery.
After references to reactionary cartoons published in the Arab world in retaliation for the Danish provocation, including openly anti-Semitic ones, Brooks addresses himself to the Islamic fundamentalists: “We in the West were born into a world that reflects the legacy of Socrates and the agora... We believe in progress and in personal growth. By swimming in this flurry of perspectives, by facing unpleasant facts, we try to come closer and closer to understanding... Our mind-set is progressive and rational. Your mind-set is pre-Enlightenment and mythological.”

Brooks’ smugness and self-admiration as he gazes at himself in the mirror can only inspire loathing. One is reminded of Oscar Wilde’s line, “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.”

Just who does Brooks think he’s fooling? This individual, who earns a very handsome salary by laboring twice a week in the pages of the Times on behalf of the most predatory elements in American society, proposes to lecture his readers about science, progress and rationality.

Since Brooks wants to discuss Western Civilization, there are certain not so edifying episodes, even in recent times, one might bring up: virulent nationalism, anti-Semitism, fascism, colonialism, imperialism. These ‘blemishes’ have inflicted untold suffering and death on masses of human beings.

However, Brooks, formerly of the Republican right Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal, turns a blind eye. A defense of yesterday’s swinishness justifies today’s. The columnist speaks for a world of arrogant, affluent people who believe the crimes that lie behind their wealth will go unnoticed and unpunished.

More
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/feb2006/broo-f11.shtml
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mirror holder
Mon, Feb 13, 2006 10:31AM
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Mon, Feb 13, 2006 9:54AM
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Sat, Feb 11, 2006 6:15PM
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