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New York Times columnist David Brooks proposes the ‘good crusade’
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
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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um, what was that year long fit of howling and and taking-offense that just occurred after a right-winger read Ward Churchill's essay. They threatened his life, they demanded his job be taken away, and still haven't shut up about their victimhood due to Ward expressing and backing up his opinion.
Some socratic society.
Some socratic society.
You’ve written a personal attack on a columnist, not a comment or refutation of the views in his column. I’m no conservative, but I found myself agreeing with Brooks this time: when the Islamists carry signs saying “Exterminate those who mock Islam” , make death threats, and burn buildings, and when there is no mass denunciation & disavowal by all those “moderate Muslims” we keep hearing about, then I do think we have a “clash of cultures”.
And our government, and those in Europe, are being ultra PC, tolerant, apologetic, to people who would kill them rather than engage in dialogue. At the heart of Islam there’s an attitude that nothing matters quite so much as protecting and spreading Islam. And criticism, by Muslims or non-Muslims, is intolerable, deserves a violent reaction. There’s no room for discussion, true democracy, or freedom of speech. Not all Islamic people feel that way—and those who don’t need to start speaking up. Of course, they can only do so if they live in Western countries, because in Islamic countries they’d be arrested, whipped, maybe executed.
An enlightening book is For Rushdie: Essays by Arab and Muslim Writers in Defense of Free Speech. (NY, Braziller, 1994) The writers conclude that a Muslim who wants freedom of thought and expression has to emigrate to a Western country to get it.
What hope of democracy can there be for Islamic countries, when this is the situation? Iraq’s election returned mostly religious party candidates. Let’s wait and see what happens; I fear it won’t look very democratic there in a year or two...
And our government, and those in Europe, are being ultra PC, tolerant, apologetic, to people who would kill them rather than engage in dialogue. At the heart of Islam there’s an attitude that nothing matters quite so much as protecting and spreading Islam. And criticism, by Muslims or non-Muslims, is intolerable, deserves a violent reaction. There’s no room for discussion, true democracy, or freedom of speech. Not all Islamic people feel that way—and those who don’t need to start speaking up. Of course, they can only do so if they live in Western countries, because in Islamic countries they’d be arrested, whipped, maybe executed.
An enlightening book is For Rushdie: Essays by Arab and Muslim Writers in Defense of Free Speech. (NY, Braziller, 1994) The writers conclude that a Muslim who wants freedom of thought and expression has to emigrate to a Western country to get it.
What hope of democracy can there be for Islamic countries, when this is the situation? Iraq’s election returned mostly religious party candidates. Let’s wait and see what happens; I fear it won’t look very democratic there in a year or two...
"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. "
Oh my, you left out communism. Oh but yeah, they have only spread peace and joy in the west.
cover for communisms death toll, side with religious totalitarians, and preach about imperialism, and then with your fascist friends you can sing the praises of King Jong II. Have fun ass wipe.
Oh my, you left out communism. Oh but yeah, they have only spread peace and joy in the west.
cover for communisms death toll, side with religious totalitarians, and preach about imperialism, and then with your fascist friends you can sing the praises of King Jong II. Have fun ass wipe.
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