The Most Ancient Enemy. “They have no faces...”

NRO ^ | May 19, 2004, 9:02 a.m. | John Derbyshire

[.cnI redruM]

If you feel like killing the rest of the afternoon, here are the links...I'm always impressed with how much time and effort Derbyshire puts into his work.

http://www.conncoll.edu/ccacad/eng309/tudor/106.html

http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/h/hilliard

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Sima%20Qian

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056172

http://www.nationalreview.com/derbyshire/derbyshire041902.asp

http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.asp?j=0002727463

http://www.nationalreview.com/derbyshire/derbyshire011303.asp

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/laing.html

http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/DAILYF/2002/06/daily-06-08-2002.shtml

[SMARTY]

One covers one's face only in shame...shame for what you are or what you do. Proud people do not cover their faces.

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>Proud people do not cover their faces.

Honor and pride emerge when a code is adapted. Usually this occurs only among the civilized. That code, slavery and the racial caste system in the antebellum South for example, may be badly corrupt and ultimately unworkable. However, it will always set constraints on our baser instincts that make it vastly preferable to the law of the jungle.

[maryz]

One response to the difficulty of pinning down where civilization ends and barbarism begins has simply been to deny the difference altogether, or even to elevate the barbarian (spontaneous! spiritual! in touch with nature!) over the civilized person (repressed! materialistic! heartless!). This has been a typically modern project, launched by the odious Jean-Jacques Rousseau 250 years ago. Rousseau's "noble savage" concept is now an ineradicable part of our culture, and forms one of the underpinnings of the modern cult of political correctness. . . .

There is, in fact, a sort of sneaking admiration for the barbarian life among some civilized folk.

A hallmark of the Left; our own leftists, of course, are sneaky barbarians, undermining rather than honestly confronting.

This whole concept could generate at least an essay of its own.

Great piece! Thanks for posting.

[Drammach]

Some cover their faces in fear.. fear of retaliation..

Arab culture is such that only those in power are able to make boasts, threats and incriminations without fear of retaliation..
It's been that way for centuries..

Face to face, one compliments and respects one's superiors.. or else..
Only from behind the mask of anonymity may an arab express his true feelings..
(but not the women..that would be bad...)

[metesky]

Great article that, unfortunately, doesn't seem to be getting much traction.

Maybe because it's preaching to the choir.

[Eurotwit]

It has also been posted before:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1138455/posts

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>>>>>>A hallmark of the Left; our own leftists, of course, are sneaky barbarians, undermining rather than honestly confronting.

They remind me of the character Grima Wormtongue in The Two Towers. Always the 'loyal' opposition.

[nothingnew]

Thanks for the post (in it's entirety, no less!). Darby is right on again.

FMCDH

[metesky]

I try, I tell ya I try, but I just can't be everywhere at once!
;O)

[maryz]

Personally, I'm glad it was posted again -- I seem to have missed it the first time, and I would have hated to miss it altogether! Some suggest the second poster in these cases should just bump the original post. But how long will that keep it visible? Five minutes? Maybe 10 in a slow period.

FR has grown so much in the past few years that lots of good stuff gets buried very fast -- even disappears amazingly fast from the Editorial sidebar.

I'm not sure whether there's a solution; I am sure I don't know what it is.

[Eurotwit]

I agree. Some articles deserve multiple postings. Bumping would never work for me, since I never use the latest post function.

Post it again, I say :-)

Cheers.

[maryz]

It has occurred to me that if either of you is devoted enough to Derbyshire to seek out everything he writes and post it (and there are far worse ways to spend time!), you might put together a Derbyshire ping list -- and be sure I'm on it -- so that those who really, really care won't run the risk of missing out.

It would also have the advantage of drawing a number of posters and so keep it in the 50 latest posts more often.

Just a suggestion. (I'm not reliable enough to do it, I'm afraid.)

[.cnI redruM]

Cool stuff. I've never given a lot of thought to ping listing. I would probably everyone on my list within a week.

[maryz]

Pokey78 has a much-used ping list for Mark Steyn's pieces. If you do it, you could probably start with the names of people who have commented on other Derbyshire columns (always, of course, with the reminder that anyone who wants to be added or removed can just FReepmail you!).

Also, what some posters do (sort of truth in advertising, I guess) is put the name of a well-liked author (like Mark Steyn, Ann Coulter, Thomas Sowell) in parentheses after the title so that the casual Freeper who sees it knows what to expect, or can just search favorite writers' names by Title.

[Eurotwit]

I am not too familiar with Derbyshire? Does he only write for the National Review?

[Skywalk]

This roused the legions of Israel-haters and paleocons, who took a break from cataloguing their collections of Third Reich memorabilia and sticking pins in their Abraham Lincoln dolls

ROFLMAO!

[maro]

There's a lot of sloppy thinking in this article. The Romans were more civilized than the Celts and Germans, but it is not clear to me that the Romans were any better than those barbarians. The Persians may have been more civilized than the Athenians. Derbyshire is trying to argue against terrorism while avoiding reference to right and wrong. But that is impossible. The civilized state in the historical perspective has been the sedentary, rich society, while the barbarians have the nomadic and poor society. Thus, the Philistines were probably more civilized than the ancient Israelites. So it is not always true that the civilized are to be supported over the barbarian; what matters is who is on the side of good and who on the side of evil.

[RightWhale]

what matters is who is on the side of good and who on the side of evil.

You are now required to define evil.

[rightwingcrazy]

The Chinese eventually got their act together and prevailed against the Huns. Took too long, but still, cause for hope for those of us that prefer civilization.