The Doctrine of 'Proportionate Response'

‘Disproportionate’ is a word that has come into vogue when discussing Israel and her response to terror and violence. We have reached the point where no matter what the Israeli reaction or response to terror might be, the discussion always centers around what is a disproportionate response, what was a disproportionate response or what may be a disproportionate response.

The media fascination- and obsession- with the idea of ‘disproportionate response’ is understandable, because ‘proportionate response’ contributed to the deaths of millions in Rwanda, Sierra Leonne, the Congo and Darfur. These atrocities are allowed to go one because just about any kind of response and or intervention are considered ‘disproportionate’ by one side or the other. Somehow, proportionate response- even if that leads to the deaths of millions- must be seen as the moral response.

Proportionality (defined moment by moment) is the mechanism by which we can justify doing nothing as millions die. The Doctrine of Proportionate Response exists solely to shield us from taking moral stands and taking moral positions. If the Doctrine of Proportionate Response is applied equally, then the doing nothing becomes the moral thing to do.

Of course, proportionate response is precisely what makes war and atrocities acceptable ideas. As we have noted,

Europe isn’t a Muslim dominated continent today, because the Islamic invaders that were stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1683, could no longer pay the price of advance. European defenders were extracting too high a price from the invaders. When it became clear to the invaders that war was no longer the smart way to go, the Muslim world found a way to live in peace with their Christian neighbors. The same thing happened when the Crusades failed. Christan Europe found a way to live with the Levant…

Wars begin and end because of the various costs of waging war. That is as true today as it has been in the past, and that will be true in the future.

Wars have economic costs and moral costs.

Peace among nations is arrived at when the cost of war becomes ovewhelming. Racism, bigotry and hate are overcome when the cost of racism, bigotry and hate becomes too great for a society to bear.

As long as nations and peoples perceive the cost of war as acceptable, then we will have war, racism, bigotry and hate.

It interesting to note that the hate directed at Israel is never referred to as ‘disproportionate.’ It is also true that the lopsided voting record against Israel by the United Nations Human Rights Commission (an assembly that includes some of the most oppressive and failed nation-states in the world) is never referred to as ‘disproportionate’ despite the admonition of three successive United Nations Secretaries- General. The same applies to United Nations General Assembly, now a forum for over the top racism, bigotry and hate- none of which seems to qualify as ‘disproportionate.’

None of the institutionalized hate and bigotry of the Arab world is ‘disproportionate.’ In fact, the Arabs will tell you that there are not enough calls to genocide and there is not enough hate and racism directed at Israel and Jews. In schools, media and from the pulpit, calls for genocide, bigotry and hate are considered ‘proportionate’ and reasonable.

The NGO’s for whom anti Jewish and anti Israel sentiment are daily bread, compete with other over who is more anti Jewish and more anti Israel, taking pride in their ‘originality’ or ablity to pass that hate as rational and reasoned.

The psychotic Arab media routinely whip themselves and their readers/viewers into a frenzy, denying the Holocaust as a ‘Jewish plot’ on the one hand while promising another very real holocaust a few moments later, in the same breath. Tales of outrageous Jewish conspiracies are sandwiched by pronouncements that Muslims are strategizing and will soon control the world and the destiny of all mankind.

The Doctrine of Proportionate Response and the belief that evil can be negotiated with failed to prevent the Nazi Holocaust and it has failed to prevent untold deaths since then. The racist angle of the doctrine cannot be overlooked. In speaking of Rwanda, Romeo Daillaire, UN military commander noted

They knew how many people were dying…the world is racist, Africans don’t count; Yugoslavians do. More people were killed injured, internally displaced and refugees in 100 days in Rwanda than in the whole eight to nine years of the Yugoslavia campaign…

Why didn’t the world react to the scenes where women were held as human shields so nobody could shoot back while the militia shot into the crowd?

Why didn’t the world react to the scenes where women were held as human shields so nobody could shoot back while the militia shot into the crowd?

Daillaire’s words are almost equally applicale to events in Darfur and elswhere today.

The media is as complict in today’s sorry state of affairs as are the adversaries. It was the media that gave the disasterous Doctrine of Proportionate Response a platform. It is the media that gives the spokespeople and advocated for racism, bigotry and genocide a proportional soap box. The media does not demand the eradication of evil because as we noted, ‘The Doctrine of Proportionate Response exist solely to shield us from taking moral stands and taking moral positions. If the Doctrine of Proportionate Response is applied equally, then the doing nothing becomes the moral thing to do.’

What a wonderful world.

The Incredible Arrogance Of The Beast

From the Lebanon Daily Star:

Hamas said Friday that it would never recognize Israel and will not, as a movement, abide by previously reached Palestinian peace accords with Israel as urged by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. “We will never recognize Israel. There is nothing called Israel, neither in reality nor in the imagination,” Nizar Rayyan, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, told the Reuters news agency…

Rayyan welcomed the unity government agreement reached in Mecca on Thursday but said Hamas shunned Abbas’ call for Premier Ismail Haniyya, who will form the new cabinet, to abide by previous peace accords.

“We, in the Hamas movement, will not abide by anything,” he said.

The comments were endorsed by Hamas spokesman Ismail Rudwan, who said: “The recognition is not an option at all, is not discussable…”

“We have agreed with the Saudis to market this agreement internationally. Our brothers are in constant contact with the Americans and Europeans and I believe there is a possibility to market this agreement,” government spokesman Ghazi Hamad told Reuters.

“They cannot ignore this agreement and impose their own conditions,” he said in reference to the US. “The European Union should open a dialogue with this new government and this is the only way to have stability in the region.”

The dysfunctional Palestinian government, like previous Palestinian regimes, are in no position to dictate to America, Israel or anyone else, the terms on which they must be dealt with.

When the Palestinians elected Hamas, they knew and understood exactly who Hamas was:

“Hamas views the Arab-Israeli conflict as “a religious struggle between Islam and Judaism that can only be resolved by the destruction of the State of Israel.”

“…asserts that struggle (jihad) to wrest control of the land from Israel is a religious duty incumbent on every Muslim individually (fard `ain).”

“Hamas uses both political activities and violence to pursue its goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel and the secular Palestinian Authority…Hamas has also engaged in peaceful political activity, such as running candidates in West Bank Chamber of Commerce elections (isn’t that just precious?- SC&A)”

“The Hamas Covenant cites the long-discredited anti-Semitic fraud, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, describing it as “the embodiment of the Zionist plan to usurp Palestine”. Hamas dismisses the Freemasons, Lions Club, and the Rotarians as organizations promoting “the interest of Zionism.” It accuses those organizations, and the “Zionist invasion” in general, of being “behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds.”

From the Hamas Charter:

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. “

“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

“After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.”

In addition to the favorite Hamas rallying cry, taught to children in kindergarten, “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas!” there is this, from the The Hamas Martyrs Oath:

“Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious…The Movement is but one squadron that should be supported by more and more squadrons from this vast Arab and Islamic world, until the enemy is vanquished and Allah’s victory is realised...

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. The Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times…

It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned…

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders. It goes back to 1939, to the emergence of the martyr Izz al-Din al Kassam and his brethren the fighters, members of Muslim Brotherhood. It goes on to reach out and become one with another chain that includes the struggle of the Palestinians and Muslim Brotherhood in the 1948 war and the Jihad operations of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1968 and after…

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: ‘The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him…’

Resisting and quelling the enemy become the individual duty of every Muslim, male or female. A woman can go out to fight the enemy without her husband’s permission, and so does the slave: without his master’s permission…

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with…

The day The Palestinian Liberation Organization adopts Islam as its way of life, we will become its soldiers, and fuel for its fire that will burn the enemies…

The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion… It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions…

We should not forget to remind every Muslim that when the Jews conquered the Holy City in 1967, they stood on the threshold of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and proclaimed that ‘Mohammed is dead, and his descendants are all women.’

Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Muslim people. ‘May the cowards never sleep.”

The fact that the beast-like Hamas government was freely elected is irrelevant. Adolph Hitler came to power as the result of a free and democratic election in 1933. Being elected is no guarantee that a government will behave in a civilized way. In the case of Hamas, that is evidenced on both their words and deeds. They continue to ratchet up their racism and bigotry, and they proudly proclaim their antipathy toward Jews, Christians and all non Muslims. They endorse and remain sympathetic to goals of Hitlers National Socialism. They at once deny the Holocaust and in the same breath, praise the Nazi efforts to exterminate Jews, promising to ‘finish what Hitler started. Mein Kampf, second only in sales to teh Quran in the Arab world, is accorded the status of the sacred text.

