Get out of town! Are you for real?
Posted on 05/19/2004 2:54:18 AM PDT by Theodore R.
What do we offer the world?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 19, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern
"So, how do we advance the cause of female emancipation in the Muslim world?" asks Richard Perle in "An End to Evil." He replies, "We need to remind the women of Islam ceaselessly: Our enemies are the same as theirs; our victory will be theirs as well."
Well, the neoconservative cause "of female emancipation in the Muslim world" was probably set back a bit by the photo shoot of Pfc. Lynndie England and the "Girls Gone Wild" of Abu Ghraib prison.
Indeed, the filmed orgies among U.S. military police outside the cells of Iraqi prisoners, the S&M humiliation of Muslim men, the sexual torment of their women raise a question. Exactly what are the "values" the West has to teach the Islamic world?
"This war ... is about – deeply about – sex," declaims neocon Charles Krauthammer. Militant Islam is "threatened by the West because of our twin doctrines of equality and sexual liberation."
But whose "twin doctrines" is Krauthammer talking about? The sexual liberation he calls our doctrine belongs to a '60s revolution that devout Christians, Jews and Muslims have been resisting for years.
What does Krauthammer mean by sexual liberation? The right of "tweeners" and teenage girls to dress and behave like Britney Spears? Their right to condoms in junior high? Their right to abortion without parental consent?
If conservatives reject the "equality" preached by Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, NARAL and the National Organization for Women, why seek to impose it on the Islamic world? Why not stand beside Islam, and against Hollywood and Hillary?
In June 2002 at West Point, President Bush said, "Moral truth is the same in every culture, in every time and in every place."
But even John Kerry does not agree with George Bush on the morality of homosexual unions and stem-cell research. On such issues, conservative Americans have more in common with devout Muslims than with liberal Democrats.
The president notwithstanding, Americans no longer agree on what is moral truth. For as someone said a few years back, there is a cultural war going on in this country – a religious war. It is about who we are, what we believe and what we stand for as a people.
What some of us view as the moral descent of a great and Godly republic into imperial decadence, neocons see as their big chance to rule the world.
In Georgia, recently, the president declared to great applause: "I can't tell you how proud I am of our commitment to values. ... That commitment to values is going to be an integral part of our foreign policy as we move forward. These aren't American values, these are universal values. Values that speak universal truths."
But what universal values is he talking about? If he intends to impose the values of MTV America on the Muslim world in the name of a "world democratic revolution," he will provoke and incite a war of civilizations America cannot win because Americans do not want to fight it. This may be the neocons' war. It is not our war.
When Bush speaks of freedom as God's gift to humanity, does he mean the First Amendment freedom of Larry Flynt to produce pornography and of Salman Rushdie to publish "The Satanic Verses" – a book considered blasphemous to the Islamic faith? If the Islamic world rejects this notion of freedom, why is it our duty to change their thinking? Why are they wrong?
When the president speaks of freedom, does he mean the First Amendment prohibition against our children reading the Bible and being taught the Ten Commandments in school?
If the president wishes to fight a moral crusade, he should know the enemy is inside the gates. The great moral and cultural threats to our civilization come not from outside America, but from within. We have met the enemy, and he is us. The war for the soul of America is not going to be lost or won in Fallujah.
Unfortunately, Pagan America of 2004 has far less to offer the world in cultural fare than did Christian America of 1954. Many of the movies, books, magazines, TV shows, videos and much of the music we export to the world are as poisonous as the narcotics the Royal Navy forced on the Chinese people in the Opium Wars.
A society that accepts the killing of a third of its babies as women's "emancipation," that considers homosexual marriage to be social progress, that hands out contraceptives to 13-year-old girls at junior high ought to be seeking out a confessional – better yet, an exorcist – rather than striding into a pulpit like Elmer Gantry to lecture mankind on the superiority of "American values."
The late-60s Jane Fonda movie, "Barbarella" was a combined a parody of sci-fi movies with a "free love" element.
The main character, Barbarella, had a weapon called the Orgasmatron:
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue126/classic.html
BS. Pat Buchanan has openly declared his hatred for America -- why do you support him (assuming that you don't hate America yourself)?
Pat's love child
First, I've heard of this. Is it common knowledge among the Beltway people?
How old is this daughter of Pat now?
Get out of town! Are you for real?
Buchanan is not saying that America should not be defended. He is saying that we should not go to war to impose such defective "values" as abortion on demand on the rest of the world.
Why? Because you say so? What sort of "conservatism" is it that seeks to perpetuate evil simply because its always been with us?
Pat has it exactly right. Krauthammer, Kristol, Safire, et al, save a few, have taken on Mel Gibson with a vengence.
They have been wrong on 'culture' for years.
This is another great Buchanan article. He speaks truth to power. Pat is right about this as he is right about illegal immigration, NAFTA deals bring job loss, abortion, homosexual practices, and foreign entanglements bring war to our shores. Pat speaks for a conservative America first in defense, first in economy and first in morality.
I strongly disagree. Morality crosses cultural lines as well as national borders. There is Good and Evil and they have nothing to do with culture, customs, race, gender or anything like that. There are good and moral Muslims and immoral and bad Christians & Jews. We're in a war, not so much between cultures/countries as it is between Good and Evil, a spiritual war that starts off seeming like a secular war between competing cultures. America is fundamentally Good but needs to work hard on becoming more moral in order to win this war. This could be our longest and last war.
Could you point me to an article where Pat condemns Arab anti-semitism so we could evaluate Buchanan's acumen?
You were the one who brought up the subject. So let's discuss it.
cheesy poofs.....
Great question. Please ping me if you get an answer. I won't be holding my breath, however.
I have a problem with folks who seek to impose moral values at the point of a gun.
I don't care if they're Christian, like Buchanan, or Islamic, like the Saudis.
How 'bout a pants down spanking?
If it's Wednesday, it must be 'attack the neo-con Jews day' for Pat Buchananananan.
Where do you get the idea that Buchanan wants to force Christian morals on people at gunpoint? Don't listen to the hysterics.
You need a lesson in reading comprehension. Look at who brought up the subject. "And has Pat ever written an article condemning the anti-Semitism of the Arab world? Or was Buchanan too busy researching topics like whether diesel fumes could have really killed as many Jews as the Holocaust survivors claimed? 125 posted on 05/19/2004 9:52:18 AM EDT by 11th Earl of Mar "
The more right Buchanan is the more shrill his opponents become and berate him because they cannot refute his truth. This is another great Buchanan article. He speaks truth to power. Pat is right about this as he is right about illegal immigration, NAFTA deals bring job loss, abortion, homosexual practices, and foreign entanglements bring war to our shores. Pat speaks for a conservative America first in defense, first in economy and first in morality.
Yes, specially less choices in public facilities.
Blaming Hollywood for their behavior?
What happened to personal responsibility?
Very weak.
That the behavior exhibited by the few people who engaged in the acts we've seen portrayed ad nauseum in Abu Ghraib should be punished, and not rewarded.
That was easy Pat.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.