'God in heaven, Hitler on earth' And Other Arab World Peculiarities

From an article by Thomas Schmidinger, translated from the German:

…In Syria Hitler got so popular that you could hear the call “bala misyu bala mister, fi s-sama’Allah al-’ard Hitler” (…God in heaven, Hitler on earth) [emp-SC&A].

Sami al-Gundi, one of the founding leaders of the Syrian Ba’th-Party described the athmosphere of the thirties like that: “We were all racists, we admired National Socialism, read its books and the sources of its ideas. [...] Who lived in Damascus at that time can understand the inclination of the Arab people towards Nazism, because it was the power who could become the pioneer of our Arab cause. And who is defeated loves the victorious…”

The irony of Arab world obsession with Nazism (and their projection on Israel) is not lost on most of the civilized world. All the frenzied Arab outrage at the Israeli incursion into Gaza and attempts to make Israel the villain are absurd. There is little mention of the thousands of rockets fired into Israel prior to the Hamas ‘truce’ or the decades long and incessant racism, bigotry and calls to genocide.

It matters not one bit that Hamas came to power by way of free election, anymore than it mattered that Adolph Hitler made his way to power by way of free elections. Had the civilized world taken action and eliminated Hitler and his coterie of evil, 50 million people would be alive today.

President Obama must take care not to come across as an American TV commercial and nothing more. His message cannot be trite or play into the hands of those who would manipulate our nation or freedom. He cannot be drawn int0 negotiating with the deepest dysfunctions of the Arab world, the mantra of deceit repeated over and over:

Negotiate with Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran, that is good American foreign policy...negotiate with Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran, that is good American foreign policy... negotiate with Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran, that is good American foreign policy...

Negotiating with Hamas or Iran is not like negotiating with Australia. The reality that Hamas and Iran are sponsors of terror and even worse, they glorify terror. They will not see the light, even if we stopped 'humiliating' them and started 'respecting' them.

Prior to WWII, Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles, rearmed Germany to the extreme, beat the drums of war and put that nation on a war footing. The Europeans, loathe to fight another war recalling the horrors of WWI, did everything they could to avoid another conflagration. Europe turned a blind eye after Hitler waltzed into Czechoslovakia and took the Sudetenland. They believed him when he said ‘that was all he wanted, to correct past injustices suffered by the German ethnic minority.’

Chamberlain, the gold medal champion of European denial and psychopathy, went to Berlin and met with ‘civilized’ Hitler to much newsreel fanfare. He returned home to an adoring crowd, waving a piece of paper 'signed by Herr Hitler.’ There was to be no war, Chamberlain assured a nervous nation and continent. In fact, he soothed European fears and declared, ‘There will be peace in our time.’

European reticence to deal with Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party firmly and definitively was to cost the world fifty million lives.

Neville Chamberlain bent over backwards to appease Adolph Hitler. He was idolized by the left in the UK and the Nazi sympathizers before the war. Despite his ‘good intentions’ and ‘well meaning,’ the former British Prime Minister today is today reviled and thought of as a naive fool. Chamberlain proved that people cannot be talked out of evil. Once the 'hearts and minds' have accepted evil, the only way to rid them of that evil is by making it impossible for them to impose that evil on others.

Both the Iranian and Palestinian regimes have sponsored publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and have made antisemitism a cornerstone of their respective societies, manifested in media, education and religious instruction.

Like the Nazis before them, the Iranian and Palestinian regimes will never be considered as equals by us as as long as hate dominates their political agenda, culture and society. Unlike Neville Chamberlain before him, President Obama must make clear that appeasement and dressing apes up in tuxedos is a useless endeavor.

Mr Obama would do well to take a long, hard look at those who propose to dance with him.

Memo To President Obama: A Middle East Primer

To: President Barack Obama

From: The Policy Wonks

Have you ever wondered why there were never any Palestinian demonstrations against the building of the Israeli settlements? Can you imagine the PR value of a hundred little blue eyed school girls, sitting in the road, shaking in feigned terror as they blocked bulldozers?

The reason those images never materialized is because PA ministers own the construction companies that build the apartments. Israeli settlements are being built by Palestinian companies, owned by PA ministers and big wigs- including Hamas big shots. They are in no rush for a peace deal- the Israelis always pay , other Arabs don’t. It’s been going on for years and the matter has barely been discussed in the Arab press. ‘Cementgate,’ as the scandal was referred to, is no longer on the Arab media agenda. Settlements are built because Arab construction companies promise they wil be built on time and on schedule.

The 'peace process' has never been about negotiating for peace. It has been about negotiating and legitimizing the pervasive corruption and bigotry. If the Palestinians 'negotiate' away Israel, they are negotiating their way to perpetual poverty- a disaster for the corrupt Palestinian 'leadership.' Senator Obama, will your 'negotiations' center around usurping the Palestinian corruption and instititionlized racism, bigotry and hate, so that real peace might be arrived at?

In Saudi Arabia, state approved and employed Imams talk about how it is incumbent on Muslims to rape and take as slaves, Jewish and Christian women and girls. We have open and ongoing relationships with the Saudis. They are comfortable espousing their beliefs with no fear of repercussion. Senator Obama, will your negotiations with the Saudis address these ugly realities?

We have open dialogue with the Saudis, Gulf Arabs, Egypt and Jordan and yet the Muslim world has done nothing as the tragedy in Darfur continues to be ignored. Hundreds of thousands have died at the hands of the Arab militia Janjaweed- and not before the women are raped as the Janjaweed women sing. Senator Obama, will your 'negotiations' make a difference? Over a million died in Rwanda as a result of protracted negotiations. How will your negotiations be different?

Senator Obama, let's go back to the Palestinians. The negotiating team suggests you are read Who Is Samir Kuntar? by Shrinkwrapped. he clarifies and puts into perspective, exactly who it is the Palestinians consider heroes. Here is an excerpt:

I emphasized the joy and hatred in their voices for a reason. It is hard for anyone with normal sensibilities to comprehend how someone can feel joy and hatred while smashing in the head of a 4 year old child. What kind of pathology can cause a society to celebrate such evil? The myth of the poor, wretched Palestinians, driven to suicide bombings by despair, persists among the foolish of the West. For Palestinians, murderers are not wretched, they are heroes…

A Palestinian grade school teacher was interviewed on BBC radio this morning and the interviewer asked if perhaps it was a mistake to elect Hamas, considering the hardships the teacher was facing. He has five children, there is no food in his house, and he doesn’t know when he will be paid because the donor countries have cut off funding for the PA until Hamas gives up their dream of murdering Jews. His response was that Hamas represents the Palestinians highest aspirations; they are willing to give up their lives for freedom. Noble sentiments; however, the freedom they seek is the freedom to murder, not to build, and no one should mistake their goals.

We seem to be all too willing to attach complex ‘root causes’ to immoral behavior and actions only after the bad acts and immoral behaviors. Yet before these bad behaviors occur, we are told the perpetrators are ‘just like us.’ Well, you can’t have it both ways, Senator Obama. Either the perpetrators are ‘just like us’ or or they are dysfunctional. The Palestinians are either ‘just like us,’ people from whom we can expect civilized behavior, or they are dysfunctional.

While poverty, child abuse and corrupt politics may influence a person or society, in the end, the ‘root cause’ of most ugly, vicious and immoral acts is an immoral character.

Senator Obama, will your negotiations address these truths? Will you address the unadorned ugliness of radical Islam and the impact that it is having on civilized society? Will you chastise the media for their gross and blatant misrepresentation of reality so that a particular agenda might be advocated over the truth?

Iran fought a war that resulted in the death of over a million people, many of them children, used as fodder. The choice to use children as land mine detectors was not the result of their aversion to America or Israel.

In Algeria, the GIA did not rape and dismember thousands of children because of America or Israel.

Saddam did not invade Kuwait, or threaten Saudi Arabia because of America or Israel.

Poison gas was used in Yemen, in the 1960’s. The perpetrator? Our friends, the Egyptians.

You cannot negotiate with people who are broken.

