SANCTUARY [must read article for every liberal (and conservative) you know]

ejectejecteject.com/ ^ | May 18,2005 | William Whittle

[HairOfTheDog]

What’s worse than crawling under your beloved house and seeing the foundations rotten with decades of termite damage?

NOT crawling under your beloved house and seeing the foundations rotten with decades of termite damage.

I’ve been away for a while, doing a little thinking. Usually, my thoughts for these past few years have started at home and then taken me to Iraq, and the war. Lately, though, I have been thinking about Iraq, and my thoughts turn more and more to home.

I started thinking along these lines six months ago, after a young Marine shot and killed a wounded Iraqi in a mosque in Fallujah

The ideas behind this little adventure we are about to embark upon have changed enormously since then. I have, quite frankly, been at a loss to know how to put so many wide-ranging snapshots together into this montage, this image, this idea of Sanctuary that I think holds the key to many of the problems we face today.

Stay with me -- our first stop is not our destination, but it is a necessary one. So let me first take you on that original journey, and show you how events in Iraq can show us how to fight and win a much wider and deeper conflict, right here at home.

[F16Fighter]

"Whittle is an absolute genius at describing, in a single essay, all that ails us regarding our generally debased view of ourselves – our self-imposed defeatism, our minimized perception of the bloodthirst and barbarism of our foreign enemies, and the ruthlessness of our domestic ones. And he brilliantly illustrates how our perceptions, more often than not, are molded by dishonest media/academia/elitists."

Though difficult Joanie, you've managed to distill William Whittle's magnificent essay as only you are capable. Great job...

We cannot continue to allow those who ought to know better conspire to permit morally bankrupt, the liars, and the evil to define protocol for "honor." (Which reminds me -- though on a lesser scale, why are certain Presidents and their sons buffing up the well-deserved tarnished reputation of one Bubba Clinton?)

[Talking_Mouse]

bttt

[DuncanWaring]

IMHO, I would not focus so much on the lack of a uniform. Many of the colonists did not have uniforms when they fought the British...

That issue is addressed:

"I would point out to Mr. Moore that when confronted by an overwhelming enemy force, our Minutemen grabbed their guns, put their elderly, their women and their children behind them, and went out to face their adversary as far away from the weak and vulnerable as possible."

They may not have had uniforms, but they still went out of their way to protect non-combatants.

[Jeff Head]

He made a pretty big deal of it...but I agree, and stated as much in my response, that the main issue is who they attack, how they attack, and why they attack.

[traviskicks]

When you all get a chance check out EMPIRE, I've read almost all of his stuff and think the best one is his latest one SANCTUARY followed by EMPIRE:
http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000017.html

In EMPIRE he talks about, among other things, how American culture, film etc.. is GOOD and represents our values. In fact, it is good and desired by people of other countries because the universal human values that American culture represents are desired by other culutures. Here are a few gems:

"When France passes laws saying that some minimal percentage of their television programming must be produced in France, then that is an admission – and it must be, if you will pardon the pun, a galling one – that huge numbers of their people prefer our culture over their own."

SNIP SNIP SNIP

"I studied film in college. I sat through Jules et Jim, The Bicycle Thief, 1900, Satyricon and The Grand Illusion. Watching them was work. I enjoyed just about all of these and many other mov -- sorry, films -- and I am a better person for having seen them, but some of them – like a recent Polish entry in the Academy Awards, “Life as a Fatal, Sexually Transmitted Disease,” well, that approached prolonged oral surgery in terms of its enjoyment value.

You don’t have to have the vast intellectual reserves of a French Minister of Culture to understand why our movies and music have such appeal abroad. They are, more often than not, each small ambassadors of freedom and optimism. From James Dean to Brad Pitt, Americans are cool; cool because they don’t spend their evening sitting around bumming cigarettes and discussing global warming. They have bad guys to fight and motorcycles to ride, vast stretches of open road to get lost in and a disdain for any authority whatsoever. Where the European hero is a deeply conflicted soul lost in an existentialist nightmare, the American counterpart is a member of a rag-tag group of Rebels flying out to destroy the Death Star. Or a no-nonsense cop who plays by his own rules. Or an ordinary person, who, as the result of chance (Spider-Man), determination (Batman) or accident of birth (Superman), uses amazing personal power to aid the weak and fight evil.

