ISIS declares war on Christianity, and Obama can’t even call their victims Christians
Extremist Muslim terrorists shout their religion to the skies and cite chapter and verse—but to Obama, they have nothing to do with Islam.
When they target Jews for slaughter in kosher grocery stores, Obama has some difficulty making the connection, referring to the victims as a “bunch of folks” shot “randomly.”
Now, in response to the video of ISIS beheading twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya, the administration issues a statement referring to the victims as “Egyptian citizens” and does not mention their religion. And this despite the fact that the Australians, Canadians, and British had no trouble at all making statements that referred specifically to the religion of the men who were murdered.
That’s the latest installment in Obama’s reluctance to discuss modern-day Islamic terrorism in terms of religion at all, either on the part of the perpetrators or in their choice of victim.
If you wonder whether the religion of the twenty-one beheading victims was actually a motive for their murders, ISIS made it very explicit; the video of the beheadings was entitled “A Message Signed With Blood To The Nation Of The Cross” (see this for speculation on what “nation of the cross” might refer to) and contained many anti-Christian threats [emphasis mine]:
Oh people, recently you have seen us on the hills of Al-Sham and Dabiq’s plain, chopping off the heads that have been carrying the cross for a long time, and today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message.
All crusaders: safety for you will be only wishes especially if you are fighting us all together. Therefore we will fight you all together. The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood.”
After the ISIS leader finishes speaking, his fellow terrorists then commence the beheading of the 21 Egyptian Christians. “And we will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission, the promise of our Prophet, peace be upon him.”
Note the “crusader” reference, a popular one with Muslim terrorists, and the same conflict Obama is fond of citing when he catalogues the crimes of which Christians have been guilty.
ISIS’s message could not be more clear: although they target and revile others too, including Muslims who don’t agree with them as well as Jews, they are threatening Christianity all over the world. The video could not be more specific about it. Obama’s refusal to acknowledge this is one of the most ominous signs of a very ominous presidency. Right now ISIS’s reach is mostly in the territories it controls, but it is not limited to them because it is recruiting foreigners, and it has big plans.
[ADDENDUM: John Hinderaker notes the administration’s lack of mention of the religion of the twenty-one ISIS-murdered Coptic Christians, but he adds the fact that although an administration (National Security Council) spokesperson issued a brief statement condemning the free speech attack in Copenhagen, that statement has not been expanded on and no one in the administration has commented at all on the related synagogue shooting that followed.]
[ADDENDUM II: Pope Francis didn’t mince words:
“Their only words were: ‘Jesus, help me!’ They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians,” Francis said in his native Spanish, departing from the Italian he uses at most formal events.
The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, who has said it is “lawful” to stop an unjust aggressor, went on:
“The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians!”
Francis added: “The martyrs belong to all Christians.”
Later on Monday, the Vatican’s spokesman said Francis had telephoned the Coptic pope, Tawadros II, to say he was sharing the pain caused by the “barbaric murder of Christian Copts by Islamic fundamentalists”.
Note that the Pope had no trouble saying “Islamic fundamentalists,” either. Then again, how many divisions does the Pope have?]
[ADDENDUM III: The Anchoress Elizabeth Scalia offers a very moving prayer for these Christian martyrs.]
It’s interesting that they refer to Rome. By the time of Mohammed the Western Empire had collapsed and Rome referred to the Byzantine/Eastern Empire seated in Constantinople. It took the Muslims until 1453 under the leadership of the Turks to finally conquer Constantinople. I wonder what they mean now, all of Europe?
Regarding Obama’s “random” comments. It reminds me of a famous saying of the sixties. Updated it would be that ISIS is committing random acts of unkindness.
This is insanity (at best) or Obama really is on the other side.
Should note that Wolf Blitzer was just saying a few hours ago that the motivation for the Copenhagen shooting is “still unknown” and he referred to the shooter as a “gang member.”
I don’t know who these people think they’re fooling by ignoring who ISIS is and how the really operate (such as inspiring lone wolves to act when the spirit moves them in addition to the more traditional organized terror plots).
Blitzer will sheepishly board the cattle cars when the times comes. It’s happened before …
The radical muslim beheads infidels while the moderate muslim wants the radical to behead infidels…
IF only 10% of the cult believes in jihad…that is about 150 million murdering lunatics worldwide …..
