Mark Steyn: Requiem for the counterculture -

Western Standard - Canada ^ | February 12, 2007 | Mark Steyn

[UnklGene]

ping!

[Kenton]

The couple had moved to New Orleans from Dalhousie in 2001 because the doctor, according to the Globe, "wanted to work in a Third World environment."

Darwin Award... no tears for this one.

[goldstategop]

Paul Gailiunas and his wife Helen Hill were typical liberal Bush haters who ended up falling victim to the pathologies of New Orleans' liberal culture. It reminds me of the story of Timothy Treadwell in Alaska who was attacked and eaten by a bear. The same people who denounce their own country for protecting them end up getting killed because they are clueless about the nature of the real world. The Counter Culture is dead and liberalism still remains a mental disorder.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[iopscusa]

Given the choice between reality and dopey naiveté, our cultural elite remains fatally true to its 'trusting nature' ... the great Mark Steyn - February 12, 2007

[MadIvan]

I listen to a lot of classical music. Yet, I have no idea what an experimental cellist plays or does.

Regards, Ivan

[Amalie]

ping

[goldstategop]

Like the Ivy League professors in New Hampshire murdered by two teen psychopaths. It takes a great deal of naivete and disconnect from reality to refuse to see there is evil in the world. Which is exactly what liberals seek to insulate themselves from - the fact the world has dangers that exceed any of the imaginary ones they think come from Bush and Company.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[pabianice]

[Leisler]

Also, the pedestrian expert that went to a conference in Philadelphia and stepped off a curb and got killed by a bus.

Also the anti logging girl that built a platform high in a tree to prevent it being cut and fell off.

[Lurking in Kansas]

...wanted to work in a Third World environment.

Well, at least they got that right. New Orleans is definitively 3rd world now. But when you go into the 3rd world one needs to go well armed. Dopes.

[okie01]

Yet, I have no idea what an experimental cellist plays or does.

A cello made of carbon fiber composites...???

[Squawk 8888]

I have no idea what an experimental cellist plays or does.

Of course you wouldn't, and neither would I, because we listen to classical music ;-)

[madinmadtown]

Is there a correlation between the Napoleonic code and the English code that historically influences NOLA apart from the rest of the country? How does that impact on the crime in NO? The NO police believe that the rise in murders is due to drug turf domain. After Katrina, the well-defined drug turfs were turned upside down and now smaller dealers feel that they have a new opportunity to gain the upper hand. That being said, pre-Katrina, the elementary school that my son taught in had a Monday morning assembly where the weekend murders affecting the community were announced. The codes of NO are unique to NO.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Instead, like most "nice" people, the Gailiunas were most agitated about Bush, Republicans, capitalism, the military, et cetera. They were so eternally worried about phantom threats they were blind to the genuine ones out there.

I'm not so sure about that. The Bush Derangement Syndrome is a symptom of a deeper malady - like many liberals, on some level, these people hated their lives on Earth and wanted to leave it. I think they knew exactly what kind of risks awaited them in New Orleans and subconsciously chose to put themselves in harm's way.

[HitmanLV]

Excellent Steynahol PING!

[Interesting Times]

It seems like a good time to repost this.

---

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.

[steve8714]

Answer; air cello.

[hsalaw]

the kind of people who find a one-party welfare swamp conducive to perpetrating crime came back to New Orleans, while the kind of folks who'd been on the receiving end were grateful to have gotten out

The liberal socialist utopia appears to be a quagmire. Let's get out of New Orleans!!

[kidd]

I played the cello in grade school.

I played a rented cello. I did lots of experiments with it.

For example, I experimented to see if it would make a good bow and arrow (it wasn't). I also experimented with it as a shield (good only for defense against cello bows propelled by cello strings).

I believe this makes me one of the world's experts in this field.