Peace? Or warmed over Marxism?
Mark Steyn asks: Is the hijacking of the Democratic party by the radical left weakening the war on terror? And is this leading to a weakness in our ability to respond?
Dr Sanity asks a similar question, and points out polls do not support them...citing the recent story of airline passengers refusing to fly with two men suspiciously dressed and speaking Arabic (or this tampering incident in a Delta flight), she asks:
What's most interesting to me is the observation that, not only are citizens in the west waking up to the reality of the threat, but that they are clearly beginning to realize that their governments' desire to protect them from harm is not quite as strong as their governments' desire to follow the dictates of political correctness and multicultural foolishness....
Those who should be dedicated to protecting us, instead seem more dedicated to being perceived as "fair" and "tolerant". It does not take a genius to figure out that neither of these qualities could be applied to the religious fanatics who blow themselves up in crowded markets; fly planes into buildings; and crow about the number of people they have murdered for their god.
Yup. Confiscate deodorant, but forget profiling....even profiling based on gut feeling that cops call "hunches", women call "instinct" and psychiatrists call "counter transference".
I suspect a lot of the Democratic left are good people, but naive,..so they ignore evidence to the contrary....(See Dr Sanity on defense mechanisms.). And alas, such American intellectuals easily find their opinions of "che guavara in a turban" echoed in a press in Manila, where the elites were taught in Catholic universities steeped in liberation theology.
That is why Allen's article here doesn't worry me as a Catholic...you see, unlike the Catholic elites, the protestants tend to be middle class business people, not the rich families.And the dirty little secret is that there is a "third way" between a ruling rich oligarchy and tyranny: the Calivinist (or Confucian, or Malaysian Muslim) work ethic, that allows poor people to become middle class, and middle class people to prosper.
Like the upper class and upper middle class Democratic left in the USA, too many of the Manila elites take political views from a "nobless obligue" vague leftism that tends to have more to do with guilt than with reality.
Perhaps they should read Thomas Friedman's books on globalization instead of Norm Chomsky.
The telecenters in Makati, television antennas on bamboo huts in Mabuga, the internet cafes in Baghdad, Muslim entrepeneurs in Kuala Lumpur, and the large Farsi Blogosphere are not even in the discussion. The story being ignored is that ordinary hard working people can advance into prosperity, thanks to globalization.
No, things are not perfect, but what would you prefer to do? Live in a bamboo house, drink dirty water, prepare the field for one harvest a year with a water buffalo, or migrate to Saudi and work as a maid? As Friedman points out: You now have a third choice: Work in Jolibees, or for Dell...
With the impact of the internet and globalization, even the poorest know now that there are alternatives. So, a more likely result is to what happened in Algeria, a "civil war" where 100 000 civilians were murdered by Islamicist groups---but eventually the government prevailed...and people are now safe in their homes.
A similar parallel might be drawn to the success in Colombia, ElSalvador, or the Philippines...all countries which are stumbling along fairly well with low grade "insurgencies" that kill a couple thousand a year.
Heck, if Los Angeles can live with the crips and bloods, we can live with the NPA...
Dr Sanity asks a similar question, and points out polls do not support them...citing the recent story of airline passengers refusing to fly with two men suspiciously dressed and speaking Arabic (or this tampering incident in a Delta flight), she asks:
What's most interesting to me is the observation that, not only are citizens in the west waking up to the reality of the threat, but that they are clearly beginning to realize that their governments' desire to protect them from harm is not quite as strong as their governments' desire to follow the dictates of political correctness and multicultural foolishness....
Those who should be dedicated to protecting us, instead seem more dedicated to being perceived as "fair" and "tolerant". It does not take a genius to figure out that neither of these qualities could be applied to the religious fanatics who blow themselves up in crowded markets; fly planes into buildings; and crow about the number of people they have murdered for their god.
Yup. Confiscate deodorant, but forget profiling....even profiling based on gut feeling that cops call "hunches", women call "instinct" and psychiatrists call "counter transference".
I suspect a lot of the Democratic left are good people, but naive,..so they ignore evidence to the contrary....(See Dr Sanity on defense mechanisms.). And alas, such American intellectuals easily find their opinions of "che guavara in a turban" echoed in a press in Manila, where the elites were taught in Catholic universities steeped in liberation theology.
That is why Allen's article here doesn't worry me as a Catholic...you see, unlike the Catholic elites, the protestants tend to be middle class business people, not the rich families.And the dirty little secret is that there is a "third way" between a ruling rich oligarchy and tyranny: the Calivinist (or Confucian, or Malaysian Muslim) work ethic, that allows poor people to become middle class, and middle class people to prosper.
Like the upper class and upper middle class Democratic left in the USA, too many of the Manila elites take political views from a "nobless obligue" vague leftism that tends to have more to do with guilt than with reality.
Perhaps they should read Thomas Friedman's books on globalization instead of Norm Chomsky.
The telecenters in Makati, television antennas on bamboo huts in Mabuga, the internet cafes in Baghdad, Muslim entrepeneurs in Kuala Lumpur, and the large Farsi Blogosphere are not even in the discussion. The story being ignored is that ordinary hard working people can advance into prosperity, thanks to globalization.
No, things are not perfect, but what would you prefer to do? Live in a bamboo house, drink dirty water, prepare the field for one harvest a year with a water buffalo, or migrate to Saudi and work as a maid? As Friedman points out: You now have a third choice: Work in Jolibees, or for Dell...
With the impact of the internet and globalization, even the poorest know now that there are alternatives. So, a more likely result is to what happened in Algeria, a "civil war" where 100 000 civilians were murdered by Islamicist groups---but eventually the government prevailed...and people are now safe in their homes.
A similar parallel might be drawn to the success in Colombia, ElSalvador, or the Philippines...all countries which are stumbling along fairly well with low grade "insurgencies" that kill a couple thousand a year.
Heck, if Los Angeles can live with the crips and bloods, we can live with the NPA...
posted by Nancy Reyes at
5:20 PM
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