IF only 10% here are jihadists…in America that means a half million blood cult jihadists ALREADY HERE.
Je suis Charles Martel ….
Lizzy, you’re right in that this really is insanity.
However, our so called leadership is just the symptom.
The real problem is;
a) the idiots and tools who vote for these corrupt morons.
b) the media who promote these corrupt morons and trash any possible candidate who might usher in real change.
c) the large corporate vested interests who have a large stake in perverting the system to their benefit, even at the expense of the nation as a whole.
d) IMHO, our entire society has lapsed into a soft and debauched decadence and no longer has the will for the fight, or the sacrifice that will have to go with it.
Oh sure, some still do. But the vast majority have more concern about what’s on reality T.V.
They made their choice. Let the religious war begin. Kill them everywhere you can and by every mean you can: bombs, poison gas, napalm, nukes – all means are acceptable. This evil must be eradicated, which is achievable only by complete extermination of enemy.
Hmm, random folks and Egyptian citizens….
Didn’t the White House/Obama condemn the recent killing of three Muslim students by mentioning that no one should be targeted by how they look or where they worship”?
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-condemns-outrageous-murders-three-muslims-195826296.html
At best, Obama’s refusal to acknowledge the religious motivation of ISIS in targeting Christians is taken from the same playbook as the former LA Laker’s basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: “ISIS is not about religion, but instead “a play for money and power” and “any group can do this,” like the the Ku Klux Klan claiming they were Christian knights.” Jabar should know better but is a perfect example of a Muslim in deep denial. In equating ISIS with the KKK he ignores that ISIS is following Muhammad and Allah’s commands precisely. Whereas the KKK violated everything Jesus taught.
At worst, Obama’s hate for America is so intense that he welcomes ISIS and Iranian fanaticism.
Paul in Boston,
I suspect that ISIS views Washington D.C. as today’s Constantinople. 83% of Americans still self-identify as Christian, arguably making America the foremost repository of Christianity.
“I don’t know who these people think they’re fooling” Lizzy
Blitzer and the rest of his ilk in the media know they are fooling the great majority of their low-info viewers, most of whom get their information solely from the leftist media outlets. The 2012 election proved that its working.
g6loq,
I can’t agree that most ‘moderate’ Muslims want “the radical to behead infidels”. It’s a bit more complex than that, their deep denial of the actual tenets of the ‘religion’ they embrace forces them to engage in willful denial of the truth; that those tenets support and command the violence. They cannot face that truth because to do so requires facing their own culpability in that violence.
Sergey,
Yes, this evil must be eradicated but, we not only cannot, we should not even try to kill 1.6 BILLION Muslims.
Which is why complete extermination of this enemy is not achievable. Fortunately, there is another way. Isolation and quarantine, strategic retaliation and creating conditions that make the consequence for engaging in jihad an unacceptable risk for jihadists and those they would recruit.
Appropos of Kerry & Obama our NE area radio host Howie
Carr has mentioned, and I have stated his remarks, Kerry
Has very poor instincts about People. Obama is like this too.
They just have no innate nor acquired ability to *read * people. That is part of why we are in this dilemma, & Obama
Is , to me, a psychologically damaged person. He was rejected by BOTH parents& had a not too welcoming
Bringing up at the grandparent. Our fellow voters inflicted this mess on us. Deniers of the obvious & the MSM psycho
Along with them !!!
Geoffrey Britain:
I didn’t think Sergey was advocating killing all Muslims. He suggested eviction from Europe, but I read his comment on killing “them” as referring to Muslim terrorists and ISIS.
But perhaps I misunderstood him. I suppose I might have.
I think that it’s more simple: They love to lie.
They absolute love to do it.
It gives them a frisson of exquisite pleasure every time they do it.
They feel energized, actualized, liberated, powerful.
Of course, there’s the practical aspect as well: simply that the ends justify the means. And for this fiercely radical, ideological president (if one has any doubts about this, rest be assured that it must be true because he denied it in an oft-quoted interview), the means—America’s “fundamental transformation”, AKA destruction—is the sought after end.
And this is the reason why Bibi Netanyahu sticks in Obama’s (and the rest of his ilk’s) craw. Bibi is Mr. “Anti-Narrative”; he tells the truth, the simple truth, the brutal truth, and therefore cannot be tolerated.
