The Enemy At Home (Dinesh D’Souza argues that the cultural Left is responsible for 9/11)

FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | January 23, 2007 | Jamie Glazov

[kabar]

Scholar's Arrest Might Signal New Wave of Repression in Iran, Friend and Colleague Says
By DAVID GLENN


At a Tehran airport on April 27, 2006 Iranian police arrested Ramin Jahanbegloo, a French-educated scholar who directs the department of contemporary thought at the Cultural Research Bureau, a think tank in Tehran. Mr. Jahanbegloo is the author of books on Hegel, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Isaiah Berlin; he has been a fellow at Harvard University and has taught at the University of Toronto.

No formal charges have been issued, but newspapers aligned with the Iranian regime have denounced Mr. Jahanbegloo as an American agent engaged in "cultural activities against Iran." He is reported to be in custody at Evin Prison, which has been notorious as a torture center.

[Clintonfatigued]

"I used to admire D'Souza, but it seems he has joined the Rev. Phelps cult of America-haters."

Very well-put.

[anglian]

The Relationship Between Fanatics and American Liberals http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1776500/posts

[anglian]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1776500/posts

[steve-b]

But for traditional societies where honor is the highest social value, there is nothing amusing about taking a religious man and putting a woman’s underwear on his head.

If having panties on his head is the specter behind the door of an Islamic Fundamentalist's personal Room 101, then that's what we ought to do when we catch them.

[steve-b]

Even if your silly thesis were true (the evidence indicating that it is not has already been posted by others), it is irrelevant. Attempting to change the free socieity of America to appease Islamic Fundamentalist terrorists would be both futile and dishonorable.

[steve-b]

The mullahs are afraid of losing control over their own young people, that's all.

*** DING DING DING *** No more calls; we have a winner!

[steve-b]

By way of illustration, I pointed out that my Iranian students very quickly developed a hatred FOR THE UNITED STATES because they came to see us as depraved.
You must have had a unique group of students.

Students who pick up on what the teacher wants to hear and parrot it faithfully are hardly "unique" -- quite the opposite.

[kabar]

Students who pick up on what the teacher wants to hear and parrot it faithfully are hardly "unique" -- quite the opposite.

You need to read the exchange between me and the other poster to understand the context of that remark. The "teacher" is an American who dealt with Iranian students who were studying in the US. If you are suggesting that he was soliciting such sentiments, you may be correct.

I used the word "unique" to differentiate between what I personally observed and heard from Iranians who had studied in the US and returned to Iran compared to the experience of the poster. They did not consider us depraved or expressed great hatred for the US. The Iranian students who disliked the US were home-grown and educated in Iran.

[BlazingArizona]

I don't think there's any question that the Islamic world hates America because of the values/behaviors cherished by the cultural left. Shortly before the fall of the Shah of Iran, thousands of Iranian students fled to the US and enrolled in American colleges. My school admitted hundreds of them, few of whom could even speak English. As these students experienced American life, they grew increasingly hostile--and learned enough of the language to make that hostility known.

It wasn't our democracy they despised. It was our very casual, recreational approach to sex and sexuality.

That's funny: I too know a number of Iranians who fled the revolution, came to Arizona - and embraced American sexuality and "decadence". This was true even for those who were politically leftist.

The Islamic world does not "hate America". Just like Hitler, it has found a military tactic that works, and they will keep on using it to conquer new lands until we find a way of putting a stop to it.

[ChessExpert]

There are two podcasts from Dinesh and Townhall.com Young America’s foundation:
http://www.townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx?RadioShowId=22
I just listened to the second one. He “ums” a lot at first. But once he gets going, he becomes very fluid in his speech. The audio has a comment about Reagan that I think could benefit Bush. Paraphrased, it’s not so much the verdict of history you should be concerned about, as the verdict of the American people in the next election.

After the audio, I read this interview, then the comments.

My view:
A) The # 1 problem is Islam. I don’t subscribe to blaming America first.
B) Dinesh is a patriotic American. He has shown this in the past.
C) Dinesh does research. So whatever you think of his views, you can learn something by reading or listening to him.

I think Dinesh’s critics should consider the following quote from the article.
D’Souza: Besides, there is no way to win the war on terror without driving a wedge between radicals and traditionalists.

Agree or not, at least this thought appears constructive. Maybe it deserves some consideration.

I must admit that I like it when he bashs the left (with merit). In addition to noting Carter’s role in Iran, and alluding to Clinton (more in the book?) he says the following:

D’Souza: It’s quite clear that the left wants us to lose the war on terror. Some people like Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn are outspoken in saying this. ... But why? Because the left is a bit scared of Bin Laden but it is very scared of Bush. The left doesn’t like Bin Laden but it absolutely hates Bush. And while Bin Laden and his allies are the “far enemy,” Bush and the conservatives are the “near enemy.” As the left sees it, Bin Laden threatens sharia in Baghdad, but Bush threatens sharia in Boston. Imagine one or two more conservative court appointments and the whole liberal agenda of the past half-century is jeopardized. So the left is quite willing to ally with the lesser evil, the Islamic radicals, in order to defeat the greater evil, Bush and the right.

I think Dinesh does his homework and writes with insight. Many liberals, and perhaps some libertarians, may feel he is blaming them. Yet, I don’t think the idea is to create a wedge here, as much as it is to create a wedge in the Islamic world.