Mensch tracht, und Gott lacht

Friday, November 11, 2005

Call Me Ishmael (While I Burn Your Car)

Is Ilana Mercer an absolute genius or what? What does it say about the conservative movement in America to have this level of passion and talent?

Her article today eclipsed my understanding of the media France coverage, left me feeling like a rank amateur in understanding the depth of the kulturkampf. I had contented myself with the lazy observation that the media was disposed to "excuse" criminality when it wore a liberal-political fig leaf.

Ilana digs much deeper. She explains that the miscreancy is itself cited as "proof of virtue".

Her brilliant insight hit me like an epiphany. I felt like I could actually hear Isaiah (5:20): Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who assert that darkness is light and light is darkness; who assert that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. (My translation.)

9 comments:

James F. Elliott said...

Wow. Talk about painting with a broad brush. No room for nuance or complexity in her little reactionary corner of the world.

Jay D. Homnick said...

I was invited to a nuanced and complex car burning the other day, but in the end the authorities denied me access because I had no proof of PHD.

James F. Elliott said...

I was invited to a nuanced and complex car burning the other day, but in the end the authorities denied me access because I had no proof of PHD.

Thanks, Jay, but hyperbole still doesn't help the situation. That's a problem with many on the Right. They think wanting to understand the reasons for an action are the same as condoning or excusing it. It beggars belief.

Of course, there are an increasing number on the Left who somehow think that's exactly what should occur, and they're not helping either.

Bubba said...

Oh that a French "Rooster Cogburn-like" character would arise and simply plug these scum with some lead from his six-shooter. Let's see some True Grit.

I heard that the French military was in quite an upheaval last week, nearly crippled in fact. There was a fire in the White Flag factory.

Tom Van Dyke said...

Yes, sympathizing with the "victim" carries an indispensibly comforting moral certainty. ;-)

Jay D. Homnick said...

I heard that in an effort to relieve the poverty the French government brought a carful of potatoes and a carful of bread to each affected neighborhood.

Now there are French fries and French toast galore for all to enjoy.

Tom Van Dyke said...

As to the offensive part - she really implies that the riots show something lacking in the Arab race and/or Muslim religion. She says that because her (??) Jewish ancestors rose above conditions there is no reason the rioters shouldn't be able to as well. I can't draw any conclusion from that other than a suggestion of racial inferiority.

Oooo, Connie, charging the author with racism as in "something lacking in the Arab race?" The Jews are the same "race," which I think was her point. And everybody everywhere hates the Jews.

That the Beurs tend to hold their own "racial" or religious identity above their Frenchness might be the reason they remain on the outside looking in.

Offensive? Truth often offends. Socrates would see it as a sign he was doing his job. (As we both know, he ended up dead, much like Theo van Gogh.)

Tom Van Dyke said...

Yes, I think you misunderstood her point. Jews and Arabs are the same "race," Semitic, therefore the author could hardly be suggesting that Arabs are somehow deficient.

It might be best to quit now before getting into any more racialist theories about who is smarter than whom.

Tom Van Dyke said...

"Iranian" and "Aryan" are related words, but I didn't know the Iranians were into the "white" thing as much as Hitler was.