He too must be torn to shreds, together with the country he leads.
If you want to get rid of ISIS, you have to eliminate the support that they receive from the Saudis and gulf states. If we can end our (world’s) need for their oil, we can isolate and/or attack them.
No need to kill 1.6 mln or even 1 mln. To end ISIS it will suffice to kill 50 000 of jihadists, which is perfectly doable.
I remind for comparison, that in Algeria government troops killed around 100 000 Muslim Broderhood members to end civil war.
Speaking of the pope, you are the praying type, now might be a good time to call upon the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary (a feast day previously known as Our Lady of Victory, marking the Battle of Lepanto. That battle was the turning point in the preservation of Christian Europe as we know it today – what’s left of it anyway):
http://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/our-lady-of-the-rosary-and-the-battle-of-lepanto/1220/
At any rate, the Christians of the Middle East need all the prayers they can get.
Meant to say, “if” you are the praying type…
Please, read some Wiki about Algeria civil war. You will see that what is going now in Iraq and Syria is nothing new. The same terrorist tactic was used by islamists in Algeria, and it took about 10 years to extingish the insurgency. To a lesser scale, some residual violence is going on here even now.
Following on g6loq’s note… in France there are cca. 6 mil. Muslims. If only 10% get radicalized, that is 600,000 people, who can organize and are already on the French territory.
To put it into perspective, the manpower of the French armed forces, all military branches combined + gendarmerie, is cca. 300,000.
That is two radicalized lunatics to every protector. A SINGLE lunatic in a “random” act of warfare can cause a lot of damage and engage a disproportionate number of protectors.
Even if we adjust the numbers for women among our hypothetical 10% (women are not obligated, although not _forbidden_ to wage jihad), we are still talking about a presence, potentially organized, that matches or surpasses the whole of the armed forces of France.
And as the PEOPLE is not armed and thus depends on the armed forces, their eventual insufficiency becomes that more problematic.
The US should take a really good look at the time bomb that is France and reflect upon matters such as Muslim immigration (numbers that may SEEM low may not be so in a long term projection, accounting for the group’s endogamy and fertility rates), messing with the 2nd amendment, downsizing the military.
Also, a more thorough and wide-scale education on Islam should be encouraged. I am undereducated myself, but it is my impression that shocking numbers of people know virtually _nothing_ of the inner workings of Islam, of the principles behind its textual criticism and its legal framework, and are thus led to false analogies with Judaism and Christianity. The way the politicians sometimes “de-islamize” the current events, denying the religious component as a _relevant_ factor in what is going on, certainly does not help.
For the fellow francophones here, take a look at this recent text by Hadjadj. Two points that struck the chord with me: 1) the delusion many Westerners have that the world is inevitably getting more and more secularized, in spite of the _opposite_ phenomenon taking place in the real world: religion, whether in earnest or invoked as a pretext, is becoming a_greater_ factor in the political sphere, and 2) the (rhetorical?) question whether, as a civilization, we HAVE a strong reason anymore to prevent that the Saint Peter should end up as Hagia Sophia – what is left of ex-Christendom to want to _fight_ for in the first place? Is a surge of volunteerism to protect, and potentially die for, laé¯cité and all of its modern-day connotations, even imaginable?
Jew walks about in Parisss with his funny hat on:
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/watch-jew-harassed-streets-paris
Gov. try to help but:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/soldiers_protecting_french_jewish_center_stabbed
At this point the French military has requested that the soldiers be on motorized patrols. Static guarding is too dangerous …
I blame the voters ….
Anna:
Good points. I think people are abysmally ignorant about the more extreme elements of Islam and about Islam itself, and make false equivalences to the other Abrahamic religions with which they are more familiar.
However, I would think that the West could be motivated to fight for the Enlightenment and all that goes with it as opposed to sharia law, if not Christendom or Christians.
Sergey,
I’m glad to learn that neo’s interpretation of your comment is the more accurate one. Killing 50k jihadists certainly would give them… pause. Islamic doctrine is to be as territorially aggressive as circumstance allows. Thus Islam’s cyclic expansionism.