Neither the Israelis or western democracies are under any obligation to fund, facilitate, aid or come to the defense of groups that openly and proudly admit to their stated goal of killing them. Western democracies and the civilized world will never consider the call of ITBACH AL YAHUD!- SLAUGHTER THE JEW!- as being an acceptable and equivalent form of political, cultural, educational or religious expression, equal to their own.

Had any European government taken Hitler at his word, and arrested and killed the top echelon of the Nazi Party, 50 million souls would be alive today. Their would be no sailors buried in a cold watery graves in the Atlantic, never again to see the sunlight. There would be no wives that learned the bitter lesson that ‘what God hath brought together,’ can indeed be ‘torn asunder’ by evil men. The coast of France would not have cemeteries with neat rows of crosses and other monuments.

The time has come for imaginary state of Israel to call upon it’s imaginary air force and it’s imaginary army to visit Ramallah and pay an imaginary call on the Hamas government.

"There is no such thing as a 'disproportionate response' to calls for genocide. All conflicts end with 'disproportionate response.'

'Death is coming. O Zionists, hide yourselves!' (h/t Larwyn)

Let's be clear. This is a call to genocide.

While the UN and much of Europe wring their hands at the heavy Israeli response to rocket fire by the Palestinians into Israel, there is talk of 'disproportionate response.'

There is no such thing as a 'disproportionate response' to calls for genocide. All conflicts end with 'disproportionate response.'

The Israelis are entitled to defend themselves from those who openly or not so openly call for their annihilation.

Peace among nations is arrived at when the cost of war becomes overwhelming.

Racism, bigotry and hate are overcome when the cost of racism, bigotry and hate becomes too great for society to bear. As long as nations and peoples perceive the cost of war as acceptable, then we will have war.

When the cost of slaughtering Jews as 'business as usual' becomes to high for the Palestinians to bear, they will respond appropriately. As Abba Eban noted,

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.

Israel has every right to defend herself every way she sees fit- and the world has no business chastising her for her actions. It isn’t as if the rest of the world has a great track record in standing up for Jews. One doesn't have to go back that far to confirm that. As Jews were trying to leave Germany prior to the war, other European countries blocked their borders to increased immigration. The Swiss were kind enough to send those lucky enough to send those who arrived by train back to Germany, to catch other trains with destinations like Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau and scores of other lesser known 'work camps.'

Day in and day out, for decades, the Israelis and Jews are bombarded with vicious and vile hate from the Arab world. Day in and day out, Israel is promised destruction, violations of the most heinous kind and ‘rivers of blood.’ We are told that thousands of volunteers are ready to answer a religious call and bring mayhem, violence and death to the Israelis.

The Palestinians, Iranians and Saudis, all outraged at the fact that these Jews will defend themselves, have whipped themselves into a frenzy. They will not tolerate peace agreements that do not allow for the slaughter of Jews. They laughably declare the Israelis to be engaged in 'genocide' and Nazi behavior, even as they proudly declare their bigotry and racism and promise to 'finish what Hitler started.'

The truth is that if the Israelis really wanted to slaughter the Palestinians, they could. They have means to do just that, so either the Israelis are colossal failures at genocide or they have no intent to do so.

This isn't about political Israel as a nation state. This is about Jews and religious conflict. What we see in the Middle East today is the result of decades of dysfunctional and oppressive leaders who employ and pay for 'religious' authorities to manipulate a religion to suit their needs and to find religious justification for their oppression and repression.

Arab leaders and religious authorities issue threats against Jews and Jewish institutions inside and outside the Middle East whenever Israel responds to violence from the Palestinians. There are never threats made against the millions of Christian Zionists or the even more millions Christian supporters of the State of Israel. There are never threats of violence against the the thousands of churches whose clergy parishioners support Israel and there are never threats of violence to outspoken gentiles who support Israel.

There are never threats against Christians or gentiles who support Zionism and Israel because the conflict isn't about Zionism or Israel. As far as the Palestinians and much of the Arab world is concerned, the Middle East conflict is about the Muslim right and obligation to kill Jews.That obligation is taught, broadcast and preached, day in and day out throughout the Arab world.


The Islamist threats to 'Zionists' are directed at Jews only. It matters little if those Jews are old people or children. There have been innumerable violent acts deliberately targeting children, in Israel and abroad. There have been acts of violence directed a Jewish Houses of Worship the world over. In Paris, Montreal, Marseilles and elsewhere, Jewish schools have been firebombed. Attacks against Jews have been recorded in virtually every western nation, preceded by some of the most vicious and vile expressions of anti semitism found anywhere.

Not even the dead are immune from Arab anti Semitism. All over Europe, Jewish cemeteries have been vandalized. On buses and trains all over Europe, Jews have been assaulted, beaten and stabbed. As a result, the Chief Rabbi of France issued an edict that men should not wear their traditional head covering- as a matter of safety.

In every single Arab country, including the Palestinian territories, Jewish shrines have been desecrated. When the Israelis left Gaza, there was an orgy of synagogue burnings and desecration of holy sites that were encouraged and applauded. For the Palestinians and much of the Arab world, krystallnacht is a festival that is never ending.

It is ironic that Hijab has become an expression of religious fidelity is demanded by many and at the same time, Jews who wear head coverings, another expression of religious fidelity to the same God, have become a bulls-eye for many of the same people who supposedly claim no issue with Jews, only Zionists.

Most people will say the animus against Jews is the result of the situation in the Middle East- and they would be right. Unless and until the Jews are eradicated, there will be no peace.

Arab author and expert on Hizbollah and Lebanese politics Amal Saad-Ghorayeb makes clear that Hizbollah sees the conflict with Israel as an existential one, having nothing to do with politics or borders.

Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah ( of 'we have Israeli body parts fame') proudly declared that

“…if they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.“

Hamas takes great pleasure in referring to Jews as the offspring of animals in media. Hamas religious preachers reinforce the message. These ‘truths’ are taught in Hamas schools. Even a Mickey Mouse clone was utilized to teach the message of violent jihad. A look at Palestinian 12th grade textbooks crystallizes and acknowledges the real 800 lb gorilla in the room. As far as the Palestinians are concerned, the 'State of Palestine' is exists in a world without Israel- and there will be no peace until Israel is eradicated. Holocaust denial, jihad and shahada ('martyrdom') are all now expressions of religious identity. If you do not hate Jews, you are a Muslim who is found lacking.

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas is cut of the same cloth. In a recent interview, he insisted that violence against Israel still a viable option, 'when the time is right.' He declared his pride in helping to train Hizbollah in terror and he fondly recalls the days he stood shoulder to shoulder with Yasser Arafat and the PLO (those 'good old days' included blowing up school buses with nursery and kindergarten school children, or taking school children hostage). Abbas is an educated man, a scholar with a PhD. His doctoral dissertation was titled, "The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism." In his dissertation, he discusses the 'fantasy' of the holocaust. He asserts that the few Jews who were killed were victims of a 'Nazi-Zionist' plot.

Palestinian and Arab clerics have justified attacks on civilians for decades, reasoning that all Israelis will be involved in defense of their state at one time or another. Old people, women and even babies are legitimate targets for that very reason.

The same logic applies to the Israeli response to the Palestinians.

The majority of Palestinians voted for the current Hamas regime. It is important to recall that the Hamas leadership made no secret of their genocidal ideologies and ambitions. Other Palestinians voted for the Palestinian Authority (PA), who share that ideology but insist on the camouflage of a pretend civility. It is a shame that so many insist on hiding gunmen and terrorists in their midst. In the time honored Arab tradition of hiding behind women and children, Palestinian factions of all political stripes hide terrorists, missile launch sites and weapons in civilian populations centers, including schools, hospitals and mosques.

As long as nations and peoples perceive the cost of war as acceptable, then we will have war. As long as the Palestinians and much of the Arab world see their hate, racism, bigotry and violence as acceptable forms of political and religious expression, the conflict will endure. When they demand better for themselves and their children the political landscape will change.

When nations that are that are led by or are under the influence of tyrants or dictators, attempt to justify those actions, we can rightly assume that justification is false. Tyrants and dictators do not make moral choices, because moral choices can only lead to the demise of the tyranny.

Anyone that comes to the defense of tyrannical regimes and their leaders, have themselves made a conscious choice to defend and stand by what is immoral.

The Palestinians wanted to make this about something other than politics. Now, they will bear the burden. The Israelis are under no obligation to tolerate calls for barbaric calls for genocide.

Dr Sanity noted in The Brilliance Of The Barbarians, that war means the rules of civilization are suspended. She quotes Wretchard:

Traditionally the solution has been to consider wartime a discontinuity, when civilization’s rules are suspended. It becomes possible, for example, to lay waste to the Monte Cassino Abbey. Berlin was bombed without regard for its buildings, churches or people.

