MY MEETING WITH DAN RATHER

Aish.com ^ | April 21, 2002 | Elliot Mathias

[Tom Jefferson]

"The liberals are not so much opposed to Israel as they are opposed to the Jewish religion and capitalism. Islam does not pose the same threat because the religion and the state are one."

I am not sure what that means. Could someone explain the above in clear english. Thanks.

[Bob J]

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[MattinNJ]

Two tickets to Isreal- $ 1,500.00

Limo ride from airport to the Temple Mount-$ 40.00

If it had occurred to the guide to intentionally feed a bunch of blatantly wrong information for the assistant to scribble down-priceless

[Tom Jefferson]

BTTT

[monkeyshine]

Who am I to say what is right or wrong?

A human being with a moral understanding of life.

But assume that a newsperson's job is to be dry and factual, and not to impart any moralizing on any situation... does she think the media has done a good job at being neutral reporters of fact in this situation? I say, not in most cases.

[weegee]

"Stomach plummeted again. Not Dan Rather, too?! The expert on world events who is watched by 30 million nightly viewers can't identify the Temple Mount? I knew American viewers were in big trouble. "

And these are the same buffoons who ridiculed Governor Bush for not knowing the lastest names of the changing rulers of several third world countries?

[monkeyshine]

It's not even moral relativism. As you said, they attempt to destroy morality and righteousness every day. Under the guise of saying "who am I to say what is right and wrong", they promote wrong all the time by justifying and explaining what is clearly wrong as "just another perspective".

[weegee]

They've pulled the wool over their own eyes again. In the days that followed the September 11th attacks, people of all stripes acknowledged that they saw the acts of some people who were truly evil. No excuses. No qualifiers.

Within a week, we had Bill Maher saying that "they definitely weren't cowards" and now 6 months out we have the pro-Palestinian protests in America with people openly defending suicide attacks on civilians.

[weegee]

"The thing is," she told me, "it is impossible to be objective in this situation. The fact is that there is no objective truth -- neither side is right or wrong."

If neither side is right/wrong then why do we not get an impartial coverage of the conflict? She also said that there is no "objective truth". Sure there is, there always is but the media/politicians often choose a side to present as the enemy (if not the good guy).

[Prodigal Daughter]

Next to Dan Rather, Geraldo Rivera is a genius!

[RightOnline]

""Well, that's a very Western way of looking at things. You see I'm Christian and American."

To all reading this, let me make one key point very, very clear.

This producer bimbo is NOT a Christian, no matter what she says.

She is a citizen of a Christian nation (trust me; that's what she meant) but there is no way she's a practicing Christian.

Fact.

[weegee]

"Of course I would think that is wrong," she answered me. "But the Palestinians believe this is a legitimate form of warfare. And they would say the Israelis are doing the same to them by killing innocent civilians when they retaliate militarily. Who am I to say what is right or wrong? Who am I to say that the Palestinians are wrong in their beliefs?"

There are also those muslims who hold that for a non-muslim/infidel to kill a muslim is horribly wrong, for a muslim to kill a non-muslim/infidel is of no consequence, and a muslim who kills a muslim should be tried under Islamic law. This was why the original Taliban offer to "prosecute" terrorists had no teeth.

War crimes cannot exist in her world; the object of war is to win at all costs. How can you say that your acts to win the war are prohibited? And yet we acknowledge that people can be prosecuted for extremely uncivillized behavior.

[Enlightiator]

Great article Tom, thanks for posting.

"Well, that's a very Western way of looking at things. You see I'm Christian and American. I see things the way you do as an Israeli -- we have the same moral framework. But the Arabs view things differently, and who's to say that we're right and they're wrong?"

Uh, how about anyone with an ounce of morality, a little common sense, and maybe half a brain? Geesh, who IS this idiot producer, whose moral compass appears to spin as fast as her ditzy brain? Still, she knows more about the Temple Mount than Dan, lol....

[CWRWinger]

Next time a moral relativist dogmatically says, "There's no right or no wrong", respond by saying, "And that includes your statement, also."
Notice, "no right or wrong" is not an inclusively relative statement in itself. And you've got them at their own game.