What were once acknowledged as universal laws, no longer exist in the Arab world. What was once assumed to be understood as universal expressions of civilized behavior are no longer a reality in the Arab world.

The civilized world understands the rule of law. The ideals of human rights are meant for all, rights that include free speech, a free press, and the need for rules that cross borders and languages. The fact of the matter is that today, we face an enemy that that uses hospitals and schools to shield terrorists, and Houses of Worship are used as armories. Senator Obama, you can negotiate with like minded people who share similar values. To be clear- you cannot negotiate as equals with people who believe for example, that children are fodder, to hide behind and used as human shields, counting that our civility will not address their barbarity. We cannot deal with as equals those who believe that children are disposable chattel, as they were in Beslan.

Senator, why on earth would you believe that negotiating with people for whom beheadings and kidnappings are celebrated with fervor and joy might be productive? You aren't even speaking the same moral language! What do you think can be accomplished with people for whomthe mutilation of corpses takes place within view of frenzied, dancing mobs? How can you negotiate with people decapitated and then used his head used as a soccer ball and later displayed that head on a table during on a Palestinian TV talk show? Senator, do you really believe you can enter into negotiaons with these people as civilized equals?

Palestinian 'leaders,' by their own admission, are racing to develop weapons of mass destruction- and proudly announce their intent to use them.

In plain view, they proudly pronounce their aims and intent. They want to destroy us Israel and kill as many Jews as possible. Officially appointed Palestinian government clerics reiterate those goals in mosques and on television. School curriculum's educate from an early age, the Islamic destiny, to be fulfilled by a never ending Jihad. These aren’t matters of debate or issues up for discussion. Those are the facts. Senator Obama.

The Nazis attempted to hide their evil and deny it. The Palestinians, including the elected Hamas government, can’t be bothered.

Senator Obama, negotiations are about 'give and take.' Given these realities what exactly is there to negotiate?

Should we demand the Israelis extend full civil rights and equal status to those who’s stated aim is to destroy them? Should they be obligated to respect the sanctity of a Holy Shrine if it is being used to as a military base from which to shoot and bomb?

Should they target schools and hospitals used by terrorists? Should the Israelis refrain from searching women, knowing that terrorists have used pregnant women to smuggle explosives? Now that women have publicly volunteered and formed a brigade of wanna be suicide bombers, should the Israelis exercise restraint? In a time and place where ambulances are used to transport murderers and ammunition, can the excuse of ‘cultural differences’ be considered adequate?

All these scenarios are examples of what the Israelis face, day in and day out.

It isn’t just the Israelis that face the collapse of universal laws in the 21st century. Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan face the same challenges- and they met those challenges head on. The results are undeniable and unambiguous. When we make clear that we do not negotiate with barbarians and that we will confront them head on, they run.

Desperation is not the magical elixir that makes weapons, explosives and rockets appear out of nowhere. Neither does despair turn a whole society into one that supports and rejoices at the death of innocents, the mutilation of corpses and indiscriminate terror. These are cruel people, with no regard for human life, including the lives of their fellow countrymen. No amount of negotiation will change that, Senator Obama.

Suicide bombers and those deliberately target innocents are calculated, cold and vicious. These behaviors are taught. They do not come naturally or spontaneously. Terrorists leaders and their enablers- some in this country- however, care a great deal about themselves and are entirely focused on their own power, control and wealth. It is an effort that is succeeding, largely because of the backwardness of a people, and their willing, desperate search for an escape from their dark medieval prisons. As has often been repeated, there are no sons or daughters of Arab religious or political leaders to be found among the legions who claim to want to blow themselves and others up, in the name of Allah. The promise of heavenly sexual delights and pleasures apparently, is a message that does not get passed on to some.

The promise of the respect and recognition by a grateful Ummah, are also not enough to inspire the children of religious and political leaders in the region- or here. It is enough to send money or support the cause as loudly as possible, and to divert attention away from the reality. Those to whom the message is passed, are the easily influenced. The poverty stricken (the promise of money for the shahid’s family has been referred to more than once as a motivating factor), children or women somehow disgraced, are offered redemption instead of ‘honor killing.’

Terror organizations and terror supporters are using our own language to defeat us. Suicide bombers and terrorists are now ‘military factions,’ while those that plan and pay for the crimes are now referred to as ‘political factions’- as if patterning themselves after the IRA will somehow camouflage their identity and objectives. Ever dutifully, the media parrots these ridiculous assertions as credible. Palestinian strings are being pulled by others that have paid the Palestinian ‘leaders’ a few pieces of silver. All the while, the Palestinians are made to suffer because their leadership sold them out.

We are still working on the premise that we in the west and the Israelis are somehow contributory to the problems of the Middle East. Well, here’s a reality pill. If there were free and democratic governments in the region, the problems they face would have been long since overcome. The problems remain because those despots and tyrannical regimes want those problems to remain, to deflect attention away from their own evil.

We- and the Israelis- have allowed ourselves to be ‘dumbed down,’ in an attempt to negotiate a way out of an impossible situation.

Sooner or later, we’re going to have to deal with reality and deal with the problem clearly and substantively– and we’re not going to be able to talk our way out it. Until the Arab community deals with the reality that we and the Israelis and our support for Israel are not their biggest problem they face, they cannot possibly contribute or achieve their own salvation and redemption- and no amount of negotiations can change that.

With each passing day, the distance between the Arab world and universal laws of decency and behavior, grows greater- and no amount of negotiations, no matter how well meaning, can turn a dysfunctional, corrupt and bigoted society into a successful one.

Jews, Christians, Muslims And Time.

In Time And Time Again, 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.'

More tomorrow.

Portions of this post have been previously published.

Conformity And Self Expression

No one can deny the interdependent nature of life, culture and society. As in nature, much is predicated on delicate checks and balances and hierchal structures and realities.

As we see the blurring and blending of these once separate and necessarily distinct differences, we also see the results of those efforts. We find ourselves dealing with child rearing issues our parents never faced- or even imagined, an education system that is at best, broken and at worst, a system that knowingly produces unleashes ineffective and ill prepared citizens on our society. We live in a world where being heard and ‘look at me!’ is more important that substance and relevance. Many decry a democracy, that participatory form of government that responds to a community as a whole, that doesn’t ‘deliver’ the outcome they desire (’If my guy doesn’t win, I’m leaving!’). Democracy is then blamed for ‘psychological disorders’- as if others are to blame for their unhappiness, and even more importantly, the discovery that some voters actually disagree with their views and beliefs. With that of course, comes the demonization- ‘how dare you not agree with me!’ If you don’t believe it is a bad as all that, look at political web sites populated with the opinion of believers, of either side. The vitriol and visceral hatred is remarkable. What is even more remarkable is the silence of the political elites and managers to these voices.

It is true there are freedoms of expression. Nevertheless, simply having the right to those expressions doesn’t make mandatory to express those opinions that are not only divisive, but harmful. It is the now accepted (idiotic) notion that ‘anything goes’ makes any and all opinions of equal merit.

An argument is often made that conforming to societal norms and values quashes the individuality that defines each of us. There is no space, the argument goes, for individuality and free expression and the values that culture and society have generated that bind us. The partnership that we have with society is being tested and questioned everyday. Nothing, we are told, is sacred.

There is no question that there are indeed two opposite forces at play here- the right and legitimacy of cultural and societal norms and structure, and the right of individual self expression and beliefs. Contrary to those who decry cultural and societal values and norms, these two ideas can coexist, and even flourish.

The reality is that we exist as a society and as individuals because of the partnerships we have negotiated with each other. Society exists because we agree to abide by a certain set of rules and laws, and the individual can express himself freely because his or her place in society is protected. It’s that simple. These are the rules that we have agreed to abide by. Of course, these rules have more nuance- we need to love each other and we need to give each other space. We need to take an interest in what is good for society- a shared intimacy, really, because those are the ground rules- and we need to respect each other’s individuality and individual expressions and beliefs.