Dr Sanity is more concise. She speaks of the war on terror, but her words are equally applicable to the Israeli fight against those who call for her destruction and the slaughter of her people. She goes on to note:

I am confident that we will not lose our values; and that our overall moral heading can be recovered should we need to temporarily deviate from the course of the moral compass that guides us. Because, in order to combat and defeat this new barbarism, we must confront it and be willing to do whatever it takes to defeat it.

If we appease or ignore it, it will continue to menace everything we hold dear; and sooner or later, it will sink us–no matter how moral we are or how much restraint we demonstrate to their provocations. Morality and restraint will not win this conflict. We must be sure in our own hearts and minds of the endurance of our own values in order to do what is necessary…

The cost of this war will be more than all the lives lost; it will also be for the humanity and civilization we must temporarily abandon to win. I love to read fantasies as much as anyone, but in the real world, the good and virtuous whose cause is just do not always win.

When we are finally cornered and must allow our own barbarism to surface to combat theirs head to head, then we must be prepared to live with the consequences, including the agonizing guilt that will ensue–or everything we hold dear, everything we aspire to become, will forever perish from this earth.

The Israelis are fighting to prevent their annihilation at the hands of those who openly declare that as an objective.

We have said,

There is no such thing as a 'disproportionate response' to calls for genocide. All conflicts end with 'disproportionate response.'

The Germans and Japanese, who underwrote a war that was to take 50 million lives were bombed back into civilized behavior. Had those regimes been eliminated early on, 50 million lives would have been spared and genocide on a grand scale would have been avoided.

Lesson learned.

*UPDATED* See Dr Sanity's Maybe In The Future Things Will Be Different?

Just as alcoholics are addicted to ethanol, the Palestinians are addicted to their Jew-hatred and will not miss any opportunity to overindulge. Their intoxication has been continuous for over half a century now. If they did abstain--even for a moment--delirium engulfs them and they focus their obsessive lethal destructiveness on each other.

The psychologically inebriated members of Hamas actually believe that they can continue to mouth the same old pathetic and stale shibboleths that have sunk the region into a bottomless quagmire of sadistic violence and death.

In the broken and dysfunctional culture of the Palestinians, racism, hate and an agenda of genocide is restorative.

Portions of this post have been previously published.

“I’ll Be Home For Christmas And In Therapy By New Year’s”

“Well, this is how we did it when I was growing and this is how we’re doing it now. Get in the freaking holiday spirit.”

“You had no problem when I wore the Santa teddy last night. I’m wearing it now and your mother will just have to deal with that.”

“Beer has always been a part of our pre dinner celebration. There is a reason the beer companies go to great lengths to have really nicely decorated 48 packs of Christmas Ale.”

“Don’t mention anything about anatomically correct dolls during dinner. Without getting into details, when I was a kid, we had to bail Uncle Skip out of jail because he assaulted a department store elf.”

“I don’t want to hear any complaints about going to Church this year. We’re all going to pray and get into the holiday spirit, goddamit!”

“Let this be a lesson. This is what happens when you come home for Christmas.”

“Stop crying. It’s Christmas. No one is happy.”

“Yes, you have to wear the bunny costume your aunt made for you.”

“Just once, can someone beside your mother cook the damn food?”

“Holy crap! Little Suzie finally sprouted boobs!”

“Please tell your cousin that grabbing my crotch is not the same as shaking hands.”

“Don’t be alarmed. If there are no death threats, it isn’t a holiday get together.”

“Someone keep an eye on Stevie. I don’t want another kitten ‘accidentally’ strangled this year.”

“Your mother burned the turkey again. I’ll head over to KFC for a couple of buckets. Finally, a holiday tradition we can call our own.”

“You can stop being nice to Uncle Joe. He’ll out live all of us and besides, the dancer from the cotton tail club got all his money.”

“Someone needs to explain to Ronnie that using a Christmas theme does not make porn slides shows appropriate ecards.”

“It doesn’t matter that you believed what your mother and father told you. Now you know what sex is really all about. Think about that tonight. Merry Christmas, kid. “

Season’s Greetings!

In the spirit of the season, SC&A want to wish our readers our most sincere and best wishes for a Happy Holiday, ECT free, season.

To our Liberal friends, we wish to convey these Season’s Greetings:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

To those of our more conservative readers, we extend the following message:

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and best wishes for a Happy New Year!

A Post Modern Christmas

Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise: When his white racist mother Mary was engaged to noted white racist Joseph before they came together (though if they loved each other a lot it would have been ok to come together, or if they truly embraced their innate and latent bisexuality, they would have raised a more open minded child ), she was found with child.

Then Joseph her husband (well, technically they weren’t married yet but that’s ok), being a closed-minded traditionalist, white racist & not willing to let go of his fundamentalistic ideas about marriage was minded to put her away privately, which would have been mean & judgmental of him.

But while he thought on these things, behold an angel came or he entered a Buddha-like dream state. At any rate Joseph came to his loving & compassionate senses & decided to not put Mary away.

While in the dream, Joseph heard a voice which who are we to judge which god it might have been if any at all, saying to Joseph: “Mary will bring forth a son & you shall call his name Jesus (or Yeshua if you want to sound more Hebrewish, although in fact, Jesus was a Palestinian) for he shall help a lot of people feel better about themselves & their life experiences.”

Now all this was done, that the text would look more consistent but of course we all know the Gospels were written a long time after Jesus had actually died. Further, Islamic scholars noted that the New Testament was changed so as to exclude the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) from being recognized as the true and most peaceful messiah) so it is possible the whole story is just embellishment by his followers – anyhow…

Then white racist Joseph came out of the dream state & took white racist Mary to be his co-partner in life. But he didn’t try to consummate the marriage like many brutish men would, as if the woman is just their property or something. White racist Joseph attempted to find his feminine side and majored in Women’s Studies at the white racist Jewish yeshiva, located in Palestine. For a while, he dabbled in Wicca until he became a Presbyterian.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem (which in modern times is rightfully controlled by the Palestinians since that land has been otherwise wrongfully occupied by Israeli Zionists and Jews since Abrahamic times) in the days of Herod (which could actually have been 4 B.C.E.), behold there came really cool and alternative music bi dudes from the east.

When Herod heard these things, just like any other cruel authoritarian he became jealous. And when he had gathered all the really mean white racist religious people together, he demanded of them where Jesus would be born.

And they said to him, “In Bethlehem” (which in modern times is rightfully controlled by the Palestinians…oh yeah, I already said that).

And you Bethlehem are a small place but out of you will come a great healer & a guy that teaches people to be real loving & peaceful, just like Buddha did & Gandhi would later. Your legacy would be one of imperialism, colonialism and white racism.

Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise guys, he asked them a lot of questions about astronomy & astrology since Herod had been influenced by the western culture of Rome he didn’t know about the cool metaphysical stuff like they do in the east. In his Jewish and white racist ignorance he knew nothing of the nude Celtic Dance at Stonehenge or the High Priestess of Wicca embracing Mother Earth. He knew nothing of the gentle Native American faith or of the magnificent Maya.

And so he told them to go look for Jesus. Probably using some sort of astronomical technology that the western people were too dumb to invent, with the help of the Atlantian technology the cool dudes found Jesus in a stable or it could have been a cave, we aren’t really sure about anything, not even our theology. At any rate, even then selfish, white racist capitalistic Jew pigs wouldn’t give other white racist Jew pigs, Joseph & Mary a room so they like many people today were homeless & out in the street (It is a little know fact that Herod’s last name was Bush).

The wise guys went into where the father of all white racism and cause of teh mass killings in the name of God Jesus was born & gave him gifts which was their way of showing they understood that it was God’s Dream for humanity that Jesus came to help poor people get back at mean rich people, a dream sadly never realize because Jesus cultural anchors of white Jewish racism was to take hold in the Christian world. Only peaceful and gentle Islam was to break free of the tyrannical Jews and their racism and have been persecuted for that ever since.

The rest of the story gets too mean but you know what happens – Jesus grows up & goes around the countryside preaching a socialistic Gospel of peace, sort of like a first-century version of conflict resolution & anger management but just like today there were mean people then who didn’t want to see poor people actually get anywhere so they killed Jesus, or he could have got married & lived in France & died of old age, we aren’t sure of that either, but it’s ok to be doubtful of everything you believe (it’s the postmodern way). The legacy of white racism and white priviledge has authored much hate and misinterpretation of Jesus message. The Pope is representative of evil racist, homophobic and all that is wrong with organized religion. The Presbyterians who want to embrace the Palestinians and boycott Caterpillar, Israel, Jews, capitalism and those who embrace the ELF (Earth Libertaion Movement) are making amends for centuries of white privilege.

