tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post700849590824948850..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Ideas, not Marching OrdersGus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-19179162760366466662012-10-03T04:49:25.409-06:002012-10-03T04:49:25.409-06:00Steve,
I think a combination of things accounts f...Steve,<br /><br />I think a combination of things accounts for the fact that most Moslems are not a problem. Many have some exposure to/respect for Western values, many figure out on their own that constantly fighting over religion is a miserable way to live, some are decent on a deep level and choose to remain so when push comes to shove. Many are second-handers who are Moslem by default, and likewise lack strong-enough conviction to do anything to rock a boat. The last class of people also do nothing to stop the militants.<br /><br />How to emasculate Islam? I think some variant of the strategy suggested in the passage cited by C. Andrew is how. (India was a much ore barbaric place before the British, for their many mistakes and, often their own barbarities, stamped out such things as the practice of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_%28practice%29" rel="nofollow">Sati</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thugee" rel="nofollow">Thugees</a>. We must show zero tolerance for lots of things we tolerate today and are even encouraged from some non-Moslem quarters.<br /><br />Jenn,<br /><br />Thanks for the catch on "loath/loathe". Regarding how I spell "judgement", that is an accepted <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/judgement?s=t" rel="nofollow">variant</a>. (Scroll down.)<br /><br />GusGus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-12800115504515924592012-10-03T02:43:17.267-06:002012-10-03T02:43:17.267-06:00Erm . . . judgment has only 1 e, and you meant &qu...Erm . . . judgment has only 1 e, and you meant "loath" there--with an e on the end it's a different word: you loathe someone/something, you are loath to do something.<br /><br />IIRC it's pronounced slightly differently, too: loathe uses a hard TH while loath is soft th.Jennifer Snowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00039865566870992465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-30289136163309983692012-10-02T18:40:18.321-06:002012-10-02T18:40:18.321-06:00It strikes me though, that the majority of Muslims...It strikes me though, that the majority of Muslims (90% perhaps?) are peaceful. Why is that? But it also means that all we need to do is add another 10% to that total and we can emasculate Islam, just as we did all the other religions and then at least for us, problem solved.<br />On the other hand, a religion named for submission doesn’t inspire confidence that it can be changed, quickly. Islam is a religion’s religion; a real religion, one that from its basic principles demands that its adherents take it seriously. It’s going to be a harder nut to crack than the wimpier Hinduism or Christianity. <br />Steve Dnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-29687572299321668612012-10-02T18:27:43.635-06:002012-10-02T18:27:43.635-06:00Steve,
Your comment about the Moslems technically...Steve,<br /><br />Your comment about the Moslems technically being blasphemers reminds me of a movie I saw as a child (perhaps it was <i>Not Without My Daughter</i>). An intelligent woman succinctly and irrefutably shows a male relative that he is violating his own religion. She gets struck in the face by that "man" for her trouble. They may be blasphemers according to their own religion, but their approach to ideas -- their deep-seat irrationality -- makes them unable to appreciate such observations, much less introspect or seek to improve themselves upon hearing them. There is a point at which some people are irredeemable, and I think many Moslems cross it.<br /><br />C.,<br /><br />That is a wonderful stuff. Thanks for posting it here.<br /><br />GusGus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-75572008589568420872012-10-02T15:31:34.506-06:002012-10-02T15:31:34.506-06:00Hi Gus,
I think that Mark Steyn outlines the prop...Hi Gus,<br /><br />I think that Mark Steyn outlines the proper approach in this NRO comment from 18 months ago.<br /><br /><i>When I’m speaking on this subject, I often get asked to reprise the words I quote in my book, from Gen. Sir Charles Napier in India explaining to the locals his position on suttee — the tradition of burning widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. General Napier was impeccably multicultural:<br /> <br /><br /><b>You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows.You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.</b><br /> <br />In the absence of cultural confidence overseas, we are expending blood and treasure building an Afghanistan fit only for pederasts, tribal heroin cartels, and the blood-soaked savages of Mazar e-Sharif. In the absence of cultural confidence at home, we are sending the message that the bedrock principles of free, pluralist societies will bend and crumble in a vain race to keep up with the ever touchier sensitivities of the perpetually aggrieved. Claire Berlinski has it right: The real “racists” here are not this no-name pastor and his minimal flock but Reid, Graham, and the Times — for they assume that a significant proportion of Muslims are not responsible human beings but animals no more capable of rational behavior than the tiger who mauled Siegfried’s Roy. If that is true, certain consequences follow therefrom. The abandonment of the First Amendment is not one of them.<br /> <br />In Trafalgar Square, there is a statue of General Napier. I would urge any visitors to London to see it before it’s taken down, as it surely will be one day soon. Imagine what our world would look like if it were Lindsey Graham up on that plinth. A society led by such “men” cannot survive, and does not deserve to.<br /> </i><br /><br />Obviously, the analog to General Napier in our situation is to arm our embassies so that they can standoff such attacks and when a sufficient crowd has gathered, bent on killing the infidel, we have a drone drop a large number of cluster bombs on the gathering. I'd lay odds we'd not have to do it very often to change their behavior. <br /><br />c. andrewAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-51791197591839732152012-10-02T06:15:25.248-06:002012-10-02T06:15:25.248-06:00'Why have so many otherwise thoughtful comment...'Why have so many otherwise thoughtful commentators twisted themselves into contortions to see a conspiracy where none exists?'<br />When everyone acts alike due to their deepest heartfelt beliefs, it may not be a conspiracy but it sure feels like it. <br />It also occurs to me that if the Muslims are treating their prophet (a mere man even according to them, correct?) as a god then, technically then it is they who are committing blasphemy (but against their own god)<br /><br /> Steve Dnoreply@blogger.com