Sound like a marriage? Well, in a way it is. It is about respect and and the understanding that comes with commitment. It is also important to remember that in every marriage, there comes a point where a real decision is made. At what point does the need and stability of a marriage supersede the needs and wants of the individual? If you don’t understand the meaning, significance and point behind the question, don’t get married.

At what point does the needs of society supersede the need of the individual? We think we can address that question by talking about marriage, that blending of individuality into a community.

Marriage is not only about a commitment between two people- that is the easy part. Marriage is also about the commitment each couple makes to society. That commitment from this newly formed family unit is also an agreement to continue societal norms and values. That doesn’t mean that society or culture can’t and won’t change. It does mean that there is an implicit agreement that whatever changes do come, will be with the intent to benefit society as a whole and not just serve the needs or wants of the individual. If we abrogate our commitment to society, we abrogate our commitment to ourselves. We become not contributors, but rather, we highlight our own selfishness. We have knowingly and willingly broken our ties to a better society. Like it or not, this is where are now- and the results of these broken promises are evident for all to see.

How do we get back to moving forward, to making our world a better place to live? The answer is clear- we need to disconnect from the self and reconnect with notion that we are responsible and can make a difference.

Any good teacher (yes, a reference to Mamacita) will till you that a child has a less developed thought process. A young child does not have the the skills or ability to comprehend complex ideas, much less express them. To talk to a child in adult terms and expect the child to relate, is a guarantee of confusion and misunderstanding that can prove very detrimental to both child and adult. Parents want (and often insist) their child to be exceptional, but the truth is, 99.99% of children are no different from each other, no matter what a parent teaches a child to parrot. Children are children and need to learn in ways that address that reality.

A smart teacher will employ metaphors, parables and will condense a new concept to a child so that every child in the classroom will understand the issue on the level they can. The teacher is not shortchanging all those the ‘brilliant’ children, nor is the teacher ‘hiding’ anything from the child. The teacher is addressing reality: Notwithstanding what a child parrots, the child cannot understand concepts the way the teacher, or any adult does. The adult has wrestled with and grasped the complexities of the issue- the child has not and cannot. With time, as the analogies and metaphors expand, the child can indeed understand more complex issues- but that takes time, experience and an open mind.

To want to be heard is natural. To want to be heard without comprehending the issue or caring about culture and society at large is reprehensible. To want to be heard with the intent to deceive is a moral outrage.

Our relationship with each other and society is a partnership. Partners are accountable to each other. Before we call each other or society to task, we had best make sure that we have lived up to our own obligations. If we have contributed to each and society, then and only then can we issue the challenge to do better. To simply obviate a culture or society because you aren’t happy is a selfish and foolish example of self centeredness .

Drinking From The Wells Of Dysfunction And Failure

Remember the Holocaust Conference in Iran? Very few of mainstream media outlets reported that David Duke was scheduled to deliver a keynote address.

Suppose David Duke, former Louisiana Grand Wizard of the Knights of Ku Klux Klan, were to be a keynote speaker at a conference on denying the shame of slavery and race relations in the United States. Do you suppose that MSM would cover the event as ‘news’? Do you suppose that David Duke’s presence would be on the front page?

The MSM are of course, reported on the conference itself. They reported on the conference as if it were news, duly noting western condemnation of course, but reporting from the conference as if it were a compelling and legitimate news event. What was it about this ‘Holocaust Conference,’ hosted by a nation with an atrocious record of human rights and a well documented record of religious persecution, that the MSM found worthy of serious coverage? Why did the MSM behave in that way?

To understand, we need to understand. When we are talking about the Middle East and the dysfunctional, oppressive, totalitarian and tyrannical regimes there, it bears remembering a few realities.

Firstly, historical Islam is not really the problem.

Blaming Islam for the violence we see today is like blaming Christianity today for the Crusades (most of the damage and mayhem was committed in Europe, before the Crusaders even got to the Levant), or blaming the Holy See today for the centuries of repression and machinations that enriched corrupt clergy and kept the European feudal system in business.

The truth is that religious dysfunction and expression comes about as the result of dysfunctional religious leadership. When religion and religious ideologies are allowed to be the manifestations of dysfunctional ideologues, the result is a dysfunctional expression of faith. When those perverted expression of religious faith is allowed a voice in the political process, by design or by accident, the result can be seen on the spiraling decline of virtually every dysfunctional Arab regime into even more dysfunction.

The same can be said for much of the Arab and Islamic cultures we see today. Those cultures in no way shape or form, resembles historical Arab culture. What passes for Islam and Arab culture today, does not even remotely resemble earlier iterations of those societies. What we see today are the results of decades of dysfunction, neglect and oppression by dysfunctional Arab political and religious leaders. Dr Sanity noted in When Karl Met Sigmund that

Simply put, totalitarian systems–whether from the left or the right… whether religious or secular… actively promote the most negative, primitive, and immature aspects of human nature. In fact, they give a societal/institutional blessing to such behavior; and thrive on the resulting projection, paranoia, distortion, and denial of reality. [emp-SC&A]

One of the accepted hallmarks of civilized society is an accepted code of moral behavior. No matter one’s prejudices, biases or beliefs, we are all expected to behave in a certain way. We are all expected to treat others, regardless of their religion, culture or creed, in the same way we ourselves expect to be treated. If that accepted code of moral behavior is not present in a particular society, that society cannot be counted as civilized.

It is also true that as as rule, free civilized societies do not make war on other free civilized societies, or do threaten each other with violence. When the internal behavior of a society cannot be clearly categorized as civilized, it is safe to say that nation will not behave in a civilized way toward other nations or groups.

What we are witnessing today is the out of control and barbaric behaviors of whole societies that have been infected with ideologies that encourage and demand dysfunctional behaviors. By design, these behaviors are meant to intimidate and threaten. We shouldn’t be surprised, of course. Western media and leftist ideology created the stage where that kind of behavior was perfectly acceptable. For some, terror has become an acceptable form of political expression.

Consider this: The very thought of someone with a venereal disease deliberately engaging in unprotected sex and other risky behaviors outrages us. We demand that persons who are in a position to cause harm control themselves and their behaviors. Nevertheless, we make no such demands of those infected with HIV/AIDS. The very politically correct and progressives are not demanding abstinence and responsible behavior- they are demanding a cure which may be decades away.

Millions of people will become infected with HIV/AIDS because no one, including the very opinionated MSM, demands responsible behavior as priority. Demanding responsible behavior could save millions of lives- and yet there are few if ‘progressive’ voices making those demands. The ‘right’ to sexual gratification trumps the rights of others to live. When a TB patient has to be quarantined because he won't quarantine himselffrom the general population, we are outraged at his behavior. When it is suggested that an AIDS infected person modify his behavior, there are elements who are outrages at the very suggestion.

The same is true of the MSM and ‘progressives’ when it comes to the Middle East. No one is demanding responsible words and behavior from the dysfunctional Arab worldm save for the Anericans and Israelis. No one is demanding that they cease their calls to genocide, violence and mayhem and no one is demanding that behave in a civilized and responsible way.

The Saudis say that the Arab world is on the verge of ‘exploding.’ He blamed the situation on the Israeli ‘occupation’ and conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq. Nowhere does he mention that for decades, Arab regional policy was predicated on the ‘Three No’s’- The Khartoum Declaration of 1967:

• No to the cessation of terror
• No to diplomatic recognition of Israel
• No to peace negotiations.

Of course, the Saudis make no mention the dysfunction and oppression of Arab world leaders as being the cause of so much misery in the region. They do not mention corrupt and religious leaders (many of whom are paid by the Wahhabi regime) who deliberately fan the flames of discord and religious intolerance. The Saudis also conveniently do not mention the relentless assault by Arab world media on western values, religions and principles.

The western MSM does not report on those things, either. Of course, as the Arab world reiterates and proclaims their ‘victimhood’ and ‘humiliation’ at the hands of the Israelis and western democracies, the MSM dutifully accepts those declarations at face value. Lets look at that.

Arab world hatred of America and Israel will not be overturned with a change in Congress or the White House. The Arab world will hate America if we come as liberators or if we react in self defense. The Arab world is so dysfunctional that even when they bitterly complain we support the regimes that oppress them, they cannot abide that we might liberate them.