Fortunately, lots of smart, trendy preachers today are getting back to Jesus’ simple message of love & world peace. They are trying to help people with all sorts of benefit concerts, ipod incentives & book sales. They see in Hugo Chavez a brown messiah who hates George Bush and what more worthy cause can there be?

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or whatever you want to celebrate – don’t worry, we won’t judge you.

For the most part, h/t The Kingdom Come

Making Time

Yesterday we noted that significant cultural, societal and religious differences may well be attributed to how different groups perceive time and

…we see and understand that we ourselves are connected with a part of history. We are part of an inter-connected chain, with cause and effect relationships. Earlier man looked skyward and understood his primary relationship was with the cosmos only.

…what separated Europeans from others was time. How we used and assimilated time to define the priorities of our culture and the priorities of our personal relationships. ‘Westerners’ made the deliberate effort to use time in a more progressive way and effective way, integrating the progressive use of time into our lives and our relationships. ‘Easterners’ chose not to do the same.

As a result, western cultures forged ahead, tying even personal relationships to time. Eastern cultures placed no such premiums on time. For example, birthdays, anniversaries, etc., are really more of a western cultural phenomena, adopted as significant by eastern cultures only recently.

The better psychosphere bloggers- Dr Sanity, Shrinkwrapped, Gagdad Bob, Neo-neocon, Assistant Village Idiot and host of others, predicate their opinions and beliefs on how those opinions and beliefs impact relationships. It is less about ideologies than it is about who benefits and who is put at risk. They base their well qualified opinions with an eye to the outcome and repercussions on society, not just today, but down the road.

For western societies and cultures, there was a time when ‘empire’ was defined by territorial conquest and dominion. For the Romans, the acquisition of empire meant increased taxation and revenue that was to flow into Rome. They saw conquered people as producing assets only. As long as tributes and taxes were collected and allegiance to Rome assured, the Romans didn’t care how you lived or who you prayed to. The compact they established with conquered nations was simple: We’ll make your lives better by giving you roads and Roman technology so that your economy will expand and we’ll collect increased taxes. The Roman Empire built roads not as monuments but rather as both long and short term investments.

The Greeks were different. They saw conquest as an opportunity to spread Greek education, aesthetics, culture, philosophy and political ideology as a primary effort. They were determined to have Greek values replace local cultures, religions and value systems or at the very least, influence local cultures and religions. The Assyrians are an example of how the Greeks influenced the nations they conquered. Paul the Apostle (born Saul) was a sort of ‘Hellenized’ Jew born in Tarsus. He was no doubt looked upon suspiciously by some Jews, notwithstanding his constant challenging the Hellinists.

Over time, western civilization was to redefine ‘empire,’ albeit slowly.

The British colonials may have benefited economically from their empire, but they also left behind a legacy. Former British colonies, including India, Pakistan, and Kenya, all have educational systems that were instituted by the colonial power and parliamentary systems of government.

Former French colonies were not so fortunate. After centuries of exploitation, those colonies were abandoned to tremendous violence which in many cases continues to this day.

In any event, ‘empire’ became synonymous with ideas and time.

The American Empire refers to the influence American ideas have throughout the world. The fall of communism was in no small measure due to the desire millions had for freedom and democracy, ideals espoused, enshrined and promulgated by this nation and exemplified by American successes. It became clear that left to determine his own efforts, the individual could and would succeed. Capitalism was and remain an ideas that address moral and philosophical truths, notwithstanding efforts by many to portray it as a cold and economic engine only (see this). Of course, the proof is in the pudding. Nations that have embraced capitalism have succeeded. Nations that have not have failed. The poorest people in a capitalist society are far better off than the poorest nations that eschew capitalism.

In western societies, time became the measure of freedom. The more time you had to devote to determining your own destiny, the freer you were. The more time and time consuming demands the state placed upon you, the more enslaved you were.

To a large extent, the Jews were responsible for how we came to view and understand time and empire. While their contribution was more intellectual and cultural, it took Christianity to make that evolution practical.

It is in how Jewish and Christian ideologies worked together to understand the relationship of time and empire that came to define the Judeo-Christian ethic.That ethic seeks to sanctify time and relationships, not land or any particular religion. Each and every hour presents an opportunity for man to ascend to a more elevated status. That is our highest calling.

For the Jews, empire was never a defining characteristic. Jews did not need a homeland or any specific piece of geography to be identified as Jews or possessing a culture. In fact, Jews had many diverse cultures defined by geographical location. There were Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews, Mizrahi Jews and derivatives thereof. What tied these disparate groups together were values. Geography played no role in their identity, save for the desire to someday return to Zion. The idea of time was important in that it was in how we spent time relating to each other in the here and now and in reinforcing community values.

Nations that were to embrace democracy and allow for religious freedom saw no need for empire. Those nations came to understand that relationships with other democracies were far more advantageous than relationships defined by colonial rule. Social, economic and political alliances forged with shared values are more enduring and productive than forced social, economic and political alliances. Time was to be used to improve the lives of all, in the here and now.

In much of the Arab and Islamic world, how time and empire are defined account for much of their failure as nation states. It must also be said that these definitions have been authored by dysfunctional leaders driven by corruption, for whom Islam is no more than a tool to be employed as a hammer.

In the Judeo-Christian ethic, time is precious in a very literal sense. Jews may be waiting for the Messiah and Christians may wait for the Second Coming, but in the end, it is in how we live with each other in the here and now that counts. In much of the Islamic world the here and now mean nothing. Everything can be sacrificed (or slaughtered) in the name of the new empire and Caliphate.

Current Islamist teaching and political ideology divide the world into two camps. Those nations that are under the flag of Islam and those nations to be brought under that flag by force. The is no ‘Swiss neutrality.’ In the Middle East, the idea that the threat of force is an option that will never be abandoned, is enshrined. The Palestinians are a prime example. They believe a viable Palestinian state can only come when Israel is destroyed. The Palestinians have sacrificed millions of meaningful lives in the here and now, all in the name of an ideology (and tyranny) that cares little for them. These leaders have no real relationship with their people. Healthy relationships address the quality of life in the here and now. As far as the Palestinians and most Arabs are concerned, it is the old style empire they covet, no matter how long they must wait and no matter how many lives are ruined in the process. They Arabs have becomes the wannabe colonialists of our time, seeking to exploit the successful nations they cannot hope to equal.

These ideas serve the ideologues and despots well. Enemies are concocted and leadership is absolved from improving the lives of their people in the here and now.

We wrote:

…This highlights another reality. In Arab cultures, there is no real reward or recognition for loving the sanctity of life. Those who profess a desire for real peace, non violence, less corruption and less oppression are considered reformers.

…Repression, oppression, terror, genocide and hate flourish. Entire populations are groomed to know only hopelessness, and not hope. There are failed economies, failed civil infrastructures and failed educational infrastructures. A child born in the Arab world today has little hope of achieving success on his own. There is little in the way of opportunities or a way out if the bleakness. There is no bright future to look forward to.

So much for ‘enlightenment.’

It's About Time

Under the skin, are we all really the same? Or, are we all really very different from each other? Can we be both the same and different, all at once? Is that really possible?

These questions are being asked and discussed because we are dealing with these very issues in our work. The answers- if there are conclusive answers- have a direct bearing on how we both perceive and address the various issues we face in the political arena.

Of course, many of those issues are clear cut. Others issues, however, are far more nuanced. Even if we factor in cultural, religious or societal differences and the influences these issues embrace, the questions remain. Are we all essentially the same, or are we all different?

Instinctive answers come easily. To the biologist, only certain strands of DNA separate us. To the anthropologists, behavior and culture separate groups. The psychological community adds to the mix by focusing on the mental and emotional processes that lead to and enable certain behaviors.

We believe that it is less important to know- or understand, even, what makes us human (that is, defined characteristics that define ‘humaness’), but rather, it is more important for us to know and understand the relationships we have with each other. How we come to understand our relationships shines the brightest light on what we see in the mirror.

That in fact, is what separates ‘modern’ man from his predecessors. We see and understand that we ourselves are connected with a part of history. We are part of an inter-connected chain, with cause and effect relationships. Earlier man looked skyward and understood his primary relationship was with the cosmos only.

It would be easy to say that first an early Christian (somewhat oppressive) and then (a milder) Judeo-Christian ethic came between European and non Europeans, and that alone distinguishes ‘western’ thought from ‘eastern’ thought, but that isn’t really true. Both the Chinese and Islam once represented forward and progressive thought, in both philosophical and scientific thought.