In any religion or society there are always those who take things literally. Mohammad’s claim that the Qur’an is Allah’s direct words, NOT his… makes a literal interpretation of the Qur’an obligatory. Muslims can and do ignore the more violent passages, as the larger society within which they live allows. Thus the disparity in Muslim ‘moderation’ between various societies.
The result of all of this is that killing 50k jihadists is a temporary solution. The jihadists are not the problem, they are Islam’s cannon fodder and symptomatic of the problem. Islam’s theologically inviolable, irreversible tenets are the problem.
We can stop the jihadists, just as we did at Tours and Vienna but just killing jihadists ensures that our grandchildren will have to fight them again. A much more comprehensive strategy is needed, one that stops stealth jihad as surely as Islam’s physical jihad and a strategy that targets Islam itself. Not war upon people who simply identify as Muslim but rather war (in all its facets) upon the violently expansionist, totalitarian ideology that wraps itself in a facade of religious pretense, that calls itself Islam.
I am an old, and simple flyover country farm boy, and I want to turn mecca, medina, qom, and every muslim ‘holy’ site into a glass parking lot. Fold it 5 ways.
Anchoress Elizabeth Scalia offers a very moving prayer for these Christian martyrs.
In 1453, the rest of Christian Europe turned its back as Constantinople fell to Islamic invaders.
Constantinople came to be no more; Istanbul has been Muslim ever since.
Will we see the same for Rome?
Obama won’t say anything because the victims here aren’t black thugs trying to kill white cops.
So, Rome will fall as Obama plays golf.
Multiculturalisme et islam en France: think Dearborn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3YQANdvvbY#t=10
It is all about Love and our common humanity …
I blame the voters …
Anna Says:
February 16th, 2015 at 5:17 pm
Following on g6loq’s note… in France there are cca. 6 mil. Muslims. If only 10% get radicalized, that is 600,000 people, who can organize and are already on the French territory.
good blog to monitor the debacle:
Marie Neige’s saga: http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2009/02/marie-neige-sardin.html
g6loq:
I blame the voters, too.
But the voters have been shaped, at least in part, by the long and patient efforts of the left.
I also blame the Democrats in Congress. If only 13 of them turned on Obama, something actually might be accomplished. But no matter what egregious and dangerous wrong he commits, they will never turn on him.
Strange this “I blame the voters” thingy.
It used to be that the “masses were oppressed by powers-that-be of one ilk or another: War lords, Aristoc.rats, Bourgeois industrialists, etc …
Then the hard won Universal suffrage came to be and the “masses” end up voting like sheep on almost a purely emotion driven basis …. They deserve what they’ll get but they’re oppressing us as a side effect. “Us” the non-sheeple that is …
It cannot end well … Punches on the nose, very locally, very personally.
It was foretold:
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” H.L. Mencken, King of Snark
Also, Winston had a few choice words about the voters …
They elected FDR FOUR times… so much for wisdom in aggregates …
Neo:
Hadjadj is a convert to Catholicism, quite engaged in religious matters, so that is the “cadre” within which he sets his writings; the reason why it caught my eye – religion aside – is because I do wonder if there is some universal _psychological_ truth to it.
I have a hard time imagining as deep a psychological motivation to defend France as “the country of laé¯cité” as to defend an ideal which includes some sort of cultural-religious reference in it – with the paradox, of course, that the Christian civilization is the only one (to my knowledge) which allowed for the values of laé¯cité in the first place, for the separation of the public and the religious spheres, so the two visions are not contradictory, but rather complementary. I am not sure that an appeal to “the values of the Republic” alone will be as strong as a sense of duty to something which, while incorporating them, ultimately transcends them. I am not talking about the content of these (mildly or not) religious appeals, but of their relative _psychological_ advantage – maybe I am wrong, but so it seems to me.
The longer we resist recognizing that we are engaged in a war of western civilization against islam, the more we suffer. I do not want my grandchildren to submint to allah or be burned to death or beheaded. Until 70% of muslims realize they need to slaughter without mercy, in order to survive, the infestation of the rabid 30 % we in the west are doomed. Send a message, vaporize the rock before its too late.
Anna:
Again, you’re making some good points.