The Arab world have proven themselves incapable of identifying what might be in their own best interests. The dysfunction of the Arab world is profoundly deep. The pathology is so great that if they were to acknowledge the liberation of the Iraqis from Saddam as a positive outcome, the gratitude to America would only make more profound their sense of ‘humiliation.’

Why? Because they are so immersed in a contrived culture of shame avoidance (meaning that ‘honor’ is derived only by the humiliation or elimination of others), they have proved for the most part, to be incapable of grasping the meaning of freedom.

Arab and Muslim societies, led by dysfunctional political and religious leaders, have redefined what it means to an Arab or Muslim. These societies have proven themselves incapable of producing good and decent citizens. Islam, once a religion that was a model for religious tolerance and a culture under which other cultures/religions were allowed to flourish, is now barely capable of acknowledging it’s own past. Islam today is recognized by it’s religious and institutional hate and belligerence, not the philosophy, science, art and literature that contributed to the progress of humankind.

These issues have nothing to do with America or Israel.

Arab political and religious leaders say over and over that Arab ‘humiliation’ is predicated on the fact that Israel and America exist. It is not due to Israeli and American actions or inactions, but rather, to their very existence.

Besides being a mirror the Arab world has to look at daily, the fact there is an Israel is almost intolerable to most Arabs. To be sure there are many progressive, intellectual Arabs that understand that Israel is a reality- but for most, Israel remains a cruel violation of Allah’s promise to them. The fact that Allah seems to have abandoned them to live in such squalor under dysfunctional Arab leadership is of no concern- it is the non Muslims that remain the obsession. It is the non-Muslims that have upset the ‘natural’ Islamic order.

The Arab world is not humiliated by the lack of decent schools. The Arab world is not humiliated by their scientific backwardness and book burnings. In a smaller, interconnected world, they cannot be unaware of their own medievalism. The Arab world is not humiliated by collapsed economies. There are car manufacturers in China and Africa, yet there are none in the Arab world. Societies that only consume products are very different than societies that create and produce products.

To put it all in context- how is it possible that the humiliations of centuries of Arab failures are trumped by the political ‘humiliations of today? What powerful agenda can pull a whole society away from reality? How is it that the Arab nations, blessed with wealth that is obscene, are not humiliated that by the fact that as a group, they are among the poorest people on the face of the planet? How is it that there is no humiliation that in the Arab world, female illiteracy tops 50%? How is it that there is no humiliation that of all the thousands of children born in the Arab world today, few, if any, will ever experience freedom and democracy? How is it possible that a vibrant, democratic and free Israel, or the sight of American soldiers rebuilding schools and power plants causes more offense and outrage than over a century of documented Arab failure that was there for all to see long before Israel existed?

How is it possible that the only endeavor in which the Arab world has managed to excel is religious hate and bigotry?

Many in the Arab world defiantly declare their ‘Arab pride,’ but of course, that really isn’t true. That is a kind of projection. If there really was Arab pride, they would be digging holes for the foundation of schools and factories, and not tunnels to smuggle weapons or explosives for suicide bombers. If the Palestinians wanted to reflect Arab pride, they would build hospitals and not rockets and missiles.

The Arab world is not fighting for freedom and democracy. They are fighting to retain the values of oppression, tyranny and dysfunction. There is so much self hatred of what they have come to stand for, that they are willing to blow themselves up in the process. Subconsciously, they know what they are fighting to preserve and how they are fighting, is repulsive to any decent, civilized and religious adherent of any faith.

In truth, the Arab world cannot be proud of itself. The Islamic and Arab cultures that contributed mightily to the progress of mankind, have willingly become the poster children for religious intolerance, hate, violence and even genocide. There is very little the Arab world has to be proud of and pointing to past glory only serves to highlight how far they have fallen. All the phony ‘Arab pride’ in the world has not motivated them to build. All they have done is destroy- and that destruction is a symptom of self hatred. People who hate themselves, destroy everything around them. People that believe in their higher selves, build. The same is true for nations. Nations, societies and cultures are not remembered for what they destroy. They are remembered for what they have built.

In Shame Culture And The Arab Psyche, Dr Sanity states a universal truth:

When a culture determines that the avoidance of shame is necessary no matter what the cost, the result is a culture of fanaticism, bizarre behavior in the name of “honor”…

The Arab world have come to hate themselves, because under the leadership of corrupt, dysfunctional and immoral political and religious leaders, they have become corrupt and immoral. We have noted many times that

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. They themselves consciously adopt an immoral posture.

The tragedy and cost to the Arab world has been enormous and will continue to grow, until Arabs find within themselves the courage to do what they must.

The same organizers of the Holocaust Conference in Tehran who at once wished to deny the Holocaust, are at the fore of instigating a new holocaust, as part of a religious ‘crusade’- they are doing Allah’s will (and speaking for him, as if he needed the mullahs, imams and sheikhs paid by corrupt regimes, to speak for him). It is also ironic that those who for the most part had nothing to do with the Holocaust, could rightly point an accusatory finger at the Christian world and say, ‘See what you have done!’ Instead they continue to choose to identify with the perpetrators- We'll finish what Hitler started!' is a long spoken Arab refrain.

Peace in the Middle East isn't that complicated. The UN, NATO, the Quartet and the EU have all agreed on three basic and minimal conditions.

• Cessation of terror by the Palestinians
• Diplomatic recognition of Israel
• Secure borders.

Which of those things are too onerous a burden for the Palestinians?

For decades, the Palestinians have received more foreign aid than any other group. Their Arab brethren are gatekeepers of the largest amount of wealth in the history of the world- and yet they still live in squalor, happily led by racists, bigots and corrupt leaders who enrich themselves even as they call for the genocide of others.

Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

"When politics dictates what is and isn't human nature, humans will be abused"

This morning, Dr Sanity addresses the anniversary of Roe v Wade and Vietnam in The Twin Obsessions Of The Left. She takes a hard look at the left, science and the failed ideologies that have have not brought the nation together.

A great deal of leftist energy is invested in watchdogging, maintaining, protecting, and promoting the abortion agenda as the lynchpin of Women's Rights. To them, it would be the end of the world as we know it if something should happen to take this sublime victory away. Anyone who disagrees is "taking women back to the dark ages." They are obsessed because they cannot understand that Freedom means being free to agree or disagree with them.

They demand that you agree with them, or else.

I have no need to go into any detail regarding their remarkably similar obsession with Vietnam; and how all military conflicts involving the US--in which we acted out of our own national interest, rather than as part of the UN--instantly (usually within days) become Vietnam-like "quagmires" and are examples of the immoral warmongering of (almost always) Republican presidents. To them the loss of any soldier (even voluntary, rather than drafted ones) is the end of the world as we know it; and success in this most recent war in Iraq --or ANY war that the US engages in--diminishes their 1973 Vietnam victory

Have you ever noticed how it is always the same group of people who want government to give more while at the same time ask for less and less in return? Nowadays, progressive ideologues have relegated the Peace Corps to history (Obama talks a good game) and disrespecting the very institutions that make up our democracy has become religious dogma. Voters who choose 'inappropriately' are 'Nazis' and every election is 'stolen'- unless of course, the progressives are satisfied with the outcome. In that case, the 'people have spoken.'

In The Bootstrap Nation; Bill Clinton's Best Legacy?, the Anchoress breaks stride with the march du jour. As is often the case, she has trouble walking in lockstep with anyone. Clarity and a bit of insight will do that.

... we’ve been talking, for the last few days, about socialism and socialized programs, and why they don’t work, or how they encourage mediocrity. As the discussion spilled over into the comments sections, I wrote:

Sometimes people need a hand-out, yes, but making it a way of life has never ended up being a positive…No handout can replace the sense of pride one gets by accomplishing things on one’s own.

The emails on this subject have been wide-ranging and in one of them I was taken to task by a reader identifying herself as a “progressive” and requesting anonymity, who wagged a finger at me for advocating a “bootstraps” mentality that - to this woman’s way of thinking - is a “tired old canard” belonging “to the last century.”

