Friday, August 25, 2006
"Attila," says Ayn Rand, "turns men's life on earth into a living hell--the Witch Doctor tells them that it could not be otherwise." (For the New Intellectual, 1961) Rand's archetypes of evil represent the always bloody union between the "mystics of muscle" (men of force) and the "mystics of mind" (men of faith), which does seem to be a recurring theme for humankind...kings/priests...Attila the Hun/Pope Leo I...and now, Nasrallah and Ali Khamenei...described here in Amir Taheri's article on Hezbollah's Pyrrhic victory:
"Mr. Nasrallah was also criticized for his acknowledgement of Ali Khamenei as Marjaa al-Taqlid (Source of Emulation), the highest theological authority in Shiism. Highlighting his bay'aah (allegiance), Mr. Nasrallah kisses the man's hand each time they meet. Many Lebanese Shiites resent this because Mr. Khamenei, a powerful politician but a lightweight in theological terms, is not recognized as Marjaa al-Taqlid in Iran itself. The overwhelming majority of Lebanese Shiites regard Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, in Iraq, or Ayatollah Muhammad-Hussein Fadhlallah, in Beirut, as their "Source of Emulation."
Let's hope this is the last victory men like these see...oh, wait, here's another...Lest we forget Lenin, Stalin and Marx...
"Mr. Nasrallah was also criticized for his acknowledgement of Ali Khamenei as Marjaa al-Taqlid (Source of Emulation), the highest theological authority in Shiism. Highlighting his bay'aah (allegiance), Mr. Nasrallah kisses the man's hand each time they meet. Many Lebanese Shiites resent this because Mr. Khamenei, a powerful politician but a lightweight in theological terms, is not recognized as Marjaa al-Taqlid in Iran itself. The overwhelming majority of Lebanese Shiites regard Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, in Iraq, or Ayatollah Muhammad-Hussein Fadhlallah, in Beirut, as their "Source of Emulation."
Let's hope this is the last victory men like these see...oh, wait, here's another...Lest we forget Lenin, Stalin and Marx...
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
This article is a few months old, but worth posting anyway. Leniency for 'ignorant' woman who hurt baby
A BANGLADESHI woman who shook a baby boy so violently that he suffered brain damage walked free from court yesterday because a judge conceded that she did not know how to behave in the West.
Rahella Khanom, 24, caused the five-month-old boy in her care to suffer fractures to his breast bone and ribs as she tried to rid him of evil spirits
This is cultural relativism at its worst. Who are we to insist that she understand our Western biases on raising kids? It doesn't matter what culture you come from, our way is better because it takes a rational approach to helping kids heal. It's no wonder people from many third world countries seem to be slow. In many cases it may be from the 'treatment' they got from parents. I'm not saying the kid should be taken away from her forever, just long enough to make sure it's not going to be in further danger.
A BANGLADESHI woman who shook a baby boy so violently that he suffered brain damage walked free from court yesterday because a judge conceded that she did not know how to behave in the West.
Rahella Khanom, 24, caused the five-month-old boy in her care to suffer fractures to his breast bone and ribs as she tried to rid him of evil spirits
This is cultural relativism at its worst. Who are we to insist that she understand our Western biases on raising kids? It doesn't matter what culture you come from, our way is better because it takes a rational approach to helping kids heal. It's no wonder people from many third world countries seem to be slow. In many cases it may be from the 'treatment' they got from parents. I'm not saying the kid should be taken away from her forever, just long enough to make sure it's not going to be in further danger.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Another insightful, if also gloomy, piece by Mark Steyn
Money quote to me:
September 11th 2001 was not “the day everything changed”, but the day that revealed how much had already changed. On September 10th, how many journalists had the Council of American-Islamic Relations or the Canadian Islamic Congress or the Muslim Council of Britain in their rolodexes? If you’d said that whether something does or does not cause offence to Muslims would be the early 21st century’s principal political dynamic in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, most folks would have thought you were crazy. Yet on that Tuesday morning the top of the iceberg bobbed up and toppled the Twin Towers.
But it’s important to remember: radical Islam is only the top-eighth of that iceberg – it’s an opportunist enemy taking advantage of a demographically declining and spiritually decayed west. The real issue is the seven-eighths below the surface – the larger forces at play in the developed world that have left Europe too enfeebled to resist its remorseless transformation into Eurabia and call into question the future of much of the rest of the world. The key factors are:
i) Demographic decline;
ii) The unsustainability of the social democratic state;
iii) Civilizational exhaustion.
None of these is Islam’s fault. They’re self-inflicted.
It's a great point to remember. A lot of the problems we face aren't Islam's fault per se. It's a product of the West's own decadence (i.e. not being proud of our culture) that has created this vacuum that Islam is seeking to fill. A proud West that knew what it stood for wouldn't have let oilfields developed by western companies be nationalized for starters. Read the whole thing.
Money quote to me:
September 11th 2001 was not “the day everything changed”, but the day that revealed how much had already changed. On September 10th, how many journalists had the Council of American-Islamic Relations or the Canadian Islamic Congress or the Muslim Council of Britain in their rolodexes? If you’d said that whether something does or does not cause offence to Muslims would be the early 21st century’s principal political dynamic in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, most folks would have thought you were crazy. Yet on that Tuesday morning the top of the iceberg bobbed up and toppled the Twin Towers.
But it’s important to remember: radical Islam is only the top-eighth of that iceberg – it’s an opportunist enemy taking advantage of a demographically declining and spiritually decayed west. The real issue is the seven-eighths below the surface – the larger forces at play in the developed world that have left Europe too enfeebled to resist its remorseless transformation into Eurabia and call into question the future of much of the rest of the world. The key factors are:
i) Demographic decline;
ii) The unsustainability of the social democratic state;
iii) Civilizational exhaustion.
None of these is Islam’s fault. They’re self-inflicted.
It's a great point to remember. A lot of the problems we face aren't Islam's fault per se. It's a product of the West's own decadence (i.e. not being proud of our culture) that has created this vacuum that Islam is seeking to fill. A proud West that knew what it stood for wouldn't have let oilfields developed by western companies be nationalized for starters. Read the whole thing.