We believe that what separated Europeans from others was time. How we used and assimilated time to define the priorities of our culture and the priorities of our personal relationships. ‘Westerners’ made the deliberate effort to use time in a more progressive way and effective way, integrating the progressive use of time into our lives and our relationships. ‘Easterners’ chose not to do the same.

As a result, western cultures forged ahead, tying even personal relationships to time. Eastern cultures placed no such premiums on time. For example, birthdays, anniversaries, etc., are really more of a western cultural phenomena, adopted as significant by eastern cultures only recently.

No society, evolved or not, is perfect. Each generation of each society has to face their own challenges. We are not about to discuss the merits of cultures, but rather, if and how that evolution benefited society.

Which societies are more evolved is easy to discern.

With each new scientific discovery, western cultures forged ahead at breakneck speed, integrating those discoveries and ideas into daily life- and that too, influenced the nature of how we interact with each other. We came to understand that freedom benefits society more than conflict. We came to understand that societies advance and succeed without tyranny and centralized government. We came to understand we can and do make a difference, if we so choose. We in the west have the extraordinary luxury and gift of the opportunity to make and shape our own destiny.

Eastern cultures were in no rush to ’share’ their advances with the population. As a result, it was only a privileged few that benefited from the technological, scientific or philosophical advances. The notion of universal access to progress remains a non starter to this day, in many parts of the world. For much of the world’s population, destinies are written before they are even born. To this day and despite centuries of hard and empirical evidence that free societies are wealthier, healthier, more advanced and more successful societies, there are cultures and societies that operate under the rules of conflict and confrontation, backwardness and illiteracy.

What is remarkable is that these differences in societies and cultures have come to be regarded as cultural diversity or cultural differences, as opposed to optional cultural evolution. This is a smokescreen- camouflage, really, designed to obscure the reality that relationships in some societies identify those societies as lesser, or failed societies.

The better psychosphere bloggers- Dr Sanity, Shrinkwrapped, Gagdad Bob, Neo-neocon, Assistant Village Idiot and host of others, predicate their opinions and beliefs on how those opinions and beliefs impact relationships. It is less about ideologies than it is about who benefits and who is put at risk. They base their well qualified opinions with an eye to the outcome and repercussions on society, not just today, but down the road.

For example, non of the aforementioned bloggers resist or reject classic liberalism. The relationships that are a part of classic liberalism, benefited the country in historic and spectacular fashion. Classic liberalism broke barriers, was a foundation of inter religious dialogue and spurred American values all over the globe. The Peace Corps wasn’t about celebrating ‘cultural diversity’- it was about bringing modern technology to those who were deprived of access. It was about making medicines available to all, not about midnight Wiccan Priestess healing rituals or Shaman remedies. Superstitions were not ‘cultural differences- they were superstitions. Ignorance was about lack of access, not ‘profound tribal cultures.’ The same people who loudly deride western believers are only too quick to embrace the faithful from anywhere else, no matter how violent, vicious, bigoted or crude.

Our society was and remains advanced and we have always wanted to share the riches of our advancement. We respected other cultures and beliefs- to say otherwise is absurd. We learned tolerance of others in our own back yard, the American melting pot. It is only those that fear empowering people with education, freedom and allowing them to have a say in their own destiny, that resent us.

Sadly, very little of that is true of today’s left. Helping people is only relevant if there is a political payoff at the end, either here or abroad. Plainly said, if the cost of helping others might result in their empowerment of those formerly disenfranchised or the choice of a free government, the left isn’t interested. There are no real relationships- only those based on self interest motivate today’s left. They have left Classic Liberalism in a shambles. It is almost extinct.

Even as they left celebrates Hugo Chavez, they do not extend any effort into helping impoverished Venezuelans. They, like the victims in Darfur, are only an impediment to achieving their agenda, a ‘people’s paradise.’ That kind of irony is not lost on any of the psychosphere bloggers.

In an email exchange and discussion on the subject, Dr Sanity noted the following: What distinguishes western civilization from the civilizations which historically preceded it, is a firmer grasp of and appreciation of time consciousness. The complex relationship of life, death and time is a fundamental aspect of Man’s very existence; of reality and even the entire universe (life, the universe, and everything?). Attempts to unravel the complexity of time’s impact on our existence are at the core of philosophy, religion, and science. The nature of time occupies such a central place in human experience–we are born, we grow, we form relationships with other humans, we create new life, we age, we die–we forget that it is actually an essential part all life. What makes our humanness different, what we as a species share that is not present in other species, is the nature of the relationships we form with other humans in that space of time between the beginning and the end of life. The human mind is capable of appreciating the inevitability and nuances of time as no other species is. It is because there is a beginning and an end–i.e., that time flows forward AND WE KNOW IT, that such concepts such as individual freedom and the pursuit of happiness were able to develop. What is freedom but the human imperative to structure one’s own time between birth and death? How one structures the time between determines how intimate relationships and even entire societies and cultures evolve. Those individuals or groups who desire to structure other people’s time are actually throwbacks to an earlier era in human evolution when our ancestors lived in a primitive, time unconscious state, dependent on and subservient to the collective. It seems to me that our essential freedoms–freedom of speech, freedom of association etc., are all concepts that depend entirely on the freedom to structure our own time. Ensuring that all other individuals have the same opportunity to structure their time elevates our own time by giving it a meaning beyond our own individual lives.

Tomorrow, we will continue the conversation, looking at some of the Arab and Islamic world and how the struggles to redefine time and relationships are impacting those societies.

Portion of this post have been previously published.

Progress And Failure: Part Two

The following is the second in a series. See the Progress and Failure:Introduction and Progress And failure:Part One.

Emotional stability comes about as the result of inner conflict.

In order to be healthy, we must find that exquisite balance between conflicting drives. On the primal level, we seek survival and pleasure. Beyond that, we know seek to coexist with each other and find love. We want to lead productive lives, free of fear and conflict. At our most elevated level, we seek a spiritual and even transcendental experience. These drives are not unique to one culture or another. The conflict between these competing drives is universal.

The level of anxiety we each face is directly related to how we relate to and integrate these conflicting drives. How we relate to others is determined by the drive that dominates our behavior. We can be kind and sharing or we can be cold and selfish. Our behavior is dictated by our nature, or that drive that dominates our emotional stability.

Therapists and students of human nature understand those most deeply hurt by our struggle with our competing drives are children. Childhood is a passage. If children share their lives with healthy adults and in a healthy society, chances are they will grow up to be healthy adults. If they are subjected to an unhealthy adult and an unhealthy cultural environment, chances are they will grow up broken. There is not a therapist who has not had to deal with children that have grown up and have to rebuild shattered lives and heal. For those who do not even make the attempt, the cycle will repeat itself. Victims becomes the victimizers.

For all of us, the story we share is the same. We spend a lifetime struggling with the different forces and drives that shape who we are and the choices we make.

Philosophers and scientists are engaged in what is an almost eternal struggle. Who are we, really? Which of our drives is most dominant? Which is most powerful? Which is most influential?

Most would say that our primal desires to live and survive is the most powerful influence in our lives. Certainly, this is fundamental to Darwinian theory and in no small measure.

The best argument to support Darwin’s evolutionary model envelopes that belief. The most basic and primal human drive is survival, the same drive shared by by every other species. Darwin posits that the ability to adapt to a changing physical environment determines the evolutionary success of a species to survive.

It is important to note that Darwin’s principal works addressed evolution and adaptation in strictly physical terms. The notion of applying the principles of evolution to human behavior was deliberately not in the Darwinian model.

The idea of ’social Darwinism,’ that notion of the ’survival of the fittest,’ was embraced by those who sought to explain the unequal distribution of wealth and European (and American) colonial and technological successes. The idea of social Darwinism justified the expansion of global European influence. Those who were poor, technologically backward and politically disadvantaged were perceived as failures in what was the Darwinian theory of competition for adaptation and survival. To the proponents of social evolution at the time, helping, educating or even aiding others less advanced was a useless endeavor- and counter evolutionary. Powerful and wealthy individuals (and nations) did not need to feel guilty about their wealth or excesses. Their wealth and power was an example of social Darwinism at work. If we take what is today’s interpretation of Darwinian theory as inviolate, that argument still stands.

What is and isn’t social Darwinism is debated to this day.

While what distinguishes man from animal are many, one of the most important distinctions is the concept of time. We, unlike animals can learn from our past and we are aware of our future and how we can shape that future. Animals live in the here and now. They may have been conditioned to adapt to various changing conditions, but that is not the same as having a history or learning from that history.