...I wonder if my progressive reader would feel differently about the “bootstraps” mentality if she were to consider that Bill Clinton, one of her heroes, brought it's value into sharp focus.

The Anchoress makes clear that that the conversation isn't about politics. In fact, that is the last and least important of issues she addresses. Her discussion centers around the elevation of man and her observations about how that elevation is reached. Her views are more scientific than political.

We know that the highest achievements of man have always come about a response to restrictive thinking or restrictive ideologies. The environments that have restricted man from exercising his full potential produce two kinds of people- those who resist and 'think outside the box' and those who acquiesce.

Those who acquiesce become dependent. They lose the drive to achieve. Of course, human being are hard wired to achieve, so beating that drive out of us takes some work. Everything we know as instinctively true must be upended.

Life becomes defined as a zero sum game. Your success comes about as a result of someone else's failure. Victory comes about at the cost of another's shame. If you take pride in accomplishment, you only highlight the humiliation of someone less accomplished

Of course, those beliefs are the least 'natural' of human instincts and those beliefs are antithetical to science.

From the beginning of time, man has competed against nature, himself and other men. If he hadn't, we would not have survived as a species. As a species, we need to exceed our capabilities and capacities. We excel because there is a fire in our bellies that cannot be extinguished. To fulfill our destinies as human beings, we must look within and find a way to leave our mark and excel. Animals adapt to their environment. Man adapts to his environment and excels in that environment.

Dr Sanity's Science Is Under Attack- But From Whom? is a perfect complement to the Anchoress post. First, she quotes Yuval Levin:

..the left actually has a much more complicated set of problems with science that are explored far more rarely than those of the right. Scientific advance, for instance, is the great engine behind capitalism, and is in that respect responsible for much that the left has disliked about the west since the 18th century. Much of what progressives oppose is precisely progress. Science, extended beyond its appropriate bounds, is also the chief contemporary threat to our continued allegiance to the principle of human equality, which has been at the heart of the liberal worldview. Put simply, science seems to demonstrate we are not equal—this after all is the problem many on the left had with The Bell Curve. Of course, it only seems that way if you take a very peculiar view of what the principle of equality actually is. We are equal not in our natural capacities—obviously we are not all equally strong, or smart, or tall, or healthy—but in our standing as human beings in relation to something higher than ourselves. But the left is no longer well equipped to offer that defense of equality, since it requires all manner of premises they have given up.

She then goes on to make some very biting observations:

The assertion that I hear repeatedly in the academic setting is that science is "under attack" from the religious right. Yet what I actually observe time and again is that it is the secular left that is intent on suppressing ideas and research that aren't ideologically pure...

One thing you can say about the religious right is that their desire to teach "intelligent design" (a theory I do not think has sufficient evidence to be included in children's science textbooks) basically represents a rather desperate desire to have their religious views respected in a system that has deliberately and with malice aforethought been excluding them for years. even as other "religions" views are substituted. As examples, consider that even the word "Christmas" is prohibited in schools these days for fear of offending some sensitive leftist's feelings; but these same leftists are eager to make sure kids learn all about Islam (we don't want them to become Islamophobic, do we?), or that the religion of the left-- multiculturalism-- is integrated into the curriculum without so much as a by-your-leave.

We are also subjected to grown women (or should I say "indoctrinated feminists"?) who presume to call themselves "scientists" swooning when a University President suggests the possibility that factors other than sexism--i.e., biological considerations-- might be at work in explaining disparities between women and men in academia. That University president was forced out of his position for daring to have such ideas and expressing them in a spirit of open-mindedness.

I guess some ideas are far too threatening to be freely discussed and debated.

So, which of the above two scenarios has had the most chilling effect on free speech in this country? The debate about intelligent design? Or the lack of one about the biological differences between males and females? I submit that the latter, which had serious repercussions on that particular University President and effectively warned anyone who might want to explore theories other than sexism that they would be appropriately persecuted.

Meanwhile, no one who advocates intelligent design theory or creationism has ever advocated (that I am aware) that evolution theory be struck from the curriculum and not be allowed in public discourse or debate. All they ask is that their ideas be included in the debate.

When politics dictates what is and isn't human nature, humans will be abused.

From the Anchoress

Hope sparkles from the wheel, and all possibility is contained therein. And the man who can sharpen his own knife, and teach his children that craft, will never be helpless or hungry or cast aside as worthless. He will, therefore, be at peace, and so will his house, and columnists will write about it in wonder.

...the helping hand of necessary, but structured, social aid can uplift and encourage, while the hand-out of creeping socialism can only deplete and depress our human spirit, drive and ingenuity. It is a legacy of which any good conservative would be proud.

The truth the Anchoress speaks of is crystal clear- and that is why truth is so often under ferocious attack by those who need to negate the science and hard wiring that defines the human species. Their desperation can often times be regarded as pathetically desperate. The deceit of that desperation comes easily.

The generations of souls lost and forgotten to the socialist ideals and dreams of utopia will not be forgotten- especially by those that had to endure the 'utopia' that tried to extinguish the fire that made us human. As we have noted before, Utopia cannot be imposed without tyranny.

The elevation of man has always been a mark of honor and has served as the foundation of our greatest achievements. Socialism, the ideologues who would limit man, ideas and science, is the mark of Cain of our times. Those who wear it proudly, have learned nothing.

Those who have learned nothing, have failed at life.

Portions of this post have been previously published.

Black Hats, White Hats And Make Believe Palestinian Tea Parties

Iraq, Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah and Israel- the very names of those countries and organizations conjures up images of experts, analysts and nameless, faceless ’spokespeople,’ all outraged that somehow, their twisted explanations of events as they happen, aren’t taken at face value. Other experts, analysts and nameless, faceless ’spokespeople,’ exist primarily to demonize their opponents. Sometimes, it can be hard to follow along, much less come to a rational and thoughtful understanding of the politics and events in the region. It is with that in mind that SC&A will provide the clarity that is necessary to understand that jigsaw puzzle that is the Middle East.

There are white hats and black hats and who is wearing what hat is easy to discern. The Israelis wear white hats and the Arab world wear black hats. It really is that simple. The Palestinians are suffering at the hands of their own, not at the hands of Israel. Before the various incarnations of the Intifada, Palestinians had a vibrant economy, primarily because of Israeli investment in Gaza and the West Bank. A majority of Palestinians were employed inside Israel and a sizable minority were aspiring to entrepreneurship and a real middle class status. Israeli built universities, colleges and technical schools allowed Palestinians to get a real education, for the first time.

There was no security fence (only about 5% of the security barrier is actually a ‘wall,’ constructed to impede sniper fire into Israeli homes and cars, a sport Palestinian terrorists enjoy immensely) and there were few security checkpoints. As a matter of fact, after the Oslo accords the Israelis left Gaza and the West Bank. The ‘occupied territories’ were supposed to be self governing under the leadership of the Great Leader. (Under the Chairman Arafat, and with billions in foreign aid at their disposal, the Palestinians did not build a single school or hospital. They did manage to build a casino- for themselves).

The predicament the Palestinians find themselves in today is of their own making. Saeb Erekat, Palestinian cause ‘negotiator’ and obfuscator par excellence, denounces rocket launches, terror, kidnappings and other crimes against civilians because ‘they harm the image and goals of the Palestinian people.’ He cannot bring himself to say that kidnappings and other terrorist activities are crimes and are the behavior of immoral people. He clearly does not understand that his own words underscore why his ‘government' is noting more than a sham. His remarks are not those made by representatives of civilized people and governments. Real governments provide services and economic opportunities for their citizens. Real governments provide real education for their citizens. They do not use the educational system to produce evil little animals whose sole focus in life is to kill members of one group or another. Real parents do not dress their children up as suicide bombers and real parents do not allow their children to shield gunmen.

A society where these things are a reality isn’t a healthy society. Nor can that kind of society produce a regime that is fit to govern. Hamas’ Ismael Haniyeh, ‘Prime Minister’ of the pretend and make believe Palestinian government, cannot understand why the Israelis do not accord him and his band of murderous thugs the status of anything other than of terrorists, even as he calls for the elimination of Israel and Jews.

