Posted on 09/14/2001 7:45:49 PM PDT by aculeus
While England wept, while they were mourning in America, there were eyes unclouded by tears, hearts untroubled by sympathy. And not just among the Palestinians of Nablus handing out candy to celebrate the demonic acts of September 11. There were those here in Britain for whom the most appropriate words to speak over a mass grave were: “You had it coming.”
This week has been a dark awakening, not just from the decade-long dream of liberalism gone global, but from the hopeful presumption that Britain’s own radical Left had made its peace with civilised values. For every day since tragedy struck evil has found its apologists in our midst, drawn overwhemingly from the ranks of the old Left and published overwhelmingly in the new Guardian.
Readers of The Times, used to balance and pluralism in the range of opinions on this page, will probably have missed The Guardian’s comment and analysis on this week’s events. If they have seen it then I trust they will have been, as I was, shocked. Shocked by George Galloway’s claim that America was reaping the appropriate response for its “slaughter of the innocents of Iraq”. Shocked by Martin Woolacott saying that America had “played a part in creating the anger” that led to the attacks by its policies of global injustice. Shocked by Saskia Sassen arguing that the attacks were a consequence of the rich North’s approach to Third World debt and poverty.
Shocked by Richard Norton-Taylor’s satisfaction that a “chastened” America will now drop its “nonchalant arrogance”. Shocked by Seumas Milne’s argument that America was getting its comeuppance for “unabashed national egotism and arrogance”. Shocked above all by the refusal to engage sympathetically with the massive human misery of this atrocity, and the uniform relish with which these writers argued America somehow deserved it.
This uniformity of tone is not just a matter of coincidence. It is the consequence of an entrenched mindset. The radical Left may have learnt from consumer culture the importance of subtle packaging, but underneath the New Bond Street suit the old Left heartbeat quickens at the same prejudices. The radical Left retains an antipathy to our common Western values which still finds its expression in anti-Americanism, anti-Zionism and the romanticism of revolutionary violence.
The classic habit of the radical Left to support and excuse any movement, however oppressive, which challenges Western liberal democracy has reasserted itself. It was this mental debility which led Webbs, Spenders and Reeds to romanticise Stalin; Fondas and Haydens to fawn over the North Vietnamese; selected soixante-huitards such as Joschka Fischer and Lionel Jospin to flirt with street-fighting and Trotskyism; and Leonard Bernstein to host parties for Black Panthers.
We can see it not just in the apologia for the attack on America listed above, but in the film star treatment the radical Left affords killers such as Gerry Adams, the secular beatification of the PLO’s bard Edward Said, and even the respectful attention paid to the Zapatista fighters and their leader, subcommandante Marcos. All these men have become poster boys for the Guardianistas, suitable for a moody macho shot and subtly flattering profile next to the New York fashion spread. They, and their journalistic fan club, are birds of a feather. A Prada-Meinhof gang.
The continuing ability of the radical Left to be seduced by the gun is the underappreciated fact of our age. Any cause, from Irish republicanism to Islamist totalitarianism, which can assert its claim through violence, sends an appreciative quiver through radical breasts. How else to explain The Guardian’s continued indulgence of IRA backsliding? How else to account for their comment pages’ sympathy for the devil this week? The world’s miseries and inequalities are never seen as the consequence of the totalitarian gods which failed. For their rites are still observed in Farringdon Road.
The misery Marxism brought to Africa is glossed over. Liberal capitalism is arraigned for crimes against humanity when in truth, as the success of Third World nations in Asia has shown, free enterprise and free nations are humanity’s best hope. Is it too much to hope that a free press should recognise it? Or must the Left’s journalism be dominated by fifth columnists?
Probably not, but publicizing these people might help.
I'm more concerned with the American lefties who preach anti-Americanism with success in our universities.
"Brits blame U.S.
"THE anti-Americanism in vogue among the more chic circles in Europe erupted on the BBC Thursday night when Phil Lader, former U.S. ambassador to Britain, faced a hostile studio audience on the "Question Time" show. Lader appeared to fight back tears as he was shouted down while trying to tell the audience of his sadness. The network later confirmed it received "hundreds of calls" from angry viewers who complained that the live audience was packed with America-bashers. Presenter David Dimbleby struggled to control the shouting as British radicals claimed the U.S. was ultimately responsible for the deaths of its own nationals as well as of Britons."
The good people of Britain will not sit still for this stuff. Worldwide television pictures of the horror will isolate the America haters.
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