The Dark Ages -- Live From the Middle East!

Tribune Media Services c/o Real Politics ^ | 10/26/06 | Victor Davis Hanson

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The most frightening aspect of the present war is how easily our pre-modern enemies from the Middle East have brought a stunned postmodern world back into the Dark Ages.

Students of history are sickened when they read of the long-ago, gruesome practice of beheading. ... And how lucky we thought we were to have evolved from such elemental barbarity.

... The 18th-century European Enlightenment gave people freedom to express views formerly censored by clerics and the state. Just imagine what life was like once upon a time when no one could write music, compose fiction or paint without court or church approval?

Over 400 years before the birth of Christ, ancient Greek literary characters, from Lysistrata to Antigone, reflected the struggle for sexual equality. The subsequent notion that women could vote, divorce, dress or marry as they pleased was a millennia-long struggle.

It is almost surreal now to read about the elemental hatred of Jews in the Spanish Inquisition, 19th-century Russian pogroms or the Holocaust. Yet here we are revisiting the old horrors of the savage past.

...

Since Sept. 11, the West has fought enemies who are determined to bring back the nightmarish world that we thought was long past. And there are lessons Westerners can learn from radical Islamists' ghastly efforts.

First, the Western liberal tradition is fragile and can still disappear. Just because we have sophisticated cell phones, CAT scanners and jets does not ensure that we are permanently civilized or safe. ...

Second, the Enlightenment is not always lost on the battlefield. It can be surrendered through either fear or indifference as well.

Third, civilization is forfeited with a whimper, not a bang. Insidiously, we have allowed radical Islamists to redefine the primordial into the not-so-bad.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"Civilization is forfeited with a whimper, not a bang."

Yes, this is precisely what we are observing. Republicans want to fight back and preserve what is valued and cherished. Dems want to forfeit Western Civilization in the name of rampant multiculturalism because no society is superior to another.

[ClaireSolt]

A slur on the Middle Ages, if you ask me.

[Nachum]

I really don't know what this fellow is excited about. The only reason that there has been has any peace in the world at all is that everyone was all tired out from the last big war; that and the US threatened to pound anyone who tried something. Since then, there has been plenty of murder and mayhem in the world to build up to another big nasty war. Now that a lot of tin pot dictators and religious nuts have some weapons, an army and some money, things are heating up again. Big shock. Oh, and they all hate the Jews. Wow, I can hardly contain my disbelief.

[DaveTesla]

"Dems want to forfeit Western Civilization in the name of rampant multiculturalism."

Dems want to collapse Western Civilization in order
to usher in Marxist rule (with themselves as king of course).
It's all about power.
For them that is.
So America's enemies are their friends.

[DCPatriot]

I love reading VDH.

[KDD]

Exporting democracy to countries with sectarian Islamic factions hostile to us and each other may prove to be a bridge too far for Hanson and his neo-con nation building buddies at The Project For A New American Century. I once thought as they do but exposure to the reality of the complete irrationality of the religious fanatics of Islam and the democratic election of Hamas to the Palestinian leadership has caused me to re-examine certain premises I once held. Isolationism may not be the answer but neither is a protracted war of attrition against such an enemy likely to be effective.

[KDD]

Not so much a war of attrition as it is asymmetric warfare that we are fighting.

Either way does not favor us.

[DCPatriot]

It won't be too long before Iraqi police and military can deal with these people. A lot of scores are being settled still.

And what I got from this article was that this type of medieval barbarity will eventually get a fatal slap on a grand scale...and Hanson is simply stating the rightuousness of same.

[Tzimisce]

[neverdem]

bump & a ping

[CheyennePress]

Methinks this guy gives the Enlightenment a bit too much credit in all of this. The Englightenment, afterall, gave us the French Revolution--perhaps the single most perverted thing to befall the West in the last 500 years.

Nothing quite like freedom of thought during the Reign of Terror...

Rationalism needs a good dose of moral authority and foundation. That's where the Enlightenment failed, and that's where the West (particularly the left) is currently floundering.

[nopardons]

bttt

[Matchett-PI]

You may want to change your screen name to "myopic navel gazer". You can't see the big picture. You have no vision.

[RoadTest]

These things must be:

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. " -Rev 20:4

[Tolik]

Victor Davis Hanson:

...Since Sept. 11, the West has fought enemies who are determined to bring back the nightmarish world that we thought was long past. And there are lessons Westerners can learn from radical Islamists' ghastly efforts.

