Posted on 05/19/2004 2:54:18 AM PDT by Theodore R.
What do we offer the world?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 19, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern
"So, how do we advance the cause of female emancipation in the Muslim world?" asks Richard Perle in "An End to Evil." He replies, "We need to remind the women of Islam ceaselessly: Our enemies are the same as theirs; our victory will be theirs as well."
Well, the neoconservative cause "of female emancipation in the Muslim world" was probably set back a bit by the photo shoot of Pfc. Lynndie England and the "Girls Gone Wild" of Abu Ghraib prison.
Indeed, the filmed orgies among U.S. military police outside the cells of Iraqi prisoners, the S&M humiliation of Muslim men, the sexual torment of their women raise a question. Exactly what are the "values" the West has to teach the Islamic world?
"This war ... is about – deeply about – sex," declaims neocon Charles Krauthammer. Militant Islam is "threatened by the West because of our twin doctrines of equality and sexual liberation."
But whose "twin doctrines" is Krauthammer talking about? The sexual liberation he calls our doctrine belongs to a '60s revolution that devout Christians, Jews and Muslims have been resisting for years.
What does Krauthammer mean by sexual liberation? The right of "tweeners" and teenage girls to dress and behave like Britney Spears? Their right to condoms in junior high? Their right to abortion without parental consent?
If conservatives reject the "equality" preached by Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, NARAL and the National Organization for Women, why seek to impose it on the Islamic world? Why not stand beside Islam, and against Hollywood and Hillary?
In June 2002 at West Point, President Bush said, "Moral truth is the same in every culture, in every time and in every place."
But even John Kerry does not agree with George Bush on the morality of homosexual unions and stem-cell research. On such issues, conservative Americans have more in common with devout Muslims than with liberal Democrats.
The president notwithstanding, Americans no longer agree on what is moral truth. For as someone said a few years back, there is a cultural war going on in this country – a religious war. It is about who we are, what we believe and what we stand for as a people.
What some of us view as the moral descent of a great and Godly republic into imperial decadence, neocons see as their big chance to rule the world.
In Georgia, recently, the president declared to great applause: "I can't tell you how proud I am of our commitment to values. ... That commitment to values is going to be an integral part of our foreign policy as we move forward. These aren't American values, these are universal values. Values that speak universal truths."
But what universal values is he talking about? If he intends to impose the values of MTV America on the Muslim world in the name of a "world democratic revolution," he will provoke and incite a war of civilizations America cannot win because Americans do not want to fight it. This may be the neocons' war. It is not our war.
When Bush speaks of freedom as God's gift to humanity, does he mean the First Amendment freedom of Larry Flynt to produce pornography and of Salman Rushdie to publish "The Satanic Verses" – a book considered blasphemous to the Islamic faith? If the Islamic world rejects this notion of freedom, why is it our duty to change their thinking? Why are they wrong?
When the president speaks of freedom, does he mean the First Amendment prohibition against our children reading the Bible and being taught the Ten Commandments in school?
If the president wishes to fight a moral crusade, he should know the enemy is inside the gates. The great moral and cultural threats to our civilization come not from outside America, but from within. We have met the enemy, and he is us. The war for the soul of America is not going to be lost or won in Fallujah.
Unfortunately, Pagan America of 2004 has far less to offer the world in cultural fare than did Christian America of 1954. Many of the movies, books, magazines, TV shows, videos and much of the music we export to the world are as poisonous as the narcotics the Royal Navy forced on the Chinese people in the Opium Wars.
A society that accepts the killing of a third of its babies as women's "emancipation," that considers homosexual marriage to be social progress, that hands out contraceptives to 13-year-old girls at junior high ought to be seeking out a confessional – better yet, an exorcist – rather than striding into a pulpit like Elmer Gantry to lecture mankind on the superiority of "American values."
bttt
You said it all, Bama!
cute graphic I like
Neocon/neosex bump.
No Pat,
He means that girls should be allowed to learn to read and attend school. He means the right of a woman not to be beaten if she goes out unveiled. He means women having the same legal rights in the courts as the men do.
Pat's statement would not be so upsetting but I just read an article how in muslim society if a young woman is raped. The men of her family will kill her to protect their "honor". (The article told how in Turkey, a court just sentenced all the men in a family council to long prison terms for such an act. - Hopefully a sign of change.)
Where's Barbarella and her Orgasmatron when we need her?
Why are you so so sure that all bad guys wish you dead and that no good ones do? :( Also, are you sure that you neocons are not bad guys too?
Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote:
"If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
OK.
Now that our mission is "To Bring Democracy To Iraq and All Those Other Places Over There," are you telling us that we are going to help the Moslems with the First Amendment right to dance naked for tavern patrons?
While it is true that our faults do not abnegate our virtues--exactly when did this become a "War For Democracy?"
How about just eliminating AlQuaeda, Arthur???
You are seriously MISSING the key point. Buchanan is not talking about imaginary idealized America, (very DIFFERENT for the different American factions). He is talking about actual real America. The real America is expressed through the real actions in Iraq and through the radical changes/debate going in America intself.
Ponder carefuly on this one sentence "The president notwithstanding, Americans no longer agree on what is moral truth. For as someone said a few years back, there is a cultural war going on in this country – a religious war. It is about who we are, what we believe and what we stand for as a people".
There are always disagreements over who the bad guys are...I have one with you, obviously.
You prefer a War For Free Sex?
We should pass more laws...or win more hearts and minds?
Who is this guy?
No, it is you who see the world black and white with the people divided into good (with you belonging to the first)and bad (where your enemies belong).
I agree with Solzhenitzyn and Buchanan - The main threat to America is from inside.
You are exactly right. It is schizophrenic to complain about the cultural degradation in America and, in the next breath, talk about how great we are. The fact is, we are far less great than we used to be, precisely because of the abortion on demand, rampant promiscuity, and near pornographic popular culture that Buchanan writes about.
note to self: continue to ignore Buchanan
I would ask you what the heck you are talking about, but I'm not sure I want to know...
Take for example, President Bush. He barbecues and eats pork on his ranch, an action seen as immoral by Jews and Muslims. His daughters drink alcohol with his apparent consent, an action seen as immoral by Baptists and Muslims. Also, when Jenna and Barbara visited wounded troops recently, they wore dresses that Muslims, Orthodox Jews, and even some Christians would find "immoral". Hell, even some of our more bluenosed freepers complained. I doubt any of the troops did, though.
Some moral values are consistent among cultures, such as not committing murder, theft, assault, or fraud. They can better be described as "ethics". "Moral" considerations involving eating, drinking, smoking, entertainment, attire, consensual sex, etc. vary from culture to culture. In a free nation, it's best for government to butt out of those.
-Eric
We offer the world Pat Buchanan! Someone please take him.
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