I think about WWII, though, for example, in which the Allies fought very very hard, and for what? It wasn’t for religion as far as I know; Hitler allowed the practice of Christianity in the countries he captured, as long as it didn’t interfere with the Reich. It wasn’t to save the Jews. It was for nationalism, in part (especially in England), something much less popular these days than it was back then, I have to admit. But wasn’t it also in part for the more abstract (but still important in real life) principles embodied in the idea of liberty, and wasn’t it seen as a fight against evil?
I’m not sure people have changed all that much. But perhaps they have.
But don’t most people see ISIS and al Qaeda and other Muslim terrorists as evil, and as restricting liberty and all the values of Western civilization and the Enlightenment? If they really feel these things are deeply threatened, would they not fight at that point, and with vigor? Not everyone, of course, and religion probably IS a more potent motivator. But those other values may be potent motivators enough.
I hope so, if it comes to that.
Neo:
and religion probably IS a more potent motivator. But those other values may be potent motivators enough…
Religion as a motivator, the French revolution as a yardstick then… Vendée, the Chouans. Serious Christians, treated their prisoners of war with compassion. Got driven into the ground and eradicated.
Then the White Russians …
We have a problem. An insect problem ….
“However, I would think that the West could be motivated to fight for the Enlightenment and all that goes with it as opposed to sharia law, if not Christendom or Christians.” neo
Certainly many in the West will fight for the values expressed in the Enlightenment but many on the left will not because a central tenet of the Left is control (necessary to its survival) and so they are unalterably opposed to a central and foundational tenet of the enlightenment, Voltaire’s truism: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”
The Left and many of their useful idiots are only supporters of the enlightenment to the degree that it advances their agenda.
parker,
The trick is not to “turn mecca, medina, qom, and every muslim ‘holy’ site into a glass parking lot” but rather to credibly threaten to do so and that critical to the avoidance of that otherwise certain consequence is that “mecca, medina, qom, and every muslim ‘holy’ site” are held hostage to the future and permanent ‘good’ behavior of all Muslims.
Then to dispel the natural disbelief, start with the destruction of the least of their ‘holy’ sites and methodically work toward their most cherished. We’ll never get to Mecca and the Kaaba because the most fundamentally devout, the ‘radical’ Imams and Mullahs who drive jihad… won’t risk the Kaaba’s destruction. It being the lodestone of their power.
Tragically, increased suffering is needed to end the West’s denial. The English didn’t heave Chamberlain out the door until Dunkirk.
g6loq,
I too blame the voters but… because “the voters have been shaped, at least in part, by the long and patient efforts of the left”, efforts utterly based upon lies, the left’s memes and narrative are ultimately doomed to collapse. They are unsustainable because they are in fundamental opposition to reality. Which is why the voters willful denial has an expiration date.
On the other hand, given America’s need for unity in the face of a two front world war, reelection of FDR in Nov. of 1940 & 1944 was, arguably a necessity. Note: in the fall of 1939, my 17 year old Father successfully persuaded my Grandfather to give his consent for my Dad to enlist in the army upon his 18th birthday in April, arguing that increased training prior to the start of the war with the Nazis that, “everyone knew was coming”, would give him a better chance at survival.
Secret Service codename
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Service_codename
Barack Obama – Renegade
11 Great Secret Service Code Names
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1860482_1860481_1860422,00.html
President Barack Obama opted for this moniker after being presented with a list of names beginning with the letter “R.” As custom dictates, the rest of his family’s code names will be alliterative: wife Michelle is known as “Renaissance;” daughters Malia and Sasha are “Radiance” and “Rosebud,” respectively.
renegade etymology
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=renegade
1580s, “apostate,” probably (with change of suffix) from Spanish renegado, originally “Christian turned Muslim,” from Medieval Latin renegatus, noun use of past participle of renegare “deny” (see renege). General sense of “turncoat” is from 1660s. The form renegate, directly from Medieval Latin, is attested in English from late 14c. As an adjective from 1705.
On the other hand, given America’s need for unity in the face of a two front world war, reelection of FDR in Nov. of 1940 & 1944 was, arguably a necessity.
which is why we are being maneuvered into a war with russia, or china, or korea, or or or… the idea is to change the election outcome in two years. will war happen? eventually… but will it happen sooner? i think so as its too convenient a prop for so many things…
but also, i think so because of whats being done from screwing the electorates abilities, destroying infrastructure, negating borrowing, gutting military, pissing off allies, befriending those that piss off allies, demoralizing military, and a WHOLE LOT MORE…
Geoffrey Britain Says:
February 16th, 2015 at 9:07 pm
There are fists rising. It’ll be bloody.