These are our myths. They lack the patina of history that elevates those of the Greeks and Norse and countless other mythologies. But they are not created in a vacuum. These stories come from our common heritage and our common beliefs. Our heroes are what we make them, and for this country, the most successful have been young men and women thrust into extraordinary circumstances, who fight evils and monsters and never, ever use their powers for personal gain.

Yes, these are fantasies. No, of course real Americans are not so altruistic. But these are the standards we create for ourselves, and these American heroes represent what we represent as a nation. Action over endless discussion and moral paralysis. Rebellion against authority. Defense of the weak and helpless. And most of all, the optimism of the happy ending.

We get a lot of criticism from our betters about how shallow and mindless the Hollywood ending is. Fair enough. It does turn its back on the untidiness of reality. But it is also an expression of how we would have things turn out in a perfect world, a world where freedom and justice triumph and reign. These are the things we believe in, and these are, not surprisingly, immensely attractive to the rest of the world."

[traviskicks]

The way he described American Films reminds me of George Washington - the greatest statesmen to ever walk the earth.

[DuncanWaring]

Ping

[TASMANIANRED]

I just finished reading Strength.

I'm glad the scales fell from his eyes.

[Badray]

And what you thought was a gem is where he lost me. It was as though someone else had taken over the keyboard.

I refuse to fly because of the nonsense that is the TSA and the so called Homeland Security.

[N. Beaujon]

Americans are cool; cool because they don’t spend their evening sitting around bumming cigarettes and discussing global warming.

lol. Great stuff.

[little jeremiah]

Moral Absolutes Ping.

I haven't read it, only what's on FR here. I have a hard time going to a lot of external websites, wretchedly slow dial up and I'm just sick of all the websites that must have excerpting.

But because so many comments say it's really good, I'm pinging it out. And maybe tomorrow I'll read it.

Put up your comments if you read it, please!

Let me know if you want on/off this pinglist.

[the anti-liberal]

I would point out to Mr. Moore that when confronted by an overwhelming enemy force, our Minutemen grabbed their guns, put their elderly, their women and their children behind them, and went out to face their adversary as far away from the weak and vulnerable as possible. These people do precisely the opposite. Our Minutemen fought for Freedom and Liberty; these fight for repression, state torture, and the right to force everyone to behave as they see fit.

"the right to force everyone to behave as they see fit":
Dare I venture to suggest this is among the very reasons anit-American liberal lefties and the MSM feel a solidarity and rapport with these ruthless cowards...?

Excellent article!

[Jack Black]

PING

[ADemocratNoMore]

> I'm wondering if you might consider placing a more permanent and visible link on this site somewhere. It's been posted 3 times on FR already and the comments on it have all been just like the ones on here.

Just wondering what ever become of this idea?. We need some sort of a "sticky" page where the really good stuff can be readily accessed.

Found the essay yesterday by accident, it was mentioned by somebody on a thread.

[traviskicks]

I guess nothing had come of it thus far. The only problem with constructing a page like that I see is that people will have different definitions of 'quality'.

This particular essay cannot have that problem. As no one can say it is not good. :)

I would suggest that very very few articles be placed in such a category. In fact, I can't think of anything else on FR I've ever read that deserves to be in this sort of category with 'sanctuary'.

It would be nice and convienent to be able to access such great reads in one place. But I guess that's what ping lists are for.

[Desert_Girl]

Okay, I just clicked the link again, and I can't get in. Is there a limited access or something? I have been going back and re-reading several times, and I really don't want to lose that essay. I will buy the book if I have to, but I need the site to do so, lol. I haven't linked to it or anything. Can someone tell me what is going on, please? I have never encountered this before.

[little jeremiah]

I freepmailed the poster who put the article up, asking him if he knew how to get access to put the info on this thread. I meant to look into it, but things get away from me.

[Desert_Girl]

Thanks. I don't want to infringe on anyone's copyright or whatever, but I love that essay. I must have a copy, lol. And I was reading others linked to it, also. I hope someone can help.