Depressing Times (Victor Davis Hanson, must read)

Work and Days ^ | Victor Davis Hanson

[GreyFriar]

Thank you for posting this.

The payoff line is:
"...the Pope failed to grasp that under the tenets of radical Islam of the modern age, context means little, intent nothing, learning less than zero.

"If a sentence, indeed a mere phrase can be taken out of context, twisted, manipulated to show an absence of deference to Islam, furor ensues, death threats follow, assassins load their belts—even as the New York Times or the Guardian issues its sanctimonious apologies in the hope that the crocodile will eat them last."

[Dark Skies]

We don't actually know that the Pope fail to understand that his speech would be twisted. He may have been counting on it to prove his point that islam is completely irrational.

So far, his apology is a non-apology (he is sorry the islamic world misunderstands his lecture and takes erroneous offense)...and he hasn't retracted a darn thing.

I am still hoping that the Pope knows exactly what he is doing. Except for having to issue a "non-apology" he has demonstrated an uncanny understanding of islam's nature.

[GreyFriar]

Very true, he knows the enemy!

[Dark Skies]

BTW, thanks greatly for your service to the Country!

[bvw]

The Brave? Not just so -- there is a better word in these times ...

The RESOLUTE.

[dangerfield]

"No, he hasn't forgotten about you. But where are you in pirnt? Where are you on television delivering commentary? Where are your sermons? Where are your newspaper articles? Where are your books?"

hey you're getting a lot of this lately :-D and it's not just me !

[cajungirl]

I think he was being sort of general. He doesn't know me!

[goldstategop]

Victor Davis Hanson gets it. Islam is a faith that demands much of others but little of itself. And the West is too frightened to hold Muslims up to the highest standards as though that was unfair to them. It is unfair to the victims of Islamic terror to countenance Muslim violence as in not demanding Muslims grow up to live in our time might well end the War On Civilizations. If don't have the courage to press ahead with the latter, we will assuredly get more of the former. The die for the West is cast.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Tolik]

Oriana Fallaci, RIP, the Pope, and a Sad Age

    Victor Davis Hanson Ping ! 

       Let me know if you want in or out.

Links: FR Index of his articles:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson 
His website: http://victorhanson.com/     NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp

[metesky]

And by quoting from the emperor rhetorician Manuel Paleologus—whose desperate efforts at strengthening the Morea and the Isthmus at Corinth a generation before that awful Tuesday, May 29, 1453 all came to naught—the Pope failed to grasp that under the tenets of radical Islam of the modern age, context means little, intent nothing, learning less than zero.

All I need to know about Islam.

[Bahbah]

I thought I was a neo-con but I'm still with Dubya so I must be Old Guard.

LOL. Me too. Glad he straightened me out. But then we don't care if we get invited to Beltway cocktail parties.

[kittymyrib]

"But where are you in pirnt? Where are you on television delivering commentary? Where are your sermons? Where are your newspaper articles? Where are your books?"

Most of us do not have these opportunities, but we all have liberals in our workplaces who spout utter nonsense and we don't answer them. Many have relatives who feel free to blast the President, Republicans and the USA around the family table, and we never state our case for America. Liberals have one virtue that conservatives lack: the courage of their convictions. Every conservative patriot should resolve that when confronted with liberal ideology, it will be answered. If they feel free to bring up the subject, it is a moral imperative that they be challenged by the other side. "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing."

[steel_resolve]

make that two of us.

[Mrs. Don-o]

And dear Pope: clarify, contextualize, express sorrow over the wrong interpretation of your remarks, but please don’t apologize for the Truth—not now, not ever.

I've been watching this with anxiety and hope; and my considered judgment is, he did not apologize.

Read this.You decide.

[kabar]

The most disturbing effect of militant Islam and its lack of tolerance for any criticism, real or imagined, is the self-censorship that now prevails in the MSM and among our political leaders. I doubt we will ever hear Bush say Islamofacism again.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I just tried the link I post above,and for some reason it's not working. Please cut-and-paste this:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1703319/posts?page=2#2

And you may conclude that this was a tactical non-apology. Papa B16 is a chess player. He's thinking more than one move ahead, I'm sure.

[Loud Mime]

I love what the WSJ wrote about her. Her works had never been a main course of my reading; that's changing now.

[oldbrowser]

We don't actually know that the Pope fail to understand that his speech would be twisted. He may have been counting on it to prove his point that islam is completely irrational.

The Pope knew exactly what he was saying.

The followers of Islam will react by taking to the street as expected.

It is the leaders of Islam that have been called into the Principal's office to explain themselves.

[Dark Skies]

The Pope knew exactly what he was saying.

That's what I think also.

He's a vy clever and wise man and he has a plan to confront islam.

[Pirate21]

And dear Pope: clarify, contextualize,...

The radicals and liberals will never hear this...whether the words reach their ears or not.