Génération Identitaire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOSrnjcvh24
I agree the left’s been patiently undermining the culture openly using Gramscian methods, Jews of the Frankfurt school and all. Still, that is not an excuse for the voters sheepishness. There is something deeper at work and it should be highlighted, close and personal.
They will HAVE to pay a price for eight years of shrill and relentless Bush derangement syndrome.
They can no longer be trusted with ballots.
As to FDR as a pragmatist I would agree but reluctantly. It is not policies, it is principles. Lucky we had Churchill keeping two timing FDR somewhat in check.
Kudos to your Dad. I mean it! He saved civilization then …
We need the likes of him NOW!
Two timing FDR again. Here a post I once put up at FreeRepublic. Commenters did a great job linking additional material. Joe was right.
Sobering: see comments
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2487476/posts
He should have been kicked out …. voters were asleep on the job.
For our times the word is: TWICE!
neo-neocon Says: However, I would think that the West could be motivated to fight for the Enlightenment and all that goes with it as opposed to sharia law, if not Christendom or Christians.
I think you missed something here… multiculturalism, pc feminist molding of behavior, and all the stuff the left does here, in the UK, europe and france, is believed to be the natural progression of the enlightenment, including non defense…
for them to fight it, is for them to drop their believe that the behaviore that allowed it to flower under soviet stimulation, was not the enlightenment, that the leaders doing it are not enlightened, and academics as well..
their desire not to say X about things is believed wholly to be the enlightenment, while the more traditional and other people that might stand up and defend it, are seen as the old guard, patriarchal, nazi, etc…
they cant defend the west from the fruit they think is enlightened.
Liberalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
Liberalism first became a distinct political movement during the Age of Enlightenment, when it became popular among philosophers and economists in the Western world.
Era of enlightenment (in above wiki page)
The development of liberalism continued throughout the 18th century with the burgeoning Enlightenment ideals of the era.
Most of the philosophes of the French Enlightenment were progressive in the liberal sense and advocated the reform of the French system of government along more constitutional and liberal lines.
Multiculturalism and the Enlightenment
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2007/01/multiculturalism-and-enlightenment.html
However, the concept of cultural relativism is older than Marxism, and dates back at least to the Enlightenment. In the words of Ibn Warraq, “The need and desire to see an alien culture as in some ways superior is as great as the need to see it as inferior.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
there were also elements of Enlightenment thought that led to the radicalism of the French Revolution, and later inspired Marxism and ideas about materialism, historical determinism and utopianism. There was in some observers a tendency to view religion in exclusively negative terms, and to put all emphasis on ideas about human perfection.
It is possible to trace the anti-Christian, anti-Jewish and pro-Islamic bias of modern Multiculturalism at least back to Enlightenment thinkers such as the 18th century writer and philosopher Voltaire. Voltaire endured numerous imprisonments and exiles for his insistence on criticizing everything and everybody.
they would have to save us and themselves From themselves as they believe they are the modern warriors of and the fomenters of the future evolution of the enlightenment…
so i wouldnt hold your breath as to their riding rescue
Artfldgr at 9:31 pm,
How very apropos, that IMO may be the most insightful information you have yet shared with us.
Artfldgr at 9:34 pm,
I’ve long argued that Obama is on every front, domestic and in the foreign arena, working toward creating the conditions needed to foment a crisis sufficient in severity to allow him to declare martial law. But it is a matter of timing, as to when that crisis might erupt and the particular nature of that crisis. The left needs a ‘bi-partisan’ crisis because without the tacit support of the military, nothing of lasting consequence can be accomplished. I’m doubtful however that Obama wants to be a dictator, he’s too lazy and the life expectancy in a nation of 300 million guns would be too short. Much better to give 500k speeches for a few years and then if he gets bored, lobby for the UN Secretary General job.
Artfldgr at 9:51 pm,
Reality will have something to say about what the left has claimed about “the natural progression of the enlightenment, including non defense…” and when the threat is mortal and immediate enough, pacifism has few adherents.
“They will HAVE to pay a price for eight years of shrill and relentless Bush derangement syndrome.