The Palestinian ‘negotiations,’ meetings and other such nonsense are a charade. They are the efforts of a failed society at ‘playing house.’ They have make believe tea parties, where they utter in their finest costumes make believe speeches speaking of make believe ideals, and pretending they want real peace, when in fact, what they really want is very clear. Day in and day out, in schools, in the state controlled media and from state sponsored religious platforms, the real intentions of the Palestinians are very clear. As in Saddam's Iraq, evil is very easy to find- just shut up and listen. Evil people are vocal. They have no trouble announcing themselves or their agenda.

The problem lies in the truth that we refuse to call evil for what it is- and as a result, there are now dysfunctional terrorists who believe they would be doing ‘God’s work’ in seeking out and employing WMD’s (Hamas has said more than once they were 'prepared to use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against the Jews'.

These are the same beasts that want to ‘govern’ and that demand respect. America and Israel are the problem for the Arab world, because those nations will not acknowledge playing ‘dress-up,’ as an equivalent to real government and real morality. Whatever shortcomings there are in western societies, they pale in comparison to the dysfunction and evil of the Arab regimes. See Don’t Know Much About History, Pissant? and Politics Cannot Hide The Truth, to understand the veracity and clarity of our remarks. We’ve said this all before. Maybe you just need to hear it again.

Zionism And Why Bill Moyers Is Right About The Jews

We are aware that when it comes to Zionism, most people are not clear as to what that ideology is all about. As the Middle East in engulfed is conflict once more, the word ‘Zionism’ is heard with great frequency. Arab diplomats appearing on the evening news, refer to ‘Zionism’ as the cause of all evil in the region.

In fact, most people have real misconceptions about Zionism. For many, Zionism is at worst something very ugly or at best, something barely tolerable.

To understand much of the Middle East conflict, it is imperative that Zionism, from it’s origins to current day manifestations are explained and understood.

Some see Zionism as a predominantly religious expression, while others see it as a more political expression. Arab political and (state funded) religious leaders exert tremendous effort in portraying Zionism as evil incarnate. (That of course, has as much credibility as a syphilis infected call girl speaking on family values and hygiene) More on that later.

First, a bit of what Zionism isn’t.

Zionism does not have it’s origin in religious expression. In fact, Zionism was a social and political movement founded and propagated by secular Jews. The idea was not well received by religious Jews. Initially, despite the daily prayers for redemption and return to the Holy Land, religious Jews wanted no part of a political movement that would bring them back to Israel without God’s endorsement. With the passage of time, that attitude would change- but not entirely. There are still a few very religious Jews that remain anti Zionist, but they are a decidedly fringe minority.

Western anti Zionism is very different from the Arab variety. Outright racism and bigotry is barely discernible ("We're not anti semites!") Still, recent pronouncements by some mainstream liberal churches equating Zionism with apartheid for example, serve to illustrate how little these churches understand Zionism. Sadly, some churches and liberal 'progressive' ideologues deliberately misrepresent Zionism even as they legitimize this newest iteration of antisemitism.The mainstream media of course, ever 'progressively' agendized, is only too happy to participate in the surreal school play.

See this for a full and clear explanation.

Recently, Bill Moyers, PBS commentator and ordained Baptist minister caused a bit of stir when he remarked that Jews today were genetically predisposed to violence. First, Richard Landes of Augean Stables provides the transcript of the Moyers remarks (and some excellent commentary in his post):

Go to the Book of Deuteronomy. When the ancient Israelites entered Canaan their leaders urged violence against its inhabitants. The very Moses who had brought down the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” now proclaimed, “You must destroy completely all the places where the nations have served their gods. You must tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred poles, set fire to the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their name from that place.”

While Moyers is no stranger to charges of bias, he ought not be judged so harshly for his observations.

The Jews who refused to resist or were unable to fight back are indeed gone. The went up in smoke at Auschwitz, Dachau and Treblinka. Natural selection weeded out those weak Jews by way of centuries of European and Muslim world pogroms, violence, racism and bigotry. Slowly but surely, thousands of years of of weak Jews have been exterminated, leaving only the those Jews now willing to defend and themselves and their right to exist. Darwin may not have been perfect, but he was no fool.

The Arab world sees themselves as cursed. They erroneously believed that accursed Jews they would dispatch were same Jews that walked passively into the gas chambers and into shtetl synagogues, to burned alive, or lined up wholesale and shot and then buried in unmarked pits. As it turns out, the Arabs had to face Jews who fight back. The Arabs had to face a very different kind of Jew, one for whom second class dhimmi status was not acceptable. In an ironic twist of fate, it was the Arabs who by way of their own dysfunctional hate allowed themselves to become the very same dhimmis of the western world. They became what they were taught to hate most.

The Arab interpretation of the Jews who might defend themselves is interesting. If the Jews just laid down to die, they would not be so humiliated, they say. Why couldn’t they just agree to die like they did in Europe? Why did they have to finally stand up when it was Arabs who wanted to kill them? To make matters worse, the Jew built a successful and properous nation in their back yard. Unlike the Arabs, the Jews worked hard to build their nation, they built schools and universities that are the envy of the world and they built a functioning world class economy. Led by dysfucntional political and religious leaders, the Arabs can only throw their hands up in the air and ask, ' What does Allah want from us? It isn’t fair, it just isn’t fair.'

The State of Israel was born on May 14, 1948. A partition plan, creating two states, Israel and Palestine, was ratified by the United Nations. Unlike virtually every other nation before her, Israel’s borders were not defined by conflict but rather, by treaty. Notwithstanding that reality, the Arab world rejected the UN partition and Arab initiated wars created new boundaries. It was Arab hostilities that made Israel an equal among nations. Virtually every country and virtually all national boundaries are arrived at by virtue of conflict. Arab world hostilities gave Israel and Zionism their international bona fides. There are no difference between the boundaries of Israel and those of virtually ever other nation were established.

What is often lost in any discussion of Zionism is that Israelis- including Israeli Arabs- are far better off than they would be if they lived in any other country in the region. Israelis, guided by Zionist principles, have created a free, tolerant and productive society in a sea of bigotry, hate and dysfunction. Zionism has served as the catalyst for the only free and democratic regime in the region.

It was Zionist ideals that enrobed the cold and numbed surviving victims of the hottest hell of Nazi evil that was to serve as the petri dish for some of the most significant and important educational institutions in the world. Zionism also serves as the foundation for the most vibrant economy in the region.

Had the Arab world done for itself only 10% of what Zionism did for Israel, that Arab world would not be the greatest assemblage of failed nation states in the history of the modern world.

A clear and final case for the morality of Zionism can be made by way of comparison. Racism, bigotry and hate permeates the region and every level of society in the Arab world. As we have noted, hatred of Jews, Christians, America and Israel are the only significant and world class achievements of note in the Arab world.

In discussing Zionism, it is also true that the religious component cannot be ignored, if for no other reason than the religious component has been a major issue for Israel’s adversaries. Clearly, the Arab world cannot be taken seriously if they attempt to condemn Israel on moral grounds. Thus, Arab populations are whipped into a religious frenzy, calling for Islam to rid itself of the hated Jews. In many circles, calls to genocide are now a religious mandate.

The very last words of the last book of the Jewish Bible- the Old Testament, read as follows:

Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him! Let him go up” (II Chronicles 36:23).

The status of the Israelite people at the close of the biblical period is drawn into alignment with her founding charter. Israel has been about a people waiting just outside the land, for the moment when God will allow them home. Inasmuch as Israel’s adversaries have made religion a part of their political ideology, Israel too, has the right to respond in kind (The differences are stark. Jews wanted to build and restore the land. Contrast that with those adversaries who openly proclaim delight in the promised slaughter of Jews).