First, the Western liberal tradition is fragile and can still disappear. Just because we have sophisticated cell phones, CAT scanners and jets does not ensure that we are permanently civilized or safe. Technology used by the civilized for positive purposes can easily be manipulated by barbarians for destruction.

Second, the Enlightenment is not always lost on the battlefield. It can be surrendered through either fear or indifference as well. Westerners fearful of terrorist reprisals themselves shut down a production of a Mozart opera in Berlin deemed offensive to Muslims. Few came to the aid of a Salman Rushdie or Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh when their unpopular expression earned death threats from Islamists. Van Gogh, of course, was ultimately killed.

...Third, civilization is forfeited with a whimper, not a bang. Insidiously, we have allowed radical Islamists to redefine the primordial into the not-so-bad. Perhaps women in head-to-toe burkas in Europe prefer them? Maybe that crass German opera was just too over the top after all? Aren't both parties equally to blame in the Palestinian, Iraqi and Afghan wars?

To grasp the flavor of our own Civil War, impersonators now don period dress and reconstruct the battles of Shiloh or Gettysburg. But we need no so such historical reenactment of the Dark Ages. You see, they are back with us - live almost daily from the Middle East.

Nailed It! Moral Clarity BUMP ! This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.) I will try not to abuse the ping list and not to annoy you too much, but on some days there is more of the good stuff that is worthy of attention. You can see the list of articles I pinged to lately  on  my page. You are welcome in or out, just freepmail me (and note which PING list you are talking about). Besides this one, I keep 2 separate PING lists for my favorite authors Victor Davis Hanson and Orson Scott Card.

Victor Davis Hanson Ping !         Let me know if you want in or out. Links:    FR Index of his articles:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson              His website: http://victorhanson.com/                     NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp New Link!    http://victordavishanson.pajamasmedia.com/

[Barset]

Thanks for keeping me on your ping list. Your motives for wanting to share your posts -- intellectually stimulating, moral clarity, etc. -- are what make your posts must reads.

Thanks again.

[Matchett-PI]

"These things must be: 'And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.' -Rev 20:4"

You're a little behind the times.

[M1Tanker]

I heard a terrifying call into the Sean Hannity Show last week.

The caller, who said he was terminally ill, 'just wanted peace at any cost'. When Sean asked him if he would be willing to give up all of our freedoms and surrender fully to the islamofascists, this caller gave an emphatic 'yes'. Truly disturbing.

This means a few things.
1. If the caller is dying, he cares nothing for anyone he leaves behind. How shallow can one get in the same culture where soldiers volunteer to protect freedom or firefighters volunteer rush into burning buildings, or police volunteer to try and protect civil society. All at the costs of their lives.

Though with the left's culture of death (abortion for convenience of the mother and euthanasia for convenience of the children) and their "it's all about me' mentality, one can see that a leftist can cry 'peace at any cost' because they know it will not cost 'them' and do not care about the costs to others.

2. This person has absolutely no clue about what Freedom is. What Rights are (and their inherent Responsibilities). And what must be done to defend the above. And these leftists think they can defend Western Society? Or are they going to defend it.

3. Which leads to this last point: Whose side is the left on besides their own (i.e. "whatever gets the left power, the left will support")? Do the leftists not see the threat (especially to them) of islamofascism? Are they that blind or stupid? Or are they like the Vichy French of WWII who make secret deals with their country's/civilization's enemies in the quest for absolute power?

If that is the case, I have words of warning for the left (this is for the trolls). The USA is not France. Those of us in 'flyover country' will not go quietly into the nightmare of islamofascist rule. We will not give up all we have worked for for over 200 years. I'm surprised you leftists would though. Do you think the islamofascists will allow gays, same sex unions, women's rights or any of your supposed 'values' to exist????? Are you that moronic leftists? Do you not know what happened to the Vichy who supported the last national socialist? They were enslaved and many killed as soon as the arrangement became cumbersome to the NAZIs. Just as your terrorist allies will slaughter you, Mr/Ms Leftist, when you outlive your usefulness to the islamofascist movement. An 'inconvenient truth', but truth none the less.

[Bahbah]

Or are they like the Vichy French of WWII who make secret deals with their country's/civilization's enemies in the quest for absolute power?

Yes, they are. Our most recent example is Ted Kennedy working with the Soviets to defeat Ronald Reagan. How much more clear could it be?

[M1Tanker]

Actually, I would use Durbin giving info to Syria, but your point is made.