One can argue as to whether or not animals possess a kind of ego that facilitates their adaptability, but it is clear that man is alone is in possession of a superego, a moral center. The superego is the repository for parental, societal and cultural values and rules- the very rules that reflect the past, present and future needs of human society and culture. It is the uniquely human awareness of time that creates the borders in which the superego is contained.

Another way to look at what differentiates man from animal is as follows. Animal behavior is motivated by instinct- ‘I want. and I want it now.’ Man too, shares that primal identity but in addition, he has another, more complex identity. A primal part of his identity can be defined as ‘I am,’ that part of us that says, ‘this is what I believe, see what I have created, I want to learn, I want to explore, I want to teach and I want to heal. I am unique and I can make a difference’ etc. This too, is a recognition and awareness of time- past present and future.

Sigmund Freud (inadvertently!) made it very clear that we are more than animals. We each have an id, that unconscious and ever demanding part of us that wants all our desires sated. The id is all about pleasure or what pleases us, all the time. The id part of ourselves has no consideration for anyone else, their well being or safety or the well being or safety of others.

We also have an ego,’that rational part of ourselves that is aware of our environment and helps us to regulate the id’s unbridled desires. The ego negotiates our existence within a community. The ego also recognizes that not all the demands made by the id will be met. The ego also negotiates between the id and the superego, that part of a human being that is embraces a moral code that is an integral part of the human mind.

As we noted earlier, who we are is defined by the constant struggle in which we all engage. We can be dominated by our wants and desires (id) or we can be defined by our desire to share and extend our morality (superego). The battle is endless and the umpire (ego) is always exhausted. All of behaviors, thoughts and even emotions are the result of the conflict and interaction between the id, ego and superego. This all leads to a kind of never ending inner conflict is always opaque- and the result is anxiety that yields all kinds of defense mechanisms.

Thus an individual’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are the result of the interaction of the id, the ego, and the superego. This creates conflict, which leads to anxiety, which in turn generates all types of defense mechanisms. Nevertheless, despite the struggle and tensions within each of us, it appears that our dominant is not just to survive, but to leave our world a better place. Unlike animals, we also want to be remembered- not just for having existed, but for using our minds, exploring and for the contributions we make to the world around us.

All cultures and societies embrace heroes.

We identify with heroes and we want to be just like them- we see in the them the best of ourselves (our superego compass, perhaps). When we are young, our heroes are brash and always courageous, fighting off foes with great bravado to great cheers. As we get older, we come to understand the nuances of what real heroism is. Mother Teresa, our fourth grade teacher and the family members from which we learn so much become our heroes. The real heroes ask little from us, preferring instead to do what they do best. They seek no recognition and no advancement for their efforts. Real heroes seek only to enable others to survive and thrive.

Real heroes hold open the door to progress. They show us that we can be better, we can do more and that there are no limits to what we can accomplish if we so desire.

In a forward and civilized society, real heroes are those for whom commitment to the elevation and dignity of themselves and others are paramount. In a failed or broken society, heroes are measured by how much they destroy and by how much they hate.

A culture or society that venerates Mother Teresa, firemen and fourth grade teachers is very different from a society that anoints suicide bombers, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Bashar Assad, et al, as heroes. Even the most evil and repressive of ‘heroes’ are considered sacred.The cultures and societies that venerate those kind of heroes produce nothing of value to mankind. In fact, they are regressive- and a regressive society is a failed society.

Real heroes conquer their own consuming passions and addictions so as to better their own lives and the lived of those around them. The heroes of broken and regressive societies seek only to feed their own dysfunctions and lust for power and control.

The Middle East is the canvas on which we can clearly see the kind of heroes the different societies produce and why. In most of the Arab world, it is the primal id demands that are most influential, yielding the most vicious kinds of ‘heroes,’ to the exclusion of almost everything else. Israel is a society that produces heroes of an altogether different sort. Israel is at the fore in providing aid, medical treatment and emergency assistance of all kinds, all over the globe.

The heroes of a progressive culture and society retreat from conflict whenever possible. Real heroes engage in conflict when necessary to preserve the safety and well being of their community. The heroes of broken and regressive societies seek conflict, real or imagined, to fend off progress and to promote dysfunction and hate.

In next part of this series, we will more closely examine the kinds of societies that produces the different kinds of heroes. This is no small matter. Notwithstanding the last 200 years of human progress driven by the engines of the Enlightenment, the advances in sciences, technology, communications and our advances in understanding of the human mind, we were to engage in the bloodiest conflicts in recorded history.

Portions of this post have been previously published.

Progress And Failure, Part One

In Progress And Failure: An Introduction, we asked,

Why do some cultures and societies progress while others do not? Why does it appear that progress is inevitable in some societies and virtually unlikely in others?

When all is said and done, those are the questions that in fact, define the great divide in our world. There are nations that are as different as night and day that are first world nations and there are nations who share language, similar culture and religion and who live side by, and are vastly different from each other.

Today, we will begin our discussion.

In a modern, progressive society, failure is the most accurate predictor of success. Where failures are understood to be instructive and corrective in nature, societies flourish. In cultures where failure is always regarded only as a source of shame, embarrassment or humiliation, societies usually cannot sustain themselves.

Not all shame based societies regard failure as an all encompassing catastrophe- just the opposite, in fact. Japan, Korea, China and much of the Far East are shame based cultures. Nevertheless, they place an even greater value on success- that is, the culture of achievement. The Asian emphasis on study has assumed mythological proportions.

The Arab world, by virtue of dysfunctional leadership and ‘religious’ instruction, sees failure as catastrophic, a source of overwhelming shame and humiliation. With no cultural examples of success those failures are always intensified and magnified by way of comparison. We noted,

As far the Arab world was concerned, the establishment of the Jewish state, in their neighborhood and on their watch, was indeed a catastrophic event. In fact, it was cataclysmic, because Israel was undeniable evidence that the rise and domination of the Islamic world, led by the Arabs was indeed over. Notwithstanding Arab failures for over a thousand years, the establishment of Israel was a truth that not even the Arab world could deny. That catastrophe worsened as Israel ascended into the first world and they fell even further behind…

…Israel not only reflects Arab failure, she also reflects the successes 0f western ideologies and western predicates for success. The Arabs would have you believe that the rejection of western successes are justified by saying they are rejecting the western culture and values that are anathema to Muslims…

The genesis of the all enveloping culture of failure that typify the Arab world are the symptoms of a society with no outlet to self correct. It is at this point that momentum drives the dysfunction. Frustration leads to self hatred and ever escalating rage, which only serves to highlight the inability to maintain self control. The inability to maintain self control is anathema to learning, an endear that requires self discipline. The enveloping rage boils over into a vicious self hatred, because that rage only serves to highlight an inability to maintain self control- and that inability to maintain self control cannot help but be compared with societies and cultures that can and do maintain that self control. In all cases however, conflict is a mirror that reflects a comparison between the players, one in which the progress, failures and true character of the players and even the conflict itself, emerge.

We know that children want to imitate and please their parents. This is how they learn.

For example, there comes a point when a parent who feeds a child notes that the child will reach out and want to feed the parent. This action represents an awareness of the ‘other’ and an innate desire to please (as feeding pleases the child). As the child grows older, he or she imitates the parents by way of wanting to ‘help.’ The child wants to be in the company of his or her parents and engage in the same behavior. This desire to imitate is so strong that children are enamored of toys that let them replicate adult behaviors. Dolls, tools, cooking implements and the like are equally if not more as popular than fantasy toys. As the child learns to creatively play with the toys, he or she is applauded for that creativity by their parents.

In the western and Asian world, this is all a benign part of the learning experience. Inappropriate behavior (i.e., violence) is corrected or channeled into an appropriate outlet (sports).

The Arab world is very different. A child learns that violence towards others is not only appropriate but expected and rewarded. In this way, inappropriate behavior is integrated into the child’s reality. From an early age, a child learns that hate towards another pleases the parent and that by imitating and even exceeding the parents hate, a child will be rewarded and applauded. These kinds of behaviors are carefully cultivated and exploited. Television shows for children, educational curriculum and religious instruction are all designed to elicit hate, which is then applauded. A parent who might be uncomfortable with such blatant exploitation of children is marginalized and is considered outside the cultural mainstream.

This kind of society has been carefully cultivated. It is not by accident that these societies see themselves as ‘victims’ of others, rather than self created failures. In an age where comparisons are easily come by, there must be a reason for their failures other than themselves. This is where religion comes in. It is the ‘Will of Allah’ or they are engaged in a holy war with Jews and Christians. In the Arab world, Islam is more about magic than it is about reason. This is profoundly different from the doctrines (as opposed to dogma) of Judaism or Christianity today.