To carry forward the religious thought as viewed through the prism of religion (as opposed to a political ideology), the return of the Jews to their homeland is the fulfillment of the promise made by God to Israel. That homecoming of the Jews, the ‘ingathering of the exiled’ is a manifestation of ‘opus Dei,’ a work of God. For believers, that alone is enough. The Divine push, religious people believe, set into motion God’s play- and the next act they believe, is the Messianic Era. That too, has proved to be intolerable for those who object to Israel’s existence.

For Muslims, it is clear that Christians cannot be allowed to accept that the Messianic Age is upon us, because that puts them into direct conflict with Islam- and thus widens the gap between Islam and Christianity even further. It is Islam alone that speaks for God, they must insist. Christians and Jews must be denied their beliefs at all costs. Arabs have been taught that the existence of Israel as a Jewish homeland poses a challenge to Islam and thus cannot be tolerated. Those progressives who challenge that idea risk the wrath of the state falling on their heads. Religious fatwas are very effective at stifling the free marketplace of thoughts and ideas. Middle East tyrannies, be they harsh or soft, have an effective hammer- religion.

Israel, guided by Zionist principles, is nation that has proved the worth of democracy. The survivors of brutalNazism, plucked from despair and hopelessness, created a country that paid homage to both God and the Divine Right of freedom. There is no clearer ‘lamp unto the nations.’

It is in the physical expression and manifestation of the State of Israel that the definition of Zionism becomes clear: Zionism is the expression of a group of people, to live in freedom and to determine their own future. Period. That’s it.

Now, let us be clear. Much of the Arab world sees itself as a part of the Ummah (the ‘nation’ or the ‘people’), the political expression of a religious ideology, destined to rule the Muslim world. Freedom is antithetical to Arab and Islamic nationalism.

Islamic national expression is very different from Jewish nationalism, as expressed by Zionism. The State of Israel, the political expression of Zionism, allows for and grants equal rights to all citizens. Virtually all Islamic regimes decidedly do not. As a practical expression, Muslims in Israel, for example, do not have to worry about being blown up as they pray in their mosques- unlike Pakistani Christians. Israel offers freedom of worship, irrespective of faith. Saudi Arabia for example, does not.

Often repeated is that ‘Zionism is racism.’ In fact, that shibboleth is a case of ‘He doth protesteth too much.’ More often than not, it is apparent and clear that ugly kind of behavior is more common of Israel’s accusers. In fact, there have been far fewer deaths of Arabs and Muslims under ‘brutal Zionism’ than there has been under ‘enlightened’ Arab regimes.

It is true Israel offers Jews the ‘Right of Return.’ That too, is much misunderstood and often described by Israel’s critics as ‘racist.’

Citizenship is granted by one of two ‘virtues,’ land or blood.

Americans grant citizenship by virtue of land. We don’t care if you are black, white or anything else. If you live in this country by virtue of birth or legal immigrant status (and choose to seek citizenship), you are a citizen.

Other countries do it differently. The Poles, Irish, Russians or a myriad of other nations that offer citizenship to the children of one their nationals, wherever they might live, whenever they seek it. For them, it is a matter of ‘blood.’ They are accorded citizenship even if they never set foot on the Motherland.

As a sovereign nation, Israel has the right to determine it’s own citizenship policies. Period. There are millions of Arabs in Israel that hold an Israeli passport. Arabs are not precluded from Israeli citizenship, any more than Brits are precluded Polish citizenship. There are different rules, that’s all. That is not racism.

Saudi Arabia has their own citizenship rules. Jews or Christians are precluded from citizenship.

The fact that Israel has lasted two millennia without a homeland or any sort of native rule is miraculous or remarkable, depending on your point of view. No matter how you regard that truth, it was possible because of the tenacity of a people. As we have noted, one writer put it this way:

Where are the Hittites? Why does no one find it remarkable that in most world cities today there are Jews but not one single Hittite even though the Hittites had a great flourishing civilization while the Jews nearby were a weak and obscure people? When one meets a Jew in New York or New Orleans or Paris or Melbourne, it is remarkable that no one considers the event remarkable. What are they doing here? But it is even more remarkable to wonder, if there are Jews here, why are there not Hittites here? Where are the Hittites? Show me one Hittite in New York City.

One would think that a land, with a history of local heroes and legends, monuments and armies, would have proved more weighted than a promissory note from God, real or not. That was not the case. The Jews didn’t just make the desert bloom- they made freedom bloom, in a region that has never seen that gift.

It is Zionism that has reminded us- and Israel’s adversaries- just how precious freedom really is.

Whatever the reason, the Jews have proved themselves to be remarkably resilient- and more importantly, remarkably adept at maintaining a faith and community. Zionism is but another testament to that truth. We can all learn from it.

Whether we in our hubris will admit it or not, the truth is that free nations need Israel and Zionism a whole lot more than Israel or Zionism need us. We have let Israel down, by demanding and placing upon her, demands and conditions that we ask from no other nation on earth- not even our own. More than once those demands have made the ground red.

As a free people, we have an obligation to those who share our values. We owe them- all of them, wherever they may be- and ourselves, a whole lot more.

Dr Sanity's Practical Guide to Victimhood is particularly instructive. She writes of the Palestinians and notes:

One group in particular deserves special mention for their unfailing and extraordinary efforts at maintaining and feeding their Victimhood for decades. I am speaking of course, about the Palestinians. Through their previous president, Yasser Arafat, they creatively resisted worldwide attempts to ease them gently from their role of victim. Their efforts have inspired many others --especially people and nations in the Middle East...

Her post points to an incredible truth. It is not the Israelis or the Jewish community that have turned the Holocaust into an unstoppable machine designed to oppress the Arab world. Rather, it is the Arab world that have desperately latched on to the Holocaust and Holocaust denial as means and method of perpetuating and justifying Arab world cult of victimhood. It is the Arab world that uses the Holocaust as an excuse for their failures.
Israel and the Jews have demonstrated that they have not allowed the horrors of the Holocaust to in any way, shape or form, provide an excuse for not exercising their potential.

Indeed, Dr Sanity provides clear lessons and ideas that the Palestinians and Bill Moyers could stand to learn.

In creating the modern State of Israel, the refugees from a smoldering Europe went on to build a modern, democratic state, with world class educational facilities, institutions and a vibrant economy. The Israelis did in 50 years what the obscenely oil rich Arab nations could not do in 2,000- make the desert bloom.

Jews remembering the Holocaust and remaining ever vigilant to the lessons that must be learned from that horrible time, is very different from the Arab world needing the Holocaust and subsequent Holocaust denial, so that they might create a reason for centuries of failure, despair and denial. Dr Sanity goes on to note,

To all those real victims out there, who are struggling to overcome diseases; recover from disasters and events; and move beyond those traumas that have temporarily and painfully interrupted your lives--I heartily salute you and in no way aim to denigrate your efforts. Taking responsibility for your life will empower you and enable you to grow beyond whatever you have experienced. May you always rise above what Life has presented to you and exceed all expectations--even your own.

Pay attention, Arab world.

Another Perfect Storm: Preparing For Iran

Much has been said (and unsaid) about the Jerusalem Post opinion piece, Essay: This Holocaust Will Be Different, by Benny Morris.

The second holocaust will not be like the first. The Nazis, of course, industrialized mass murder. But still, the perpetrators had one-on-one contact with the victims. They may have dehumanized them over months and years of appalling debasement and in their minds, before the actual killing. But, still, they were in eye and ear contact, sometimes in tactile contact, with their victims.

The Germans, along with their non-German helpers, had to round up the men, women and children from their houses and drag and beat them through the streets and mow them down in nearby woods or push and pack them into cattle cars and transport them to the camps, where “Work makes free,” separate the able-bodied from the completely useless and lure them into “shower” halls and pour in the gas and then take out, or oversee the extraction of, the bodies and prepare the “showers” for the next batch.

The second holocaust will be quite different. One bright morning, in five or 10 years, perhaps during a regional crisis, perhaps out of the blue, a day or a year or five years after Iran’s acquisition of the Bomb, the mullahs in Qom will convene in secret session, under a portrait of the steely-eyed Ayatollah Khomeini, and give President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, by then in his second or third term, the go-ahead.

