[lit-ideas] Re: Stasi on our Minds

It is entirely legitimate for me to ask (following the Leftist historian John 
Esposito) are the Islamists (terrorists, radicals, et al) a serious threat or 
not?  He asked the question and argued that they were not a serious threat.  He 
argued that the idea that they were a serious threat was a "myth."   He has 
been thoroughly discredited by most of his peers because Islamism has done 
considerable damage to America & its allies since Esposito wrote his book in 
1992.  But we have been fighting them for a good long while; so how are they 
doing?  Perhaps in the long run Esposito will be proved right.  An extremely 
interesting discussion of this matter appears in the article 
http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/6848137.html, the title of 
which is "The Myth of the Invincible Terrorist."  I was immediately enamored of 
the title and began writing "The Myth of the Intellectual Leftist," but gave it 
up after the first paragraph. That is as far as a Leftist can read and I 
couldn't say everything in one paragraph.

Will the Dodgers win against the Nationals today?  Yes or no?  Ah, Lawrence, I 
think you are being bipolar.  Did you forget your meds?  It might be a draw and 
be rained out.  A comet may hit the field and kill all the players.  Canada may 
declare war and baseball put on indefinite hold.  Invaders from Mexico may 
surge across our porous borders and set up camp on the baseball field.  So you 
see you mustn't try and answer this question in a simplistic polaristic manner. 
 Fie, Lawrence.  No yes or no to this question for you.

And then Mike expresses abysmal ignorance over any correlation between the 
assertions made by Leftists and those of the Islamists (immediately after 
making assertions consistent with those made by Islamists).  And when Lawrence 
blithely attempts to educate him by pointing to the expert on this subject, he 
says, "who cares what Horowitz has to say?"  Well clearly Mike doesn't care 
which is probably just as well because he either doesn't want to know that he 
agrees with the Islamists, or he doesn't want anyone else to know.

And when I responded to his assertion that the U.S. was a "brutal, vicious, 
violent culture," by asking (since I have been reading about Islamic nations 
which are far far more brutal, vicious and violent) Mike "compared to what?"  
He retorts with a compare me not to any comparisons, I made an absolute 
statement.  America is absolutely brutal, vicious, and violent, and since this 
is a free country I can say whatever I like without being held accountable.  
Well, yeah, sure Mike.  But if we look around at the rest of the world, we here 
in the U.S. live in one of the least brutal, vicious and violent cultures.  I 
know you count this differently than I do.  You think we should have rolled 
over and invited a belly-rub after 9/11, but most of us wouldn't call national 
defense a sign of brutishness, viciousness, or violence.  We,ve discussed this 
ad infinitum -- until you shrieked, "no one is saying we shouldn't defend 
ourselves."  Whatever you meant by that.  

And then the absurd, tired, utterly discredited but still cherished by every 
Leftist heaping all the deaths in Iraq on U.S., shoulders.  Notice what an 
expert  (see above article) has to say on what is going on now: "The prime 
reason for Shiite deaths in Iraq today is terrorism by Sunni minorities, not 
the U.S. occupation."  Well of course!  Any fool knows that . . . well almost 
any.

Lawrence




------------Original Message------------
From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, May-30-2007 6:30 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Stasi on our Minds
LH:
>>He [Esposito] concluded the Islamic Threat to be myth just as you and Andreas 
>>do.

I never said whether I thought it was a serious threat or not.  Don't put words 
in my mouth.  I simply refuted your assertion that it's an either - or 
situation.  I do think that Bush's war in Iraq is seriously increasing the 
threat, and if you think the threat is a serious one, then you should certainly 
be opposing this war.  From my perspective failure to do so is giving aid to 
the enemy, tantamount to treason.  Are you treasonous, Lawrence? 


>>Hast thou not heard of David Horowitz?<<

Who hasn't heard of Horowitz? Who cares what Horowitz has to say?


Reading your list of dislikes about America would lead one to believe that 
you're a conservative.  Are you a conservative, Lawrence?


>>As to your references to "brutal, vicious, violent culture," I would ask 
>>"compared to what?"<<


Why would you ask that?  I wasn't making a comparison to any other country, I 
merely accused our country of being brutal, vicious and violent and I don't 
like that about America.  


>>Some Europeans are learning that the Islamists have a patent on "brutal, 
>>vicious and violent."<<


The US is responsible for the deaths of between 150,000 to 600,000 Iraqis 
because Bush wanted a base in the Middle East.  Tell me who has a patent on 
brutal, vicious and violent.


Mike Geary
Memphis

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