[lit-ideas] Re: Is Hizbollah a Resistance Organization or not?
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "lit-ideas" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 09:55:15 -0400
Love may be all those things, but humans are none of those things. Love also
isn't promoting or fighting this war. If you're promoting war, then you are
diametrically opposing your standards. Clearly, Presbyterians talk a good line
about love while they promote killing.
Also, the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other pro-western nations
oppose Hezbollah. The populace supports Hezbollah. Our inability to see the
people and popular support as the prize, as our goal in the M.E., is the reason
we're doing so badly in the M.E. and especially in Iraq, which could have, will
have, major repercussions throughout the region. Hezbollah also represents
something that we in the U.S. don't get, which is that popular support for
religion as politics, for Hezbollah, transcends countries. We're fighting this
"war" as if there is a country, when in fact we're nailing jello to the wall.
Tom Ricks says it's like we've dug ourselves into a hole and we think the way
out is to dig deeper. Capturing hearts and minds is what this war is about,
and we're doing exactly the opposite, making enemies all over the place.
Also, you have to define "defend itself". Does "defend" have no limits?
Anything goes? Take out a country because two soldiers were captured? Just
what do you mean by defend? Lawrence bandies "leftist" and "liberal" and
"Islamofascist" the way others bandy "anti-Semitic". Bring any thought at all
to bear on knee jerk reactions and slogans and you're a "leftist" or
"anti-Semitic".
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Helm
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 8/7/2006 12:43:20 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Is Hizbollah a Resistance Organization or not?
?Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it
keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the
truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.?
With this as my standard, being Presbyterian, how can I be expected to have a
record of the Leftists on Lit-ideas? I keep hoping that the Leftist language
and arguments will be changed, and a new conservative reasonableness will
prevail. This is naïve, my conservative atheist friends assure me. People
don?t change. But is that true? The Neo-conservatives were, most of the early
ones, Trotskyites. Christopher Hitchens was a Trotskyite. David Horowitz was
once a Leftist, and I was as well. We would all agree, of this I have no
doubt, that the patois is unmistakable.
Is it infallible? Perhaps not, but if one hears it day after day from the same
person, the likelihood that a person is not a Leftist seems more and more
remote. For example, I usually put Irene in the Leftist camp, but she often
says things which are un-leftist. I think of Dispensationalists when I think
of her. I have argued with a number of them. ?Ah, I say after listening to
them argue, I see you are a Dispensationalist.? ?A what,? they invariably ask?
?A Dispensationalist. You are using arguments that originated in the Christian
viewpoint called Dispensationalism. Its founder was John Darby who founded the
Plymouth Brethren, who came over here, influenced Scofield to write his
reference Bible and Chafer to write his Systematic Theology. Dallas
Theological Seminary cranks out Dispensational preachers every year.?
?That?s got nothing to do with me,? he or she will reply. I never heard of
Darby. Yeah my pastor graduated from Dallas, but that don?t mean nothing. I
just believe in the pure word of the Bible and not no sect called
Dispensationalism.?
Since I have had that argument scores of times with similar people who don?t
know the sources of their beliefs, I rapidly bow out as gracefully as possible
and as quickly as possible try to change the subject. Some Dispensationalists
I have gotten to know more thoroughly, and when they hear from me more of the
details about what Dispensationalism consists of they invariably pick something
out and say, ?hey wait. I don?t believe that.? And indeed there is something
they disagree with. They don?t subscribe to the entire Dispensationalist
package, but does that mean they are not Dispensationalist? I tend to think of
them as inconsistent Dispensationalists and Irene as an inconsistent Leftist.
But as to someone who doesn?t write much, it is harder to tell -- not that I?m
trying hard to tell -- I may notice that they insult Eric and praise Omar.
That may mean that they agree with Omar but not Eric; however they write so
little, how can one be sure -- even if I wanted to b
e; which I don?t.
There is no need to attempt to trace the history of Leftism at the present time
as far as I can see. But it has been observed by several writers that modern
American Leftists are siding with Militant Islam against Israel and against
America. There is a whole series of arguments that have been advanced by the
Leftist/Islamists, for example 1) America had 9/11 coming. They deserved it.
It is good that they now know how it feels. 2) American policies caused
Militant Islam to react. America caused Terrorism. 3) America has no interest
in the welfare of Arabs. There only interest is oil. 4) American government
does what big business tells it to. 5) America does what Israel tells it to.
6) Israel does what America tells it to [note: consistency is not necessary to
Leftism/Islamism]. 7) Saddam Hussein was a creature of the CIA 8) Osama bin
Laden was a creature of the CIA. The list is much longer but these come to
mind at the moment.
Why is Leftism siding with Islamism? That is an interesting question and I
have heard several theories about it. My own favorite is that the Leftists
learned to hate America during the Cold war when they supported Soviet Russia
and the Communists. This wasn?t a crude sort of support. It was more
intellectual, and they typically distanced themselves from Stalinism but they
supported the Communist Party Line fairly consistently. And here again, one
who has been Leftist can recognize the patois.
It has been said that when the Soviet Union collapsed the pentagon and its
right-wing supporters had to frantically search for a new enemy. I would not
use the word ?frantically,? but to some extent this is true. The pentagon must
?war game? against the most likely enemies. China moved up to the top
immediately after the fall of Soviet Russia, and now Militant Islam is up there
as well. We build weapons to fit the most likely scenarios. That is only
prudent.
Something similar occurred (in my theory) with the Leftists after the fall of
the Soviet Union. The epitome of Leftism had fallen, but the hatred of America
remained. And then along came Islamism and as we all know, the enemy of my
enemy is my friend. There followed hugs, kisses, hand-holding, all the rest.
Note that I have not lumped ?Liberals? in with ?Leftists.? Paul Berman has a
problem with some Liberals who seem to have sided with the Leftists. See his
Terror and Liberalism. I am not taking that up here. David Horowitz has
described the current love affair between Leftism and Radical Islam in his
Unholy Alliance, Radical Islam and the American Left. It is the David Horowitz
sort of thing that I have in mind here.
Lawrence
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Mike Geary
Sent: Sunday, August 06, 2006 8:24 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Is Hizbollah a Resistance Organization or not?
LH:
>The Lit-Ideas Leftists aren?t as articulate....
Just curious. Whom do you list among the Lit-Idea's Leftists? Come clean,
now. You've been spouting that label for years, but no one I know thinks
they're the one. We all keep looking over our shoulders. Tell us who it is,
damn it!
Mike Geary
Memphis
(can't be me, this is the South)
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