Posted on 11/27/2009 7:25:41 AM PST by Rummyfan
I attended an lecture given an archaeological society in Houston not long ago. The subject was the social and architectural transformation of ancient Cyprus.
The transformation was accomplished with fire and sword, by the Arab general Muawiyah. A large and cosmopolitan city was "transformed" into a cramped collection of defensible points within the outline of what had been a broad city, and reusable portions of large, incinerated Christian churches and basilicas were converted into much-reduced quarters for the much-reduced survivors, and walled off from attack.
I had to establish by close questioning of the speaker that Muawiyah's Arabs had laid waste the city, slaughtered the people (both Arab and Byzantine documentary evidence, supported by physical remains, supports these statements), and driven most of the survivors away, converting the largest surviving churches to mosques.
The speaker confessed, that it is no longer acceptable in academe to say that the Arabs did things like this, particularly because they did them, which means that "campus groups" (CAIR) will complain, and a review of the speaker's tenure and credentials will ensue, if a faculty member is so brash as to speak it out loud.
"...when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas - that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out."
It's been said that one never truly appreciates something until they have lost it. For the majority of Americans it is difficult to imagine what the loss of freedom and liberty is like. Many can't imagine living in a country where you can be arrested for you say or write. Like many of you, growing up in America I had always taken my liberty and freedom for granted. That all changed when I moved overseas and discovered firsthand that it is our love of freedom and liberty that has made our country an exceptional nation, it is today what we fight for.
I have seen America's future and if we don't fight now, we will lose all that we have fouhgt for.
Our forefathers before and our brave soldiers today are fighting and sacrificing their lives for freedom and liberty, not for diversity, respect, tolerance, "politcal correctness" or for that matter "Hope" and "Change".
Stand up for freedom and liberty. Until patriotic Americans are willing to spill blood our nation will be doomed. We are under attack and have been for a long time. Freedom and liberty are not free, they come with a price.
Enough of the talking, enough of the tea parties, enough of the writing congressmen...enough!
We are not only at war overseas, we are at war at home - a civil war that has been brewing for years. It is time for states and citizens to choose - either secede or fight.
Absolutely insane...
Spot on from Steyn. As usual.
((((
Reading your example makes my skin crawl. So many people do not yet realize what has been happening in our country. We need to push back, and convince all our friends to push back also.
The pendulum has to stop going in the enabling-radical muslim direction.
Have you heard one comment about the shooter of the police in Lakeland Washington being pro-muslim? I haven't, but what are the odds that a loser ex-con was "influenced" by hate for whitey, which stands in for a lot of other resentments.
Steyn BUMP!
Thanks for the ping.
“jihadist exhibitionism”
This is the Jennifer Lynch argument: the priority is always some hypothetical atrocity waiting to happen, no matter how many times we ace that test: there was no “anti-Muslim backlash” after 3,000 corpses on Sept. 11,
or after Bali, Madrid or London.
Muslims have certainly been murdered in New York and London but by their co-religionists on 9/11 and 7/7 rather than by any “Islamophobes.”
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Great post, Rummyfan
PC is Orwell's "newspeak"...
He identified himself openly as a Radical Muslim.
The Army is not just guilty of carrying political correctness too far. The Army is guilty of providing aid and comfort to the enemy."
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- Powerful...
BTTT
(I frequently just BTTT articles by Steyn or VDH without comment because in almost every case, they say it better and more concisely than I ever could.)
“jihadist exhibitionism”
That when they show you the knife they are going
to cut your head off with?
“the willingness to leave your marbles with the Diversity Café hat-check girl”
that covers the whole chain of command leading to Hasan
Your post about Cyprus rubs a raw wound here. I am familiar with that beautiful and friendly island nation. It remains divided in half by a brutal Turkish armed invasion that occurred three-and-a-half decades ago and continues to this day. The “Greek” side of the island is thriving and friendly to visitors, and I highly recommend it. But avoid the “Turkish” side of the island, which is unfriendly to the point of hazardousness, and depressed economically. But the really blood-boiling aspect of it stems from Cyprus’ role as the very crucible of Christianity. The island is peppered with small, priceless relics and churches dating from the dawn of Christianity, and pre-Christian relics as well. Paul himself preached on this island. Its governor was the first head of state to convert to Christianity. On the Greek side, you can visit these sites and be awed by all that has transpired in two millenia. On the Turkish side, such sites have been used for stables, toilets and target practice. Yet when an infidel dares to handle a Qu’ran with ungloved hands it’s an international incident! And, most astonishingly of all, Turkey continues to seek EU membership, and the EU continues to consider it, even though Turkey persists in its violent armed occupation of a sovereign EU member! It boggles the mind.
Bears repeating.
Bump
Another Steyn jewel. Thanks for posting Rummyfan.
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