They can no longer be trusted with ballots.” g6loq
Absent a civil war, that is a non-starter. Politically it would destroy the very system we seek to save. Where do you draw the line on who gets the ballots?
Where do you draw the line on who gets the ballots?
Don’t know yet. But we have a survival problem.
The Founders did not put a universal suffrage in place… 19th amendment has proven to be very deleterious [ I know, I know, but is a fact and, not just in the US ]
Keep in mind after WWII the German and Japanese population were held accountable, civilian and all.
It.is.going.to.be.interesting.
Artfldgr Says:
February 16th, 2015 at 9:51 pm
Very good. I would add this strange phenomenon of the hatred of home [Oikophobia].
And as you reference, the infatuation some have with the exotic.
In the 1920’s there was Orientalism. They’d convert many of them. It exists to this day.
Good book: The Orientalist, Tom Reiss. Painful.
B-t-w, the Monty Python phenom was a disaster.
Put in context in Peter Hitchen’s book:
The Abolition of England.
The baby boomers and the 1960’s were a cultural disaster.
As to Voltaire … too clever by half and fast forward, the French Revolution was satanic …
For those who may have forgotten, here is a link to the National Cathedral service following 9/11. Go directly to George Bush’s speech and prayer at 1:26 and listen to and watch the singing of The Battle Hymn of the Republic that follows. That is the resolve we in the West will need going forward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcYOHNWZ3jQ
3rd stanza:
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.
“As to Voltaire … too clever by half and fast forward, the French Revolution was satanic …”
What pray tell is “too clever by half” in stating that though I may not agree with you, I’m willing to fight to the death to defend your right to speak freely?
Voltaire died in 1778 and was not philosophically responsible for the excesses of the French revolution. In fact, arguably, the French went off the rails because they paid insufficient respect to Voltaire.
Voltaire was a rationalist over all and close to the British thinkers of the times.
I’m getting over my head here but I seem to recall that his preference in the governance of men was that of the philosopher king. Yes, he would have been appalled by the disheartening drift of the French Revolution.
The horrid Napoleon made use of Voltaire’s ideas.
I think all the Enlightenment philosophers would have rather had things turn out as they ultimately did in England rather than the demonic French events.
I need to think more about Voltaire.
I still read Candide once in while, I subscribe to its world views but Voltaire, and others, wit/snark contributed to a demonization of an “Ancient Royalist Régime” that was much more respectful of the humanity of its subjects than is generally realized. Thus my too clever by half earlier comment. …
(If you absolutely must blame someone, then blame Rousseau, not Voltaire….)
Regarding more current affairs, I think much of the blame for the current situation lies with a thoroughly perverse and corrupt, mendacious media, which spreads lies, slanders and distortions over the entire globe. Apparently, they believe that Soviet-style agit prop and Goebbels-endorsed “big lies” are the way to get the message across.
This is not to say that the media was ever entirely “objective”—it’s not possible; but over the past 10-15 (or more) years, they’re not even trying to make an effort (to put it kindly). Utterly shameful (though that’s a useless remark, as they have absolutely no shame—the ideology is the thing! And the goals must be achieved at all costs….)
Regarding Churchill, while most sane, thinking people are hoping desperately for a Churchill-like leader to step forward, it must be remembered that Churchill wasn’t chosen to lead the Conservative government until the very, very last moment—and this after he had been relegated to the political wilderness for pretty much the previous decade and castigated as a “war-mongerer” for stating incontrovertible truths about Nazi goals and their military build up.
(Truths no one—almost no one—wished to hear; sound familiar?)
Indeed, during most of the 30s, Churchill was a political untouchable and for the most part— up to his assumption of the office of Prime Minister—-“in exile” at his family manor (“Chequers”); and shunned by all the “right” people…..
…And that even after Churchill was chosen to lead, following the decision of Chamberlain, ill and despondent, to step down, he was fought tooth and nail by other more “pragmatic” voices (e.g., Lord Halifax) in his government, who wished to reach some kind of accommodation with Hitler and Mussolini, believing that this was both possible and desirable….
(No, wishful thinking and denial are not just modern malaises.)
…And that after leading the Western world through five perilous years, he was ignominiously voted out of office in the first general election after the world war….