The role of religion in the successes and failures of societies must be understood. In the Judeo-Christian ethic, religion teaches adherents to deal with the complexities and even the inequalities of life. They are given the tools to deal with their own reality. Religious instruction is meant to teach the individual to make choices, because it is understood that empowering the individual empowers the faith. Choices that are freely arrived at rather than imposed are far more likely to be meaningful and significant choices.

In the Arab world, religion is used to dis-empower the individual. A free thinking, empowered individual is a dangerous to the regime. State approved political operatives, masquerading as religious teachers, preach that life is black or white and that all decisions for the ummah will be made by them, because the ummah is incapable of doing so for themselves (”There are conspiracies the ummah knows nothing about and therefor do not know what is best for them”). The frenzied rage is cultivated and orchestrated by these phony religious authorities. The individual is expected to submit him or herself willingly, not to Allah, but to the agendas and ideologies of these failed regimes and dysfunctional ideologues. Arabs continue to willingly prostrate themselves to failure.

Societies and culture where failure is understood to be a part if the learning experience are healthy, creative and innovative societies. Cultures and societies where failures are a source of identity, shame or frustration, are hidden and not tolerated, are failed, stunted and dull societies.

In our next installment, we will discuss progress that build upon the past and the post modernist ideology that deliberately seeks to exclude the past, as exemplified by the philosophical differences between Francis Fukuyama and Marshall Berman.

Just Like Us?

A recent poll by the BBC indicates that Israel, Iran and the United States are nations that have the most negative influence in the world.

Inexplicably, Canada, with Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper at the helm in Ottawa, is the nation rated most positively- despite Mr Harper’s close ties and support of the United States and Israel.

So much for the polls.

That said, polls such as the BBC effort are useful, in that they are indicators of the emperor’s wardrobe. They serve to reinforce the reality that westerners in particular are under the ether when it comes to really understanding the world we live in.

In particular, as the Middle East pot is perceived to be boiling over and out of control, it is important to know the players- what they stand for and what motivates them. To look forward, we also have to look back and analyze past behaviors- especially those behaviors that obfuscate reality and influence our perceptions.

Israel does not need it’s morality assessed by dysfunctional regimes or equally dysfunctional Arab ‘intellectuals’ or apologists in the west. She is the only democracy in the region and despite facing existential threats from a bevy of some of the most immoral nations for almost 60 years, she thrives.

Israel does not need her morality assessed by leftists that resent her democratic tendencies. Shrinkwrapped writes in Maneuvering Between The Headlines,

The liberal credo has always been that if we treat people well and follow the Golden Rule, they will treat us well. It would be wonderful if the this were true. It is an extraordinary leap into a blind abyss for a liberal to recognize that no matter how you treat some people they will always want to harm you. What the Palestinians have done is manage to convince the Israelis is that they will never accept the existence of the state of Israel; that they prefer murdering Jewish children to building a home for their own children; they exalt the murderous suicides more than those who would try to teach liberal tolerance to their own people.

The Arabs and leftists will go to great lengths to camouflage those truths. Writing in the Arab News, Linda Heard says that Israel Should Embrace The Arab Peace Plan:

Israel is concerned about maintaining a demographic balance so that Jews outnumber non-Jews. Fears are that should there be more Arab Israelis than Jewish Israelis Israel would no longer be able to label itself a Jewish state and would have to fend off calls for a one-state solution.

No Ms Heard, Israel and the civilized world are not so much concerned with a ‘one state solution’ as they are worried about wholesale slaughter, as promised by the religious leaders of her patrons, the Saudis, the rest of the Arab world and the Palestinians themselves. Israel is concerned that ‘Itbach Al Yahud!’- Slaughter the Jews! is an acceptable expression of religious and political expression in the Arab world. Israel is concerned Holocaust denial is most loudly heard from by the same people who ‘promise to finish what Hitler started. Israel is concerned about what is taught in Arab world schools, broadcast on Arab world media and preached from Arab world pulpits.

Ms Heard can pretend as mightily as she can that the Arab world, Israel and the west are all moral equivalents, but in the end, you can’t make reality go away no matter how many times you click your heels.

The Arab worlds’ biggest enemy isn’t Israel. It is video and audio tape.

Shrinkwrapped goes on to say,

The logic of liberalism is that it is better to accept more Israeli deaths if it will better foster peace than to risk inconvenience or humiliation of Palestinians. Most Israelis have rejected this for perfectly valid reasons. The separation wall is a last ditch attempt by Israel to avoid following the logic of warfare (in fact, less than 5% of the security boundary is a wall. The other 95% is a fence- SC&A). If the wall does not prevent an unacceptable threshold of Israeli deaths from being crossed, the war will devolve into an existential fight to the death not just for Israel, but for the Arabs as well..

Under tyrannical regimes with no hope for a future for themselves or for their children, it isn’t hard to understand how so many otherwise rational people would be intoxicated with the idea of a meaningful life by fighting for a ’cause,’ bought and paid for by regimes with a vested interest in keeping rage and attention focused outward. These regimes go with the tried and true- make Israel and the Jews the enemy, not only of the Palestinians but the enemy of Islam as well. Throw in a few wild conspiracy theories, a harsh repressive police force and the road to maintaining power in the region is assured. Make sure the media, school curriculum’s and carefully chosen clergy that can be bought and paid for easily, will spew hate, bigotry and revisionism on demand and populations that number millions, will come out and march for you. Why? Because they believe that an ideology or religion that bestows upon them even a contrived notion superiority and meaning is more than they can ever hope for in their real lives. Add a few cameras, wave the flag and millions upon millions will thank their leaders for their oppression.

Of course, leftists, like Arab leaders, will say that what we see unfolding before our very eyes is ‘relative.’ We need to see and understand those events in ‘context.’ That is why they are so busy redefining and revising events even as we see them. We are unable to to interpret events we see. We cannot ‘understand’ reality- and so, mythical conspiracy theories need to be promulgated.

If 9/11 was the result of radical Islamism alone, the political ideologies that birthed that kind of terror needs to be seen for the failure and danger those kind of ideologies really present. Both the Arab world and leftists have too much invested in their ideologies to allow that to happen. To see 9/11 for the expression it really was, is to weaken decades of Arab and leftist ideologies and thus weaken the hold those ideologies hold. Thus, the conspiracy theory. ‘It wasn’t us, it was them.’

Of course, the conspiracy theory is presented as ‘fact’ and subjecting those ‘facts’ to scrutiny is verbotten. To suggest otherwise is almost tantamount to treason. Instead, the focus is placed on our response. Our antagonists must be held blameless- it is we that must be excoriated.

Again, Shrinkwrapped, in The Suicidal Pursuit Of Perfection:

They insist that the world should be the way they want it to be, and further, try to force others to collude with them in imagining the world is the way they wish. If they win one victory, they need to escalate; this is the logic of the pursuit of perfection. Thus, if the administration agrees to allow lawyers to visit inmates in Guantanamo, they cannot be satisfied, but then must escalate to demanding full rights of access to the American legal system. If they ever were to become successful at getting people to agree with them, their logic insists that the West effectively disarm; we must stop all NSA intercepts, stop monitoring Mosques and other locations, and maintain the inviolability of personal privacy from any government intrusion. Because their true demands are so extreme, they can only face marginalization by pressing their agenda; further, if they truly cared about civil liberties, they would find a way to compromise because the greatest risk to civil liberties would be posed by a second attack on the scale of 9/11 or worse. Were such an attack to occur, all notions of acceptable limits of governmental intrusion would be jettisoned, with the agreement of the vast majority of the American people. In either case, whether they win or lose the current argument, they ultimately must lose.

One must note that those who would deny us effective measures so as to protect ourselves, also are the greatest apologists and supporters of those who have already done us harm- and would do so again, given the chance, by their own addmission. In conjunction with their attempts at hamstringing our efforts at self preservation, current events are immediately recast so as to as to limit the magnitude of the threat. We are the problem. Israel is the problem. Iran is the problem, but only because of Israel and the United States.

There is a more serious aspect to the recasting of events. In addition to the clear deception and propaganda efforts ( see Dr Sanity here for an excellent look at how propoganda works).

Shrinkwrapped goes on to note

The fact that those who cry loudest about the Bush administration abusing civil liberties (in the absence of any real evidence for specific abuses) are doomed to lose no matter what the outcome, is evidence that they are expressing, through often elegant and elaborate rationalizations, a true self-destructive wish which is hidden and unrecognized. The fact that they are willing to risk the lives of others in order to hold onto their ideological position is further evidence of the aggression that contaminates their purity of vision (emp- SC&A)

Clarity is essential. For the left, these self destructive tendencies are the westernized version of Jihad and martyrdom that threatens our own existence. Islamist Jihadism is focused outward. The leftist equivalent is focused inwards.

