Proposing such a project demonstrates how little sensitivity and comprehension for the effects of the crimes committed in their name some Muslims have. Conceiving of the project at the proposed venue might be legal. At the same time, even if mainstream Muslims might not endorse 9/11, such a structure at that place is a provocation. Not to see that indicates that the advocate lives in a milieu that is isolated from its surroundings. Here a reversed analogy. Let us assume that Christian edifices would become legal in, shall we say, Saudi Arabia. Even then, building a cathedral close to the Kaaba would be, regardless of zoning laws and legal rights, highly improper. A Buddhist temple appears to be equally inappropriate in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The difference among these examples is that no Christian domiciled outside of a mental institution, and no Buddhist with his marbles in the right place, would ever think to mark his presence in the holy place of another faith. Muslims do. That they react apprehensively when they meet resistance betrays a frequently skewed perspective of what all men owe their fellow men. Religions tend to assume that they are right and that, accordingly, the practitioners of other faiths are in error. This judgment does not imply necessarily a conviction that those trotting on a less valid path are themselves evil. Islam, especially Islamists, however, are inclined to assume that commitment to the right God implies that those with another approach are more than only misled. Additionally, they are in their state of imperfection because they are bad persons. Such an idea precludes respect as well as tolerance. Being fully right in a remaining world that is entirely wrong obligates the depositories of the truth to engage in a struggle. Renouncing the use of any method that is likely to make these militants prevail in this war suggests a lack of full dedication. In this context, tolerance and patience mean that the foe and his evil are granted a cease-fire. That mercy relieves the enemies of God in the combat through which the Lord sets out to destroy them through his agents. Therefore, such charity indicates a lack of faith and commitment that ultimately transmutes into giving comfort to the enemies of God. 2. Lifting weights can result in more than muscles behind your ears only. Physical activity can stimulate ideas that would be unlikely to arise in the course of other pursuits. Eric Hoffer, the “Longshoreman Philosopher”, had assigned a comparable role to “work” in his remarkable books. Your correspondent’s latest experience involved an imaginary committee. It had the duty to investigate the suitability of two finalists for a fiduciary position. The fantasy committee had an unusual assignment. The nominees wetted were Christ and Mohammed. The cases made regarding the aspirants are unexpected. One of the candidates would pass with flying colors based on his recorded comportment. Shortcomings could only be found in his relationship to, and view of, the forces that move modern economies. The other candidate has been discovered to have an inclination to resort to violence, to abuse dependent minors, violate equal rights statutes and to have engaged in the liquidation of entire categories of people. Accordingly, his file has been turned over to the DA for prosecution. 3. Something positive can be detected in the Islamist condemnation of the West. It is that they curse the Occident it for being what it ideally desires to be. In part, some elements in the West join the radical outsiders’ condemnation of its existing culture for two reasons. One of them is a valid one; the other one suggests an ailment. First, to improve it, our civilization can and needs to be criticized because it does not –and never will- fully live up to the strived after ideal of perfection. This discrepancy follows from the nature of ideals. They are, as conceptual constructions that knowingly go beyond reality, by definition, unattainable in practice. Second, its native detractors flagellate the West because it fails to be the ideal society. Falling short, these antagonists regard the entire culture to be more than only a failure. All of the problems of mankind are alleged to be caused by it and thereby it is depicted as an expression of the globe’s evils. As a result, saving mankind presupposes the elimination of the West and the orders inspired by it. Revealingly, the same impatience is not applied to anti-Western and anti-modern social orders. That being the case, the proper atonement for sins suggested amounts to self-demolition. Thereafter, a return to the idealized and “natural” standards of the still “unspoiled” and existing Third World can be implemented. It seems that in the rejection of the modern world and its civilizations we encounter something remarkable. In the given case, we discover a hate for a culture not on account of its real or imagined flaws but because of what its adherents would describe as its virtues. 4. In order to be divided by re-allocation, first wealth must be created. However, if you divide the wealth too harshly you block the mechanism that has created the treasure that is being distributed. Schemes for the division that precedes and governs confiscation reduce society’s natural ability to create wealth. That is because such policies penalize earned wealth’s sources. That is done by suppressing the forces that fuel the motivation, which drives the creative process. If you confiscate the eggs then ultimately the bird will die out, as there will be no new geese to lay those proverbial golden ones. 5. Programmed failure is becoming the iron law of our age. Not by accident. Missing what should be personal targets is rewarded by funding. The case of the false analogy is disaster relief extended to the victims of nature’s floods and quakes. Meanwhile, underperformance is made into an expression of personal virtue. (Its logical continuation is the criminalization of the successful.) Failing is ascribed to ones goodness, and is insinuated to be also caused by “discrimination” and “exploitation”. Success as a symbol of ruthlessness and crookedness is an equally quickly invoked argument. Lack of success is converted into an outward sign of decency by attributing it to be unrelated to shortcomings in judgment, effort, ability or way of life. These conceptions explain the inclination embedded in numerous national tax codes that penalize success. 6. Let us assume that we have a system imposed by others or, as is often the case, by ourselves. It contains rules by which everybody gets the same of everything. In this case, those who, due their creative ability contribute more than the required and pre-determined minimum will be made to feel as dummies. This will happen once this element -it has the smarts to detect the personally unfavorable imbalance between input and output- will have processed their condition. Those with the potential in them for the extraordinary performances that move the world will prove to be smart enough to take notice of the inequity and to adjust their comportment to their situation. 7. Think what you may. North Korea is the recipient of subventions coming mainly from its cursed and threatened enemies. In exchange, it gives hope in the form of promises that are consistently not kept. Regardless of all, it is as deeply mired in the red as are the happy marchers strutting by their leaders when those feel like being celebrated. Even so, from the time the Kims still had more friends originates a debt. It had been incurred by resorting to the comradely services of the people’s democracies. The successor systems of these are now finding, unlike Japan, South Korea and the US, that Pyongyang’ word is good. Well, at least “sometimes” and then only “a little bit”. The Hungarians have been offered full repayment in case they forget about 90% of the debt. Probably in recognition of good behavior, the Czechs got a hard-to-beat offer of 95%. The remaining 5% would be paid in ginseng.The Way Of The Dodo
1. As a story, the Mosque project on 9/11’s ground is fading. With that, the plan ceases to be a subject of the day’s news. However, the time to reflect and to analyze the intention and the reaction it brought about has not passed. Regardless of whether the Mosque - or embellished by the redefining new feathers, a cultural center - is built, there are insights to be gained from the attempt.
Saturday, 4 September 2010
From the desk of George Handlery on Fri, 2010-09-03 23:21
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