And so, “The more things change…”
On the other hand, might one not say that while searching for a leader, we are also absolving ourselves of having to take individual responsibility?…. — And this is precisely why the Obama administration must stamp out and sense of individual responsibility and initiative; and why language must be corrupted and suborned by the State.
Orwellian, certainly; but then most of us know that.
In the previous, “…stamp out and sense of…”
should be:
“…stamp out any sense of…”
Geoffrey, I completely aggree that destroing ISIS will not eliminate more general problem of repelling Islam agression and its inherent agenda of global military conquest. This is the battle for many generations. But in the core Arab territories such as Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, as well as Jordan, military rulers had succesfully defeated islamists or are in process of winning over them, with good chances on success. Recently Egypt and Jordan declared war to ISIS and made aerial strikes in Lybia and Syria. The mentioned states include more 80% of all Middle East Arabs, and their politics of modernization and even secularisation will change the overall balance of forces in right direction. Turkey is problematic, but it can be contained by rising independent Kurdistan and Jordan.
The question is: does the West intend to play Whack-a-Mole with those who are intent on causing them as much destruction as possible.
So far, the answer has been, “Yes.”
And since the West continues to believe that it is civilized and must respond accordingly; OR that those who are intent on destroying the West are NOT REALLY intent on destroying the West; OR that they are NOT REALLY ABLE of destroying the West (and therefore can be mostly ignored—or relegated to the JV status); OR that the West really DESERVES any and all violence done towards it (e.g., “well look at the Crusades” or “chicken come home to roost”, etc.); well, then Whack-a-Mole it will be.
Until….
http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2015/02/17/the-trail-of-lies/
If the thread topic is why doesn’t the President condemn radical Islam, could it be that he doesn’t want to hand ISIS etal, a HUGE propaganda victory? President Bush tried to side step this same issue, I’m guessing for the same reasons. You know how it would go, such a statement would be parsed ad nauseum and broadcast all over the world hundreds of times a day, and in the Islamic world, it would be tied to the Crusader meme. Saying so might be a winner in domestic politics but a phyrric victory worldwide if it made it impossible for allies in the Islamic world to engage the terrorists and freaks. Remember nothing is monolithic; every government, religion, ideology has factions vying for power and control, turf wars, sycophants and opportunists. Pay attention to which presidential candidates show some awareness of this.
I doubt most of us would discard most of the ideas of the French revolution except for the fantastical Utopianism and the perfectability of man. I am in agreement with those who point the finger at Rousseau and the “noble savage”, BS.
Geoffrey Britain thanks… sorry we have butted heads before, i am trying to be shorter… glad i did something good. 🙂
What pray tell is “too clever by half” in stating that though I may not agree with you, I’m willing to fight to the death to defend your right to speak freely?
well… one thing is that he didnt say it… it was written about him years later…
Artfldgr Says:
February 17th, 2015 at 9:49 am
apparently Voltaire never said this.
Ouch!
Show you how hard it is to keep one’s thinking straight and … facts based.
That is why: regularly chop wood and carry water…
Geoffrey Britain Says:
They can no longer be trusted with ballots.” g6loq
Absent a civil war, that is a non-starter. Politically it would destroy the very system we seek to save. Where do you draw the line on who gets the ballots?
Been mulling this. They are destroying the system.
Giving voting rights to imported non citizen. If that’s not Civil War what is?
Exasperated:
Actually, at least in my opinion, that’s not the thread topic.
The thread topic is why Obama doesn’t acknowledge the religion of the victims in this case was the reason they were targeted. Same thing for the Jews in the kosher grocery. It wouldn’t be hard to do it, it wouldn’t harm his reputation to do it, and the rest of the world seems to be able to do it—including Britain, Canada, and Australia, and the perpetrators themselves.
OK, I’ll bite:
Because his good buddies in Ankara and Teheran wouldn’t be too thrilled if he did?
Oh, and in Chicago.
}}}} Note that the Pope had no trouble saying “Islamic fundamentalists,” either. Then again, how many divisions does the Pope have?
That’s because the Pope doesn’t have a presidential Fundament, like America does….
Time for another Crusade! Attention true American Citizens, protect yourself, prepare food stocks and water. We are already at war and most people act like ostriches with their heads in the sand or bent over looking at their phone. Distractions to what is happening in the world, sensors at every news station making sure we don’t hear the real news in the world. Time To Wake Up!