. . .and I think this is the controversy. . .The Left is howling; albeit only for purposes of creating a 'smoke and mirrors' kind of environment for D'Souza's book. Offering their provoked response on behalf of an 'America slighted'; when. . .should one be so inclined to read the book; after hearing the howls; realizes immediately 'who' is 'the' enemy he references.
. . .and they just do not want anybody recognizing; much less debating D'Souza's presentation of the dirty truth; or more specifically for the Left, the dirty truth of their contribution to 9/11.
There is nothing really new in D'Souza's book; at least premise-wise; for sure. But, political correctness has prevented many from 'overtly'; directly. . .going there.
From Introduction/excerpt:(paragraphs/italics mine):
'The Enemy At Home':
[The Bush Administration and the conservatives must stop uncritically promoting American popular culture, because it is producing a blowback of Muslim rage. . . .American foreign policy should stand up for liberal values; but not for the liberal values associatied with the cultural left. Rather it must work to promote classical liberal ideas (. . . .)
There are also healthy aspects of American culture that we can be proud to share with the rest of the world. But we must stop exporting the cultural left's America.
That means we should stop insisting on radical secularism, stop promoting the feminist conception of the family, stop trying to promote abortion and "sex education," and we should try to halt the export of the vulgar and corrupting elements of our popular culture.
When we cannot do these things, we should apologize to the rest of the world and make it clear that we too find a good deal in this culture to be embarassing and disgusting.
There is no "clash of civilizations"between Islam and the West. But there are two clashes of civilizations that are shaping the world today.
The first is a clash between liberal and conservative values within America. The second is a clash between traditional Islam and radical Islam, a clash within Islamic society. So realize it or not, American conservatives are fighting a two-front war.
The first is a war against Islamic radicalism and fundamentalism. The second is a political struggle against the left and its pernicious political and moral influence in America and around the globe. My conclusion is that the two wars are intimately connected. In fact, we cannot win the first war without also winning the second war.] end excerpt. . .
I lived overseas during the 1980s and saw the embarrassing offerings that American television provided to the world. All those night time soap operas led people to believe American women were like Joan Collins.
It has only gotten worse since the advent of cable and satellite pump out pornography, and the internet provides the same.
It is the Leftists and their Hollywood funders who have advocated for this; there was a time when our traditional classical liberal values were admired even in the Muslim world. Polls taken in the 1950s gave evidence of this. We were admired, not hated.