[Joe Bonforte]

"The liberals are not so much opposed to Israel as they are opposed to the Jewish religion and capitalism. Islam does not pose the same threat because the religion and the state are one."

I am not sure what that means. Could someone explain the above in clear english. Thanks.

Well, while I find the comment insightful, I would not claim it covers all the motivations of liberals concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict. But it does make a good point for why liberals don't seem to have a problem with Muslim atrocities.

Liberals in general are anti-religion and pro-state. They believe the state is good, and to the extent that religion undermines the moral authority of the state, they don't like it.

However, when religion and the state become one, the liberal's dislike for religion disappears. Such a religion is furthering the aims of the state, and the liberals don't have nearly as big a problem with that.

Even though Israel is primarily Jewish, it is not a theocracy. The Jewish religion is still quite separate from the state of Israel. So the liberal's standard dislike of religion extends to Judaism.

The Arab countries do incorporate religion into the governing state. The liberals tend to like autocratic government, of any kind (communist, socialist, welfare state nannyism, whatever). The Arabs use religion as the justification for their autocratic governing. Liberals don't much care what the justification for autocratic behaviour is - they'll take religion as the justification as easily as communism. So in this case, they're not opposed to religion because it furthers the ends of autocratic states.

That's fairly long winded, and in some respects a simplistic analysis, but I hope it answers your question.

[poindexters brother]

You asked

Can you and I agree that the basis for defining right and wrong is set forth in the 10 Commandments and the Judeo-Christian moral code? If we can, then we have moral absolutism, not moral relativism.

Yes, you and I agree and we can discuss right and wrong because we have an absolute standard against which to test our assertions. When we try to engage Dan Rather, et.al. however, our standard means nothing to them, and moreover, they have no standard against which to test their own assertions.

I believe that Rather's way (which is now the domant worldview of our culture) is the path to tyranny. It leads to chaos and where there is chaos, there is always someone around who will promise to do whatever it takes to bring order.

[Enlightiator]

If Dan "Kenneth" Rather doesn't even know the frequency, how could he possibly know about geography, history, and the Temple Mount?

[PhilDragoo]

"He swept through the South like a tornado through a trailer park"
"Don't bet the trailer money yet"
"It's too early to say he has the whip hand"
"(in a previous election) they counted the votes until the cows had literally gone to sleep"
"It's a ding dong battle back and forth"
"(chances are slim or none) If he doesn't carry Florida, slim will have left town"
"If a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a hand gun"
"They both have champagne on ice, but after the night is over, they might need a pick axe to open them"
"This race is tight like a too small bathing suit on a too long ride home from the beach"
"The big burrito out there in California (referring to electoral votes)"
"It's about as complicated as a wiring diagram to some dynamo"
"Only votes talk - everything else walks"
"This will show you how tight it is - it's spandex tight"
"We're going to go to some of those longnecks from a long time ago"
"He's going to find that people will hang on him like a coat rack"
"This election swings like one of those pendulum things"
"What we know is that there will be no decision until some of those races are decided"
"Al Gore has his back to the wall, shirt tails on fire with this race in Florida"
"You talk about a ding-dong, knock-down, get-up race"
"When it comes to a race like this, I'm a long distance runner and an all day hunter"
"It's the American way: if you don't vote, you don't get to whine"
"Smelling salts for all Democrats please"
"...in Austin, between the 10 gallon hats and the Willie Nelson head bands"
"...none of this television mumbo jumbo, let's get in there and count the votes"
"When the going gets weird, anchor men punt"
"Tipper is probably telling her husband to hook a u, go back to the house to get a recount"
"It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat, Republican or a mug wamp, elected officials play it straight"
"Florida is the whole deal, the real deal, a big deal"
"Frankly we don't know whether to wind the watch or to bark at the moon"
"The contest was tighter than rusted lugnuts on a '55 Ford."

[Sparkvark]

Dan Rather an idiot???? Say it aint so!

[kayak]

ROFL!!!