The orders will go out and the Shihab III and IV missiles will take off for Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, and probably some military sites, including Israel’s half dozen air and (reported) nuclear missile bases. Some of the Shihabs will be nuclear-tipped, perhaps even with multiple warheads. Others will be dupes, packed merely with biological or chemical agents, or old newspapers, to draw off or confuse Israel’s anti-missile batteries and Home Front Command units.

Does anyone really believe that scenario to be so implausible? This very scenario and variations thereof, have been a part of Arab world reality for decades. The slaughter and destruction of Jews is preached from religious pulpits, broadcast in the media and is an integral part of Arab world educational curricula.

That is no exaggeration. See 'We must teach our children...to hate the Jews', 'Yes, I am an anti semite...We would devour the Jews with our teeth', The annihilation of the Jews... is one of the most splendid blessings for Palestine' and 'Slaughter the Jews like you did in 1929...' The list goes on and on.

To paraphrase the now silent Saudi blogger, the Religious Policeman, imagine a school that gave each student a glass of alcohol every day. Each day, beginning at tender nursery school age, the child was encouraged to drink the beverage that would come to poison his mind. Suppose that beverage was from the well aged bottle of anti Semitism.

Suppose also that once that child downed that alcoholic beverage, the teacher refilled that glass with more alcohol. This time, the flavor is religious bigotry directed at non Jews.

Suppose once that glass of alcohol was consumed by young dutiful children, the glass was immediately refilled with the beverage from the bottle of anti western and anti democratic values.

After decades, these children, now adults, go home every day, turn on the television and read the newspapers- and they are fed more alcohol. They get more when their kids come home from school, and share the same familiar poisoned ‘fire water.’ They poison they are fed gets the God’s seal of approval when fed to them from the pulpit- or so they desperately need to believe.

Of course, to keep a drunk or a junkie hooked, it takes an ever increasing amount of poison to induce the same stupor that blinds the drunk or the junkie to his own surroundings and dysfunction. The supply of poison never ends.

After years of such ‘education,’ it would be reasonable to expect that there would be a lot of alcoholics in the Arab world, poisoned by the hate and ideologies of dysfunctional and corrupt leaders. Like alcoholics and substance abusers, they will tell you they ‘have it under control‘ and that they ‘can quit anytime they want.‘ In the Arab world, that translates into, “We really are civilized, it’s only the injustices of others that causes us to behave the way we do. We seek justice.” They are blind to their own dysfunction, they are blind to their own deceit and remain so by embracing hate.

‘Rid us of Israel,‘ they say and there will be no more need to drink.

‘It is the Jews- rid us of them and we will show you we are just like you,‘ they assure us.

‘Democracy conflicts with out values and culture,‘ they lecture us, as we try to empower them.

‘We are a proud people, too proud to take your help. We would rather wallow in the filth.’

‘If you accord our faith special status, we will have no reason to hate you or hurt you.’

These are the illogical and alcoholic-like induced arguments that emanate from much of the Arab world, every day. Like addicts everywhere, much of that Arab world are unaware of their own stumbling and off balance dysfunction. Like addicts everywhere, the whole world is to blame for their failures, never themselves. It is families suffering and imploding under the weight of the dysfunction and that ‘do not understand‘ them. It is their employer that is being unfair in demanding sobriety at work. ‘I have it under control,‘ is the mantra. Generations have been lost and families and even communities lie in ruin because of ‘I have it under control.‘

The denial of reality is important to every substance abuser. In the Arab world, the unconscious trigger that unleashes reflexive hate, is the word, ‘Jew.‘ That is the educational and cultural legacy of the poison they have been fed for decades by the pathological society created by self serving tyrants.

In the case of much of the Arab world, denying the Holocaust is central to their identity, because they believe that if they can deny the reality of a broken people rising from the ashes of Europe who went on to build a country that was to become a ‘Lamp unto the nations,‘ somehow, their own dysfunction would be minimized. The Jews did in 50 years what the Arab world could not do in 2,000 years. They built a modern, functioning and democratic society. Despite obscene wealth, the Arab world remains a spectacular monument to failure.

The Arab world must deny their own reality so that they can in turn, deny the the Jews their reality and Arab complicity in the great ugliness of hate and bigotry. The Arab world needs to deny their own failures, deceit, corruption and grand hypocrisies. That is critical to Arab Holocaust deniers because if there was no Holocaust, there was no humiliating military failure in 1948. There were no ragtag Jews, they say,and there were no remnants of a broken people that defeated the mighty ummah and hen went on to build a first world nation. The hated Jews did in 50 years what the Arabs could not accomplish in 2,000 years. They built a free, democratic nation with word class institutions.

In the dysfunctional minds of many Arabs, the Holocaust was contrived so as to deprive them of their dignity and honor. This lunacy is taught in schools, repeated in the media with mind numbing regularity and preached from many religious pulpits. Like alcoholics and substance abusers everywhere, the need for the drug of hate escalates and is mirrored by the escalation of self pity and self anointed victimhood status. In the end, to the dysfunctional abuser, the ‘cruel world’ is at fault for his suffering. The ‘victims’ demand to be right to be persecutors.

The perfect storm is emerging. Survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust are dying off. Soon they will all be gone and then the Holocaust deniers will be free and unencumbered. Those who deny the Holocaust will be free to implement another plan to eradicate Jews from the face of the earth. In their drunken dysfunction they say. ‘It is the Jews we want. We really didn’t mean what we said about western democracies and other religions. It really is just the Jews that we want.’

‘Let us exterminate them and we’ll leave you alone.’ Is it any wonder Mein Kampf is a perennial bestseller in the Arab world?

Notwithstanding all the terror directed at us and at other free nations in the past few years and despite their own words uttered in drunken dysfunction, that is what they demand we believe.

Recorded history has taught us that societies and cultures that are predicated on the glorification of death, violence, hate and war will always emerge as failed societies. Societies that are predicated on values, life and liberty are societies that endure and prosper.

The Jews too, will endure and prosper, in every sense of the word. Indeed, they are the only people who have survived from the time of antiquity. To be referred to as a Jew is not derogatory in the least. Why should it be? The Jews, as a group and despite their minuscule numbers and millennia of persecution, have contributed more to the benefit of mankind than any other group. That many have hated them only highlights the real nature and character of those who hate them.

In what is now the Arab world, Jews lived in communities that predated Islam. That history is gone, a memory eradicated from the consciousness of the Arab world. The Jewish support for Arab nationalist ambitions was repaid with murder and slaughter. Still, with the erasure of 2,000 years of Jewish history and presence in their nations, the Arab world is no better off. Maybe the Jews weren’t the problem, after all.

It is to our credit as a nation that we can stand up and be counted among those who will defend Jews when others, drunk with blind hate, would persecute and butcher them and erase them off the earth. It is to our credit as a nation that we can stand up and be counted among those who will defend Jews even as other nations pretend not hear or ignore the hate.

There were those in prewar Europe that concerned themselves with the western response to Hitler as opposed to worrying about the threats and promises made by the Nazi evil. They believed the threat was against the Jews, and no more.We waited too long and as a result, 44 million non Jewish souls perished.

History does repeat itself. Today, there are those worried about our response to Iran’s threats, as opposed to the Iranian threats and evil. ‘It’s about Jews,‘ or ‘It’s about Israel,‘ are the unspoken and underlying reasons for lack of resolve against Iran.

We cannot reason or accommodate with those who hate any more than we can reason or make accommodations with substance abusers. We cannot put ourselves at risk by allowing drunks to share the road with us. We cannot endanger our families and our community by enabling those who say, ‘We have it under control,‘ even as we watch their descent into self destructive madness.

Empires and nations that are predicated on hate, violence and bigotry in the end, fail, without exception.

Empires and nations that are predicated on freedom, democracy and human rights, in the end, will endure, without exception.

Empires and nations that are predicated on freedom, democracy and human rights may not be perfect, but they are whole lot better and more civilized than those that are not. That can verified by looking at the broken and failed nations of the Arab world - and no amount of dancing can change those truths.