Dr Sanity seems to agree. In Democrat Insurgents, Dead Enders And Terrorist Enablers, she challenges the left to explore real self examination, though she remains pessimistic:

…that would require insight and a willingness to examine their own motivations–and the revelations that would result are unacceptable to their self-concept.

In the same way that Muslim Jihadis reflect no more than a superficial and simplistic expression of Islamic ‘pride,’ so too do the western Jihadis who express hatred for all things western (including the notions of freedom) until you attempt to take it away from them. It is at that point the western Jihadis will demand their rights and freedoms with more fervor than than the NRA demands the right to bear arms.

In the end, the leftists embrace a myopic belief system with shallow roots. They, like the other Jihadis, are engaged in nothing more than a self serving ideology fueled by the same self loathing. In the self absorbed and upside down world in which they lives, there are those on the left that are confident that no matter what their excesses, carnage and death they helped bring about or supported, they can sleep easy in the knowledge they will be forgiven, because ‘they meant well.’

That is why the leftists feel no guilt in excoriating Israel. The Jews of this generation have proved they will defend themselves with great fervor and if another Holocaust were to occur, the leftists can say,

How sad, how tragic. We meant well. If only they had submitted willingly to the racism, bigotry and hate of the nations for whom Mein Kampf is a gospel, all of this might have been avoided.

We are forgiven, of course, because we meant well.
Right?

For many on the left, nothing is more meaningful than a Holocaust (of people, pets, plants or Conservatives). Not even preventing one at home or anywhere else.

Not even the dysfunctional Arab world is so detached from reality. Their hate is on the surface.

The gentle, refined, poetic and pained artistic souls of the left want life to imitate their self expressive art, truth and reality be damned. For the leftist, fighting evil has made us evil.

For the leftist, terror is a violent expression and reaction to injustice by oppressed people. This definition of acceptable terrorism is applicable only to leftist terrorists and always implies a just cause and is therefore justification of the terrorist act. It is the cause that determines the nature of terror.

Timothy McVeigh killed far fewer people in Oklahoma City than have leftist terrorists, yet he is regarded by leftists as a ‘rightist’ personified. His cause was unacceptable to the left. That said, to the leftists, bombing Passover meals or Jewish weddings is a perfectly acceptable kind of terror. Bombing weddings in Jordan is not acceptable terror.

Fighting injustice is one of the noblest calls of mankind. To fight injustice is to respond to that call. It is in how justice is fought that we can determine the validity and morality of those engaged in that battle.

The leftists and the Arab world have made clear how they will address grievances.

The bigoted, racist and hate filled school curricula, media and religious ideologies foisted on the Arab world by dysfunctional leaders have become an integral part of Arab culture and failure. There is no amount of dancing can hide that reality

From Maneuvering Between The Headlines:

The point cannot be made more clearly or succinctly. To not recognize there are bad people out there, is to be a fool, living in the Ashram of Intellectual Irrelevance.

The morality of the Israelis is very different from that of the Palestinians and their Arab supporters.

We have noted that

Irrespective of the cause, even a cause seemingly just, killing is never the goal. The cost of a military victory is understood. Eisenhower and other Allied generals visited the Death Camps and wept, and then went into the coldest rage a human can muster- unlike their German counterparts, who posed for pictures and laughed at the plight of the 30 million dead souls. The heirs to the Nazis, the Islamists have posed for pictures with the heads of those they have decapitated. Palestinians bare bloodied hands, some holding human entrails, of Israelis they have butchered. They have filmed themselves kicking a decapitated head about on a field, as if it were just another soccer field. All the while, mosques celebrate these barbarities with music and sweet pastries.

We do not kill with joy. We do not place civilians, or schoolchildren or the sick an infirm in harms way. We do not engage an enemy, hiding behind children. We develop weapons that are ever more accurate. Others develop weapons with labratory developed poisons that can be ever more widely dispersed- and they have used them.

To kill with joy and to celebrate death, is to disregard God. To commit terror and celebrate the deaths of innocents, is to dishonor God and to refute his Dominion. Those who disregard His message corrupt and debase His message. Those who find justification or apology for such acts, or blame the victim, disgrace themselves and their faith. In the assembly of believers, they accomplish nothing but to shame themselves and their communities.

Terrorists have families and mothers. While that is an absolute truth, that in no way means terrorists are just like us, no matter how mightily leftists want us to believe that.

Portions of this post have been previously published.

The Dark Side Of God

There is a dark side to God and Faith. When we acknowledge that, we are faced with questions that are hard to fathom and and even harder to answer. We want to ignore them, or pretend the issues aren't there. Religious wars aren't new. Death imposed- murder- welcomed in the name of God, isn't a new phenomena.

There is an important reality that needs clarification. There is no such thing as religious violence. There is only violence committed in the name of religion. We will discuss that later.

Notwithstanding the violence and admonitions to violence in the Bible, there is one inescapable truth: God did not create man and this world, so that we might destroy each other and ourselves.

That means that biblical admonitions to violence must be viewed in context and not in a vacuum. In stark opposition to biblical violence are those ideals and standards that compromise the guideposts to which we strive. The bible is clear- violence is a small part of the reality our lives. By contrast, the bible is the guidebook to day to day living with each other.We are to help each other, nourish each other and support each other. If we accept that our mission on this earth is not to destroy each other, then we must accept as truth that the principal part of our lives is to be spent living in peace and harmony. We are all connected, each of us. The accumulation of our contributions are what define us as a community. Those that do not contribute, exclude themselves from that community, of course- and that weakens the community in general. It is our collective mission to bring light into this world, not darkness.

This of course, in antithetical to notions of Jihad and Crusade. Implicit in those provocative words, is the reality that in the past, those words were also defined as violence committed in the name of religion- and the ensuing forced conversions.

Christianity has learned the lesson. There are no offensive wars fought for in the name of God. It is true that Christian and other nations are at war- but they do not fight for a specific religion. We, and they, fight for the truth, that all men are free and deserve to be free. We fight for the human dignity that God has bestowed on each of us. At times, we struggle mightily against our adversaries, as in Iraq and Afghanistan. At other times, we do not fight hard enough, as in Darfur.

The wars we fight are not just inequities. They are an impediment to our progress, that part of us that strives to "beat our swords into plowshares." The unabashed and frenzied bigotry belie any lessons we have learned. "Am I my brothers keeper?" is drowned out in cacophony of visceral hatred. There are no brothers, to some. We are kept from our growth, spiritual and moral, by the hate.

Mankind is supposed to progress- it is the natural way. We are supposed to learn from our past. Most of us do, some don't. For example, it should be inconceivable that the history of the latter half of the 20th century would repeat itself- yet clearly, there are those, who in the name of religion, issue clarion calls to destroy and to hate. More disturbing is that there are people responding to those calls to hate.

It is in this context that we can understand the biblical call to violence. We are not called to violence in vacuum, but rather, in context. If we do not respond to that call, then we fail not just God, but more importantly, ourselves, our community and our future. We are called to rid the world of evil, so that we- and good, might thrive even further. We are never called to violence to promote false religious or political agendas. Those who promote false religious or political agendas try to do so by co-opting God. They claim to speak for God- as if God could not speak for himself, as if those deceivers could reinterpret God's words.

As we noted earlier, Justice is not a simple matter.

Even when it God that dispenses that Justice and decrees that life or liberty need be taken, Justice is dispensed somberly and without joy. Indeed, there is even sorrow.

We know that even when fighting for what is right, there is sorrow in the Heavens. Violence is never without cost- even when prescribed by God. Why? Because that violence is antithetical to our purpose- and if we have put ourselves in a situation in which we must engage in violence, we will be called to task. David, was precluded by God from building the Temple because he 'had blood on his hands.' Even the legacy of David, the Psalmist, could not trump the legacy of David, the warrior. Instead, the task of building the House of God fell upon his son, Solomon.

Despite the violence and evil, we are capable of the highest of human ideals- mercy, forgiveness and love. In a history replete with wars, mankind still produced art. With a history of so much hate, much of manikind still strives for idealistic causes. That is our legacy- and that is our natural state.

We have often said that cultures and religions are measured by what they contribute and not by what they destroy.

Our adversaries, by deeds, actions and own admission, have destroyed much and wish to destroy even more. They wish to upend the truth that we are not meant to destroy each other. We do not go to war easily. Indeed, we wish peace with our neighbors. peace by definition, means equality, a live and let live culture. Our adversaries want peace based on our capitulation to an evil that destroys and hates.

That is an evil we must fight. It is from that darkness that light emerges.

Portions of this post have been previously published.